Plant Dolls
If you’re looking for a good manga series to read
I REALLY recommend Yumiko Kawahara’s Dolls, also known as Plant Dolls. (read the wiki entry here)
It’s only four volumes long; however, each chapter is a stand-alone story based around Plant Dolls; beautiful living dolls that only drink milk three times a day and are ridiculously expensive. The dolls choose their owners, and desperately need their owners’ love. The stories often contain morals and have a fairy-tale/fable like quality to them. They range from creepy and gothic to heartwarming and sweet; unsettling and thoughtful to funny and lighthearted. The main focus is not only the dolls, but how they affect their owners, for better or for worse. The art is stunning and intricate and the entire manga feels like you’re reading a book of fables! It’s one of my favorites and I own all four volumes.
You should give it a try! It can be read in whole here.
Here are two stories to get you started to see if you like the series! They’re my favorite stories. Both are from volume 2. They’re called The Blue Doll and The Role of an Angel. They’re both VERY sweet and heartwarming stories. The Blue Doll is about a man who finds an abandoned Plant Doll and slowly begins to form a strong bond with her, born from the fact that they have both been abandoned at some point. The Role of an Angel is about a stuck-up model whose husband has just left her for her best friend. After an encounter at the Plant Doll shop she forms a connection with one of them and takes it home. She works harder and becomes a much better, happier person because of the doll. If you don’t read the whole series, I definitely recommend trying these two stories!!
