I know very very little about manga. I’m not completely opposed to it, I just don’t know where to start and a lot of the commercial stuff I see has a very off-putting style (in my opinion). When my partner spotted the first two volumes of ‘Saturn Apartments’ by Hisae Iwaoka in a local charity shop, the cover art was just so gorgeous they seemed worth a try.

I LOVE these! In an attempt to save it, entire planet has been declared a nature reserve and all humans live in a floating space-ring high in the atmosphere. Sounds like the setting for a sci-fi extravaganza but no, Saturn Apartments is about the guys who clean the windows for the ring’s wealthiest inhabitants. It’s a dangerous job, but one in which new recruit Mitsu gets to meet a whole range of interesting characters and hopefully collect more details of his father’s fatal accident.

The story is slow paced and largely uneventful making it an incredibly pleasant and relaxing read, and Iwaoka’s art is intricately beautiful. I’m also in total awe of her innovative panel compositions, reading Saturn Apartments is like taking a lesson on how you should be making comics.