What would happen if two opposing styles of graphic novel culture met in the same book? Barry Lyga and Colleen Doran brilliantly play with this idea in a cross-cultural graphic novel that brings manga into the American mainstream—literally. Ryoko is a manga character who has come through a Rip from the manga world and is now trapped in the “real” world of an American high school, depicted in a realistic American comics style. Marissa falls for Ryoko in a plot that gives new meaning to the cliché of the doomed romance between lovers from two different worlds. The visual humor of a manga character popped into more realistic comic illustrations, and the “real” characters’ reactions to manga conventions (lines that indicate different emotions, bubbles with the character’s interior thoughts being visible to everyone) are amusing enough for casual readers, but will no doubt be hysterical for manga enthusiasts. (Age 12 and older)