Manga Moods: 40 Faces + 80 Phrases Hardcover – May 18, 2010

This is a very nice compilation of expressions. I bought it as a reference guide for quick comic expressions, it's just about perfect for that. If you're hoping to do the same, this book assumes the reader is already proficient in the fundamentals of character design and construction. The expressions are presented in full color by means of simple, clean head and upper torso illustrations. At first glance, the book seems to duplicate several expressions, but upon close examination, the body language differed, and the subtleties should become obvious. This could, I think, have been more clearly expressed if the similar illustrations were done full length body, but then, if you read manga astutely, or have consciously noted human body language, you should be able to extrapolate an appropriate pose from the head-and-torso examples within and all will be clear. For what it attempts to convey, (facial expressions of anime characters) it's unrivaled (as of 2/2012). It's extremely helpful to have all of the expressions one place, and, in addition to books like  Facial Expressions: A Visual Reference for Artists , you'll have a very nice reference toolkit for tackling facial expressions for most any kind of character illustration you can think up. As a bonus, the book's illustrations are accompanied by relative verbal expressions in both Japanese (romanji), and English.Pros:Comprehensive straight-on and 3/4 view head-&-shoulders mange expressionsClean, concise layout, with well drawn contemporary styled characters (as of 2/2012)Includes brief verbal expressions, statements, questions and ripostes relevant to the accompanying illustrationsCons:A few of the emotions would have been more clearly defined accompanied by full-body thumbnailsThe book could be physically bigger - it's about 4.5" (13cm) squareBottom Line:If you're an artist interested in adding some emotions to your bag of tricks, pull the trigger, this book will easily pay for itself in time spent digging through comics looking for expression examples.

A cute simple guide to very common moods and expression you'll recognize from both manga and anime. I bought this friend, though we both look through it from time to time.Notes-Fully colored pages! And a Japanese pronunciation guide/Hiragana chart for anyone interested in reading the kana.-Tiny! Like a child- no, a toddler book. Maybe a little bigger. About 5 x 5 inches at the most. The pictures are large, however.-A lot of the expression/moods are really exaggerated. A bit of a let down for my friend - she thought it would be a page or two dedicated to showing variations of the same Mood. I saw the previews and assumed she did too, so I was expecting just what we got. But I agree it would've been better if there were more examples of an emotion. Moods like Emotional definitely warrant it. To the book, Emotional is portrayed as laughing until you're crying. When I think 'Emotional' I think over-the-top versions of anger, sadness, happy, despair...-I suppose it's subjective, but I don't think the labels for the moods match up well to the actual mood (at least, the English). Suspicious looks Surprised, Confident looks Content, Satisfied looks Confused, and like I said before, Emotional looks Relaxed, Happy and Childish, all rolled in one.All in all, a nice book. It's not really essential, as you could just as easily find more varied examples by randomly selecting 3 manga from 3 different series and comparing how the artists portrays a mood. Still, it's very cute and handy when you need a small guide at arm's reach. I don't think it's worth anything over $6, though.

I bought this for my 12 year old niece. She loves the shoujo style, clamp-esque type anime art (so does auntie for that matter!) and she's just learning to draw and for 12 is showing a real talent for it, so I've been wanting to help and encourage it now while she's so young. As an artist myself, I've been teaching her and this book was wonderful for demonstrating the different emotions you can do with a face with minimal lines and strokes. Out of all the myriad of books I've bought for her (How to Draw Manga, Manga for Dummies, etc...) this so far has been her absolute favorite. I flipped through it and gave it a good look over before I gave it to her and as a tool and guide for beginners I give it 5 stars. It's small, it's convenient, and for kids/beginners handy as heck. The only disadvantage, because of it's size, unless you break the spine, it will not lay open for reference while someone is drawing. But that is minor and not worth losing a star over. I doubt a 12 year old will even notice that little detail, she loved it just as is. :)

I don't think I need to state it but it's for reference. It's really really cute (and girly. only anime girls that are like 13 in here :l) and I like how it's pocket-sized,but I think 8.99 is expensive. There are expressions that look the same (but they are cute) and in my opinion the expressions look... sort of incorrect. There isn't a lot written in there, it teaches you Japanese but I'd rather learn it in a different way. Keep in mind that this is a gift book. It is pleasant though. I LOVE it but it is expensive. Also, the hairstyle, face, and clothing are sort of the same... The clothing is basically just scarves and something on top of something (It was ok), the faces are the same except for the emotions, and the hair are ALL short, goes the same way, has those little curved up hair on top except different colors. Even with the cons, I still LOVE it. I can't wait to get the 2nd one.Pros Super super cute Super super super cute Super cute drawings Beautiful+Cute colors+coloring and shadingCons Expensive Not much (at least not much for the price. It tells you about how many there are and the price but i expected a little more. some are like the same)

Currently trying to nail the Manga style so bought this book hoping for some decent facial references / expressions. It's OK but not quite what I was looking for. If you're after a book that will teach you some cool Japanese phrases (book could've done with some phonetic pronunciation stuff though) and a few cute illustrations then this isn't too bad. It'd make an excellent stocking filler for a Manga obsessive just cutting their teeth though.

lovely book with some nice illustrations. Please note that this is not a book with useful phrases. An example of what it does contain is Happy, that Japanese word for it and a pronunciation and an anime happy face. I brought this for a friend moving to japan. I have it myself mainly cos i like the pics

What can i really say about this book eh? Its adorable...its cute...its the most gorgeous little book ever! How adorable!

Bought this book for my daughter who loves to draw Manga. She is delighted with it and says it is very helpful to her, would recommend.

I bought this for my friends daughter who is studying manga art at collage and found this birthday gift very useful