Crossroad (manga)
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| Crossroad | |
 Cover of Crossroad volume 7 as published by Go! Comi, featuring Kajitsu and Natsu | |
| クロスロード (Kurosurōdo) | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Romantic comedy[1] |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Shioko Mizuki |
| Published by | Akita Shoten |
| English publisher | (expired) |
| Imprint | Princess Comics |
| Magazine | Princess |
| Original run | November 6, 2002 – November 5, 2005 |
| Volumes | 7 |
Crossroad (Japanese: クロスロード, Hepburn: Kurosurōdo) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Shioko Mizuki. It was serialized by Akita Shoten in the shōjo manga magazine Princess from 2002 to 2005 and collected in seven bound volumes. It was licensed in North America by Go! Comi before the imprint shut down in 2010. The story follows a teenage girl, Kajitsu, who, after her grandmother dies, ends up living with her two stepbrothers and younger stepsister, all unrelated to each other.
Kajitsu has never known a proper family. Her father is a deadbeat who walked out when she was five, and her mother runs off with would-be husbands repeatedly.
Kajitsu lives with grandmother in a rental house. When the story begins grandmother has just died, and Kajitsu is feeling the loss very badly. Soon her two step-brothers, whom she hasn't seen in seven years, arrive for the funeral, followed by her unreliable mother. Kajitsu once had fond feelings for Natsu, back when they lived together, but something came between them. Now Natsu too is adrift and homeless. Two days later mom has left again, gone with a man in pursuit of her dream of a stable and comfortable married life. She has done this many times in the past. This time she leaves behind six-year-old Satsuki, a sister in some way to the other three kids. The three are thrown together, and onto their own resources. They will try to make a household and a family for themselves.
Characters
- Kajitsu Toda
- Age 15. The point of view of the story. She has never known a proper family. She faces adversity with anger. Because of her personal issues the other students at her school call her the ice-queen.
- Taro Toda
- Age 20. Works as a deliveryman. He was living in a very small (4 tatami mats, ~72 sq ft., + unit bath) apartment.
- Natsu Toda
- Age 15, slightly younger than Kajitsu. He had been a rather chubby geek when he and Kajitsu lived together seven years ago. Now he is a slender handsome young man, who had prospects of going to top-ranked Tokyo University.
- Rumiko Toda
- Age 28. Kajitsu's irresponsible mother and ex-wife to Taro and Natsu's fathers. She is constantly running off with men, and always making extravagant promises to her children. Now she has run off again, dumping her youngest child on Kajitsu, Taro, and Natsu. Her nickname is "Run-run", (which rhymes with "June").
- Satsuki Toda
- Age 6. Rumiko's youngest daughter.
Publication
Crossroad was written and illustrated by Shioko Mizuki. It was serialized by Akita Shoten in the shōjo manga magazine Princess from November 6, 2002, to November 5, 2005.[2][3] The individual chapters were collected in seven bound volumes, which were released by Akita Shoten between June 12, 2003, and December 16, 2005.[4][5] The manga was licensed in North America by Go! Comi,[6][7] which released the seven volumes between November 1, 2005, and June 30, 2007.[8][9] It went out-of-print when Go! Comi shut down in 2010.[10] The manga is also licensed in France by Taifu Comics and in Korea by SamyangM.[1][11]
Volume listing
| No. | Original release date | Original ISBN | English release date | English ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | June 12, 2003[4] | 4-253-19291-2 | November 1, 2005[8] | 978-0976895725 |
| 2 | December 11, 2003[12] | 4-253-19292-0 | February 1, 2006[13] | 978-0976895763 |
| 3 | May 20, 2004[14] | 4-253-19293-9 | May 1, 2006[15] | 978-1933617008 |
| 4 | November 4, 2004[16] | 4-253-19294-7 | August 30, 2006[17] | 978-1933617046 |
| 5 | March 16, 2005[18] | 4-253-19295-5 | January 30, 2007[19] | 978-1933617107 |
| 6 | August 16, 2005[20] | 4-253-19296-3 | April 30, 2007[21] | 978-1933617114 |
| 7 | December 16, 2005[5] | 4-253-19297-1 | June 30, 2007[9] | 978-1933617282 |