Genkaku Picasso Vol III
Usamaru Furuya

Viz Media (Distributed in the UK by Simon and Schuster)
12 May 2011 / ISBN 1421539209
Teen / Fantasy/Manga

Amazon US || UK

Reviewed by Rachel A Hyde

The once shy and nerdy seventeen-year-old Hikaso Hamura (nicknamed “Picasso”) had no friends and spent all his time drawing. Now he can see into people’s hearts by drawing what is in there and diving into the painting to put right what is wrong. Although they are not sure why, the ones he has healed seem strangely drawn to him, and now he has lots of friends. Or does he? Nobody knows his secret, and it looks as though he has some problems of his own to sort out now.

I said it when I reviewed the first two volumes of this trilogy (also reviewed on this site) but I wish they had had books like this when I was a teenager. Once again Picasso solves various teen problems -- including his own -- in his usual entertaining and reassuring way. I wish this had been a longer series as there is a lot left that could be dealt with in this manner, and despite its length I still felt as though important topics were rushed along.

Trying to guess what the pictures Picasso draws means is a fun aspect of the series, and as before, the artwork is some of the best I have seen, merging realism with fantasy in an effective way. This makes the most out of the fact that, like most manga, this is in black and white and upgrades what is already a good series into something rather special. I will be sure to look out for more by this talented author.