KITAGAWA SHOU

Commenced when the artist was only 21 years old, and yet it shows surprising maturity in both style and story. Most importantly, Kitagawa captured the essence of the age bordering adolescence and adulthood. In a sense, 19 is the GQ of manga. Our hero, Kubota Kazushi, will have his heart broken three times (and his virginity intact) before he finds a steady love, and that's just half of the story. The story can be very light hearted, and then very depressing sometimes. The tone is, IMHO, overall melancholic. Comparing with some other bland shounen stuffs that are out there, 19 scores far above the field. Kazushi Kubota is an eighteen-year-old guy that has never had a girlfriend. One day, the girl that he had been secretly in love with comes back into his life after four years! Will he have the courage to ask her out? Read on and see!