Yuki Izumi

Maiko Narukami was living a fulfilling life as an illustrator in Tokyo when she suddenly received news of her grandfather's passing. His will mysteriously stated, “My granddaughter, Maiko Narukami, shall inherit it,” placing the entire rice field he cherished and his entire estate into Maiko's hands!! Though Maiko couldn't hide her bewilderment at this unexpected turn of events, she was surprisingly enthusiastic about taking up farming...? An unexpected dual career as an illustrator and farmer begins!!

Yuki Izumi's Tribal Gear, which first began serialization in Online Manga e-manga, and later published in print for the first time in Mandala Issue #01, continued publication in 2007 in Morning 2. What exists in the head of author Yuki Izum is this enormous variety of unique characters occupying an infinite void of space. This work is a skivit, so to speak, of an overall larger piece. Ostrakon means a piece of broken pottery. It's a fragment, which invites an endless fantasy of assumptions toward the piece's original shape, and that kind of soft, whispering beauty wafts about this work. One is led to wonder when the entirety of the world of Tribal Gear will be revealed or how far the reader will want to be chased until the end has been told.