FOREST HILLS BOOTLEG SOCIETY SC

Gosh! Best of 2022

It’s 2005. The purchase of a bootleg anime DVD at a gas station sparks the business idea of the century for four high school girls, who realise that one way to make some cash (and shock everyone in their conservative Christian school) is to sell copies to their classmates at twenty dollars a pop. The business works a charm and just as they’ve made enough to finally buy those matching jackets they’ve dreamed of; the market grows uncontrollably, as well as tensions within the group and the whole venture threatens to collapse. With an expressive and atmospheric art style, the duo continue their work crafting comics that really “get” what being a teen is like. It’s about struggling to become yourself, beset by the society around you, and how important the friendships are that you surround yourself with. A refreshingly honest and heartfelt comic, truly embodying the era it’s set in. Your kids will question how you were patient enough for the physical media of the early 2000s, you’ll yearn for a simpler time.

Four teenage girls start a bootleg anime distribution ring that shakes up their conservative Christian boarding school--and. their friendships.