Dana is spending two weeks in Japan, but in spite of her love of manga and Japanese culture, being there with her former best friend Melissa and her new exclusive clique might make the experience lonelier than expected.
Dana is excited about her school trip to Japan despite the fact that she is surrounded by the Melly Mob, "in-crowd" kids who make fun of her. Dana is certain she will be less of an outsider in Japan, home of manga and anime. But she soon discovers that it's just as difficult to fit in with a foreign culture as it is to fit in at school. And the only other manga fan that she meets refuses to talk to her. As Dana learns to meet people halfway and gains some friends in Japan, Melissa, leader of the Melly Mob, makes every effort to remind her that she's still an outsider.
On her school trip to Japan, Dana learns about Japanese culture and about herself.
