Summary
Miriam is an orphan, who's had a tough life but now her world revolves around her new parent Grace who took her in. But things have become a bit difficult, with strange things going on in town and A sheriff that doesn't seem to do anything. It didn't seem like things could get worse but now all of Grace's Ranch hands disappeared leaving Miriam and Grace to take care of the ranch all by themselves well Grace is getting repeated requests for marriage from Harnbag the richest man in town and he doesn't seem to understand the word no. But perhaps Miriam can trick the skillful sharpshooter Douglas and his friends into helping her and Grace.
Why you should check this out!
Miriam is an adorable little Spitfire who will stand up to any bully without a second thought to the fact that she is an 8-year-old child who barely reaches their knee. Honestly if you like Home Alone or any kind of story where a child is outsmarting the bad guys there's no reason you won't like this.
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◇Volumes 1~3◇
The first three Volumes are definitely the most entertaining in my opinion, partly because Miriam is still young and it's fun watching her run around all these grown men who are trying to catch her. But I also think the first Valiums have a better villain and character growth throughout.
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The character growth is pretty even throughout the first three volumes, with us getting back story and character development with not just Miriam and Douglas, but with the Grace, Silver, and Dougla's friends Card and Joel. I particularly like the villain in this first part, I won't say who he is just to avoid spoilers but he was strange and kind of funny in the beginning, but as you learn more about him the more intimidating he becomes and when you think back to that funny part You realize it was actually quite dark. Cuz there's just an underlying threat that you don't really see unless you think about it and it made all the darker because of the lighthearted and fun this story is.
◇Grace◇
One of my favorite characters is Grace, which I think is a really good example of a damsel in distress done right. I really like how Kyoto is able to take these female characters and make them strong even when they're not physically strong. Grace is a very kind-hearted beautiful woman who just caught the eye of a jerk. She's a little bit too trusting but never to the point where it's stupid obvious that she shouldn't be trusting this person. But she's always trying her best to take care of herself and those she cares for. And in a way, near the end, she does save herself. Honestly, I don't know how anyone could not love this character who took in this gorgeous mistreated child and give her something she's never had before, a home.
I just wanted to say something about her here because I feel like nowadays if a woman in a story isn't this big Action Hero who is physically strong than they are bad representations of what a woman should be and I just don't buy that.
◇Volumes 4~7◇
This part wasn't as entertaining for me, it was still a good read don't get me wrong, seeing the characters get older and seeing how their lives turned out was entertaining, there's a Time skip here and Miriam is now 17 and has love on the brain. It was cute watching how her relationship with Dougla transformed from a sibling/ friendship to a romantic loving one.
There's another adventure here so it's not just romance but I don't think it's as good as the last one I think this is mainly because of the bad guys this time around. Kyoto is usually pretty good at writing villains, I like the one from the previous volume and I love the villains from far away, but these just kind of fell flat. OneNote bad guys who didn't really have much more to them and it shows in the story. But it was a good read and there are also some really cute short stories here as well.
◇ How it Handles The Age Difference◇
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I really really like how this is handle, cuz this could have been horrible if they had handled it wrong. There is a 9-year age difference between Miriam and Douglas and that understandably can be a problem for some people especially because he did know her as a child. But the reason I think this works so well is because they do take that into consideration and they don't just try to sweep it under the rug. In the beginning of volume 4 she's the one who pursues a relationship, and he flat-out rejects her, not in a mean way. But you can see he's not sure how to react to this.
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It really helps that the author shows him going through this gradual stage of uncertainty and then to yes he does love her. And it's a really good piece of writing in my opinion. It also probably helps that in the time, this is written for, that age gaps like this one weren't all that uncommon.
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The Series come out in 1983 and is complete with 7 volumes, so it's an oldie but goodie. The first three volumes happen when Miriam is still a child, will the next 4 volumes follow her in her teens.
Actually getting your hands on it
Unfortunately actually getting your hands on these books is much harder than you'd think. Because they came out such a long time ago there isn't that many of them left. I kept out an eye for them for years but no luck on my end. But You can read the entire series of Miriam and From Far Away on Mangahere.cc for free.
~|Author and Artists|~
Kyoto HikawaBorn February 15, 1957, in Osaka Japan, Kyoko Hikawa has been active in the manga field since the late 1970s. Her early work included romance stories like Chizumi & Fujiomi. Her later works include romance stories like Miriam, Otogi Moyou Ayanishiki, and From Far Away which in 2004, Won the 35th annual Seiun Award for best science fiction Comic.
She also the author of another review I did recently called From Far Away.
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~|My Overall Thoughts|~
This is a great fun story with adventure and a bit of romance that is just entertaining to read! The characters all start out as loners and gradually find their way to each other and become a family! Miriam is entertaining to read about, whether or not she's a kid or an adult. She still a Wild Spitfire as she gets older who won't put up with any bullying. And is always there to jump out at you at the last minute!
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So yeah, this is a great Story to curl up on the couch with. I also really enjoy the artwork here, it's a bit dated but there's a lot of work and care put into it. So I highly recommend you check it out!
