nathandouglasdavis

Well, goddamn, this had an absolutely heart-breaking--and yet perfect--ending. If I was judging it solely based on its ability to wrap things up, it would easily be a 10/10. Though now that I've said that, I feel like I have to justify why the beginning and middle sections aren't on that same level and why I ultimately rated it as a 9/10. And honestly I'm not sure if I have a great answer to that. All I can say is that the whole time I was reading it--while I definitely appreciated it and enjoyed it--I never felt hooked in the way that 10/10 manga will hook me.

It has a melancholy vibe and an emphasis on the idea of relationship neglect (that made me ache because I know I've neglected friendships as well). You see, Kusonoki has only had a few friendships and close relationships throughout feir life (most notably with feir childhood friend and rival Himeno), but fe has always taken them for granted and thought more of femself than about the emotional support others might need. It's a redemption storyline, where the first half shows Kusonoki's flimsy connections being broken down and the second half shows fem building up connections with Miyagi and ultimately with the community around fem. Miyagi is a cute girl around feir age who has been assigned by the magical shop to be feir observer during feir final months. Fe is invisible to everyone except Kusonoki. I really like how the invisibility was tied in to the plot--beautiful, emotionally gripping. Miyagi is honestly probably the single most vital aspect of this manga. Getting to know fem and slowly seeing fem open up from being robotically pragmatic was a joy and made the romance that much stronger. Though, of course, all that romantic adorability and happiness tempered by the fact that we know Kusonoki is going to die.