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Sunday, February 7, 2016

Manga Review: The Garden of Words by Makoto Shinkai and Midori Motohashi



Rating (Out of 5): ~3-3.5
Publisher: Vertical Comics
Release Date: 2014
Volumes: 1.
Spoilers?: No.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Can a poem save your life? Words are powerful. Insults and rumors can derail a career; a bit of encouragement can give someone the strength to pursue their dreams. When a high school boy skipping class to sketch shoe designs and a taciturn woman drinking a morning beer meet in a Tokyo park, they say little, but the woman bids farewell with an ancient tanka poem. Will the boy figure out the poem's meaning-and its corresponding response-before it's too late?

Review:

This is about a school teacher who had to take a break, and a teenage boy who wants to make shoes. They end up meeting under a gazebo when it rains, where they take cover, read, eat, take a break from things. They start talking before they know who the other is, and slowly start falling for each other.
I will say that the romance wasn’t very intense, but it was meant to be subtle. It’s sad, what happened to her. And while the teenager wants to help, it’s in the past, and he can’t fix it. And their romance can’t work from the beginning, when she starts teaching at his school again.
I liked the subtleness of the plot and characterization. I didn’t connect as much as I would have liked, but it was enjoyable. And I liked the ending.

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