Marithé

“If I never told him, I wonder where these feelings would go. Desires without a place to reach, and words that could not be said... will they vanish someday, as if they never existed?”

This volume blends the coziness and the heartbreak so well, it hurts and heals at the same time. Kakeru and Yamato are trying to figure out how to mend things between them, when there is seemingly nothing wrong to begin with. Both of them have noticed the other one withdrawing lately, and they are both scared to lose their childhood friend. Kakeru is slowly working through his feelings and trying to understand exactly what Yamato means to him, and Yamato is trying (and failing) to keep all his feelings bottled up, so he doesn't destroy their friendship. As a result, they both hold onto the other very strongly, letting actions speak louder than words.

This volume made me so emotional with its simplicity and its coziness! The moments between Kakeru and Yamato are very touching, they speak to loneliness, friendships, and the hardships of growing up. They find themselves in a delicate situation, and they both know that if they misinterpret or make a mistake, they could lose the other forever. The manga has a way or writing out emotions that are so strong, and yet with a simplicity that resonates quite deeply. While the action may move slower in this one than in the first volume, we really get to spend time with each character and get more attached to them, as a result. All in all I highly recommend this series if you like a cozy, almost slice-of-life story and a brilliantly done slow burn.

“I'm sure one day, you'll meet someone who notices your compassion and loneliness. That person will surely be your lifelong friend.”

3,5 ⭐️
Always very sweet and comforting, even if this volume lost a few points this time around.

So, the word I would use for this one is uneven. The first chapter threw me off completely. We start off the volume in Mikoto's perspective. And while it was nice to get to know her better, the exploration of her feelings for her brother was a little wonky. The feelings are not clear, and can definitely be read as incestuous. While I commend the author for exploring the complications of these (quite unwarranted) feelings Mikoto has to contend with, the vagueness of them left too many things up in the air. It felt like a half-assumed attempt at giving more depth to Mikoto, all the while tackling a very difficult topic in this manga. There was definitely not enough time to do it in the span of the first chapter only. Not to mention the fact that casualness was definitely not something I wanted to see associated with this topic.

On the other hand, the middle chapters were an absolute delight! We are back to pining Yamato who is agonizing over what Kakeru is feeling and thinking in regards to their relationship. He's also dealing with how heightened his romantic feelings for Kakeru have become since he told him he was going to leave the door open and see how he feels about dating. Kakeru is a mess of emotions, he doesn't understand how he's feeling at all, the only thing he knows is that he's slowly realizing how Yamato has always been very important to him. We also see Kakeru dealing with crushingly low self-estime, which was another strong exploration of emotions done in this volume. Yamato does cross Kakeru's physical boundaries in this one, and Kakeru rightly tells him off about it. Both of them work things out after, which gives us one of the most heartwarming moment between them yet. We end the volume with a flashback chapter about how Kakeru and Yamato became friends, and yeah, it's no wonder Yamato is holding onto Kakeru for dear life. And, my goodness, that slow burn will be the end of me.......

"Please, may the little light in Yamato never go out. May it someday burn bright again"

Tell me about inner light and childhood and friendship and emotions 😭

This volume was very cute and wholesome, and surprisingly healing. Volume 6 diverges from the main story and takes us back in the past, when Kakeru and Yamato became friends. They are children, yet they both have deeply emotional issues to contend with, and this volume is about how they both stepped up to be there for the other.

Both Yamato and Kakeru are dealing with the absence of a parent, and the volume explores wonderfully the complexity of emotions in children, and how they can't always manage them or understand their depth. Seeing the two boys open up their barriers to let the other in, and accepting to show vulnerability in front of the other, was very touching. And of course, they both need all the love and care in the world, they are very precious!

Volume 6 felt a little slow, mostly because we spend a lot of time standing still while we are waiting for the present version of Kakeru and Yamato to finally communicate. But this dive into their childhood felt necessary to understand who they are becoming as older teenagers, as well as the deep connection they share. It helps to establish them as close friends, which we didn't get to see as much as the present explores more the romantic aspect of their relationship.

Another great instalment in this series that I have come to love dearly, I cannot recommend it enough!

Great start to this series! The art style is simply stunning!

We are following Coco, who has always dreamed of being a witch. But she believed that witches are born, not made, and therefore that she will never get the opportunity to learn. Her meeting with Qifrey, mysterious master and witch passing through her village, changes her perception of the world and sets her on her magical path after all, albeit at a greater cost than she would have imagined.

I was a really nice read! It's got a wonderful whimsical feeling, and Coco is quite fun to follow around. She's a full-on magic geek, getting excited about every new discovery, which feels very relatable as readers who discover this world ourselves at the same time! The setting got the magic academy vibes, and while much of this has been done before, then environment feels coherent and well-developed. This world's magic is written-based, which adds originality to the concept, and allows Coco to bring in her own strengths as a seamstress in innovative ways. I'm most intrigued by master Qifrey, however. He's certainly mysterious, he seems to be a bit of a rebel, but he's also somewhat of an airhead when it comes to teaching.

This series seems to have the potential for more depth and development, and we got to see glimpses of that already. From what I can tell in this first volume, it reads well for its age range. All in all, I quite enjoyed this one, the visuals are fantastic, and I am looking forward to continuing with the series!

Hands down my favourite story (in any format) of 2023.

I am grateful to everyone on this site who has discussed the translation issues. I went into it fully warned, and I also believe that this edition would have greatly benefited from more proofreading/editing from the publisher.

If I go into the story itself, it is absolutely brilliant. I experienced it first with the live-action adaptation, and I'm now finally delving into the books... let's just say that this story both broke me and healed me at the same time. I currently don't have the words to express how much I love each and everyone of these characters, their arc, their development, how they get close to one another, and eventually how they learn to trust and open up. In both the adaptation and this book, emotional, impactful and even heartwrenching scenes are brilliantly intermingled with funny, goofy and cute moments. The story does us a good one: it gets us, the readers, to open up and trust these characters (as they do themselves as the story progresses), only to have our hearts broken if anything at all happens to them.

Why I love it so much, book 1 edition:
- We start off with a punch, a little bit lost in the setting and the numerous characters, but the pacing is solid enough to get us through the initial confusion.
- The characters: As we meet them at first, they are intriguing, we do get the sense that they all have a past and a history with one another. Especially at the beginning, this feeling is strong enough that I wanted to stick around to know more about them. But hear me out: the characters in this book/story are everything. The events themselves are impactful, but it's how the characters react and adapt that sticks. Their emotional journey is both heartbreaking and heartwarming, in the best possible way. When we meet Lan Wangji, we get the feeling that something terrible happened to him, and it MUST have something to do with Wei Wuxian. He tolerates every antics that wwx throws his way without faltering, so the real mystery here is to understand why. What did he have to go through to change this much? For Wei Wuxian, it's about understanding his past, and why he was so hated by everyone when he was alive thirteen years ago. And, more importantly, how did their relationship evolve through time? We'll get there, of course...... Our main cast of Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian is wonderfully funny, awkward, cute, chaotic, but also deeply emotional and very comforting. Our secondary cast (looking at you Lan Xichen and Jiang Cheng) are slowly being introduced, and at this point I'm looking forward to getting to know their book version!
- Mandatory relationship gushing: The longing... oh the longing is intense and I'm here for every moment of it! Wangxian, simply put, warms my heart
- All the little hidden details. As a first read, but having seen the adaptation, I can already spot a few that have me in awe at the foreshadowing and the future developments I know are probably coming. At a reread it would most likely be even better.

I know I still have a lot to learn about the genre, the context and other strong works in this space, and I am very excited to continue this journey. MDZS is already very dear to me, and I can't wait to get more of it with the next books.