Tớ Muốn Ăn Tụy Của Cậu - Tập 1

君の膵臓をたべたい [Kimi no Suizou wo Tabetai] #1

by Yoru Sumino, Izumi Kirihara (Illustrator), R.E.I (Translator)

Bạn sẽ làm gì khi biết mình chỉ còn chút thời gian sống ít ỏi…!?

Nhìn bên ngoài, Yamauchi Sakurachỉ là một học sinh cấp III dễ thương và hòa đồng, được mọi người trong lớp yêu quý. Thế nhưng sau vẻ vô tư hồn nhiên ấy, cô bé chôn giấu một bí mật không thể nói ra. Vào một ngày nọ, cậu bạn cùng lớp vô tình tìm thấy cuốn nhật kí của Sakura ghi chép lại những cảm xúc của mình khi phải sống chung với căn bệnh “ung thư tuyến tụy”. Ấy vậy mà Sakura đã chọn cách sống lạc quan thay vì thái độ chán chường buồn bã, và điều này càng làm cậu để ý đến cô bé nhiều hơn.

Hãy bước vào thế giới đầy màu sắc tình cảm của Sakura, của "nam chính xưng tôi" một câu chuyện tuyệt đẹp, buồn nhưng không bi lụy trong "Tớ muốn ăn tụy của cậu". Tác phẩm dựa trên tiểu thuyết cùng tên của tác giả Yoru Sumino, được xuất bản năm 2015. Đồng thời năm 2017 đã được chuyển thể thành phim điện ảnh và nhận được sự ủng hộ của đông đảo khán giả với doanh thu 31,4 triệu USD.

Trọn bộ 2 tập sách nằm trong chiếc hộp rất xinh xắn, chắc chắn sẽ là một món quà khó quên mà NXB Kim Đồng dành tặng các fan Manga trong mùa thu này!

Genres: Manga, Romance, Young Adult, Graphic Novels, Contemporary, Fiction, Comics

216 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Associated Names:
* Yoru Sumino
* 住野よる (Japanese Profile)
* โยรุ ซูมิโนะ (Thai Profile)

Yoru Sumino (住野よる) is a Japanese writer best known for I Want to Eat Your Pancreas, the novel that became a manga and two films.

Reviews

[Kate♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5stars

I’m not crying you’re crying ?????

Who knew the random manga with a weird name I picked up on a whim would be this fucking wonderful and powerful omfg I actually cried

[daph pink ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

These seinen Mangas are better than any cliche ya book. PERIOD.❤️

[human · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cried. A lot. I think that's all that needs to be said.

...But here's me ranting about this anyway :D

For context, I think it needs to be mentioned that I don't cry over books that often. As a result, some weird part of me seeks out all the 'tear-jerker' media I can get my hands on to see if it 'works' on me. (Typing this out makes me seem like even more of a weirdo than I already am/have accepted I am. If you're concerned, don't worry, because I'm concerned too.)

Strange habits aside, this manga was a terrible decision on my part. It left me a blubbering mess, and, having just watched the anime adaption (and crying over that as well!), it will definitely be taking up the free real-estate where common sense should live in my head on my mind for a while.

I Want to Eat Your Pancreas seems like, at first, just another doomed romance. Boy meets terminally ill girl. Girl changes boy's worldview, or vice versa. Boy and girl fall in love. Girl passes away, leaving boy brokenhearted, but better for the time they shared.

On the one hand, this could have turned out extremely trite, with characters working as living tropes and a storyline more predictable than the death of the character who walks into the basement during a horror movie.

But it wasn't. It *really* wasn't. This manga was just so life-affirming and emotionally impactful. Despite the fact that Sakura dies at the end, and that the cause of her death was unrelated to her medical condition, the manga shows us that life is worth living, through all of it, in the way that Sakura refused to let her illness define the way she lived the rest of her days.

Apart from that, this story also explores what relationships mean to us and how they define us, and what it truly means to be alive. How people impact us in the same way we impact them. The innate beauty in being able to recognize ourselves in others, as living, breathing human beings.

The manga portrays everything in an incredibly beautiful way (I mean this literally; the art was amazing), and effectively appeals to your sense of humanity with how it deals with themes of morality, love, and loss. It truly makes you think and want to live.

By the time that I finished reading, I was absolutely emotionally drained. And physically, but that was probably because of the run my mom made me go on. I don't think I've ever cried so much over the fragility and virtue of human life.

Overall, this manga manages to be insightful without shoving weighty, profound pinnacles of philosophy into your head. It leaves you to draw your own conclusions without seeming patronizing, and maintains a healthy balance of humor and looming grief.

This manga was extremely reassuring and heartwarming, because despite all the melancholy it makes you go through to reach the end, ultimately, it's the masterpiece of a story of a boy and a girl, connected in the most unexpected way, and all that follows.

[Katie Colson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vlog/Review: https://youtu.be/ONtCTarlJKs

Y'ALL I CRIIIIIIIED!!!

I got over halfway through this book and thought "Oh, yeah, this is cute." then 💥BOOM💥 it came in with a jab. Couple pages later 💥POW💥 hit me with the uppercut. Toward the end, I was on the floor but it kept kicking.

I thought I knew exactly how this manga would end. Boy was I wrong.

I did not expect to love these characters THIS much. They are so sweet and pure and innocent.
This has major sunshine/grump vibes in the best way.

The cherry blossoms waiting for spring. If you know, you know.

"I want to eat your pancreas" is now the only way to say 'I love you' to me. I won't accept less.

[Steph · Rating 3 out of 5]

basically YA sick lit with an ill manic pixie dream girl protagonist. i mostly read it for the absurd title (which actually isn't so absurd within the context of the story).

it's a pretty cute story with some bittersweet philosophical themes. sakura believes that they "chose to meet" and everything that happens is based on their decisions.

the penultimate chapter is super tearjerky, going over sakura's journal from the last months of her life. i can absolutely imagine a poignant anime version!!

but i really struggled with the manic pixie dream girl thing. sakura teaches our male main character to have empathy and care for others. her final note literally says she spent her 17 years waiting for him to need her, just like cherry blossoms wait for spring???? oh god. seriously??? must this young woman's life be reduced to the impact she has on this dude???

also, regarding sakura's death (SPOILER) it's considered a random stabbing, and there's not really any discussion about it? yet we know sakura had a creepy ex stalking her?? what??? i don't understand why the creepy ex was included if they were never going to indicate whether he was her murderer. are we just supposed to assume? idk if i missed something here, because it seems so bizarre.

[☆Pelumi☆]

I'll pretend I didn't see the title and add it to tbr list
Thank you very much!!

[n* · Rating 5 out of 5]

there's clichéd tearjerkers, and then there's masterpieces like this.

[James DeSantis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy shit did I cry so much reading this.

Before we get into the book I'd like to say why this resonated with me so much. Both characters in this book share traits that I see in myself. I'm a nerd, and unlike now days, growing up isolation and picked on went hand in hand with being one. However, I balanced it out with having close friends while also not trying to be a complete hermit. In doing so I spent a lot of my free time either reading novels, comics, watching tv shows, anime, or playing games. So similar to our main character [No Name]-Kun it made me really connect with his view on life at first when I was his age. Basically, I don't find myself interesting, so why would anyone else? So why find anyone else interesting either.

On flipside we have Sakura who, and this isn't a spoiler, has pancreas disease and is dying. She's outgoing, and uses her humor to cover up her pain. She loves people close to her and would do ANYTHING for them. Even shield them from the pain she's going through. This is something I do, and can relate to as well. So watching how she dealt with this terrible disease I can put myself in her shoes 100%.

Now on to the story. See the reason I put [No Name]-Kun is because our hero doesn't give his name out. Well he does, but every time someone says it he pictures hearing what THEY think of him. So it makes for some funny scenes, and at the same time makes you feel awful for him. This is a clever story idea, similar to Silent Voice (another great manga) in which the character when looking at faces sees a huge X on them because he's too scared to actually look them in the face after being bullied for so long. So when No Name-kun finds the diary of Sakura and learns she has this disease she decides to befriend him completely. Seeing as he'll be the ONLY one she knows besides her direct family that knows about her dying.

This book doesn't cover up the fact, or say maybe it'll turn around, that our main heroine is going to pass away. But the amazing thing the book does is take you on a life, however short it is, to see how you can enjoy it. And it gives you a reason to question what life means to you, and the people around you. It hits every single emotional bit it is supposed to.

But what REALLY worked well, more than anything was the dialogue. A lot of manga has to be translated and sometimes the jokes aren't as well crafted here. But man oh man, was I smiling, smirking, laughing at multiple scenes here. On top of that the actual serious moments made me glued to the page and this is like 400+ pages I read in one sitting. Yeah. It is THAT good.

Listen, I can sit here and talk about this forever. I laid down last night at 8:15PM and finished around 9:45PM. And one point I had to put the book down because I was crying and tears were hitting the page. My wife was looking at me like I was crazy and I told her "This is on the level of Saga volume 7 ending" and she gasped. Yeah guys, this is the one.

This might be one of my favorite mangas ever. As good as Your Name and Silent Voice easily, and a MUST read. A 5 out of 5.

[Dani ❤️ Perspective of a Writer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Check out more reviews @ Perspective of a Writer...


In the complete manga collection of I Want to Eat Your Pancreas we meet Yamauchi Sakura who has been silently suffering from a pancreatic disease in school. When she loses her journal she suddenly decides to share her situation with the bookworm boy from her class who finds it. A friendship buds and flowers as these opposites attract slowly learn from one another. At first you think this is just another story about death and grief... but its so much more. We see this gradual building of this budding friendship. We can see that romance is nudging at these two even though neither is willing to take that step.

At its heart though we have a couple who are total opposites of each other. He is so withdrawn into himself that he doesn't react very strongly to the idea she's going to die soon. That allows Sakura to live normally with him and yet still be able to talk matter of factly about her demise. I really loved that about their relationship. He felt he was going along like a reed boat down a river but in reality he was making the choice to accept her. Accept what she needed since she wasn't long for this earth. Their journey though takes us through the boy's entire process from first meeting to the conclusion of their friendship. It's heartbreaking and totally made me cry!

There are many subtle details that slowly develop and showcase their relationship. They are perhaps too subtle for the manga. The art wasn't developed in a way to showcase these subtitles so that the reader could put together their import later. The art isn't bad... in fact I found the art in the last 25% so beautiful with these delightful screens that added so much depth to the art. This is a time where the fact this was adapted from a light novel caused the I Want to Eat Your Pancreas manga to suffer a little. I could see that the mangaka artist started to really get in stride with the art, but too late for it to impact the middle of the story like it needed to. In the end the frames were better developed to showcase the idea of an event better in a single frame.

In the I Want to Eat Your Pancreas manga the story builds to this crescendo. You aren't sure how everything will be resolved even though we know how this must tragically end. Certainly it is a realistic ending and true love doesn't suddenly change things. I can appreciate that! However, the lessons and conclusions are unexpectedly focused in a different direction that you would normally expect dealing with death and grief... And that is a beautiful thing.

The I Want to Eat Your Pancreas manga collection is a fun way to take in a deeply heart touching story about two opposites attract who only have a short time together due to the unrelenting pursuit of a disease. We can learn from these two even as they learned from each other... It's all about how we choose to live.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Authenticity
⋆ ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Tension
⋆ ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Plot
⋆ ⋆ ⭐⭐⭐ Art

Thanks to Seven Seas for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review. It has not influenced my opinions.

______________________
You can find this manga review and many others on my book blog every Monday @ Perspective of a Writer. See my manga and graphic novel reviews at the bottom of the page.

Please like this review if you enjoyed it! *bow* *bow* It helps me out a ton!!

[meher ! · Rating 4 out of 5]

oh my gosh i'm sobbing right now
as in i'm in actual tears and i feel weak
review to come?

[Violet ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

We met each other because that's where our choices led us. 💌



Okay, I finished reading the manga in one sitting, just as I did when I picked up its movie. And I am now sobbing.

The manga art style is so cute and chibi-like, but the story is a total tearjerker. I really like stories about two polar opposite characters who form an unlikely bond and kind of save each other. They talked about life and change with a touching twist about meeting someone who can help you choose and move forward. The reciprocity of their actions demonstrated how much they showed their call for each other. It is also about how death became one of its centers, especially the unexpected ones.

What made me like this even more is our bookworm male protagonist and Sakura's favorite book, which is one of my favorites too. 📚

I'm glad I was able to feel their shared connections and memories again in this manga after the movie. Yes, I am planning to read the light novel, the original somewhere in the future too. Highly recommended!(By the way, I am going to pick a lighter read after this.)



Sakura's waiting for us.🌸

[Rouh || رُوح · Rating 4 out of 5]

So this is literally an ENFP & INTP relationship guide😄❤, this was so overwhelming. Thanks dream.<3

"I'd say living is probably about sharing soul-deep connections with people. Understanding each other Totally. That's living. Validating other people's existence falling in love, hating someone. Finding it fun or horrible to be around someone, Holding hands, hugging, crossing paths. That was living is--all those connections. If I was alone, I wouldn't have any way to know I existed. The me who likes someone but hates them. The me who enjoys being with someone but also things it's horrible to be around them, I think those bonds and interactions with people are what it means for me to be alive. My heart exist because of everyone around me. My body exists because people touch it. That's how I was made and that's why I'm alive now. I'm still here alive."

So Yamauchi-Sakura had bloomed and blossomed in Shiga-Haruki demeanor. Live your life my friend, love it, and find your spring.🌼🍃

[Reading_ Tamishly · Rating 5 out of 5]

What do you want to gift a person you want to protect for the rest of your life?

She approached him. No. He accidentally came to know about her secret only she and her family knew.

They became friends. Yes. Sometimes it’s confusing to be just friends when you come to like someone with all your heart. But then it’s okay to be friends as long as you are both together enjoying the littlest things in life.

Then swoosh! Just like that one of them is gone. Forever. What do you do?

She did plan something very special for him and her best friend. And it will stay with them forever. Thank you, you lively amazing girl who cried when you were alone because you didn’t want to worry anyone.

Thank you, Yamauchi. You helped me through one of my darkest days. I am still grieving but you are comforting me now.

I always thought I am enough and I will never need to know another person. And you gave me reasons why I need to know someone I can rely on. You will always be remembered. Hope you and my darling cats are enjoying there. You went away on the same day for me. Hope you stay together for long, comfort my kitties when they remember me. When you cry, they will stay and comfort you too. They are very good at that. Stay warm.


(Came back home and found out that two of our cats passed away this week. I didn’t know. I was reading this manga for the first time and I was crying nonstop on the way back. I felt my heart was already broken before reading this book. I was feeling sad without a reason. And now I know… sorry I cannot do anything but cry today. Take care.)

[Arian · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been an emotional rollercoaster for me. Prolly one of the best anime films I've ever watched. And I absolutely like this book 'cause I can somehow relate to the main character Haruki to some extent, and how realistic it is. Sakura's life, despite its challenges, becomes a lesson in embracing every moment and live your life to the fullest. It beautifully captures the essence of relationships and the impact we have on one another. With its stunning artwork, it goes beyond tears to touch on love, morality, and loss.

It's not just a story; not just another sad love-story; it's a heartfelt masterpiece that lingers in the connection between two souls, making you feel the beauty of being alive. Keep smiling and shining always, enjoy every little moment of life and try to find happiness in every little thing 🙂

[Neginthereader · Rating 5 out of 5]

فرقی نمیکنه چند بار انیمه‌شو ببینم یا مانگاشو بخونم، هردفعه باهاش اشکام جاری میشن و قلبم فشرده میشه:)))))))

انقد آرت مانگاش خوشگله که قلبم تحملشو نداره بخدااااااا
ای کاش انیمه هم مثل مانگا انقد آرتش کیوت بود🥲✨

و اینکه آره دیگه تا اابد تو قلبمید سکورا و...(اسمشو بگم اسپویل حساب میشه)♡

پ.ن: مرسی از مهرشید قشنگم بابت هدیه این مانگای دلبر🤍

+I WANT TO EAT YOUR PANCREAS...

[Alexis | whatlexreads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well that hurt???? But it was beautiful.

[Yasamanv · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5⭐️
...زمان های گذشته وقتی قسمتی از بدن کسی مشکل پیدا می کرده، همون قسمت از بدن یه حیوون رو می خورده. به نظرم باور داشتن که این کار شفاشون میده. به خاطر همین، منم میخوام پانکراست رو بخورم...

خب این خیلی غم انگیز و در عین حال پر از امید و زندگی بود😭
نویسنده داستانو از آخر شروع کرده یعنی با خوندن اولین خط ها میفهمی آخرش چی میشه و هی میخونی میگی خب دیگه از اینکه بدتر نمیشه؟ تا میرسی به جای درد آور کتاب 😭💔
کتابهای نویسنده های ژاپنی همیشه حال منو دگرگون میکنن ، بعد از خوندن کتاباشون یه مدت میرم تو فکر 💀

[Amanja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally posted on https://amanjareads.com/2020/11/20/i-...

From the title, I Want to Eat Your Pancreas, you may think that this is a Marvel comic book about Venom. Alas, it is something completely different. A beautifully touching manga about a dying girl and a true friend.

She has been diagnosed with a fatal condition involving her pancreas. She knows she doesn't have much time left. Probably less than a year. But she's still full of energy and vigor. She wants to keep living her life until it's over. Death can come for all of us at any time. She's just more aware of this than most others.

She has no shortage of friends at school but she doesn't want any of them to treat her differently so she's been keeping her condition a secret. She only writes about it in her journal. Until a shy boy from her class finds the diary and realizes how sick she really is.

She chooses to confide in him and becomes his only friend. The rest of the story invovles them getting to know each other and beoming emotionally intimate.

She sometimes teases about becoming romantic with him and it confuses him to no end. But the romance part is not the important part. Their friendship and their trust is what matters. They have something that goes far beyond first kisses.

He begins to want to be more like her. More open to relationships of all kinds and he starts to grow as a person because of her.

But this is not your average sick kids in love book, and everyone should know by now I have a strange fondness for that specific genre. Without giving spoilers it's hard to explain how this book ends. It ends exactly like you think it will but how it gets there is surprising.

It's original and it's honest. I Want to Eat Your Pancreas will certainly tug at your heart strings. I did not cry at this one but it did make my heart swell to double its size. It's one of those books that you finish, put down, and then sit in silent reflection for a few minutes before you're able to move on.

It's lovely, and it really did get to me. I can fully recommend this manga to anyone who loves a story about all the ways various relationships can touch your life. And how making a friend of the quiet kid will benefit both of you.

[Alyssa Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

my heart hurts

[Joshua Gabriel · Rating 2 out of 5]

For the first time, I really lived. I existed in the world. It was all thanks to her.

When my friends and family members saw me reading this manga, they immediately asked me about the title. Like, who wouldn't, right? You don't encounter such titles every day. But this book doesn't have anything to do with cannibalism nor zombies. You might be surprised to learn that it's a very sad story of friendship (and could-have-been romance?).

I Want to Eat Your Pancreas follows an introverted boy named Haruki. He doesn't bother to interact with anyone in school because he believes that no one will ever be interested in him. One day, he goes to a hospital and "accidentally" reads the journal of Sakura, an extroverted girl with pancreatic cancer. In spite of their stark differences, they eventually become friends. Meanwhile, Sakura's doom clock keeps on ticking, and neither of them can do anything to stop it.

This manga had the nerve to disclose Sakura's death in the very first chapter. I was shocked because the cute, flowery cover made me exhappy things. Kudos to the publishers for their cunning marketing strategy. Still, that maneuver was like an intentional spoiler, which significantly reduced my reading appetite. One of my friends said that I should've known better, so I guess I'm not yet jaded when it comes to manga. How could I know that Yoru Sumino was like Makoto Shinkai? LOL

Given Haruki's reserved personality, I expected him to be so relatable. Although I liked his self-sufficiency, I couldn't empathize with him because he didn't have a life outside his interactions with Sakura, his very own Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Also, the narrative seemed to imply that Haruki's introversion was a weakness. This reeked of extrovert envy, so I felt defensive and frustrated. I always hate it when people equate introversion to shyness or something that you need to overcome. At one point, Sakura claimed that she was jealous of Haruki's social independence. Her confession was too late, though; the damage was done.

I Want to Eat Your Pancreas is one of my least favorite manga this year. However, regardless of my frustration with the protagonists, I liked the overall message of the story: You can enjoy life even if you have a terminal illness. Optimism is immensely difficult to achieve in this case, so cancer victims who learn to live with the idea of dying soon are inspiring in their own right.

P.S. Sakura's death was imminent, but the way it happened was mind-blowing!

[Olha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Доволі миленько, але тріґер-ворнінг! Тут смертельно хвора дівчина головна героїня.
Відверто романтичної лінії немає, якщо хтось чекає) тут більше про спілкування загалом і сміливість відкрити себе світу. Принаймні, на мою думку)

[Ligia Moisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐⭐
~
•fiction, contemporary, light novel, romance, YA
•emotional, sad, medium-paced
~
TW: terminal illness, death, grief, murder, child death, violence.
~
Cartea asta m-a scos din RS, trebuia să menționez asta.
~
Light novelul ne prezintă povestea unui licean care află că una dintre colegele lui de clasă este pe moarte. Nu doar că fata e pe moarte dar, decide și să țină totul secret față de colegii și prietenii ei. Acest secret abia născut între Haruki și Sakura, îi face pe cei doi să lege o relație specială.
~
Am empatizat enorm cu Haruki, cu modul în care vede el lumea, cu modul în care se regăsește mai mult între cărți decât între oameni, cu faptul că solitudinea nu-l deranja. Dacă mă întrebi despre mine și despre cum eram eu în liceu, eram destul de asemănătoare lui.
~
Cu Sakura nu am empatizat de la început dar e genul de personaj care crește și se dezvoltă în fața ta pe parcursul lecturii.
~
Cu tot cu job și cu program încărcat, tot am reușit să devorez povestea asta doar în câteva zile. Și va rămâne pentru foarte mult timp în sufletul meu.
~
Nu am plâns, dar mi-au dat câteva lacrimi în momentul în care am realizat niște că totul e trecător și că, uneori, nu toate personajele pe care le îndrăgesc au parte de finalurile fericite pe care mi le doresc. Și asta e atât de uman, real și frumos.
~
Nu sunt carnivoră și totuși, parcă aș mânca și eu pancreasul oamenilor dragi din viața mea. ( Iykyk)
~
Nu pot să vă oblig să dați o șansă cărții dar pot să o recomand din tot sufletul.


Și acum ce fac cu viața mea?

[Stay Fetters · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I’d say living is... probably... about sharing soul-deep connections with people. Understanding each other totally. That’s living."

I’ve recently read the light novel of this and enjoyed it. So I decided to read this to compare the two. I liked both but I found myself enjoying this one more. I even felt more emotions with this one than the other.
They are both worth the read.

[Nastaran Masoomi · Rating 3 out of 5]

انیمه رو دیدم، مانگا رو هم خوندم،و دوستش هم داشتم... اما حال روحی این روزهام اونقدر خرابه که خوندنش واقعا طول کشید... این روزها بیشتر از هر وقت دیگه‌ای احساسات متخلف رو تجربه میکنم...یعنی گمانم تمام ما، تمام مایی که در ایران هستیم اینطور باشیم...

روزی، بعد از اینکه رنگین کمون آسمون سرزمینمون رو به آغوش کشید، برمیگردم میام و در مورد کتاب‌های این مدت حرف‌های درست می‌نویسم...

[fyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

im never picking up anything that makes sjerilyn cry again because jesus fucking christ that was so sad gosh

[Devi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ugh.. I cried reading this🥺

[Chantaal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grabbed this from my library because of the title - and who wouldn't, with a title like that?! This ended up being a very bittersweet story about connecting with the world and in the end, about grief. Sakura is dying from a pancreatic disease, and our main character is an introverted boy who never speaks to his classmates until a chance encounter forces Sakura into his orbit.

I think this story work as well as it does because it's not entirely about Sakura's illness; it's also about the main character being drawn out of his shell and learning to connect with the world and care about people. It was easy to get drawn into the story and eventually to find myself caring for both of these characters, and though you know from the first few pages that you're in for a sad ending, it still hit me hard.

My only real gripe with this story would be how Sakura can come across as very Manic Pixie Dream Anime Girl, to the point where it's irritating and starts to slip into the trope that only that type of girl can "fix" the grumpy, alienated boy.

But, as I said, I came to care for the characters in the end, and enjoyed this as a whole. It's a sweet story about growing up and making connections and dealing with the hand life deals you.

(And yes, the title makes sense after you read it.)

[Rod Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

A manga version of The Fault in Our Stars, wherein our introverted protagonist discovers his classmate's secret - she has a terminal disease with possibly only a year or so to live. It's long on schoolboy fantasy with the quiet, thoughtful lad being drawn out of his shell and away from his books by the attractive and outgoing girl, but it plays out so sweetly I was quite won over.

There is a twist near the end that doesn't ruin the book, but does mar the innocence of it all with some unnecessary cruelty, especially since the denouement plays out pretty much the same as it would have without it.

[Dreamcatcher (HIATUS) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

It was fine until the 'can I cry now'? After that I couldn't help but actually shed a tear as Haruki finally cried as well. I don't think I've actually cried over a fictional story before (Honestly I think I only cried because this was my first time reading a tearjerker BUT that doesn't take away the fact that I cried. Like actually cried.)

I can't believe I avoided both the manga and the anime until now because of the title. The name Haruki Shiga will definitely stick with me for a looong time.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

My goodness - that was sad!

RTC