This collection is simply wonderful. It's such a terrible shame that no-one, not even Ishihara Satoru herself, writes BL likes this any more. The art is old-fashioned, sketchy, and really rather ugly, but the depth and psychological realism of each one-shot is so incredible that you really, really should make an exception in this case even if you're the kind of person for whom the art style is a deciding factor when choosing your manga.

At first glance it might seem that Normandy de Aimashou is somewhat incompatible with the rest of the stories...and I thought so too, at first. But in retrospect it struck me that even though war is harsh, cruel and disgustingly brutal, there may, just may, be some astounding acts of kindness in the midst of all that despair. I don't know whether it's just my fancy or not, but I do feel the mangaka wanted to express that -- while also giving our tormented emotions a bit of respite along the way.

I can't really describe how stunning and affecting these stories are, so I recommend anyone who can understand Japanese to read this if you ever have the chance. Wartime love stories are far from being uncommon, and some of these one-shots do carry certain basic clichés from that genre, but they still manage to stand on their own as original tales that will make you feel sorrow from the very depths of your heart. I definitely didn't cry while I was reading, but my throat clenched quite painfully several times -- and believe you me, it's nigh impossible to make me feel anything at all about fictitious tragedies.

Highly recommended to pretty much anyone, regardless of general genre preference (it doesn't matter whether you're a BL fan or not -- there's very little male x male romance here anyway, and all such relationships end less-than-happily); but I must warn you -- melancholy and tragedy abounds throughout this volume, so if you're looking for happily-ever-afters and "love conquers all", better skip this one.

... Last updated on March 3rd, 2012, 8:34pm