MightyMaeve's review sums up my thoughts nicely. What I would like to add however is although the story bares a striking resemblance to the more famous "Hotarubi no Mori e", a manga that was made five years before this one, I believe this one is the better read. Why? Because:
-Yumeka Sumomo's art is better. The beautiful nature backgrounds, the detailed designs, and the graceful way she depicted the characters' emotions and facial expressions are some of the primary reasons why the story tugs the heartstrings much better than in Hotarubi. In fact, if you read my review about it, you'll see that I mentioned how the facial plain facial expressions were a big killer of the story for me.
-Better story flow. Hotarubi failed in this aspect because it rushed the climax. I explained about that in my review. I actually mentioned there that the rushing might be because the mangaka had to fit it in the page limit, but now I think that's not an excuse because Kon no Ki is eight pages shorter and still manages to have stable development. The scenes when the heroine was still a child weren't so long, but they showed enough important parts that would build the foundation for the teenager part of the story. And even in the teenager part, the development was still stable and didn't rush. A good chunk of it is the girl spending time in school actually, and it's scenes like those that help build her character and evoke her emotions to the reader.
-Kon no Ki handled the twist and the ending better.
Spoiler (mouse over to view)
By twist, I mean the death scenes. In Kon no Ki, the character Konoha, a tree spirit, dies because of a fire that spread in the forest. What makes that scene good is how well it goes with the ending. In the end, years after the fire, the heroine still regularly sees the mountain. But by then, the fire has died out and the forest has regrown in a single color- blue, the color of Konoha's leaves.
Hotarubi's ending was unsatisfying, which again, I explained in my review.
TL;DR Hotarubi no Mori e may have had the idea first, but Kon no Ki Konoha's storytelling wins.
This story is so dreamlike; the pages seem to pass by slowly one after another laying out the sad tale in such a wonderful way! The art greatly added to this in its light and somewhat sketchy manner. This story is a very nice one!
I agree with gati , just finished reading the story and all I could think of "OMG this is a total ripped off of one of MIDORIKAWA Yuki's one shots ", it was ok nonetheless, but could not feel the ending coz it felt the deja vu
Eh? The story is VERY similar to an older one by Yuki Midorikawa! It resembles "Hotaru no Mori E" soo much I can't believe it! There is a young girl meeting a ghost-like person in the forest and they become to like each other altough they can never be together! hello? WTF! I like the STORY very much and also the works by Sumomo Yumeka but It seems like a copy of Midorikawas story. I'm disappointed.
good as a oneshot... the beauty and simplicity of the work really gets you. however due to the length of it i was not able to fully immerse myself with the story and either of its characters, so I hardly felt any sadness from the story
I swear, whatever Yumeka Sumomo/Sahara Mizu does is just fantastic in terms of art and story. It is a absolutely WONDERFUL oneshot that actually made me tear up when he said:
Spoiler (highlight to view)
"Your a Liar, Akino"
It is very rare for oneshot to hit you like that. This is a highly recommended short read for anyone who has the time.
... It was great The ending was sad, but you could feel the love between Akino and Konoha. And like you said, it's a bittersweet story, but it's beautiful.
This story is magnetically delivered! It's like a hundred voices whispering in your ear, in an archaic language that is deceptively simple as it weaves tighter and tighter around you!
I read this one almost a year ago and have reread it and retold it to others many a' time. It echoed like a rock skipped across water.
The story has such a sad, yet beautiful acceptance of a tragic past and a unusual solution that was offered to a group of children many years before the heroine actually meets the hero of the story. As their relationship slowly develops, with carefully selected, meaningful and deftly delivered panels of words and art, I felt more and more for the relationship that they both desire so passionately, but time and magic held them prisoners.
I'm not sure I actually understand the co-relation with the girl's school friend and the tree boy, but I do think that the mangaka left it open so that each reader could find their own very personal interpretation of the ending.
The humour was so gentle and soft and left a smile on my face, especially the mischievous tickle scene! And the romance, although understated, was very powerful, especially the scene where the heroine presses her forehead against the boys' while he is still inside the tree. Awesome art!
It's another beautiful story that entices the reader to feel sympathy for the characters and be swept along the mood. Truly, it's a beautiful oneshot, that almost made me cry. It wasn't extremely tragic, but just beautiful with a subtle sadness. I love this oneshot. It's worth your time.
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The ending was sad, but you could feel the love between Akino and Konoha. And like you said, it's a bittersweet story, but it's beautiful.
