Plot and the cast seemed rather conventional at first. However, after a number of volumes, the story became far more intriguing and fascinating.
The main character is fairly wimpy at first(wow... a teenager who asks for permission to go to the toilet is a rare sight! haha! 🙂 ) but at least she starts to evolve a lot, learning from the people and environment around her. Also, the rest of the cast evolve over time and you can see how their relations change as they interact: trust, mistrust, jealousy, acknowledgment, acceptance, fear, happiness, anger, sadness, deep pondering, etc., etc., and all these affect their teamwork and teamplay as well as their personal views and state of emotions.
Also, the details to the evolution of plants, animals, soil, clouds, star constellations, how the asteroid/meteor impacted Japan and other countries, what plans Japan made, etc., etc. are nothing short of amazing, so the background of the story is really rich.
At first, I had plenty of misgivings due to the amount of cast but the mangaka has proven her ability in layering tapestry upon tapestry of details, without affecting the quality of the plot.
And the idea to put in
instructors/leaders who knew about what had happened, was an excellent plot device. Usually, many post-apocalypse stories turn out to be a total farce because they rely too heavily on the cast suddenly figuring out that it's a "post-apocalypse" without having much evidence or knowledge of the "supposed incidents".
As for the art itself, well... the style probably follows old-school shoujo artstyle, so some might have reservations about it. However, the ability to depict geographical, technological, modern, ecological, movement, characters' tension/moods/personalities and other details is nothing short of amazing. There are plenty of artists who excel in some but few who excel in most or all of these. To actually depict all these with some level of emotion and atmosphere is amazing! For, after all, there's a difference between "technical drawings" and "impressing upon the viewer with sombre, happiness, calmness, etc., etc.". And furthermore, to partially shape the plot with aid of such devices requires a true mastery of many things.
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