In my opinion, the pacing of this story is good: the first volume is focused on the Inn's purpose, the second is about its resident staff, and the third is about the Landlady and Matsuura. The guests' stories tugged at my heartstrings, and I liked how each of them approached their situation differently.

My only gripe would be that the major twist is too much on the melodramatic side, and almost like something those TV producers kept pressuring Keiichiro to write. It came across as too ridiculous to be credible, which took me out of the story more than making me feel sorry for the characters.



But, all in all, it's a story worth reading. The art is beautiful and Hozumi constructs a very serene atmosphere with an undercurrent of sadness and tension.

I cried, an inn where you find what you've lost and have been looking for.

Storyline is a similar take to Mushishi, wherein the MC is not active throughout the entire manga but rather serves as the main support to the characters who enter and leave the premises. Some of the standalone storyline had a lot of potential to be either pushed further or be more accentuated, but are usually left somewhat vague or okay with a decent end. The host should've had a stronger personality but because the MC is a child, a more prominent personality couldn't shine through because the mangaka still needs the MC to maintain some sort of childish behavior to match. Not only that, the characters who support her in her job as a Host, were either introduced later on (in this already short manga) or were not known until later; if their stories were made known earlier on, the mangaka would have successfully created more lovable characters which readers could have bonded with. I was especially interested in Bantou, who assumed the position of Host before and after the MC. There wasn't a lot of information on him, only bits and pieces of what he is capable of. He is the reason why my rating on this story is lowered. But it was very rewarding to finally know the MC's relationship with Matsura.

The plot of this manga is well written and very interesting. The way it was set up also isn't like your other typical manga, but it works well for the story.

It's a light read, and it's worth your time. Although I did wish it was longer, but it didn't feel rushed to me so I guess that's fine.

The episodic first volume gave me a feeling of similarity with Hell Girl. And it was the volume I liked the most. I would like the manga to focus a bit more about the stories, they were really tear-squeezing. I didn't cry like this for a long time.
The mystry with the landlady was a bot less touching, maybe they showed it too fast but it was still really good.
And the art is just beautiful. Good, solid read, I recommend it.

I feel like the author was rushed towards the end and if she had another volume, and continued the episodic format while slowly revealing the truth about them it would've been much better. It was really well done and fantastic at the beginning but it got a bit campy and over dramatic at the end, where they just told instead of showed the story. I enjoyed the start of the reveal but when it came to the tragedy, it was a bit too much. I agree with the other reviewers that it was quite poetic in its episodic format but then fell flat at the end.

I'm a bit surprised this isn't more popular than it is. I expected it to be kind of gentle and episodic, and it was--at the beginning. Within a few chapters, it becomes apparent that something deeper is going on among the inn's staff. The overarching plot regarding the innkeeper was a little cheesy, though I didn't think it was bad. The first volume was probably the best of the three.

Although overall I quite liked it, it seemed a little rushed at the end. I wonder if the mangaka had planned for it to be longer, then had to hurry to get in all of the "final" plot at the end. I think it might have been more powerful if there had been more time to buildup to it.

This is a rare case of an episodic manga with an overarching storyline where the former works better than the letter. While the storyline felt somewhat melodramatic (with a few too many clichés or somewhat forced tragedies), several of the standalone episodes were emotionally powerful.

... Last updated on May 23rd, 2016, 1:17pm