Kanata Kara is easily one of my favorite shoujo series. Good romance, well-developed characters, nice pacing and a very believable.
As other people have mentioned it is not the MOST original manga, containing a number of so-called cliche aspects to it's romance and plot. However, I personally do not mind cliches, and if you're reading shoujo, chances are you already know what to expect.
Cliche or not, the series, for what it is, is very well done. I like the art style, very classic 90's shoujo fastasy, but the manga-ka has demonstrated a mastery of it, and i like the variety present in the abundant character designs.
One of the other aspects of this manga that i truly appreciate is the lack of heavy-handed irrational heroism, that is, no doing good for good's sake. From the beginning, when we see the heroine arrive in a strange place and cope with language and culture barriers, you can clearly understand that the motivations behind all the characters actions are very rooted in survival and basic human nature, thus everyone, even many of the antagonists, are believable.
The romance is exceptionally charming, and the author has a very keen sense of the subtlety in expressions and gestures for her characters. The act of falling in love never breaks with the character's individual personality and development, as happens often with shoujo where a character suddenly takes on the personality of someone else the moment they fall in love, or fall in love too quickly.
Finally, although some accuse the manga of being to political, i find there is just enough to give it substance, so that the romance has something to stand on. At the very least, at no point does that manga drag, so there seems to be a good balance with the pacing.
The only thing i was wholly disappointed by was the ending, not for how it ended, but the fact that i had no more to read!
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