I've only read up to Chapter 32, but this manga is amazing. The drawings and story were kind of lagging at the beginning, but as the story progressed, I really began to appreciate the art style. It's not lacking in skill - it is just a little grotesque, sort of. It shows expressions so well even though Natsume and Kou and Ootomo can be such indifferent characters. It's dark, brutal, yet charming and endearing. I love Kou the way Natsume does - I almost feel sucked in by his presence. There is just something about him that you can't put your hand on - "a blazing fire."
The story is also set around pulling at your heartstrings and writing things that normally you wouldn't want to see. In times where we hate the cliche happy endings, this manga really pushes the limits of that desire to see something "different." So many times, we are faced with disappointed in a bittersweet way.
You'd want to see Natsume saved. You'd want to see Kou show a flaw, but not in that way. I loved the idea of Kou being invincible, that it was "his land," that he had a god-like power that could sway and move anybody. This story started out as a typical model-girl story, but with her being thrown into a hickish town, everything changed. Kou is practically the embodiment of nature and life itself, and she is drawn to that. Risk-taking, fearlessness, and most of all - a purposeless passion. Kou moves her for no good reason, he brings about feelings she has never experienced - and she calls it "love."
As another person commented, I love how the story progresses through the character's life from since they were little. It's almost like Oyasumi Punpun in that respect as basically a coming of age story. I love their childish responses to their feelings and even danger. They are impulsive, they hate easily, they are violent...I feel like the mangaka captures the feeling of uncertainty and fleetingness so well, and the idea of centering the story around that is just profound. Even down to the jagged and faded lines of the drawings, this manga embodies and speaks a great deal of sense on the matters of passion and the inevitable.
Kou is transient, mysterious - one moment he is there, he is interested; the other he is gone and practically dead to you. It's a strange yet endearing character flaw/trait.
I'm so hyped about this manga that I may start to read chapter summaries...