Hiiro no Isu

I rated this a 10 in every category (story, art, character, enjoyment, and overall). That doesn't often happen with me, but this manga has really impressed me! I'm a huge fan of stories taking place in historical kingdoms. What I found unique was the lack of magic. It made the story more simple, heartfelt, and realistic. If I had to describe this series in one word it would be 'nostalgic.' That's the feeling I got while I was reading. The theme is friendship and there are a lot of flashbacks of when Setsu and Luca were children. The scenes were drawn so tenderly in MidorikawaYuki's dreamy, light style that it made me remember childhood friends I had in the past. There are also some great quotes throughout the manga that help evoke this feeling. The characterization was excellent. I really cared about Setsu, Luca, the King, Dori, and Kulea. Setsu was an incredibly strong female lead. I liked that she was androgynous and could pass for a male too. The story ignores gender completely and only focuses on the emotional bonds of the characters. I found it really refreshing that there were sweet scenes between two males, two females, or a male and a female without bringing a sexual element into the story. While Luca is technically one of the main characters, he remains a shadowy person and the readers only see him through the eyes of Setsu or the King. This mystery is present until the end when we finally discover what happened to him. Sometimes you can see where a story is heading, but I was genuinely surprised. It could not have ended more perfectly. This is now one of my favorite mangas and I hope that it's printed in English someday because I would love to own this!