The Garden of Words

It contains spoilers. Ah, love... What would it be of our lifes without love? It moves the world, it makes us feel things, it makes us happy or destroy our heart... A strong feeling, motivation of hundred of people every day to fullfil their routine. You can love a person, an animal, the music you listen, anime and manga... I hope you agree in it, because Kotonoha no Niwa brings us some cups of sweet sweet love. This manga is an adaptation of the well known movie made by Makoto Shinkai (the best he's made in my opinion) in 2013. In it, it tells the exact samestory as the movie, but with some little differences, details that make Takao and Yukari more human. For those who may not know about it (if you are here, I suppose you saw the movie and want more), Kotonoha no Niwa —or The Garden of Words— tells the story of Yukari Yukino, a 27yo woman, and Takao Akizuki, a 15yo student. Takao has decided that the rainy days, he'll not assist to the high school, because he would be drawing shoes in a park. His dream is to be a shoemaker. One day he encounters a mysterious woman drinking beer and eating chocolate in the same spot he always visit to be alone. The woman, out of nowhere, tells Takao a 'Tanka', a japanese poem. From that day, Takao and Yukari meet each other every day thar rains. The story is pretty simple, but it's beautifully related as an impossible romance. One of Shinkai's main themes in his movies is the distance between two individuals and how they know each other. In Kotonoha no Niwa, we see how they begin to love each other. This tries so hard to tell us that it doesn't matter who you are, because if you support me, I'll support you. Kotonoha no Niwa is, somehow, a bittersweet romance, impossible to complete by now. Different ages, different positions, but the same strong feeling of human need. The ending is really satisfying. The movie showed us how Takao tried to convice Yukari (and himself) that he was only a tool, that he mattered none to her. In the other hand, in the manga, we are blessed with a mature but childish monologue that comes to say the exact same thing but different. Takao wants to know why if she had been treating him like his equal, now, in that exact moment (when he confesses to her), she starts acting like an 'adult'. The art is incredibily good. It has some accurate details in the backgrounds and the faces are so well drawn, maybe better than the movie itself. The dialogues were sometimes messy, difficult to follow —because it uses a bubble system that misleaded me. The character creation is the same that in the movie but with some improvements. We are delighted with some Yukari moments that build her personality. I could, in every moment, believe what I was reading. They treated each other like strangers, but like if they had known for all life. The intimate moments in the garden are perfect, and even if the magic scene when Takao draws Yukari's foot is the same as the movie, it felt even more intimate. I love Kotonoha no Niwa, I can't deny it. It pierced my chest like an arrow, and I really hope that this manga adaptation is not the last thing we see about that impossible couple. If you liked the movie, I strongly suggest you to read this, because is the same but has more things to offer.

This review contains minor spoilers. The story was great. I watched the movie last year and I actually disliked it until I read the manga which completely changed my mind. I can't recall if the movie had the same ending as the manga but the manga definitely had more content than the movie. The art was incredibly beautiful. I literally stared at some of the bigger pictures for minutes because it was so good. The character designs were really nice and I liked the way Midori Motohashi drew them when they were blushing and how she sometimes drew these big pictures of the park. The garden ofwords also uses small subtext that's fairly easy to understand. Such as how Yukino recognized the schools emblem on Takao's shirt. But the most beautiful use of subtext was how shoes and walking were used in the story. Yukino lost the ability to walk properly which basically means that she can't move on from the past because of fear of the things that hurt her before. Takao intends to make shoes that will make her want to walk again and this means that Takao pretty much just wants to help her with her worries and help her move forward. So like I said it uses subtext but not to the point where you have to sit yourself down after reading it and think "what the hell did I just read?" which I think is a really good thing. The ending was really nice and showed that even though Takao might believe that he's too young he still managed to help Yukino and made her able to "walk to the ends of the earth." So overall I really enjoyed the garden of words.

Before I get into this review, I want to issue a warning that I will be discussing spoilers for this manga, as I don't see how I can review this without talking about the execution of certain key scenes without spoiling them. Kotonoha no Niwa is a manga that started serializing before the movie version came out in 2013. It's a short, one volume long manga, which makes it an easy read, like the movie, which is only 40 minutes long, making for an easy watch. In this review, i'll try to not compare it to the movie too much, as i'm planning to rewatch itto make a review for it. Let's get into it! // Story // 10/10 The story is where this really shines. Takao, a first year in high school, skips out on morning classes every time it rains. When he does skip class, he goes to a local park to work on his dream: shoemaking. One day, he would meet a young woman who sat there, sipping beer and eating chocolate. Over time, they begin to talk to each other, takao opens up about his dream, and the woman opens up about her bad cooking skills and how she "lost the ability to walk for a while". One day at school, a teacher walks by with a woman beside him, and it turns out to be Yukino-sensei, a teacher who is quitting her post as a teacher due to being essentially bullied out of the job by her students after some nasty rumors went around about her. Takao recognizes her as the woman from the park. One day, he decides to go to the park, and finds Yukino-sensei standing there. Rain follows, and they are forced to retreat to her apartment, where Takao confesses, but gets rejected. A tense but emotional scene in the building's outdoor staircase ensues and closes the show. I really like this narrative, it starts off slow and calm, like the rain, before picking up with a violent storm towards the end, where emotions clash and tensions rise between the characters. It's a simple narrative of forbidden love, but one that works. // Art // 6/10 This one hurts. Once you've seen the movie a few times and then read the manga version, it feels like an insane drop in quality. The movie has insane attention to detail, ridiculously good art and design, and here, it feels empty. Don't get me wrong, I find the art to be fine, but don't expect the levels of art you'd find in the movie. Takao looks like himself, he's a pretty simple character design-wise, but Yukino-sensei looks a bit off, and the backgrounds are very simple compared to the movie, which featured Takao's busy room, which is now pretty damn empty, the park doesn't feel as full with life... It's a shame, really, at I feel like this could've been it's main selling point, but it's just... disappointing. // Character // 9/10 The characters in this story are all pretty solid and loveable, well, for the ones that are developped, so basically Takao and Yukino-sensei. Takao to me feels too bland, even in the movie. His simple design doesn't really appeal to me, and he just looks like a typical background character from a shoujo series... He is very assertive when it comes to his dreams, and clearly won't give up easily, so that's a plus for him. I like me some good, assertive characters who don't give up on something because they're told "no". Yukino-sensei is definitely up there in my favorite characters. Not enough to make my list, but a decent candidate. She's sweet and soft, despite hiding the fact that she was a teacher, which did clearly hurt Takao. She clearly means no harm, and reminds me alot of Hina Tachibana from Domestic na Kanojo. I would've said something about the bullies, but they're essentially the same as in the movie, literally no change. // Enjoyment // 9/10 Kotonoha no Niwa is in my favorites list on MAL, so obviously I was bound to enjoy this, even despite the lacking art style. The story pulls this all together so well, and it makes me want to go back and watch the movie again, which will definitely happen soon. A good and short read, despite the lack of detail in the art, this could've been much better, but i'll take it as it is! Thanks for reading!