Wow, so good! I loved the drawing style. I had a bit of difficulty keeping the Japanese history straight, and there were a lot of names (besides the main characters’ names) to keep track of, but the story was good and worth the effort. The characters are great, especially Hatsu, and I really liked the friendship that developed between Mirai and her. I can’t wait for September when the sequel comes out! ( )

The story was very interesting, but I found the art very unhelpful. The uncolored, unshaded line art was difficult to parse; it was difficult to tell characters apart; characters were posed awkwardly and confusingly, particularly in fight scenes; and in some scenes it was unclear what panels were the current action. ( )

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3495734.html

It's an interesting story of Japan just before the Meiji Restoration, with a woman from 2042 masquerading as a samurai and a time-travel screw-up potentially erasing our version of history. The plot is intriguing enough, and has some good gender-bending twists, but I'm afraid I found the art (also by the author) rather deficient; it was difficult to tell several of the key characters apart, and they sometimes seemed rather awkwardly posed, which rather distracted me from what was going on. ( )

This is a cool concept, and I like the different ways the various characters experienced the setting. Makes me wish I knew more about Japanese history! ( )

The art and writing are a bit awkward, but I found myself drawn into this time travel saga as the book progressed. It helped that it was set in a place and time with which I do not have a lot of familiarity -- Japan in the 1860s -- instead of some overused time and place. Interesting characters dealing with an interesting scenario make for a good book.

But the art was distracting. All the backgrounds were toned with a gray wash containing white speckles, making it look like the all-white figures in the foreground were fogbound in a never-ending snowstorm. Weird choice. ( )