Taiyou no Uta
A Song to the Sun

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“The sun is about to rise…”

Taiyou no Uta, also known as, A Song to the Sun, is about sixteen year old Kaoru, who because of a disease can never be out in the sun. Living all her life in darkness and watching the sun light from afar, she longs for the warmth only the sun can give. The only thing that gives her some sort of happiness is the few hours at night she gets her guitar and goes to sing in the street. One day through her window she sees a boy who emit’s a brightness and warmth that she can’t help ... but be drawn to. All she wants is just to meet him, knowing that’s he can’t. All she needs is a chance meeting.. Just one.

For it being a oneshot it moves at a reasonable pace, except for the whole falling in love thing so fast, that always stumps me.
Kaoru just wants to be like everyone else. Because of her disease, her environment is limited to being indoors away from sunlight. She yearns for the part of life we take for granted, the beauty of daylight.
Koji, who you can't help but like for his sweet smile and good natures is a nice addition to this manga. We get to know him a little bit and we see in such a short time the potential he has for growth as a character.

There are very few characters in this one, centering around mainly her close family. We have actual parents in this one. Parents who are usually a figment of imagination in manga, are present and not in the annoying way they are usually represented in other works or to make the main people’s live miserable. They are caring and nice and actually say more than two sentences.

Art, was pretty but average. There wasn’t anything memorable about the art in itself but the illustrations makes you feel nostalgic at times and that suits the pace and tone of the manga. Which made sense in the way that the art went along with the personality of Kaoru all the way through.

The story of Kaoru and Koji is a very short one. I felt it was too short, Kenjo could have milked this cow for at least one more volume. Maybe it’s me just wanting to read a little bit more of this romance, that ended too soon. Or maybe I was hoping that they took their time in developing more their relationship instead of jumping ships and all.
It has a warm ending, not one of my favorites, but at least it leaves you with closure of sorts.

“I suppose our time, will never coincide with one another’s”

"He's someone who lives under the sun..."

There's something different about sixteen-year-old Kaoru. her father calls it individuality. Kaoru thinks of it as a curse. she has a disease. but not just any disease. a disease that cannot allow her to be under the sun...or she'll die. Because of this, she spends her nights singing outside with her guitar, and her days in her room, watching a boy at the bus stop. before long, she finds herself falling in love, and yearning to talk to him at least once. but she knows this will never happen.
but what happens when she coincidentally runs into him while on ... her nightly street performance?
this tragic story shows that no matter how big the obstacle, or no matter how you are, true love awaits for everyone.

the character's in this story are very heart warming. Fujishiro Kouji is the boy whom Kaoru has been watching. he is an aloof surfer who likes having fun. he can't surf great, and he isn't the smartest guy around, yet he manages to bring smiles and hope to Kaoru, who only knew how to live in darkness. who would've thought that you could meet someone for the first time, and in one night know she was the one? his loyalty to her throughout the story is captivating, and his strong love for her brings tears to your eyes. you see how much he sacrifices to bring her happiness, because you can tell that her happiness is his happiness. he truly is a wonderful character and one to learn from.
Kaoru, despite her situation, tries to see the beauty of the life she has, and is surprisingly strong-willed. but she's very protective of her position, for she knows that one slip and she could lose all the happiness she's built up till then. because of this, she has never told anyone outside family about her disease. not that there was much people to tell. but in desperation to live and gain Kouji's trust, she spills her secret to him. her gutsy personality is heart-warming, and it's no surprise that Kouji fell in love in just one night.

the art is simple, but very eye catching. it is similar to other arts, but has it's own subtle differences that match the story line perfectly. their facial expressions are so full of life and beautifully drawn. you can really see the love and sorrow in each character's face. despite there being a few mistakes, the art is simply beautiful.

Taiyou no Uta: A Song to the Sun, is one of the most heart-clenching stories i've ever read. it teaches you that life is too short to wait around. it is bound to make you smile, cry, and think about the small beauties in life.

"when the sun sets, i'll come see you because i love you..."

Taiyou no Uta is ok. There are some 10/10 reviews floating around for this Manga and I don't think there justified. Taiyou no Uta is a classic sob story, something that you would see in a small column in the newspaper. Taiyou no Uta doesn't succeed in anything but also doesn't fail at anything it's sad but that's all it is sad. Stories that rely solely on being sad won't go too far and Taiyou no Uta fits perfectly under that.

The story follows a girl who suffers from a rare condition called Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP for short) a very real and horrible skin disorder. ... For the most part the story isn't insensitive about the disease but also is very safe in the execution of how the disease is portrayed. But continuing on with the synopsis, The young girl loves to sing and every night she goes out to perform with her guitar. She later falls in love with a surfer. Sound familiar? Probably while not exactly the same its akin to something like "The fault in our Stars" etc. The story is serviceable. There are no real stakes except for one moment when her alarm stops working for "Mysterious unknown reasons" and the sun is coming up. So she has to get home quick and she wants to stop singing yada yada. So now its main guys fault for this girl not telling him about a serious condition and unnecessary drama occurs. It's not offensive, it's not confrontational about anything, its just serviceable.

Art is your typical stock Shoujo art, you've seen it before nothing to write home about.

Characters can range from decent to forgettable, this may be due to the short span of the story but there have been plenty of short stories that have great fleshed out characters within a finite amount of time. The main girl is your generic "Im sick I'm gonna make the most of my time" Kinda character, which is fine, im sure thats how most patients look at there illnesses, i'm sure they don't want to be reminded that they have the illness and want to make the most of there time left spent well, but it's nothing we haven't seen. The main guy is a serviceable character he's nice he's a good looker and he's always happy. The other characters don't really matter because "Side characters bruh", main guy has 2 friends but other than like 2 throw away panels we dont really see them again. The main girls best friend is bland, definitely more fleshed out then main guys friends but still bland. She skips school thats basically her character, oh and she cares for her friend. Mother and Father are just there to exist. Father is definitely more prolific then mother but equally as forgettable.

All in all this manga was ok. Definitely not a 10/10 its a 5 at best and I don't think my opinions are changing any time soon.