The first thing I thought was really interesting about this series was that the 'spirited away' girl had to learn the language spoken in the new world and it takes her a lot of times and several misunderstandings. The fact that you see her language progress and become less clumsy through the story is something I think more writers should take into consideration. Given, the same language seems to be used over many different countries, but I'll just give my thumbs up for the original idea of language barrier.
The flow of the story is really good. It keeps you on edge: "will he become the monster that brings the end of the world"? and, for the wide range of supporting characters, you never have the feeling you have to stop and think hard about who is what.
The romance element was just perfect -in my opinion- because I felt there was no rush. It's not love at first sight, and it's also not a "bickering couple" a la Pride and Prejudice style which seems to be a trend when it comes to romances. The characters just slowly grow to love each other. There's also no love triangles, which I find refreshing (ok, so there's a guy who starts liking Noriko, but she flat out rejects him short after). The way Noriko and Izark tease each other was endearingly sweet without it being too mushy.
As someone who doesn't believe in absolute good and evil, it was somewhat bothering the fact that there's "good people" and "bad people"... but by the end of the story this matter is resolved in a way I felt was satisfying.
The interaction between main characters and supporting characters was really good. You can see how their personalities influence each other and allow the main characters to grow.
Now, when it comes to the characterization of the main couple, I'm very pleased with Noriko's characterization, but not as pleased with Izark.
Noriko is different from most female characters in these "spirited away" series in that she is very mature and she doesn't throw childish tantrums or fight with the people who help her. Very early on she decides to trust Izark (who just saved her life) and you never see her questioning her trust on him. She's usually very coolheaded, and doesn't usually run into trouble out of stupidity. In her growth as a character she becomes a lot more self-confident and brave, but she's still no warrior. Overall, a great character.
Izark was a lot more of a standard character for this sort of genre. Beautiful, powerful with a dark past and a darker destiny. Considering all the times this guy must have been bashed and beaten up, you'd at least expect him to have a broken nose at some point, but apparently he's so good looking he can pass as an actor (is this something to do with his regeneration abilities?). There's a lot of development on this character from an aloof lone warrior to a person who can even make jokes every now and then and even ridicule himself for the sake of his friends. I think his interaction with Alef is exquisitely rich. Still, I wouldn't call him the most original of characters. As Noriko first notices, he's a good guy.
All in all, even if this series is not perfect, I think it's a must-read for people into fantasy shojo. It's really a good story and unless you're really not into shojo or fantasy, I can't think of one reason why you wouldn't like it.
