Kin no Hitsuji

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Love Letter

Japanese: 金のひつじ

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Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 3

Chapters: 16

Status: Finished

Published: Sep 25, 2017 to Feb 25, 2019

Genre: Slice of Life

Demographic: Seinen

Serialization: Afternoon

Authors: Ozaki, Kaori (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 7.36¹ (scored by 4,009 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #4077²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #1989

Members: 10,175

Favorites: 123

7.36

Ranked #4077Popularity #1989Members 10,175

MangaAfternoonOzaki, Kaori (Story & Art)

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Volumes: /3

Chapters: /16

Available on Manga Store
The Golden Sheep
Volume 1
$7.99

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Synopsis

Tsugu Miikura and her family have recently moved back to Tsugu's hometown. After spending six years away due to family circumstances, Tsugu is excited to be reunited with her childhood friends—Yuushin, Asari, and Sora—in high school. On the surface, Tsugu believes that nothing has changed since they last saw each other; however, what she fails to see are the cracks that formed in their friendship after they wrote and buried their wishes in the park back then.

Asari's jealousy of Tsugu's popularity at school causes her to start harassing Tsugu, while Yuushin has begun mercilessly bullying Sora in an attempt to deal with the frustrations of his personal life. After witnessing Sora attempt to take his own life, Tsugu saves him and proposes that they run away from home. Believing that his failure to support Yuushin during their childhood is the reason his friend drastically changed, Sora accepts her invitation and promises to become stronger in the future. With nothing more than some money, the clothes on their backs, and Tsugu's now-broken Fender Stratocaster in tow, the two make their way to Tokyo at the break of dawn. Leaving the world they used to know behind them, the two teenagers embark on a journey of self-discovery.

In the absence of their friends, Yuushin and Asari are similarly forced to confront their inner demons and uncover new sides to themselves. However, the most surprising realization might be that they have not really changed after all...

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Included one-shot:
Volume 3: Love Letter

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Background

Kin no Hitsuji was published in English as The Golden Sheep by Vertical Comics from September 24, 2019 to March 10, 2020.

The series placed on Young Adult Library Services Association's 2021 Great Graphic Novels for Teens list.

More characters
Characters

Tsugu

Main

Sora

Supporting

Yuushin

Supporting

Asari

Supporting

Uonuma, Asako

Supporting

Reviews

Dec 30, 2020

Daniel_Pezzi

Recommended

From a technical perspective The Golden Sheep is basically flawless with effective art and paneling, great character designs, and coherent backgrounds. The story is a typical coming of age tale, which is the author somewhat specializes in, and it is here the negatives can be found.

Of the 4 protagonists, 2 have a satisfying, if quick, arc while the other two pull down the series. Tsugu in particular stands out for her optimism and sincerity, which puts here a cut above move teenage girl leads. The slight romance that develops with her is compelling and leads to some of the most effective emotional beats. Her and ...

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Feb 14, 2022

zarekarma

Mixed Feelings

This manga had a lot going for it. Its story is something that appeals to me a lot. The idea of your friends not being the same people as they were when you left is something I feel like I'd like t see explored more in ways similar to this. I won't say it's the most unique structure, but it definitely is engaging. Not to mention, it even went the whole running away on an adventure to become stronger plotline which is almost like an instant appeal point to me. That said, my overall feelings on this manga were a lot more mixed, sometimes negative. ...

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Jun 11, 2024

FloweryIso

Not Recommended

Spoiler

Warning: I do mention the s!xual assault and the bullying/Harassment portrayed in the story, please read knowing this and that.
Note: I am not trying to dog on the manga, this is just something that WILL frustrate people and they deserve a warning.

Art: The art style of Ozaki Koari is amazing, the colour pages are perfection and the warmth practically radiates off of the page dragging you into the cozy feeling she tries to build with her work.
The anatomy is generally well done, I've yet to see a wonky eye or misshapen hand.
Her style is very Anohana/Your name but distinctly set in the 2010's which ... does set her apart when reading some of the newest stuff from around the time the English translation dropped.

--

Story/Characters: I didn't see much issue with the first few chapters of 'Golden Sheep' - the story had Ozaki's weird obsession with having young boys obsess over boobs and a lot of the story was pretty solid in terms of set up and execution. We get introduced to our 'Main four' of Tsugu, Sora, Yuushin and forgettable charact- I mean Asaki. The group are pretty divided into bullies vs bullied within the first few chapters and very quickly establishes a status quo that the story should follow - before smacking that out of the park and hitting someones car.

Tsugu is literally the best character in this manga; she's complex with motivations and emotions that resonate with a lot of young adults and teens that really make you want to see her happy, a genuinely fun character to watch in every panel and is all around an actual good representation of a "bubbly" teenager without diving into stereotypes too much. I have absolutely no complaints about her, she;'s perfect and I only really have a complain with how she feels less like a character by the end of the story and more like a filler love interest for Sora.

Sora is overall just really boring, he fits that self-insert quota for young Japanese men and the story definitely forfeits some autonomy for Tsugu to further Sora's character. I think out of all the characters his character arc is the best of them all, going from a boy who struggled to even say a word about being bullied to bravely standing up for his friend against someone who'd tormented him for years. Which speaking of -

Yuushin is the biggest piece of scum on this side of the manga world - he's got trauma, that's for sure, but his actions far out way the defence. He actively torments Sora for failing to notice a cry for help and he does so by literally feeding him to the wolves at every opportunity he gets for around a few years. He actively uses the dog that they all found as kids to lure Sora out and literally says "jump off this bridge and die and I won't beat up your dog". He's generally a pretty big douche to even the character's he's "nice" too and the worst crime of all, because he literally commits a crime, is the fact he sexually assaults Asaki. You heard me, he assaults her - while also knowing that she loves him. It's gross, it's disgusting and I genuinely want to actually throw up every single time I think of that.
My biggest gripe with all of these actions though is the fact that Ozaki glosses over it all, she has this boy literally SA a girl and then pretends like he's some wayward soul just doing a small oopsie and not a depraved psycho that committed a literal crime. He gets no slap on the wrist, no consequences to his actions and when Asaki see's him again, AFTER BEING SA'ed BY HIM, she doesn't react with disgust, or fear or even anger. It's like it never happened.

Asaki is alright, I genuinely only really began rooting for her because of the SA situation but she's also not that great. She actively excludes Tsugu because she 'gets pally' with Yuushin which is just? Huh??? And what sucks for her is she doesn't get much time to actually develop - she's barely a member of the main cast and honestly feels like an added extra to the group rather than a character that is important to these """friend""""

---

Overall: I think this is a problematic manga - it glosses over some really heinous actions and Ozaki has a weird obsession with randomly putting weird sexual actions/intents on teenagers and it's just a bit weird? I think if you can enjoy this good for you, but truly it does nothing to actually deepen it's narrative and all of the plot is surface level at best.

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Poll: Kin no Hitsuji Chapter 6 Discussion ImNotAnOtaku1 - Mar 26	3 replies	by TheBigGuy »» Jun 11, 1:18 PM
Poll: Kin no Hitsuji Chapter 5 Discussion ImNotAnOtaku1 - Mar 26	1 replies	by TheBigGuy »» Jun 7, 1:06 PM
Poll: Kin no Hitsuji Chapter 4 Discussion ImNotAnOtaku1 - Mar 26	1 replies	by TheBigGuy »» Jun 7, 12:39 PM
Poll: Kin no Hitsuji Chapter 3 Discussion ImNotAnOtaku1 - Mar 22	1 replies	by TheBigGuy »» Jun 6, 2:28 PM
Poll: Kin no Hitsuji Chapter 1 Discussion RobinTK - Mar 14, 2021	2 replies	by ImNotAnOtaku1 »» Mar 13, 4:33 AM

Kin no Hitsuji
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