Sayonara Rose Garden
Goodbye, My Rose Garden

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

I really enjoyed this. The story of a noblewoman and her maid from Japan, both of whom share a love of literature, was an interesting setup.

While there were some slightly unbelievable elements such as a woman of Alice's social class being so openly friendly with a maid, it really didn't detract from the story. The obstacles that do stand in their way are very real and provide a compelling narrative.

I loved the references to Charlotte Bronte and Oscar Wilde. The literary references support the themes of the story quite well.

This is a love story that is incredibly
sweet yet tinged with a bit ... of sadness due to the difficulties of being both women not straight . Things felt a little rushed at the end but I didn't mind too much because the romance was so good. I love Alice and Hanako together and wish we could get either a sequel or an epilogue.

Really sweet manga as just about any romantic story set in a time when people had to deal with prejudice, discrimination, and class differences. And in that regard it is a incredibly enjoyable period piece, with great pacing, loveable characters and beautiful art but nothing really sets it apart.

The positives are many and Sayonara Rose Garden was for sure a quality read for me. The romance progresses nicely and although we only have 17 chapters the not one relationship feels rushed. In fact the pacing is one of the greatest strengths of the manga because the story knows what it aims to achieve from chapter ... 1. No important moment in the nurturing of the relationship is then missed and it properly feels that these 3 volumes are only snapshots of the passing of time.

In contrast other romantic mangas Ive read either make the plot up as they go, spanning hundreds of chapters and multiple arcs until they forget what the original purpose is and have no idea how to reach a conclusion. This happened with Hanayome, Horimiya, Domestic for me. Those mangas reiterate and maybe even stagnate until the ending just feels lackluster and unspecial if ended.

Here there’s initial attraction between Hanako and Alice, we then delve into some of their maybe simplistic character writing which is does a great job at making the leads endearing and progressing the relationship. The maid Hanako at first appearing as a timid determined type we get to see grow to be able to stand up to herself and her mistress Alice. She first travels to Britain in pursuit of her dream of meeting a writer but its nice to see ambitions get benched once Alice takes her in as a personal companion. Alice on the other hand is at first the flawless distant Mary Sue character, but really comes to her own once the story delved into her vulnerabilities and backstory. It was a great idea for both of them serve as inspiration of the other on equal grounds - Hanako through action and Alice through fiction - and seeing these seemingly perfect characters become needy and selfish around each other was cute and very enjoyable.

Another positive, there’s a lot of effort put into the art and locations such as the rose garden pavillion and Hastings bookstore, Alices room are detailed and well realised. We are always made aware of where a scene is taking place and each setting is a beautiful eye candy if you’re looking for the Jane Austin aesthetic in manga.

Now, the one gripe I have with Sayonara Rose Garden is the ending which feels both overdone and out of place SPOILERS here but don’t worry because the ending is so predictable knowing what happens won’t affect your enjoyment whatsoever.

Hanako ends up not killing Alice wow and they both run away to travel the world wow. The fact which was mentioned by the manga mind you that Alice couldn’t do that because she would disgrace her whole family name is suddenly forgotten and we see previously likeable character publicly humiliate the man who loves her at the wedding to selfishly run off with Hanako in the possibly most corny overused ending to any romance against society story. Its neither empowering nor deserved and all of the setup we had from the previous 16 chapters is thrown into the trash.

SPOILERS for real this time. The ending would have been infinitely better imo if they went for the bittersweet route and had Alice get married and have a child, and Hanako going back to Japan and becoming a prominent writer. The final scene would be a 10/10 for me if the final panels were a juxtaposition of both of them in their late 20s visiting bookstores, buying bestsellers written from the other, finding out both reference the time they spent together in the rose garden pavillion 10 years ago and realising both still love each other. Not that this ending isn’t overused, but it’s way less corny and the author themselves seemed to be going for this. The current ending can’t help but feel like they were only forced to comply with the demands of some stupid publisher/editor who wanted a happy ending.

Sayonara Rose Garden is a manga I’d recommend to anyone, since I enjoyed it immensely and until the end never found it boring nor overbearing which sometimes happens when I read romance. The Victorian aesthetic is a nice change of pace from modern life Japan, high school and medieval isekais and the length allows for a one sitting binge. It’s a sweet story of found companionship and feels refreshingly realistic, as opposed to so many romantic mangas that rely on archetypes, gimmicky premise, or harems but then I feel that if one has seen other lesbian period pieces like The Handmaiden 2016, or Portrait of a Lady on Fire 2019 for me, they might find the manga corny and less unique.

Sayonara Rose Garden is a premise as old as time, that was extremely rushed and uneven. This manga has many issues, but all in all there are some touching and lovely moments between the two main characters and some side characters. This isn't really a deep or memorable read, maybe if you're stuck in a train for some time or on the toilet.
I want to start with some good points of this manga. This is a romance that manages to deliver a nice coherent-ish plot, even with some reveals and mysteries. Surprisingly satisfying reveals and nice allegories.
This manga suffers greatly from it's artstyle. All the ... characters look the same, the only recognizable one is Hanako, who is a Japanese woman and has dark hair. The rest of the characters are English, and look pretty much the same, with light hair and huge eyes. The men also look the same, and this similarity makes it very difficult to understand the plot. It makes you think the same characters are appearing in each panel and doing many things that contradict each other, but in actuality these are different people.
Another problem are the rapid personality changes of the characters. In the beginning, they characters have set motivations, goals, and some even mention some lines they'll never cross, like a moral compass of sorts. In the span of half a chapter suddenly these are thrown in the trash, they go against everything they promised they'd never do, for the convenience of the plot. It's very annoying, and makes the story illogical.
This manga is VERY wordy, which isn't necessarily bad, but the amount of useless dialogue or exposition in this manga is insane. Whole pages can be skipped because they either beat the dead horse of "our love is forbidden" to the point there's a hole is the horse or add useless details that are quickly forgotten. The amount of pondering and inner monologue that is copy - pasted from chapter to chapter is immeasurably large.
The final issue I'd like to address is the pacing. The manga starts reeeeeaaaaaaaaaalllllllyyyyyyyyy slow, but in the final two chapters rushes so much stuff - character development, major plot points and events, the ending is super mega rushed.... even a short manga can be adequately paced, this one is definitely not.
To sum up, it's a decent read but definitely not the best. If you like historical fiction and wlw romance you'll probably get a smile or nice addition to your collection. If you're looking for story focused manga look elsewhere.