Peony Pavilion

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Peony Pavillion is a compilation of very short stories. Surely, the best thing of this manga is the art. The lineart and coloring are downright gorgeous. Oh, and every page is colored, not black-and-white.
The short stories are based in poems, so there's not much dialogue, but narration. All the stories are about a couple and their love (note that it's not passional love, but more like the sweet and quiet love) and yearning for each other.
One would think that with so little content it would be tiresome, but I've found myself reading it till the end. All in all, I found this manga sweet and ... refreshing.

I decided to check out another of Da Xia's series, after all, her series 'Song of the Long March' is one of my favorites. My expectations were quite high, and the for the most part, they were not betrayed.

Peony Pavilion is a short collection of one-shots steeped in the theme of romance. In each chapter we see famous chinese folk tales/poems illustrated and commented on, each of these stories are centered around romance and are quite beautiful. Given what i've said so far, it's easy to see that this is a series written by a fan of romance, for the fans of romance, thus you're ... unlikely to be interested if this isn't a genre you're passionate about. An interesting feature of this story is the text that is presented at the ending of each story, these bits text written by Da Xia provided perspective and some insight on each tale. While it might sound odd, I honestly enjoyed these bits of text as much as the story going on itself as in my eyes they provide perspective on Da Xia's personality, which is quite a rare yet welcome thing to see in this medium.

Simply put, the art in Peony Pavilion is gorgeous and among the best I've ever seen, at least in terms of overall beauty. I especially appreciate the art in this series because of the exceptional use of colors, it really helps to bring the stories presented to life. While i'm of the opinion that only those who are very much in to romance will enjoy this, I could definitely see those who are fans of beautiful art appreciating Peony Pavilion, at least on a surface level.

Being a collection of short stories, you're not given much time with each character, but what you're given is sufficient. However even so, i'm not of the belief that characters are of essential importance in a series like this. A big reason for this is that while characters have their own personality and the like, they're more or less fated to certain actions and as such show less development in favor of action. Not the greatest way of explaining this phenomenon, but it's the first time I've come across something like this.

This is a series drenched in romance and chinese culture, and as a fan of these things, there was a lot for me to enjoy.

If you like romance that doesn't require comedy, as most romance series in the medium do, this is a series that you'll have a good time with.