Yae no Sakura

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As there were previously no reviews, I took upon myself the task to do it, maybe you'll get a slight idea what to expect (and what not to) from this series. First things first, I've read it because I really like Takemura Youhei's character designs and the premise sounded rather interesting.


Art 2.5/3 (8.33)

As I've stated already, Takemura Youhei's character design is really charming and his art overall is really clean, but not lacking in details. The backgrounds aren't bad either and, if you've read anything else by him/her, you should know what to expect. There were also some interesting panels and overall the work is ... really easy to read through because of all those aforementioned aspects.


Story 0.75/2 (3.75)

The premise had around 10kgs of potential (22 pounds). I have not heard about Nijima Yae previously although I've read a bit about the Meiji Restoration and the Boshin War prior to reading the manga for totally unrelated reasons. She was a nurse and a warrior. A female one for that matter, in a period in which that was not something usual. She was also the first woman outside the Imperial House to be decorated for her service to the country after the Meiji Restoration and she was the co-founder of an all-girls school. Later on, she ended up as the leader of a group of 40 nurses in the First Sino-Japanese War among other things. There was definitely a lot of things to tell the readers as she lead a life worthy of being written about.

The start was promising and the pacing was pretty good for the first part. We learn how she ended up being really skilled in gunnery, how she ended up part of the defense of Aizu and what happened afterwards. The real problem is the fact that the series was all over the place in the second half (after the Boshin War started). It wanted to talk about a lot of aspects and ended up treating them in a superficial manner. Moreover, it was way too fast-paced, at least for my liking, and some aspects were merely mentioned to be there.

To be more precise, the events in the latter half feel like a recap of a prequel when you want to pick up the new series.


Characters 1.25/2 (6.25)

Again, the characters and the idea behind them is really interesting, but the fast-pace rendered the little development that can be made in a 12-chapter series useless. However, Yae is at least likeable and we should not forget that this is a series aimed at younger readers. The metanarratives are not new, but they will not get old anytime soon, as in our current society there seems to be a need to reiterate them every now and then. Even though it did not explore the ideologies behind the Meiji Restoration that much, at least we've got to see them mentioned as the motivation for some of the characters. Are they presented like 'Why should we abandon tradition and open up to the Western cultures?' 'Because we will lose'? Yeah, pretty much. But it at least tries to include them in a manga set up in the period when those topics were #1 trending in Japan on Yt according to some British researchers - haha laugh :O.


Enjoyment 1.8/3 (6)

When it comes to enjoyment, I can't say I did not enjoy it at all or things like that, but I have to be honest with you. The enjoyment I've got came from the beautiful art and the hype I had the moment I read the premise. I have no idea whether this was supposed to be a longer series that got axed or this was the planned run, but if it is the first option, I feel a bit bad because it certainly had potential, but that doesn't change the fact that 'it is what it is'. I don't think this will come to mind when I think about my favourite manga, but it isn't a worthless read. Just don't expect too much out of it. I wanted to read a historical manga that did the figure behind the story justice, but I can't say I'm that mad with what I ended up. It was ok.

Overall rating: 6,30



TLDR: A fine/ above-average manga which had a lot of potential, but didn't live up to it. The story is all over the place because it tried to include too many things in such a short span. The characters are pretty likeable, at least Yae, and there is some certain development, as much as there could be in a 12-chapter series. It is a pretty enjoyable series overall despite all those aspects, but don't go in expecting to be mesmerized. The clean art of Takemure Youhei carried the series for me. However, don't be too harsh with it, as it tried to get younger audiences into some interesting historical figure and period of time.