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Of all the manga I have read, Angel Sanctuary is one of my all time favourites.

Angel Sanctuary is not a light read or easy entertainment. You can't read through it fast. To truly understand it, you have to read slowly and thoughtfully, a piece at a time. The story is very complex and it was only the second time I was reading that I truly understood the whole plot.

There are not a lot of stories I feel like reading so many times as I've had Angel Sanctuary. The first time I was reading, I cried through the last few volumes and it still makes me ... cry every time. The story made a deep impact and if anything, the manga only got better the more times I read it. I first read it in 2006 and I still love it so much.

All the characters are well-developed, and there is a lot of thought put into the story. It deals with many taboos of the society and makes you really think about them. The world in Angel Sanctuary is not black and white and not even shades of grey but rather a brilliant plethora of colours. All the characters have some good and some evil, even blurring the line between what is truly evil and what is good.

What I love so much about Angel Sanctuary is that it is not afraid to be a different story. It doesn't aim to be easy entertainment or appeal to wider audiences. I like the focus it has on importance of love, and how all the characters grow and develop along the way. I love especially much Setsuna, the protagonist, who I think is identifiable and lovable.

Angel Sanctuary is also a very inspirational story. It tells how we can be happy even in hardship and make our own destinies. How if we look carefully enough, we might notice that the people around love us more than we thought, that we are not truly so different.

Of course, the art is also breathtakingly beautiful. Sometimes very beautiful, sometimes disgustingly bizarre, maybe like the world truly is.

I can recommend Angel Sanctuary warmly for everyone who wants a story that is complex, deep, beautiful and interesting, who has the patience to read through it with thought and an open mind to look things from different viewpoints.