[Might contain SPOILERS]
"I hated your mother from the bottom of my heart. And I hate the fact that those feelings aren't going to go away even with her dead, so whether you're related to her by blood or not, I don't think I could get any more emotionally attached to you as some random passerby kid, but... you're a 15 year old kid. It's not right for you to be in such an ugly situation. That, at least, I'm sure of. You deserve something more beautiful."
Asa just lost both of her parents in an accident, and as a result, ends up living together with her aunt, Makio. Broadly speaking, the story just follows the life of these two as they start to live together, but as I read that piece of dialogue mentioned earlier, I instantly understood what kind of manga I was reading, and was very much happily surprised by the discovery.
The dialogue and relationship between Asa and Makio is the core of the story. In the first chapters, Asa doesn't really know how to feel about the death of her parents. Makio, on the contrary, clearly states that she hated her sister, so she really isn't sad about what happened. Both characters feel real and very well witten, especially Asa's line of thought about her new "adoptive parent". Makio, who is a writter herself, has a very charming and calm way of speaking, despite her sorta clumsiness in other aspects of life, such as cleaning or cooking. A part of the story that I really like is the way that the death of Asa's parents isn't ignored like in a lot of other mangas. The struggles and problems that arise from losing your family, your home, and having to adjust to a new, completly different reality, are constanlty dealt with by both Asa and Makio.
The art is great. It's not the best I've ever seen, but it suits perfectly to the kind of story we are getting. There are a lot of pages that are beautifully drawn, so you won't get bored.
Overall, Ikoku Nikki is a very good read, especially if you're looking for some mature story. This is my first ever review, so I hope you could find it helpfull.
