Sayonara Rose Garden
Goodbye, My Rose Garden

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One genre of media that I've never really gravitated towards was romance, namely because many of the plots for romance were always very melodramatic or formulaic. It wasn't that I inherently hated romance as a genre, I just never found any romance media that really appealed to me. That would get rectified later in my life as I began to read and watch more things. I'm also not really into yaoi or yuri manga or novels, mainly for the same reasons, along with many of them having very questionable ethics in regards to things like consent. Many of them tend to idealize and glamorize toxic ... relationships, and I'm not down for that kind of stuff (Though this is coming from someone who unironically likes Sakura Gari). Honestly, I never even heard of Goodbye My Rose Garden before coming across this article here, but when I read it, my interest was immediately piqued. I requested it at my local library, and was quick to rent it and read the entire series in one sitting. I'm glad I did because I'm really, really surprised at just how great this manga turned out to be, especially since the last manga by Dr. Pepperco that I read, Bang Dream: Girls Band Party Roselia Stage, was decent at best but had a lot of problems in regards to its artwork. Seven Seas, thank you for bringing this manga to the US, because I love it!

In the year 1900, Japan is in the midst of mingling with the West and adopting a lot of its cultural practices. Hanako Kujo, a teacher still reeling over being unable to help one of her students, travels to England in order to find the author of one of her favorite novels, along with finding a job. Unfortunately, she hits a roadblock and is unsure of what to do. Thankfully, a young noblewoman, Alice Douglas, notices Hanako and offers her a job as her personal maid. The two of them bond over their shared love of novels and literature, but for some reason, Alice wants Hanako to kill her. Hanako is unable to comprehend why Alice would ask her to do such a thing, but she's determined to not only befriend her mistress, but to make the best of her new surroundings.

One thing I really respect about Goodbye My Rose Garden is that it really makes great use of its setting. Rather than simply using it as a backdrop, the manga takes great care to embed itself in the history of the period, through the social and hierarchal norms the characters are expected to uphold to using real events that are happening during the time, such as the very heavily publicized trial of Oscar Wilde. It's made very clear throughout the manga that Dr. Pepperco really did a lot of research on Victorian England, and when wanting to write a story taking place in the past, you really need to make sure you get all your facts straight, because if you don't take care to portray the time period as it was, or take too much artistic/creative license with it, you run the risk of either making it feel too modern/contemporary or falsifying facts. Like, you won't find the characters here saying things like "The elephant in the room," knowing about the internet, or owning cars. It'd be one thing if Goodbye My Rose Garden was trying to go for an alternate history route, or go for a more fantasy/sci-fi like depiction like what the video game Code;Realize did, but the manga makes it clear it's trying to be just slice-of-life historical fiction, with no fantasy or sci-fi elements in sight.

Another thing that impressed me was the artwork. I mentioned in my Bang Dream Roselia manga review that I felt that the artwork could be lackluster at times, especially for the backgrounds. There, it felt like Dr. Pepperco didn't put in an effort to make the world of that manga feel alive, or only did the bare minimum. That manga came out several months before Dr. Pepperco would go on to make this, and it's amazing to see how much she learned from her mistakes, because the backgrounds here are not only very lavish and detailed, especially when it matters, but feel much more alive. Everything, from the designs on book bindings, to the period-appropriate dresses and hair styles the characters wear, to the exterior and interiors of the mansions the characters inhabit, is given a lot of care and attention, and I didn't notice any significant issues or anachronisms. Even the usage of English text is very cohesive, and I didn't notice any jarring grammar errors or awkward sentence structure, something that even most World Masterpiece Theater anime struggle with from time to time.

Of course, no matter how much research you put into the setting, you can't have a good story without a cast of characters to make you care about them, and thankfully, Goodbye My Rose Garden has a great ensemble to hold it together. The main duo are a joy to watch, as they both have equal amounts of depth, strengths, weaknesses, and contributions to the story and its progression, and Dr. Pepperco really worked hard to make sure they have good chemistry, and I found their budding friendship and later romance to be very believable. Other characters, such as Susanne, Marie, and Alice's older sister Jane are also pretty likeable and serve their purposes well. Even the antagonistic characters are surprisingly down-to-earth and aren't evil for the sake of it, as the manga is careful to show that they are products of their environment and are expected to uphold the Victorian-era values and social norms that have been drilled into them all their lives, and a lot of the conflict comes from their wanting Alice to be happy but wrongly assuming being the submissive wife of a noblewoman and upholding the family's reputation is the best thing for her, since that's what women of the time were expected to be. Edward, Alice's fiance, isn't a cackling supervillain and does love her to an extent, but is a product of Victorian era sensibilities, thinking Alice will be happy if she becomes a mother, being openly suspicious of Hanako's relationship with her, and even displaying period-appropriate (But still unacceptable by modern standards) racism towards Hanako. My only real complaint is that other characters, such as the other maids working in the Douglas estate and Edward's unnamed friend who tells him about Alice's scandal and warns him about Hanako, don't get developed or utilized enough, to the point where Edward's friend doesn't even have a name. Plus, Susanne, a maid that Hanako encounters, is said to have left a bad situation in France, but we never see it. Dr. Pepperco has mentioned at the end of volume 3 that she'd like to make a sequel manga that goes deeper into exploring other characters and the consequences of their actions, but so far, nothing's set in stone.

For what it's worth, though, I'm happy with Goodbye My Rose Garden as is. It knows what it wants to be, doesn't drag itself out longer than necessary, and doesn't overstay its welcome. Now I wish I hadn't written off Dr. Pepperco back when I reviewed the Bang Dream manga she made. Goodbye My Rose Garden was clearly made with a lot of love and passion, and I can only hope she's able to make more stories like this. It helps that it's fairly short, too, only clocking it at three volumes, and Seven Seas released the whole series in the US, so you can read through it pretty quickly if you have a few hours to kill. So for anyone wanting to read a historical shoujo-ai/LGBT manga that doesn't have a tragic ending, definitely give Goodbye My Rose Garden a try. It's sweet, short, riveting, and I would honestly love for someone to make an anime out of this. I know that probably won't happen, but hey, a girl can dream, can't she?

This manga ended up being one of my favorites.

The story itself is a bit predictable but still very fun to read. There's definitely a strong focus on love and romance and not much on the sexual side of things which I love, but it might not be what you're looking for.

The art is absolutely amazing, the detail put into drawing out every intricate dress design is impressive. This is one of the prettiest things I've ever read.

The characters all act in rational ways so the plot is never driven forward by people making stupid choices. Like most anime, the characters tend to have ... only a few interests that become their full personality, but it works better in this story then in most and the characters don't feel too flat.

My overall enjoyment is a 10/10.

Goodbye, My Rose Garden (Spoiler Free Review)
This is a story about 2 young women - Alice, a young noblewoman and her Japanese maid Hanako. In the story, Hanako traveled to Japan in early 1900 England to be a writer AND to meet her idol victor (he is a writer too). Alice found Hanako in front of a publishing house in cold. She took her in as a maid. They shared almost the same interests in books and Hanako found Alice to be a very kind woman.
Here starts their journey where Alice once asked Hanako to kill her.
Unable to understand Alice's wish for suicide. ... Hanako wanted to help Alice.
Will she be able to help Alice? Will the mindset of the people in the 1900s affect their relationship? Read it to find out
I've read only 6 chapters and find this interesting :) I'll post a full review after I finish :)

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.

Omg guys, this shoujo ai is so friggin adorable!! 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍❤️❤️

It’s about a young Japanese girl Hanako who is a maid for an aristocratic family in England and she is friendly with their daughter Alice. Alice is about to marry a fellow and she feels miserable because she is just madly in love with Hanako and no doubt, Hanako loves her too! ❤️

I also really liked the other side characters such as Marie and Suzanne, I can’t understand why they don’t have their own love story gahhhh😓😓😓

Anyways gives this cute 12 chapter shoujo ai a try, it’s such a delight!❤️

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.

This book read like poetry. I've learned a lot of new words, although I have already forgotten most of them. English is difficult.

As Hanako found herself losing confidence and helpless as she wasn't able to help her student, she found peace in reading, namely by Victor Franks. A bookworm she is, she decided to venture to London to meet her favourite author Franks — as well as she is trying to become a novelist herself, arriving at a publishing place, there, she finds herself encountering Alice, a noblewoman, that is also quite a bookworm like she is. As this fate meeting unfolded, Alice was fond ... of her and sought salvation for herself within Hanako. Hanako then later finds employment as a personal maid to noblewoman Alice.

As this story takes place in the 1900s London, things weren't exactly progressive. Hanako learned about the novelist Oscar Wilde — who had an affair — sodomy has been deemed a sin in this country. Remembering what Alice said, Hanako also believed that love is free.

I enjoyed how their relationship started to unfold. As a maid and her mistress — befriended each other, both of them feel unsure of their feelings and how their relationship is supposed to be.
I was quite fond of the way Alice's struggle was portrayed in this story, as she has a troubled past and her position as a noblewoman, as she can only find salvation by spending time with Hanako. I thought it was beautiful.

"Roses bathed in the strongest light cast the deepest shadows."
As they spent their time together, they became closer and closer. Secrets started to unravel — as they wanted to learn to understand each other true intentions. Afraid of being hurt or hurting others, they grew suspicious and kept their relationship distance as only a maid and her mistress while unsure of their feelings. It was probably my favourite part of the story, perhaps you can say this sequence of events only called for misunderstanding, and if so, it was certainly one of the better ones that I have read recently. Excitingly waiting for them to learn about the truth to unfold made my heart flutter for I only wish for them to be together by the end.

The scenes in this book were particularly well-drawn and properly conveyed — as well as the dialogue in this story was elegant and sophisticated, suiting perfectly with the setting of the story. It was easy for me to immerse myself in them. The side characters were lacking in-depth as they only served as a commentary for the struggle of the two main characters, be that as it may, most of them are lovely and wholesome people, so I had no particular problem with them for this kind of story. Though, they are still a few side characters that stand out, one of which I love. I particularly enjoyed the scenes between the two of the main characters. Granted, the two of them are the main focus of the story, so it should be obvious. But their interaction was delightful, and it was easier for me to attach to them and react emotionally if the scenes "demanded" so.

"Goodbye, My Rose Garden" was a fun read — it wasn't a particularly original story — but Dr Pepperco cleverly added a slight twist that made it slightly different from its genre, with well-thought-out execution. It is a romance story of two girls involving themselves in "forbidden" love and trying to overcome the burden that they carried alongside them. This story is definitely worth reading if you are a fan of the genre.

With all that said, I wasn't expecting myself to write a review for this book, but something just clicked within me to do it.

"My mind overflows with ideas, but when I set myself to the task, they are no more than a single drop of morning dew."
As I write this review. Well, I hope you at least find something in this. Thank you for reading.

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.