Kotonoha no Niwa
The Garden of Words

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This is my first time reviewing a series with a full 10/10 in every aspect.

Story: The story is the same as the movie it is based on. Extra moments were added to develop Takao and Yukino's relationship more, and the ending as well was not in the movie - it gave an overall, hopeful and positive feeling.

Art: The art was very pleasing to the eyes. I love seeing the blushes on our protagonists' faces, and their gentle gestures. The tone the movie displayed was very apparent in this manga adaption. I love the way the postures were drawn, and the drips of water on the ... leaves were beautiful as well.

Character: The characters and their worries were significantly what made this series so memorable. I love that although Takao and Yukino clearly have their differences, they have their own worries that they need to overcome. It's so wonderful that the two helped each other move forward in life. It really does show you that people can have struggles at any age, adults included.

Enjoyment: This manga was very enjoyable. It felt nice to relive the series by flipping the pages and seeing what has both stayed the same and what has been added from the movie. It was very nice to see Motohashi's care and effort placed in this manga version.

Overall: It was a very pleasant experience to read The Garden of Words. The theme and poetry of the series gave me a fulfilling feeling, as well as reflective.

As a manga, "Kotonoha no Niwa" is a completely harmless and even inferior work to the cinematic wrapper presented by Makoto Shinkai in the original anime. In attempting to adapt a 46 min animation that has consistency in its visuals, themes, and pacing, the manga fails to efficiently establish the dramatic aspects that the story demands, mainly due to Midori Motohashi's artistic insufficiency in conveying the essence of the material to the reader.

To a certain extent, the manga manages to maintain a slow narrative rhythm that prioritizes the subtlety of the relationship developed between Yukari and Takao, with a very intimate approach through frames and ... visual organizations that invade and make public the characters' intimacy. Because the premise is founded on sensitive and casual encounters, this slowness elevates the importance of these sporadic events by prolonging the development of the facts, as well as favoring the feelings of contemplation and isolation that are part of the work.

In general, with a slow pace and closed frames on the characters and/or details of the environment, the manga also does not innovate regarding the themes presented in the original animation: human processes such as maturing, overcoming/accepting socially imposed conditions and perspectives for the future are well outlined and verbalized along the dramatic arcs of the main characters. If, on one hand, there is subtlety in showing the relationship between Yukari and Takao, on the other, the work is very objective in showing the reader its themes and respective considerations. In fact, the absence of other characters produces a sterility of subjects, even if it is adequate to the premise.

However, it becomes valid to comment that, due to the isolation tone that comes from the primordial concept of the manga (two people interacting in a park, isolated from the world), all the social and personal problems developed are part of a particular human clipping that does not dialogue with Japan's socioeconomic scenarios. For example, how do Takao's aspirations conflict with the economic-financial and professional career perspective of Japanese young adults? How do material conditions of existence delimit Takao's possibilities of choice and Yukari's chances of change/adaptation? Even if it is not a demerit of the work not to raise human issues that go through the innermost of each character, the lack of these questions hinders a more significant enrichment of the manga.

In truth, this lukewarm narrative approach that favors the intimacy of the characters could work insofar as this is a short, objective, and sincere work with its topics, sufficient to adapt Makoto's animation. However, the main problem with Midori Motohashi's art becomes evident: mediocre character design and drawing techniques that detract from the reader's experience. In this sense, it's not a matter of whether an art style is "ugly" or "attractive," but whether the structuring of the visuals succeeds in ordering the ideas and feelings that the narrative intends to convey to the reader. For example, it is a fundamental part of the premise that the characters have a considerable age difference - yet Yukari's design does not convey the maturity that the character should exude, a condition that affects part of the proposition. Another great example is the lack of detail in the production of the scenarios, especially regarding the lighting of the scenes and one of the central elements of the work: the rain. Again, efficient art is not that which prioritizes realism in the strokes and scene compositions - but in this manga, the absence of considerable finesse and visual richness obstructs a narrative experience that seeks intimacy and contemplation of events. For comparison purposes, the manga "Koi wa Ameagari no You ni" shares narrative and thematic structures with "The Garden of Words" but manages to establish a good mood by depicting the natural elements of each scene (especially the rain) and presenting the characters' intimacy.

Overall, the manga adaptation of "Kotonoha no Niwa" is, at best, mediocre. Even with a reasonable plot that engages the reader, the work is weakened due to an uninspired visual identity and the gradual loss of its subtlety in dramatic development. Since it is a short manga, it may be worth a quick and casual read, without major expectations regarding the content to be contemplated.

It contains spoilers.

Ah, love... What would it be of our lifes without love? It moves the world, it makes us feel things, it makes us happy or destroy our heart... A strong feeling, motivation of hundred of people every day to fullfil their routine. You can love a person, an animal, the music you listen, anime and manga... I hope you agree in it, because Kotonoha no Niwa brings us some cups of sweet sweet love.

This manga is an adaptation of the well known movie made by Makoto Shinkai (the best he's made in my opinion) in 2013. In it, it tells the exact same ... story as the movie, but with some little differences, details that make Takao and Yukari more human.

For those who may not know about it (if you are here, I suppose you saw the movie and want more), Kotonoha no Niwa —or The Garden of Words— tells the story of Yukari Yukino, a 27yo woman, and Takao Akizuki, a 15yo student. Takao has decided that the rainy days, he'll not assist to the high school, because he would be drawing shoes in a park. His dream is to be a shoemaker. One day he encounters a mysterious woman drinking beer and eating chocolate in the same spot he always visit to be alone. The woman, out of nowhere, tells Takao a 'Tanka', a japanese poem. From that day, Takao and Yukari meet each other every day thar rains.

The story is pretty simple, but it's beautifully related as an impossible romance. One of Shinkai's main themes in his movies is the distance between two individuals and how they know each other. In Kotonoha no Niwa, we see how they begin to love each other. This tries so hard to tell us that it doesn't matter who you are, because if you support me, I'll support you.

Kotonoha no Niwa is, somehow, a bittersweet romance, impossible to complete by now. Different ages, different positions, but the same strong feeling of human need.

The ending is really satisfying. The movie showed us how Takao tried to convice Yukari (and himself) that he was only a tool, that he mattered none to her. In the other hand, in the manga, we are blessed with a mature but childish monologue that comes to say the exact same thing but different. Takao wants to know why if she had been treating him like his equal, now, in that exact moment (when he confesses to her), she starts acting like an 'adult'.

The art is incredibily good. It has some accurate details in the backgrounds and the faces are so well drawn, maybe better than the movie itself. The dialogues were sometimes messy, difficult to follow —because it uses a bubble system that misleaded me.

The character creation is the same that in the movie but with some improvements. We are delighted with some Yukari moments that build her personality. I could, in every moment, believe what I was reading. They treated each other like strangers, but like if they had known for all life. The intimate moments in the garden are perfect, and even if the magic scene when Takao draws Yukari's foot is the same as the movie, it felt even more intimate.

I love Kotonoha no Niwa, I can't deny it. It pierced my chest like an arrow, and I really hope that this manga adaptation is not the last thing we see about that impossible couple. If you liked the movie, I strongly suggest you to read this, because is the same but has more things to offer.

Before I get into this review, I want to issue a warning that I will be discussing spoilers for this manga, as I don't see how I can review this without talking about the execution of certain key scenes without spoiling them.

Kotonoha no Niwa is a manga that started serializing before the movie version came out in 2013. It's a short, one volume long manga, which makes it an easy read, like the movie, which is only 40 minutes long, making for an easy watch. In this review, i'll try to not compare it to the movie too much, as i'm planning to rewatch it ... to make a review for it. Let's get into it!

// Story // 10/10

The story is where this really shines. Takao, a first year in high school, skips out on morning classes every time it rains. When he does skip class, he goes to a local park to work on his dream: shoemaking. One day, he would meet a young woman who sat there, sipping beer and eating chocolate. Over time, they begin to talk to each other, takao opens up about his dream, and the woman opens up about her bad cooking skills and how she "lost the ability to walk for a while".
One day at school, a teacher walks by with a woman beside him, and it turns out to be Yukino-sensei, a teacher who is quitting her post as a teacher due to being essentially bullied out of the job by her students after some nasty rumors went around about her. Takao recognizes her as the woman from the park. One day, he decides to go to the park, and finds Yukino-sensei standing there. Rain follows, and they are forced to retreat to her apartment, where Takao confesses, but gets rejected. A tense but emotional scene in the building's outdoor staircase ensues and closes the show.

I really like this narrative, it starts off slow and calm, like the rain, before picking up with a violent storm towards the end, where emotions clash and tensions rise between the characters. It's a simple narrative of forbidden love, but one that works.

// Art // 6/10

This one hurts. Once you've seen the movie a few times and then read the manga version, it feels like an insane drop in quality. The movie has insane attention to detail, ridiculously good art and design, and here, it feels empty.
Don't get me wrong, I find the art to be fine, but don't expect the levels of art you'd find in the movie.
Takao looks like himself, he's a pretty simple character design-wise, but Yukino-sensei looks a bit off, and the backgrounds are very simple compared to the movie, which featured Takao's busy room, which is now pretty damn empty, the park doesn't feel as full with life...
It's a shame, really, at I feel like this could've been it's main selling point, but it's just... disappointing.

// Character // 9/10

The characters in this story are all pretty solid and loveable, well, for the ones that are developped, so basically Takao and Yukino-sensei.
Takao to me feels too bland, even in the movie. His simple design doesn't really appeal to me, and he just looks like a typical background character from a shoujo series... He is very assertive when it comes to his dreams, and clearly won't give up easily, so that's a plus for him. I like me some good, assertive characters who don't give up on something because they're told "no".
Yukino-sensei is definitely up there in my favorite characters. Not enough to make my list, but a decent candidate. She's sweet and soft, despite hiding the fact that she was a teacher, which did clearly hurt Takao. She clearly means no harm, and reminds me alot of Hina Tachibana from Domestic na Kanojo.
I would've said something about the bullies, but they're essentially the same as in the movie, literally no change.

// Enjoyment // 9/10

Kotonoha no Niwa is in my favorites list on MAL, so obviously I was bound to enjoy this, even despite the lacking art style. The story pulls this all together so well, and it makes me want to go back and watch the movie again, which will definitely happen soon.
A good and short read, despite the lack of detail in the art, this could've been much better, but i'll take it as it is!

Thanks for reading!

This review contains minor spoilers.

The story was great. I watched the movie last year and I actually disliked it until I read the manga which completely changed my mind. I can't recall if the movie had the same ending as the manga but the manga definitely had more content than the movie.

The art was incredibly beautiful. I literally stared at some of the bigger pictures for minutes because it was so good. The character designs were really nice and I liked the way Midori Motohashi drew them when they were blushing and how she sometimes drew these big pictures of the park.

The garden of ... words also uses small subtext that's fairly easy to understand. Such as how Yukino recognized the schools emblem on Takao's shirt. But the most beautiful use of subtext was how shoes and walking were used in the story. Yukino lost the ability to walk properly which basically means that she can't move on from the past because of fear of the things that hurt her before. Takao intends to make shoes that will make her want to walk again and this means that Takao pretty much just wants to help her with her worries and help her move forward.

So like I said it uses subtext but not to the point where you have to sit yourself down after reading it and think "what the hell did I just read?" which I think is a really good thing.

The ending was really nice and showed that even though Takao might believe that he's too young he still managed to help Yukino and made her able to "walk to the ends of the earth."

So overall I really enjoyed the garden of words.

My review on this is; it's pretty good.
The speech bubbles were hard to follow, I had to watch the movie after reading it to understand some of the conversations because I couldn't tell who was saying what. (Not important conversations, I got the jist of it.)

As far as the art goes, it's pretty. I'll give it that, however I'm not a fan of how more than half of the time no-one has a face. It's just an empty void. Not sure if it's just the artist's art style, or if it was just rushed. I still enjoyed the artwork.

The story is pretty good, short.. I ... was sort of disappointed by the ending, and I don't know if it was just me but I was not expecting the main character being that young. Maybe I missed where they had mentioned how young he was at the beginning, but I got the impression that he was 16+.

Overall, i'd rate it a 7.5, losing points for the confusing speech bubbles, lack of facial detail in the art, and the ending (however, the ending is entirely opinion based)

Good short read. Is it worth $13? No. Is it worth $6-7? Sure.

It is hard to not compare the manga version of Kotonoha no Niwa (Garden of Words) to its anime counterpart... especially since it is my favorite of all anime in the world. I will try my best, but some comparisons will need to be made.

Story (9) The story is simple, yet elegant. It is not deep, but it tells a story of two people that are lost within themselves and how together they learn to take steps forward into their futures no matter how difficult they may be. There are changes in the story from the anime version that brings the romance aspects of the ... story into clearer focus and the ending is different as well... I will not say how it ends to avoid spoilers.

Art (9) I love the art. It is not something that you can compare to the anime, but there are things that are in the manga that deepen characterization. When the female lead blushes, it hits me straight in the heart and it is not something that you see in the animated version. The art is clean and wonderful to look at.

Character (10) The only characters that matter in this story are the male and female lead. They are delicately handled and better realized in the manga than in the anime. The feelings they express feel genuine and I love both of them to bits. This is the kind of world I want to be in.

Enjoyment (10) I love this manga, perhaps even more than its anime counterpart. It is a wonderful work of art and I am so glad that I found out that it existed, for the longest time I thought that Kotonoha no Niwa was just animated.

Overall (10) This is among the best that manga has to offer. It is a tender romance and a coming of age story for both the male and female leads. If you love manga you really owe it to yourself to read this story.

The Garden of Words - A Strong Manga Adaptation

The Garden of Words is a film by Makoto Shinkai, and like many of his anime movies, it has been adapted into a manga.

The story revolves around a high school student named Takao Akizuki who often skips classes to work on his hobby — shoemaking. He dreams of turning this passion into a full-time career. One day, Takao visits a park and encounters a woman named Yukari Yukino — a mysterious figure whom, by fate, he meets again at the same place during rainy days. As they continue to meet, they gradually get to know each other ... and eventually fall in love. Shinkai uses Takao's motivation (using the plot device of shoes) to drive his meetings with Yukino throughout the chapters, leading to the revelation that Yukino is actually his teacher, which explains why Takao has been skipping classes.

Additional scenes were added in the manga to further explore the characters' backgrounds. This expansion makes sense as an adaptation of a nearly 50-minute film that is packed with detail — so much so that it benefits from this extra exploration.

The characters are memorable and easy to recognize, despite there being relatively few of them (the manga has 7 chapters, corresponding to a 50-minute anime). Each character has their own responsibilities and challenges to overcome. Although Takao and Yukino have their differences, the story emphasizes the power of love as its main focus, conveying the message Shinkai wants to share. We also see how they help each other move forward in life, facing struggles that can arise at any age.

The art is delightful, especially considering it’s a manga adaptation. If you're familiar with reading manga, it may seem typical, but I must give it extra points for quality. The details make all the difference — the postures, the speech bubbles, the protagonists' expressions, and so on.

Overall, the manga is enjoyable, and you will likely appreciate it. You may find yourself falling in love with the story, if not at the beginning, then by the end, and you'll probably end up rooting for the characters.
While I think the ending could be more cohesive, particularly in tying up certain aspects of Yukino’s story, I understand that Makoto Shinkai has a distinctive way of concluding his narratives.