Kirakira

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Maybe a 7.5?

It's tough to review a work like this, because it's an anthology, and comprises two different stories, one of which will go on and intertwine with several others in other anthologies.

I am finding that I really like Takemiya Jin's storytelling quite a bit, though her artwork doesn't really do it for me. With no memorable backgrounds (understandable for an artist working, so far as I can tell, without assistants), not a lot of variation in perspective or angle, a lot of weight has to be carried by the character designs/drawings, where I find the work a little too angular and rough for my ... taste.

The story more than makes up for it. Okay, we're talking about some serious high-drama territory here; and there are no happy endings (well, no endings at all in this book--the story gets continued in several other anthologies) but I admire the way that the work doesn't shy away from showing realistic women: women who are people, with all the concomitant flaws, including using each other and lying to each other and themselves. I also very much appreciate the way this author can bring authenticity to a genre that's often very bound by its conventions and cliches.

Character-wise, I think these characters (at least for the My Beloved series) grow and develop much more in later anthologies--and until then, there's not a lot to say about them. What we see here is bittersweet youth and not knowing what you have until it's lost; character is less important than theme and story.

Overall, Takemiya's is a fresh voice which deserves to be read, but it's an early work and later ones will be stronger.