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I picked up this book at the store on a whim solely because of the cover, as the colors of the cherry blossoms and the realistic feel of the scenery really stood out to me—and boy was it worth it.

Plot (8/10): While the plot isn't anything too crazy, I do believe that it is unique in its own way. I have read plenty of stories regarding time travel, but none included a phenomenon like the "rollback," so the story felt fresh. The ending of the story I thought was well done, the book does its fair amount of foreshadowing and so I kind of got ... an idea of how it was going to end, but there was much more to it than what I thought, which didn't disappoint.

Writing (10/10): The thing that stood out the most from this book was the writing. Everything from the descriptions of the sceneries and the emotions to the grammar used in the story felt like it was well done, which is amazing considering that this is also a translation. The writing also felt very poetic at times, and the author finds ways to set the mood just right. The way in which the author manages to connect the "rollback" phenomenon with the story also comes off as very clever, making it a book worth reading twice so that one can see what the author did.

Characters (10/10): The characters felt very real throughout the text, making choices that were relatable. There weren't any annoying quirks or overwhelming beliefs that they always acted on—no, they felt human, like proper literary fiction instead of genre fiction (not that there's anything wrong with the latter). Their emotions were also well described, and plenty of imagery was given to them which may not have been something groundbreaking but it was well done.