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Considerations
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● This is a spoiler-free review
●As this work is still being released, I would like to start off by saying that at the time that I'm writing, we are at chapter 88. If things change drastically with time, I will come back and rewrite or edit this review.
● NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: I'd like to say that now this manga has been completed and it never changed. It's the best romance that I've ever read and it will always be in my heart.
● I started reading this manga as a recommendation from a friend of mine, and I ended up reading and rereading it. I love the work of the author and have read some of her other works, considering this one her masterpiece.
● Iyashikei refers to a sub-genre of slice of life, portraying characters living out peaceful lives in calming environments, and is intended to have a healing effect on the audience. The word iyashikei could mean "healing type" or just "healing" in Japanese.
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The Story
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The story is centered on Ganta. A high schooler who suffers from insomnia and spends all his nights awake, and in the morning he is dead tired, anxious, and irritated. While searching for card-boxes, he enters the school's old observatory and finds a sanctuary, a place without noise and people, the perfect place to rest. When admiring his new sanctuary, he finds Magari, a classmate who also suffers from insomnia and uses the observatory as a resting place. However, when the school staff discovers the misuse of the observatory, they're obliged to start an astronomy club to keep using the observatory. That's when the story starts evolving into one of the best romances I've ever read.
In my opinion, Kimi wa Houkago Insomnia is the best romantic manga. It's pure and gentle. It's heartwarming to read. Many romances in the media nowadays relay on "Will they, won't they" so you keep reading, waiting the romance to develop for 100, 200 or sometimes 300 chapters. While this one is more romance focused and builds up the drama, raise the stakes and deliver you the maximum amount of feelings without making you wait 15 volumes. If you're considering reading it because of the romance, go for it.
The story also covers a fair amount of astronomy, cameras, and photography. You can learn a thing or two about how a camera works by reading this manga.
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The Art Style
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First and foremost, this manga is made by only one person, without assistants. Some of the templates for backgrounds come from edited real images, with the author drawing on top of them. The characters are simple yet beautiful, and the use of shadows and angles is really nice. You just read this manga and it melted in.
Normally, the highly detailed scenes are presented in camera shot format, and they are stunning. It captivates the eyes and gives you the Iyashikei vibe that people enjoy. There are no complaints on this matter; the art is really good.
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The Characters
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There are a fair number of characters in this manga; there are 2 main characters (Ganta and Magari), their family, friends, teachers, and so on. Every character has a different style of behavior, and there are also a lot of interactions between side-characters. The manga doesn't just explore the main ones.
In the main character department, both are extremely well developed. As the story progresses, you get to know more about both of them, starting to understand how they came to the point that they're at now, and their evolution is noticeable.
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Conclusion
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If you're like me, you skip everything and read only the conclusion because you don't want to get spoiled with other themes. So I will try to be brief on this point:
Read it. Kimi wa Houkago Insomnia has everything that appeals to anyone. A good and pure romance, beautiful art, good characters, a really good story, amazing character development, and as a bonus, you have the Iyashikei vibe to help you through rough times.