lavender__'s reviews
112 reviews

 In The Golden Sheep, high schooler, Tsugu Miikuri has a passion for the guitar. After moving back to her hometown after 7 years, she finds that her childhood friends -- Asari, Yuushin, and Sora -- have all changed, for better or for worse.
The story focuses on bullying. I really enjoyed the way the manga depicts the emotions of the victims.

It felt realistic to see them try to ignore how embarrassed they were by the bullying even though it wasn't any of their faults. It was also interesting to see the author depict male bullies as physically violent, while the female bullies were more sly, and focused on excluding others from their group while gossiping about them.

I really liked the comic's sense of realism, and the way it broached sensitive topics. 

[im rambling. Also, this 'review' partly talks about previous volumes] Very fond of this series. Honestly, I'm not sure why it had to end at all, and feel like there were still many directions that this series still could've taken. I feel like

the theme of  "future and past" could've been better tied into this final volume, and also that like, few characters ever 'finished' their character development. HnG is a very,, continuous series? Like there are many characters left behind as Hikaru climbs the ranks of the go world, and while it's realistic that Hikaru of course cant stay in contact with all of them, i don't think the author gives proper closure? Like, why is there a new character taking up the third spot for the New Lions Cup, rather than an already established character? And he's been here for like 3 volumes or less and while the series is close to ending? (also kinda peeved that despite showing up in promo art for the series, Akari barely shows up in the series) Again its realistic, but it doesn't give proper closure

But I enjoyed the series all in all.  The characters are likable and have a clearly understood mindset. I admire how gutsy it is for the author to have the

main character lose his final tournament game, in the final volume. I wouldn't be surprised if many fans were unhappy with this decision, and I myself, was so surprised when I read it, thinking well, Hikaru is the protagonist, he'll secure a win somehow.

Definitely a series ill remember

[rambling]
I enjoyed reading the book, I just feel like it wasn't as well-connected as it could've been? I feel it could've been more united in its themes. For example, in it,

the world is set to end due to climate change,

but I feel like it wasn't touched on as much as it could've been? Like environmentalism?
Magical Girls, btw, is a genre typically focuses on young girls who get magical powers and balance their heroic responsibilities with their social/school lives. (Though admittedly, not all of them are magical/supernatural. Sometimes, the protagonist is just a very witty girl with a secret identity)
The novel subverts those tropes by having its magical girls all be adult women, though they do have costume changes. (Magical boys exist but are very rare). Within the novel,

abilities can be awakened by traumatic events.

  It uses this to explain why so many women are magical girls.

They are marginalized within their own countries and communities.

In fact,

the main antagonist is a survivor of domestic abuse who lost faith in the world.

I enjoyed how it used supernatural elements in that way, to comment on real life stuff 
I'd actually say it sort of ties into climate change disasters in that way, as in there's a terrible problem in the world that everyone knows is present. Yet, there's not enough people working/speaking against it, or the people in power aren't doing anything meaningful to change it.
The protagonist is a woman who almost committed suicide but was stopped by a magical girl (This is in the first chapter and blurb-- it's not spoilers) So, 

  she just kind of follows her around for a decent section of the book. I understand why the protagonist, as a person, would be aimless and follow her around

  But it felt like the protagonist was just being moved around by the author rather than influencing the story 
I thought the author could've made the protagonist a more active participant in the story. The story is told in 1st person and as much as I like the character's introspection, I would've like to see her act more in combination with that
The protagonist's power took me a second to understand it, I had to read the translator's thoughts about it to get it but when I did, I was like Oh. I See. (very interested)
It's a shame that it's probably a stand-alone novel because I really enjoyed the world building for it, and learning about the magical girl workforce. I enjoyed the afterwards by the cover illustrator and the translator, I found their words very endearing. It also goes without saying that the cover and inner illustrations were stylish and suited the novel well. I'm interested in whatever work the writer puts out in the future.
Nitpick: the translator uses commas and parentheses inconsistently, they'll have it like “(.)” or “().”  Like, just choose one.

Cute, I'm glad I read Devault's first published piece. It really shows how this graphic novel is a more coherent and condensed version off their themes

I teared up I can't lie. I think its very cool how everything is show not tell. It's just a very poignant story

Well, I stopped at 240 pages according to EPUB. I stopped right before chapter 17. It's an interesting novel but after awhile I just got tired of it. Wasn't into the wisecracking humor either

Stopped at "Halmoni loved to smoke, drink, and gamble, and especially loved partaking in all three around a deck of hwatu. Hwatu are small hard plastic cards roughly the size  of  a  matchbook."