Yoshitoki Ōima

Here's where we see a time skip happen, and Fushi's been having to deal with the death of his original found family, and trying to get stronger on his own - determined not to rely on people or see anyone else he's close to die. That proves to be impossible when he's found by a group who claim to be his guardians, vowing to protect him, and the young girl among them is a descendent of Hayase (the woman who killed two people closest to him in the past, and someone he absolutely hated in their show more last encounter). So we see Fushi having to come back to society 40 years later, with descendants of Hayase both protecting and unnerving him. I wish the volume focused more on that, since there's something interesting about a family where each generation has the same (almost honor-bound in a very culty way) connection to a supernatural or immortal being who gets to meet them all, while they all end up dying. But Fushi's bond is only really explored with the 9-year-old girl who finds him. Her behavior toward Fushi is also disturbing, but you also have to consider, she was basically groomed into wanting Fushi because of her mother and grandmother (Hayase). Toward the end of the volume, we get the one male heir of the family who Fushi's going to bond with from here, onto the next volume, and so far he's the only one to give Fushi his space.

Still, I wish the relationships Fushi had with the other descendents of Hayase were explored in more detail, especially since there's that bad blood from generations past. Instead of that, the story feels like it's rushing to the next arc involving a kingdom, which I'm looking forward to reading, but still. I guess I'm just biased toward generational and complex family structures in stories, especially if cults, or cult-like belief are involved. show less

Shoya saves Shoko but ends up in the hospital, badly injured and unconscious. This whole volume is about the aftermath of Shoko's suicide attempt: Shoko helping Tomohiro finish his movie in an effort to fix what she feels she broke; Yuzuru upset because the pictures she'd kept taking hadn't stopped Shoko from wanting to die; Naoka remembering how she stood by as Shoya was bullied; and Satoshi realizing his desire to become a teacher was all about his own creepy wish to monitor the kids of show more his own former bullies.

This series is so dark, and this particular volume is pretty violent. Naoka beats up Shoko because she blames her for Shoya being in the hospital, and Shoko's mom attacks (like actually physically attacks) Naoka for beating up Shoko. I wasn't surprised that people like Naoka and Shoya's mother blamed Shoko for what happened to Shoya, but I hated that they did, because she was hurting too. If Shoko's emotional wounds had been able to manifest as physical wounds, she'd probably have been hospitalized too.

I hadn't realized Yuzuru's morbid photography was more than just a phase. Apparently Shoko had tried to kill herself before, and Yuzuru's photography was her way of trying to make Shoko want to live, without actually saying so. Which...didn't really work out so well. She comes to the conclusion that she should have talked to Shoko about Shoko's past suicide attempt, and...I don't know. Remember that Yuzuru is actually Shoko's younger sister. I agree that she should maybe have been a bit less vague about telling Shoko that she wanted her to continue living, but at the same time Yuzuru has carried so much on her shoulders for years. I hate the idea of her taking on even more.

The bit with Satoshi really, really creeped me out. There was a hint of some of this in, I think, volume 5, in the way Satoshi handled things when he witnessed a younger kid being bullied. He put a stop to it, yes, but the way he did it made me wonder just how scary he'd be once he was in charge of a classroom. This peek into his motives for becoming a teacher wasn't pretty, although thankfully he'd gotten to the point where he'd realized that too. Still, it seems kind of unfair that characters like Shoya, Shoko, and others had to have the most damaged and ugliest sides of themselves put on display for other characters to see, while Satoshi just gets to quietly reconsider his future with no one the wiser.

This volume finally gave readers a few pages from Shoko's POV, sort of. It was basically like getting to see the world the way she sees it, but with none of her thoughts to go with it. Which got me googling whether deaf people think in terms of an “inner voice,” which in turn made me think that Oima really could have done this part better. At some point, I need to see if I can find any reviews of this series written by deaf people.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

This volume is a bit of a mess with some problematic scenes revolving around the foppish prince, homophobia, cross-dressing, gender identity and body image. Also, a new power for Fushi is revealed that could really undercut all that has come before.

That said, by the end of the book, regardless of the ridiculousness of the situation in this new arc, I found myself drawn in by the emotional core of the characters and the literal cliffhanger ending.

To Your Eternity's first volume is an incredible introduction to a series that will be a slow burn journey of character growth and a coming-of-age for an immortal being who desperately seeks peace and connection. It's first volume has our strange immortal, shapeshifting orb taking on the form of a wolf, who ends up making contact with an unnamed boy (the wolf's owner), and in a position where they can only communicate through action, the immortal forms of bond with the boy and goes along on show more a journey with him - setting out for the promise land that the boy's village set out searching for long ago.

Without getting into spoiler territory, all I will say is that the story from the jump is one rife with emotion and tragedy, but it's used well, and seeing the immortal orb's growth only gets more interesting from here on out - and volume one is a beautifully cold and heartfelt introduction. show less