Reviews

From Far Away, Vol. 5 by Kyoko Hikawa

sagali's review

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adventurous fast-paced
  • Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

songs_and_honey's review against another edition

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5.0

This volume had major Howls Moving Castle vibes!!!

anindistinctaccountant's review

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adventurous emotional funny tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

exlibrisbitsy's review against another edition

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4.0

As if being dumped down into a completely fantastical and strange world that doesn’t speak her language or play by her rules wasn’t bad enough. Noriko faces bigger enemies in this volume and feels more powerless than ever. She can’t help her friends or fight the bad guys, all she can do is be herself. But will that prove to be enough?

It turns out being herself is more powerful than Noriko originally thought, but she isn’t the only one showing her true colors. Izark finally breaks down and reveals his true self to Noriko and the result ends up shocking them both.

This volume delivers two fantastic, worth the wait, reveals. One is Izark’s long kept secret that he now shares with Noriko and the other is a flashback to Izark’s childhood and his struggles right after he left home. Both were exciting to read about and I’m glad this twist has come along, it will be interesting to see where things go from here.

The author is still interrupting herself a bit but it’s becoming less and that’s good. Her side panels throughout the volume responding to fan mail are very annoying and keep coming in during key tense and emotional scenes in the book. That I could really do without.

jennykeery's review against another edition

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4.0

It should not be so refreshing to find a manga heroine who isn't thick or annoying, but here we are. I love stories about enchanted woodlands, so this volume was a right treat. Noriko, Izark and their travelling companions get lost in a forest full of monsters and ghosts, and Izark has a rough time of it (again). That poor demon boy.

heart's review against another edition

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4.0

MONSTER ROMANCEEE YEAHHHH

lilsuccubus's review

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fast-paced

4.5

I enjoyed the story in this volume and especially enjoyed the end and the extra bonus story about Gaya and Izark meeting. My only complaint with this series is the written sound effects. Otherwise, I think this might be the best isekai manga there is.

becki's review

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5.0

Oh geeze the sexual tension is killing me. And the secondary characters just add so much to the story besides the two protagonists

jessie_h's review

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3.0

3.5/5 Stars

prationality's review

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5.0

Welcome to volume 5 of From Far Away! In this volume...there's a lot of hair. I mean a lot. Like Shepard Book levels of hair.

shepard book all the hair

Also some people really try it with Izark and it DOES NOT go well for them.

We have a name for our ghostly boy - its Irkule! He's the spirit of the Morning Mist Tree and is simply at a loss as to how to help the villagers trapped by the hair monster of nightmares. Have no fear though he helps Noriko realize that just being herself is such a big responsibility.

Minor digression - from here on out its an important theme that each character, simply by being their truest self, can and will help others. Other then Izark none of the other characters in the main "good guy" cast have offensive supernatural powers, but they are able to achieve the results they do by believing in something larger than theirselves. Namely in Noriko and Izark, but also in the inherent goodness in people's hearts.

Back to the volume at hand, we also see Izark just...well he demons out. He and Noriko wind up in a nasty jam thanks to the hair demon nightmare thing and he loses control in his fear for Noriko. So Noriko sees the Sky Demon form of Izark (random aside: in volume 5 of Fruits Basket, this happens to Tohru and Kyo as well) and while Izark is busy alternating between freaking out and growing so frantic he can't think straight, Noriko realizes two things: 1) she can totally see why Izark is scared of being the Sky Demon and 2) him being the Sky Demon meant he'd leave her and THAT WOULD NOT STAND.

We have what young me jumped up and down about - a confession! And it works!

Its important to note however that at this point Izark is not really romantically in love with Noriko. He cares about her, he worries after her and he doesn't want to leave her side, but he's so frightened by what being the Sky Demon could mean he's not at liberty to love her. When Noriko confesses to him, while he's in almost full on Sky Demon mode, he's reacting less to 'omg she returns my feelings!' and more to 'omg she isn't scared of me and cares about me still?'.

We also get a side story about when Gaya met Izark for the first time (he's like...15?) that really illustrates why Gaya trusts him and why Izark trusts her. Also the words that Gaya speaks about the Founder of the Gray Bird Tribe are very important later on. Just saying.
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