Takamiya Naho receives a letter written to herself from ten years in the future. As Naho reads on, the letter recites the exact events of the day, including the transfer of a new student into her class named Naruse Kakeru.
The Naho from ten years later repeatedly states that she has many regrets, and she wants to fix these by making sure the Naho from the past can make the right decision regarding Kakeru. Naho soon discovers that ten years later, Kakeru will no longer be with them.
The art and story of Orange was created by Takano Ichigo. In Japan the manga was separated into 5 different volumes but for the North America release, we got two big omnibus volumes(yay). In Japan, A live action movie has been made and released as of last year. There is also a drama in the works and a spin off Manga has just started serialization last March.
If you don't know me, and i'm sure most of the people reading this don't but i'm an art junkie. The first thing i look at when picking up any manga is the art. I'll look at the cover then, ill flip the pages to see how the art looks in the standard black and white form. If I don't like what I see then it goes back on the self. I know some people don't agree with my methods but thats what being an art major for a year will do to you. The art of Orange remind me a little bit of the art from Kimi ni Todoke(From me to you) by Shiina Karuho. Only Kaurho's art starts to make her characters look more and more mature as the volumes go on. Especially with the trace outlines of the faces and the contour of the lips. Ichigo does this exact same formula only she keeps her characters bright and full of youthful knowingness. Naho is drawn with the most upmost care as you can see she looks the most youthful of all the characters. Her big eyes and lips were sketched and penciled in just right. Another thing i noticed is how each panel would change depending on the situation and the emotion of the charaters. Sometimes it would be black, (which i didn't really notice until looking back over manga) sometimes white, or if a really good moment happened, these bubbly like circles would appear in the background in different shades of black. Its really different that you would make a color distinction in all an all black and white manga. The pastel coloring in the pictures beginning of each new chapters stand out and give each picture a majestic feel. I loved the art of this manga for the most part. It chapters the flow of time and the precious memories that will never fade.
The storyline had me interested right away. While the concept of time travel and changing the flow of time had been done many times before. I was interested to see this story's take on the concept. Takano Ichigo took the concept and put the most simple understanding on it. She didn't try to make her manga to complicated with a full blown explanation on why the events in the story happened. Everything was done just enough so the reader got the mental picture. Many questions will keep you reading to the end with Orange. Questions like, The mystery of what happened to Kakeru? How did he die? Will new events from the past change both Naho's futures? Volume 1 ends with a shocker that will make you want to read vol 2. After that hurdle, the story slows down a little bit but the emotions keep flowing. Then it picks up again as you get to go into the mind of Kakeru and see things through his eyes. The back and forth between the past and present will also put you in for an emotional ride all the way to the final chapter.
To put it straight to you, Orange is a fantastic addition the the Shojo category. I can see why it's so popular in Japan and I hope the Spinoff gets licensed for a release state side. I hope the movie is good too. Planning on watching that sooner or later.
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