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| @ORANGE Vol. 1 Seven Seas Ltd. / Ichigo Takano |
A bit of context :
Naho and her friends at school welcome a new student named Kakeru. However, on that same day Naho also receives a bunch of mysterious letters which she later finds out is from her future self. The letter gives her daily details on what she must to do in order to help Kakeru survive as he is no longer with them in the future. Will the steps written in the letters help Naho and her friends to protect Kakeru ?
How is the story ?
This story deals with a bit of time travel through in the form of letters sent back in time to your former self. The idea isn’t unique but the narrative behind why the letters have to be sent and how the characters deal with it does provide a fresh take on a time travel series.
The characters are what I found most appealing in this series. They are all genuinely very nice people, almost too nice for reality. That doesn’t take away the fact that each of the main characters are unique in their own way. We have Naho who is extremely kind, Kakeru is perceptive and understandably hurt, Hagita is also quite smart but loves being a goofball, Azu is a bright light who is always cheering people up, Chino is strong in will and physicality too and lastly we have Suwa.
While I have mentioned these wonderful traits of these interesting characters I would like to pay special attention to Suwa for his sacrifice to ensure his friends stay happy. I won’t spoil any more details about what he does for them but I will say that as I read the entire series I kept thinking back to how amazing of a character Suwa truly is and I hope you find him as interesting as I did.
Besides the characters I believe the setup for the series was perfect. Ichigo sensei has developed these amazing characters around a very traumatic incident and has done it systematically really well.
With that being said, I will admit that I found the story reached its climax towards the end of the Omnibus Vol 2. The additional volume of Orange - future- and Orange - to you, dear one, do contain some good stories but I don’t think they add or ruin the series in any way. I think the Omnibus Vol 1 and Omnibus Vol 2, along with the bonus manga were quite complete and fun.
Conclusion:
I think this is an amazing series that you will most certainly enjoy. I would recommend buying the Omnibus volumes first, reading them and then getting the additional two volumes if you want to know a bit more about the other characters especially Suwa.
Hope you enjoy this series as much as I did and cherish your loved ones at the moment. Time is a fickle thing, we are here one day and the next day we vanish like tears in the rain. Stay safe and enjoy your time!