When Mitsuha and Taki wake up, they sometimes find themselves in the wrong body. Mitsuha experiences life as Taki in Tokyo and Taki learns about Mitsuha’s life as a shrine maiden in a small town. They leave eachother messages in their notebooks and phones, but of course still cause some problems for each other.
Publisher: Kadokawa MF Comics
Artist: Kotone Ranmaru
Length: 164 pages
This is the manga based on the film of the same name by Makoto Shinkai. It is concluded in three volumes.
It’s been a while since I last saw the movie, but I felt like this manga was more than just an adaptation of it. For one thing, there was some extra dialogue in this version that was not part of the movie. Also, I appreciated how the panels were not just copied from scenes, but were realised somewhat independently.
All the kanji in this manga have furigana and of course the story is also very easy to follow if you know the film already. The film was quite visual and you can see that in the panels too, which often lets the artwork speak for itself.
I do consider this first volume a good place to start reading manga for readers about N3 actually. Most interactions in this volume take place in school, at Taki’s part time job or in cafés. The explanations about Mitsuha’s shrine maiden duties and the shintoistic concepts represented are more difficult though!
You can order this first manga of the series through Amazon Japan. Also a reading sample of the first 37 pages can be found here.
dokushoclub.com 