Girl moves back to the city from the country and finds out her childhood friend group is more fractured than she ever thought. I didn’t know what to expect coming into this story because I purposely skipped the summary, but I’m intrigued to see what direction it takes. I also love the artwork.

About Yuushin: I get Yuushin’s a kid who is acting out (and the shame of his dad grooming a high school girl was understandably suffocating), but no one made him become a bully. He literally drove his childhood friend to suicide. Come on, man. ( )

This review covers the two and a half volumes of “The Golden Sheep” story. The review for “Love Letter” in the second half of volume 3 can be found in Golden Sheep v3 listing.

‘The Golden Sheep’ is the local landmark, in which four young friends had said their goodbyes when one of them moves out of the area with her family. When she returns a few years later expecting things to be relatively the same and being with her old friends again, life is not as simple as she had hoped.

While the artwork is still cute in that shoujo type of way, subjects of bullying, violence, extreme jealousy, and a suicide attempt dominate volume 1. Volume 2 and Volume 3 is reconciliation, finding one’s way to each other, acknowledging one’s guilt, and accepting what cannot be changed. Four different children/teenagers going through four different sets of trials and tribulations – pain, humiliations, acceptance and forgiveness. Classic. Also classic is a grumpy grandpa and a gentle grandma, the basic shoujo recipe. I thought volume 1 hit it out of the ballpark with the suicide attempt scene at the start, while volumes 2 and 3 are relatively predictable. An enjoyable read overall.

From the library ( )