Book Review: Those Snow White Notes, Volume 1, by Marimo Ragawa

Those Snow White Notes, Volume 1, by Marimo Ragawa is a manga style graphic novel recently translated into English. When Setsu's grandfather died, so did Setsu's "sound"—his unique creative spark. Grieving, he goes to Tokyo to find himself, but manages to become totally, literally lost on his first day. Only a chance meeting with Yuna—aka Yuka, the hostess—saves him from being robbed. At first glance their lives seem totally different, but they're both striving for their dreams—hers, of being an actress, and his, of developing his talent with the shamisen—and it could just be that life in the raucous, unfeeling urban sprawl of Tokyo could just be what binds their fates together.

Those Snow White Notes is a story that started rather rough for me, but did capture my attention. The first few pages had me uninterested- so I took a break and switch reading material. But, I am glad that I came back to it. When I gave the book a second chance I was introduced to a variety of characters that had me interested and engaged in their interactions. By the time the volume was over I was disappointed that I did not have more to read about how these people would all continue to interact and how some of the newer characters would play into the story. The art was hit and miss for me- some of it was perfect- capturing the emotion of the music on the page- but some of the character features just did not work for me. However, that is all about personal preference not the skill or quality of the work.