Kaori Ozaki

From the creator of the acclaimed The Gods Lie comes Kaori Ozaki's latest series! Winter of junior year. Not quite able to become adults, we couldn't stay as we were as children, either. Our tale explores a group of teenagers and their impatience and rebirth. "They say if you write down your wish, bury it under Sheep Tower and then dig it up after 7 years and 7 months, your wish will come true..." Tsugu Miikura, a high schooler who loves to play guitar, due to family circumstances, moved away from the rural town where she had spent her childhood. After several years, she's back in her old hometown. She reunites with her childhood friends--Sora, Yuushin, and Asari--the friends she'd buried a time capsule with back in elementary school. Tsugu is overjoyed to be with her friends once more, but the bonds that she thought would never change have in fact started to grow major cracks...

Golden Sheep, 1

So I finally got myself reading The Golden Sheep, Vol. 1 and oh my God there's so much backstory! Especially behind all the bad things Yuushin did to his own bestfriend. I didn't condone what Yuushin did to Sora because it's so shitty-- that Sora scene almost made me cry -- but I could definitely see why he acted so rebel and became that kind of person. Also I can see now why Sora was so bitter about Tsugu. And definitely now I knew that Sora most likely has a feeling for Tsugu since they're a kid.

Overall, a nice read and I like this, although I like The Golden Sheep, Vol. 2 better.

Amber Burwell

This series got such glowing reviews that I was really excited to pick it up, but unfortunately there's many aspects of it that fell flat for me. 

The art style was beautiful and dynamic, and I appreciated that it was trying to touch on several very serious topics and the complications that come with friendships and hardships in life as you get older, but by the end of the third volume I felt like there were too many things that got tied up in a rush to finish the story, and the character development and conflict wasn't well resolved.

This story touches on two very serious and triggering topics, namely Suicide and Sexual Assault. And I felt that both of the characters who experienced this did not get focused on nearly enough to allow them time to process their feelings. I also didn't feel that the character who triggered both of these episodes for the other characters was handled well, he was AWFUL, and yet by the end of the novel he's framed in such a way that we're supposed to forgive him because of the things that have happened to him, and because he happens to have a soft spot for animals, but it doesn't directly address how his actions have effected others in serious ways, or really show any notable changes in his character to make us feel any genuine good will towards him.

Moreover, the main character feels a bit... stunted? I know it's supposed to demonstrate how expecting things to always stay the same isn't realistic, but in her quest to keep things feeling the same as they always have, she has a tendency to sweep everyone else's feelings under the rug and to try and keep pushing everyone together, even the ones who have very good and understandable reasons to NOT be around each other. 

Ultimately, I appreciated what this was trying to do, which is why I gave it 3 stars, but I feel like this story could've benefited from another 2-3 volumes to flesh out the story further and wrap up the complicated feelings and character relationships in a better way.

Tsugu, Sora, Yuushin and Asari were the best of friends in grade school. For a few years Tsugu moves away and returns back in high school. She is happy to be reunited and believes that her friends didn't change, but that doesn't turn out to be the case.... A story about coming of age, friendship and the growth of 4 high schoolers.

The Golden Sheep, 2

Isla

Bereits in OUR SUMMER HOLIDAY & MERMAID PRINCE hat die japanische Mangaka Kaori Ozaki ihr Gespür für die Gefühlswelt von Teenagern bewiesen. Und auch in ihrer neuen Serie THE GOLDEN SHEEP dreht sich alles um die wichtigen Fragen auf dem Weg zum Erwachsenwerden. Vor allem die junge Tsugu muss bei der Rückkehr in ihre alte Heimatstadt feststellen, dass ihre Freunde aus Kindertagen sich stärker verändert haben, als sie angenommen hatte ? und sie selbst ist ja auch kein kleines Mädchen mehr. Mit ihrem Talent zum Gitarre spielen und ihrer fröhlichen Hartnäckigkeit gelingt es ihr, an alte Bande anzuknüpfen und neue zu entdecken.

The Golden Sheep 1

"From the creator of the acclaimed The Gods Lie comes Kaori Ozaki’s latest series! Winter of junior year. Not quite able to become adults, we couldn’t stay as we were as children, either. Our tale explores a group of teenagers and their impatience and rebirth. “They say if you write down your wish, bury it under Sheep Tower and then dig it up after 7 years and 7 months, your wish will come true…” Tsugu Miikura, a high schooler who loves to play guitar, due to family circumstances, moved away from the rural town where she had spent her childhood. After several years, she’s back in her old hometown. She reunites with her childhood friends—Sora, Yuushin, and Asari—the friends she’d buried a time capsule with back in elementary school. Tsugu is overjoyed to be with her friends once more, but the bonds that she thought would never change have in fact started to grow major cracks…"

milly

From the creator of the acclaimed "The God's Lie", comes Kaori Ozaki's latest series! Tsugu, Sora, Yuushin and Asari were the best of friends in grade school. For a few years Tsugu moves away and returns back in high school. She is happy to be reunited and believes that her friends didn't change, but that doesn't turn out to be the case.... A story about coming of age, friendship and the growth of 4 high schoolers.

Golden Sheep, 1

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