Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Overview
It's spring—a time for new beginnings. This is Miki Yoshida's final year of high school, and she's determined to make this the best year yet. Miki is in control . . .
. . . until Hiro Sakurai shows up.
The tall, handsome new student is hiding something, and Miki wants to know what. As she breaks down Hiro's defenses, she is unnerved by how much she cares about him. Too bad he is the one guy who can't care for her back. But Miki is falling for Hiro, and nothing's going to stop her from getting close to him—not even his dangerous secret.
Synopsis
It's spring—a time for new beginnings. This is Miki Yoshida's final year of high school, and she's determined to make this the best year yet. Miki is in control . . .
. . . until Hiro Sakurai shows up.
The tall, handsome new student is hiding something, and Miki wants to know what. As she breaks down Hiro's defenses, she is unnerved by how much she cares about him. Too bad he is the one guy who can't care for her back. But Miki is falling for Hiro, and nothing's going to stop her from getting close to him—not even his dangerous secret.
KLIATT
Miki Yoshida is a normal girl beginning her senior year in high school. One day, an errant arrow changes the course of her life forever. The arrow in question, which Miki shoots into a rice paddy, leads to a chance encounter with Hiro Sakurai, the new guy in town. Even though everyone thinks Hiro is a jerk, Miki decides to get to know him better. When gift baskets fail she resorts to the tried-and-true method of getting in his face until he acknowledges her existence. They become friends, but Hiro ends their friendship when Miki catches a glimpse of the dark secret he is hiding in his basement. Miki decides that Hiro has no right keeping secrets from her; she breaks into his house and confronts him. Hiro has no choice but to tell her the truth: he is a Deliverer, a quasi-celestial being entrusted with ensuring that love doesn't die out on Earth. Miki Falls: Spring is the first of a four-part storyline. This graphic novel follows the standard shojo formula: plucky, strong-willed girl meets handsome guy harboring a mysterious secret. The plot is fast-paced and entertaining, beginning with a cliffhanger—Miki throwing herself out a window—and never looking back. The b/w art emphasizes the characters' facial features and looks like it came straight from the artist's sketchbook. If I didn't believe in true love I would point out that many of Miki's actions could be considered stalking. Miki Falls: Spring contains light suspense and lots of non-sexual talk about romance, and is recommended for collections catering to girls (ages 12 and up), especially junior high school girls.
Editorials
VOYA -
Miki Falls: Spring begins with a jolt as a young girl throws herself through a third-story window to escape a mysterious group of people. With the reader's attention firmly captured in this graphic novel, the narrative shifts to recounting the events that led to Miki's fall. Miki, a typical senior, begins a new school year and promptly falls for Hiro, the mysterious, unavailable new boy at school, who spends much of his time following people and taking notes. He rudely rebuffs Miki's attempts at friendship, but Miki persists. Despite the odds, they develop a tentative friendship, albeit one hampered by Hiro's strange behavior and refusal to discuss it. Through persistent surveillance, Miki discovers Hiro's secret, which simultaneously draws them closer and threatens to tear them apart. Volume one ends, leaving the reader eagerly anticipating volume two. Miki Falls: Summer picks up right where Spring leaves off. Miki has discovered Hiro's role as a Deliverer, a secret group that safeguards the finite amount of love in the world. His job is to capture dying love from couples about to break up and to deliver it to a new couple, who will, he hopes, nurture and protect it. The narrative tension that drives this series is the relationship between Miki and Hiro. Miki is closer to Hiro than any human is supposed to get to a Deliverer, which causes a few problems. When Miki's closest friend becomes the focus of Hiro's professional attention, Miki interferes, with unpleasant consequences. Universal themes of love, friendship, loyalty, and sacrifice neatly combine with the tempestuous swirl of teenage relationship drama. What initially appears to be a typical tale of a girlblindly pursuing an unavailable boy develops into an intriguing, complex story. Crilley uses mystery to drive the narrative and creates characters that the reader will care about. The black-and-white, manga-style art is beautiful; Crilley is equally talented at creating expressive characters as he is at drawing lush landscapes. Although a bit more text-heavy than most manga, the description and dialogue flesh out the story and create a sort of hybrid of Japanese- and American-style comics that will appeal to fans of shojo manga and romantic fiction. This series manages to be all these things and more. Given its content, it will appeal to fans of teen romantic fiction who would not normally read graphic novels.KLIATT -
Miki Yoshida is a normal girl beginning her senior year in high school. One day, an errant arrow changes the course of her life forever. The arrow in question, which Miki shoots into a rice paddy, leads to a chance encounter with Hiro Sakurai, the new guy in town. Even though everyone thinks Hiro is a jerk, Miki decides to get to know him better. When gift baskets fail she resorts to the tried-and-true method of getting in his face until he acknowledges her existence. They become friends, but Hiro ends their friendship when Miki catches a glimpse of the dark secret he is hiding in his basement. Miki decides that Hiro has no right keeping secrets from her; she breaks into his house and confronts him. Hiro has no choice but to tell her the truth: he is a Deliverer, a quasi-celestial being entrusted with ensuring that love doesn't die out on Earth. Miki Falls: Spring is the first of a four-part storyline. This graphic novel follows the standard shojo formula: plucky, strong-willed girl meets handsome guy harboring a mysterious secret. The plot is fast-paced and entertaining, beginning with a cliffhanger—Miki throwing herself out a window—and never looking back. The b/w art emphasizes the characters' facial features and looks like it came straight from the artist's sketchbook. If I didn't believe in true love I would point out that many of Miki's actions could be considered stalking. Miki Falls: Spring contains light suspense and lots of non-sexual talk about romance, and is recommended for collections catering to girls (ages 12 and up), especially junior high school girls.A young girl's journey into love evolves with the seasons in the stellar first volume of a quartet. Miki is an extremely likable 17yearold girl, who, like most teenaged girls, wishes she were more assertive. Unlike her fanciful friends, Miki believes that there are more important things in the world than boys . . . until she meets Hiro. Handsome, brooding and mysterious, Hiro is a man of many secrets, and may be the only one who can never truly be with Miki. When she refuses to relinquish her conquest of him, Miki stumbles upon why Hiro is so enigmatic-and her feelings for him become allconsuming. Complex characters combine with masterful, expressive art culminating in an arresting new series for teen readers. The soft, gentle romance between Miki and Hiro is brilliantly juxtaposed with the darker elements of the story creating a salient tension between the two. A stark departure from Crilley's previous Akiko series, Miki Falls is a ruminative look at a love and a richly developed labyrinth of fantasy and secrets. (Graphic novel. 1216)