Being a work by Reiko Shimizu, Kaguya Hime is naturally beautiful. It has delicate artwork with beautiful details and backgrounds. You'd think I'd be pleased on that alone, ne?

But honestly, I was rather disappointed with this series. Kaguya Hime's story is too confusing -- perhaps in part because I'm not fluent enough in Japanese. So far, I haven't figured out much of everything. The story that I could decipher seems to be about three teenagers -- one a girl named Akira, the others boys named Midori and Yui (note: this is rather odd; in my experience, Akira tends to be a boy's name, whereas Midori and Yui tend to be girl's names...). They group up together, trapped, on an island, but managed to escape. Now they're being recalled back, to try to figure things out -- like who is Kaguya Hime, really? The story could, in my opinion, be handled alot better. However, Shimizu seems to be a big fan of sci-fi, so she leaned towards a very sci-fi style. This means things like clones and the sort come up, which I find gets a bit boring.

I also don't like the way some of the characters are treated; this is a story that centers on three people, or at least it's supposed to be. However, I found that throughout the book, that poor Midori (I like Midori, by the way), got ignored in favor of "developing" some sort of really boring love affairs and stuff. Personally, I say give Midori his time in the sun, dammit! He's a good guy! He needs love!

So I guess a good way of saying this is that I recommend it with reservations. If you're better at Japanaese than I am, you might appreciate it more, ne?