Sono Saki no Fuukei

"Someone's loneliness is spreading all through the sky, and I couldn't move an inch."

Sono Saki no Fuukei is a tragedy, following the live's of three people, a brother, his girlfriend, and his younger sister, we see them navigate through their delicate relationships with one another as murky feelings slowly rise to the surface.

Tragedy is the name of the game, and it's one Fujiwara Kaoru's(the author) specialty. We bear witness to the sorrow felt by the younger sister, a girl who's relationship with her brother has been distant for some time now and who suffers from heart complications that stop her from taking part in any physical activities. We follow in curiosity, the girlfriend of the brother, who was drawn to him and yet is unable to satisfy him as long as she remains awake, each time after waking up wondering what exactly happened. And finally we ponder what is going on through the brother's head as he deals with his own inner demons throughout the story.

These three characters are all touched upon lightly, with dialogue being sparse and the chapter count matching the dialogue you wonder what might be achievable in only four chapters. Symbolism, it's prevalent in Fujiwara's works, while the dialogue is used to state only what can't be shown, the rest of the story is told through the eyes of each character, dialogue withheld, and with the inclusion of panels that often times will focus in on one item, or specific part of the person, understanding what is trying to be said, even without a word, is painless.

The art itself feels ephemeral, with characters and environments drawn with a faintness to them that is more akin to the feeling of a dream, then an actual physical world that our characters live in, and this dream-like feeling is used specifically in a few scenes where our character doesn't know whether they're actually experiencing something or not. It's small things like that, which might go under the radar in your first read, and lend itself to the re-readability of the work, thanks also to the length. And with those additional read-throughs, its easy to pickup on other small instances that help flesh out more about their lives, and what's going through their heads.

In regards to the various themes explored, they seep into the main aspects of the work, with the artistic style seen and the way the characters interact with one another, it ends up extending beyond being one characteristic among many, but the encompassing reason for everything in this story. Overall Sono Saki no Fuukei, is a mystical story that is worth the quick read.