My ratings may seem a bit disjointed or exaggerated, but truly, Sundone does Character to a level that it becomes the new textbook, and its Story is an absolute magnificent masterpiece in how it creates, uses delivers, and all at once burns anticipation in one hot, fiery, and at the same, cold and dark ending.

The art was very well done and helped bring the story together. There was never really and detail lost on confusing the background or environment, and many different angles bring about not just life to parts of the story, but the tone of that point.
It could have been improved in that, of course, there was not really a focus in on art and developing new backgrounds and atmospheres. However, the art gets major points for focusing exclusively on drawing out and focusing the story's aspects: art for story's sake, not for art's sake alone.

I would have enjoyed this more if halfway through the story had not already begun its irreversible and slow and careful rise into a real foreboding darkness.
Earlier in the first 4 volumes or so, there is some comedy to Sundome, but the suspense and tension slowly take all precedent whether or not it is a part of the current bit of storyline.
If the the story had drawn out its more fanservice-y early have to balance the length of its dark end half, it might be more enjoyable overall. I suppose it would cause some people to not feel the smooth and constant, not to mention careful, transition that the mangaka makes throughout though, and some might abandon the risk they took in terms of risque-ness to try to find the story behind what some call the 'tasteless' aspects of the story.

I recommend, to all who look for a new romance-related story, to take reading this story into careful consideration: if you are not familiar with what some may call more extreme ecchi content, not intercourse of sorts but basically most everything before it and only eluding to those things immediately before it, then you might just maybe be ok with this manga. Everything is consensual, in fact a character developement point of the lead character is how he gives and eventually kind of find reconcialition, in his giving consent (while completely avoiding using the word which I personally appreciated, as it the western concept of this more or less legal term does not exactly naturally pervade Japanese culture, or even other other Asian or European cultures.) There is never a scene I can recall when both sides do not want exactly what is happening (besides comical otaku upskirt shot etc, which are usually deleted anyway).

Much of this plot revolves around the consideration (and some times lack their of) that character give in enormous amounts to sexual-related choices, this manga does use ecchi related content for fanservice to any really practical extent, it is used, in fact, as a central plot device.

Overall I gave this manga a 10 because, honestly, the story is very well developed, carefully and meaningfully resolved, and anything that is lacking is due to the storyteller wishing to bring out the strength of the story as much as is possible (which it has by itself in spades to start with).