Mod Note: This is a review for the one-shot, "Island", now included in the Double Arts entry.

Island, being a one-shot manga, is a very short read. But in spite of how short it is, the story gets everything it wants and needs to out there, and then wraps it up nice and neatly. The characters and story are fantastic and heartwarming, everything being developed very well and smoothly over a simple 45 pages.

The story starts with two young girls, both of whom are unique, and quite fun to read. They live on a stretch of land that is guarded from the outside world by a large, towering wall. Their dreams and goals are to one day scale the wall and leave their small village behind. One of the girls, a very scholarly type, is the only one on the island that's left who can read, being that the population is so small and that the group of people have been cut off from the rest of the world for hundreds of years.

She speaks of many things outside the large walls that protects them, and thus fires both of their dreams to new levels, as they have nothing like what's spoken of in the books inside their small circle of land.

What lays outside the walls, however, is a mystery. Once revealed, the short manga continues to go on being just as heartwarming as it had started out as being, leaving you with a sense of questioning what happens to the two girls, and the villagers within the walls. It leaves you satisfied, however, and content with how the story was told.

Two young girls, in contrast to the many older residents of the town, become amazingly motivational and enthralling. They give inspiration, and hope, to the other villagers. Everyone has a dream, everyone has a wish or goal. It's heartbreaking to have those dreams, hopes, and wishes crushed.

It was cute, and amusing to see what happens, when an idea that you can regain those hopes and dreams, comes back, sparked by young girls with a large imagination and the youngest girls desires and knowledge, that there could just be something more, there might be a chance. .

Wrapping up this review. The art was interesting and cute, it went along with the female characters quite well, and did a very good job with scenery and landscape. Though minimal in some places, this being a one-shot, and the type of story that it was, it felt fine and flowed quite smoothly, though was nothing too special.

As this is a very quick read, if you have twenty-minutes or so to spare, you should most definitely read this manga ( if you haven't already ).