A review by viiemzee
Tales from the Café by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

While the story is so good and well thought out - character relationships, themes, motives for time travelling, the whole thing - I just cannot abide the writing style. My girlfriend told me that that's just the way that Japanese people write, but I couldn't help but feel like the writing was just a bit too over-explained. The writer would present somebody showing regret, and then say in the line immediately following 'This character is feeling regret'. It almost feels like he doesn't trust us to understand what his words say, and is just trying to make sure that we understand everything. There's barely ever any space for inference, and it's mostly just telling us rather than showing us.