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A review by ellelainey
Lullaby of the Dawn, Vol. 1 by Ichika Yuno
5.0
This was such an amazing start to a brilliant story.
Alto and Elva are so sweet, but they both have bittersweet backgrounds. Elva is cursed with a burden no child should bear, and Alto lost his mum too young. They're both struggling with how to survive.
The story begins when they're both young. Elva is 18 and Alto is 10. They meet and Alto is instantly captivated by the enchanting, magical Elva, who is shocked but charmed by how attentive and sweet Alto is, wanting to help someone that the entire village shuns.
Then 8 years pass, to where Alto is now 18 and twice the size, a grown man with more complicated feelings for Elva than he could anticipate. And Elva is now 26, though due to his curse he still looks in his late teens.
Elva's curse began when his hair turned white, a flower mark appeared on his forehead and he was whisked away from his family by the monastery to become the Kinnagi, a warrior priest who fights back the monsters that emerge at night, when the sea turns into a dangerous black sea. Normal people can't enter the sea without being consumed by the blackness and getting hurt or dying. Except Alto. One night Alto goes into the sea to help a group of bullies who throw a boy into the sea at night, and Elva is shocked to discover the blackness doesn't harm Alto.
There are various Kinnagi in the world, and in this region of the story, but most die quickly, consumed by the blackness of the sea. When the story begins, Elva's curse is all the way up his hands, halfway up his arms, up his legs and starting to begin on his neck. Then he spends time with Alto and suddenly the blackness recedes. No one can explain how or why.
The story progresses between showing Alto and Elva's life together, where Alto helps Elva commit his life to his duty, while Alto grows more and more curious about why Elva is the Kinnagi and how he can save him from that fate.
The art is stunning. The relationship between Alto and Elva is brilliantly written, from friendship and reliance to love.
Alto and Elva are so sweet, but they both have bittersweet backgrounds. Elva is cursed with a burden no child should bear, and Alto lost his mum too young. They're both struggling with how to survive.
The story begins when they're both young. Elva is 18 and Alto is 10. They meet and Alto is instantly captivated by the enchanting, magical Elva, who is shocked but charmed by how attentive and sweet Alto is, wanting to help someone that the entire village shuns.
Then 8 years pass, to where Alto is now 18 and twice the size, a grown man with more complicated feelings for Elva than he could anticipate. And Elva is now 26, though due to his curse he still looks in his late teens.
Elva's curse began when his hair turned white, a flower mark appeared on his forehead and he was whisked away from his family by the monastery to become the Kinnagi, a warrior priest who fights back the monsters that emerge at night, when the sea turns into a dangerous black sea. Normal people can't enter the sea without being consumed by the blackness and getting hurt or dying. Except Alto. One night Alto goes into the sea to help a group of bullies who throw a boy into the sea at night, and Elva is shocked to discover the blackness doesn't harm Alto.
There are various Kinnagi in the world, and in this region of the story, but most die quickly, consumed by the blackness of the sea. When the story begins, Elva's curse is all the way up his hands, halfway up his arms, up his legs and starting to begin on his neck. Then he spends time with Alto and suddenly the blackness recedes. No one can explain how or why.
The story progresses between showing Alto and Elva's life together, where Alto helps Elva commit his life to his duty, while Alto grows more and more curious about why Elva is the Kinnagi and how he can save him from that fate.
The art is stunning. The relationship between Alto and Elva is brilliantly written, from friendship and reliance to love.