Get ready for Tsukuba Sakura's symbolic tale LAND OF THE BLINDFOLDED, in which one character can only see the past, and another can only see the future! Originally presented in LaLa DX magazine from Hakusensha between 1998 to 2004, the 9-volume LAND OF THE BLINDFOLDED is the story of high school student Outsuka Kanade who can sometimes see a person's future with a touch, and transfer student Naitou Arou, whose ESP is limited to past events. When Kanade glimpses an unfortunate incident coming, can she change it? She soon befriends Arou, who's no novice - he can turn his ability on or off at will, even using it to see an object's "memories." Are these teenaged seers of the past and future made for each other? And who's right: Arou with his "hands off" policy about meddling in people's lives, or Kanade whose more proactive stance has already had unhappy consequences?
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I consider manga's one of those things you have to REALLY love to buy all of. Most of the time you can never quite tell how long the series is going to go on and at least $9.99 a pop it can be an expensive habit to stick to.
Which I know sounds ridiculous as someone who buys mass markets all the time, but it's still true ok?! I like to have an end in sight if I'm going to be veering away from my usual.
But to get back to the point, Land of the Blindfolded is a cute, enjoyable, visually appealing story in an easy to consume 9 volumes. I stumbled upon it when I was unpacking in the new place and rereading it just reminded me how much fun a Sunday afternoon on my couch can be. Kanade and Arou are both ridiculously cute and drawn to match, and the slow evolution of their relationship is appropriate for all ages. It's hard to be different and I think Tsukuba does a job of showing what you as an individual can and can't do to mitigate fallout.
There's a little bit of paranormal as the main characters do have the ability to see the past and future, but all in all this is a cute romance story and I highly recommend it.
Overall Feeling - B
Series - Land of the Blindfolded, books 1-9
