A cute little manga about a teen doctor in a tibetan village and his bride to be.
I must admit, it was a little weird to read about those children (about 13) who are about to marry, since child marriage is really a foreign concept to me. I'm glad that it doesnt't exist in my culture, even though some others still practice it, but it was interesting to get the different perspective of another and it is done in an innocent, endearing way.
The characters are sweet, even though I couldn't always understand the change of their moods, since I'm not familiar with asian culture or way of thinking. Also it took me some time to realize that the manga had to be read from right to left (don't judge, it has been some time since I read my last).

Anyhow, it is a cute story and the art is fine - so if you're interested in that stuff, definitely go for it. Blissful is a good word to describe the overall feel of the story.

I thank Kodansha Comics and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review.

Oh my gosh, how cuuuute is this manga? The cover is gorgeous. I was hoping the manga would also be in colour but it was in B&W line art. Not sure if that's because it's an ARC?

Blissful Land is an adorable story about 13 year old doctor-in-training Khang Zipa, who lives in a small mountain community somewhere in Tibet. He is dedicated to his future vocation and is an absolute nerd for herbs. He returns home from foraging one day to find that his future foreign bride has arrived. It was an arranged marriage he knew nothing about, but Moshi Rati is not only super cute but has an agreeable personality. No conflict there.

Also, no sarcasm from my end. This manga felt like a relaxing holiday between the more "serious" books on my current reads.

This is probably the second book I've read that takes place in Tibet (the other was far more serious) and I enjoyed the detail that went into it. Blissful Land packed the herbs, medicine, food and culture into the story, and because Khang Zhipa and Moshi Rati were strangers to each other's culture, we got to listen in as they explained it to each other. without feeling like it's an info dump.

Zhipa has a lot of heart and potential for his age. Rati is resourceful and hardworking. Parts of the story already hint how well they will complement each other. Both are young and learning to grasp the idea of being together. I keep expecting some nasty surprise to pop up, but it's been wholesome.

Perhaps my only complaint is that I can't tell the parents apart from the teenagers!

As far as art style goes, the cover is gorgeous. It's B&W on the inside, starting out with tonal washes, but progressing into line art, shading, and more typical manga art such as exaggerated facial features. I wish they kept this more consistent, or better yet, make it full colour like the cover. But it does make you wanna take some colouring pencils to the page and do it yourself!

ARC courtesy of NetGalley.

You ever read books that are just - niiiice? Definitely not page-turners but something about them keeps you going? Not boring, not that interesting, just - niiiice? That’s how I felt about the very blissed-out Blissful Land, Volume 1: niii - alright I’ll stop that!

It’s a Japanese manga about a small mountain community in 18th century Tibet. 13 year old Khang Zipa is a doctor-in-training who discovers he’s got an arranged marriage to the beautiful Moshi Rati. The two get to know each other. There’s no real story, barely anything remotely approaching what you could call “conflict” or “drama”; they make food and medicine together (no, those aren’t euphemisms - this is much too innocent a book for that!).

Still, it says something about Ichimon Izumi’s storytelling that I kept reading despite little happening. The main characters are likeable and it’s super cute seeing them “courting”. Learning about 18th century Tibetan culture was interesting and Izumi’s art is really lovely - the backgrounds are remarkably detailed and the food in particular always looks delicious.

Obviously this isn’t going to be for everyone and I think you need to be in a pretty chill mood to even kind of enjoy it or be a very young reader. Still, if you feel like the literary equivalent of being wrapped up in a duvet while eating the fluffiest sponge cake, check out Blissful Land!

My thanks to NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for a review copy of this one.

Blissful Land is a manga comic/graphic novel set in eighteenth-century Tibet, and it was this setting that essentially drew me to this book. This tells the story of Khang Zhipa, a thirteen-year-old “doctor-in-training”, who lives with his father, a doctor/farmer, his mother, also a farmer, and younger sister Pema. He is somewhat obsessed with the herbs that he collects, and prepares medicines to treat whoever is in trouble. He in fact dreams of helping not only his village but other villages around. When the story opens, he is returning home from another herb collecting excursion accompanied by his Yak and Sangay, his dog when he tries to help a farmer who’s been suffering exhaustion. They notice a party of travellers heading to their village, which is bring a bride all dressed in her finery. When Khang arrives at home, he is surprised to find the travellers there, and after a day or so, to find that the bride is in fact here to be married to him in due time, and will be staying with his family till then. The story is basically a very simple one with each chapter giving one a peek into the kind of life people in Khang’s position may have led every day, the things they did, the food they ate, and of course how Khang and his bride-to-be, Moshi Rati, get to know each other better, learn of each other’s interests, and importantly learn to communicate with each other as time passes. This is of course only the first volume so the story stops part way.

This was a really pleasant and charming story—despite having nothing much in terms of plot, it is wonderful to see what life may have possibly been like in a small mountain village of Tibet of that time. I loved the artwork, which is really very beautiful--the buildings and the surrounding mountains, and especially the costumes of the characters—I wonder if the final product has coloured pages because that would really make it so much better (like the cover, which is gorgeous). I also really liked how the author incorporated information on the various herbs and plants that Khang used in his treatments, and also the time and effort the actual preparation of various medicines took. Also the way the characters are introduced to the reader is fun. This was overall very pleasant to read, though I would have liked if the story didn’t stop somewhat abruptly even though it has a second part. 3.75 stars.

Loved this, historical manga is my favourite type! As this is the first volume there was a lot of set up but I enjoyed getting to know the characters and their daily life. The attention to detail in regards to to the clothing and culture was brilliant, it really added to the tone of the story. Looking forward to reading the second volume!

This is a gorgeous slice-of-life manga set in 18th century Tibet. The protagonist is his village's young doctor who gathers the herbs he uses to make medicine himself. Having visitors from another village is a big deal, and one of them happens to be a cute girl who helps him out with making medicinal butter. Meet-cute, 18th century Tibet-style! The first volume sets up the story very well and I am looking forward to the second volume.

The Blissful Land: Vol 1 by Ichimon Izumi is a lovely tale about a young Tibetan doctor. Khang Zhipa is following in his father's footsteps, learning to be a healer. His is a sensitive soul, and he hates seeing people in pain. One day, Khang Zhipa gets the surprise of his life, when his betrothed shows up. Moshi Rati is a cloth-dyer. She bonds with, her betrothed over barberry and safflower, herbs used in both professions. Rati begins to settle into the family, as the day of the wedding approaches.

Delightful artwork tells much of the story with little to no use of words. It is set in Tibet, and we get to learn proper Tibetan honorifics. Ex: -ga is equivalent to Japanese -chan when referring to an equal or younger person. Clues to Tibetan culture abound. There is a section at the end giving even more information. The anthropologist in me loved the culture lessons.

This isn't an action-packed story. Rather, it is a slice-of-life set at the Zen pace of the Tibetan village. Time passes in lazy fashion, as Rati settles in with the family that will be her in-laws, and gets to know her future husband. I adored Pema, Khang Zhipa's little sister. She's so spunky! Quite the little firecracker. Ohhh, and I just loved the conversation Khang Zhipa has with his da on how to talk to women. Rati had been acting distracted, and Khang didn't know how to approach her to ask. I'll definitely be on the lookout for the next volume!

***Many thanks to Netgalley and Kodansha Comics for providing an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The Blissful Land, Vol. 1 by Ichimon Izumi is a very slow, lovely slice of life manga centered around a 13-year-old boy, Khang Zhipa, who is apprenticed to his father, the town’s doctor. It is a sweet, slow manga that is more iyashiki than slice of life. Iyashikei, for those who are unaware, are very slow manga that focus on the everyday activities of people, the tiny, happy moments in life, and nature as a calming, healing read. The emotional and plot driven stakes are virtually nonexistent, instead presenting the reading with a very calm, mellow story.

Blissful Land, Vol. 1 introduces Khang Zhipa, a 13-year-old boy who is apprenticed to his father, the town doctor. Khang assists his father in healing the town’s people of various illnesses, traverses the woods for medicinal herbs, and assists his mother in the kitchen when needed. One day a travelling merchant arrives in town with his daughter, Moshi Rati, who is to marry Khang.

What follows is a slow story of Khang and his fiancé getting to know one another. It’s a story about family, friendship, and budding love. It’s slow and sweet. The stakes aren’t very high, but they don’t need to be for this sort of story. Instead, the reader is immersed in a world very different from our own. We are invested in this young family and the everyday issues they face.

There isn't much more to say about this title as plot and character development are secondary to the everyday activities of Khang's family and creating a warm, happy feeling in your chest. And that's okay. The manga does exactly what it sets out to do.

The art in this manga was quite lovely. The village where Khang and his family live is idyllic, with a quiet beauty you never tire to look at.

If you like slow, sweet stories this is absolutely a manga you want to pick up. I quite enjoyed reading The Blissful Land, Vol. 1 by Ichimon Izumi. It was the perfect manga to pick up between denser reads, and I’m looking forward to further volumes in the series.

I rarely ever review mangas, but this one appealed to me the moment I laid eyes on the cover.

This story centers around a boy named Khang Zhipa, as revealed in the synopsis. Khang is a doctor-in-training and hopes to help as many people as he can. However, reaching a few pages in, it's revealed that Khang is engaged to a foreigner girl named Moshi Rati. Their relationship quickly evolves to something of a friendship, and it seems like things will be alright.

However, I did have a problem with how slow-moving and repetitive Khang's story was becoming. It seemed like every other sentence was about herbs or Khang's job as a doctor. And while I know that it's important to the story, it was getting to be a little too much.

The art made up for this, though. I am not an artist by any means, nor do I know the correct terms to use when describing it. But I can say in my illiterate-artist way that I thought every page I scrolled to was absolutely beautiful. I loved the details implanted here and there, and I loved how fitting it was to the plotline.

For this, I rate Blissful Land 3.5/5 stars. I do hope to pick up the second volume and see what happens next.

When I saw the cover for <i>Blissful Land</i>, I was immediately taken with the lovely artwork, and the summary helped cinch my interest. This is a historical, slice-of-life story about a young boy, his family, and his young bride-to-be, and it was such a joy to read. The art and story reminded me so much of <i>A Bride's Story</i> by Kaoru Mori, though without the drama involved in that series (along with the controversial marriage). <i>Blissful Land</i> has such a calm and easygoing pace to the story, I think most readers would enjoy seeing Khang Zhipa's everyday experiences with his family and Rati as he learns more on how to be a proper doctor. I've not seen any (that I'm aware of) manga that take place in Tibet, so the background for this story was quite intriguing in that regard. I think the only thing that caught me off-guard about the art was the fact that Khang Zhipa's eyes are drawn rather wide for the majority of the volume. I would guess this is to show that he's always paying attention (if not "spacing out" to quote Pema, his younger sister), but I grew accustomed to it.

Between the endearing story and the beautifully detailed artwork, I would highly recommend <i>Blissful Land</i> to manga readers.

I rarely read manga, comic books or graphic novels. They don't work well on my kindle (since that's a paperwhite, and the resolution is just not the best, even if the illustrations are not in color), I prefer not to read on my pc or even my phone. That leaves paper versions, and those I just.... forget about?

But I saw Blissful Land on <a href="www.netgalley.com">Netgalley</a> and it was just so pretty, and the blurb so interesting, that I could not help myself to click "request".

I was slightly disappointed that the rest of the manga was in black and white. As I mentioned, I rarely venture into this area of books, so this might be a common thing. Even in black and white, the pictures are stunning. Lots of nature and detail. It made for a very peaceful read.

The stories in itself were homely and peaceful too. It is indeed slice-of-life, where you see how the doctor's apprentice goes about his day, gathers herbs (his passion) ans makes medicine to help his fellow-villagers. The research done on this shows in the details, with explanation of the herbs used and how the medicine is prepared.

What I disliked, was that the pacing seemed off. The stories move at a slow pace, but then you get a unexpected SUDDEN resolution of a problem. Sometimes I also seemed to lack some cultural background to really grasp things. Like why are Khang and his fiancee allowed to go off by themselves for an overnight camping trip? My western view of the 1800's and their purity culture raises an eyebrow there. You can't blame the author for this, but maybe the translator could have added some explanations points like these. The genderessentialism also irked me ("women are fragile and complicated! Men don't understand them!"), which is just a personal pet peeve.

I think I'd like to read the next volume, mostly because of the lovely imagery and my love for depictions of calm daily life.

This post will appear on https://readingthething.wordpress.com/ on 19/12/2018

Thank you, NetGalley for the preview of this graphic novel.

Blissful Land by Ichimon Izumi is a lovely manga with beautiful artwork, rich with Tibetan culture. I have always been a fan of slice of life mangas and this was a perfect read.

This is a very sweet story, I loved all the little details both in the illustrations and in the accompanying text, you definitely get the sense of the world these characters inhabit - but don't read this when hungry I implore you unless you want to be made even hungrier!

This was a lighthearted historical story set in 18th century Tibet, featuring a young doctor's apprentice and his newly arrived bride. The art is lovely and captures both the culture and the slice-of-life vibe very well. I wasn't as invested in the relationship between Rati (the bride) and Zhipa as I'd hoped, but I did love all the medicine-making and cooking scenes.

Recommended for lovers of historical fiction manga.

Review copy provided by the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

A fun, happy, and energetic manga with a great main character. There is a lot to love in this manga.

Un Tibet ormai ormai perduto, fatto di villaggi isolati, pastorizia, agricoltura e duro lavoro, portato avanti col sorriso da persone semplici.

E' qui che Kang Shiva, tredici anni, vive e porta avanti con entusiasmo  il suo apprendistato come medico, imparando a riconoscere e a trattare erbe e fiori e prendendosi cura con dedizione degli abitanti del suo villaggio montano.

E un giorno, tornando a casa, trova una sposa e il suo corteo installati a casa sua: una ragazza graziosa e misteriosa, che arriva da una terra distante, per sposare... lui.

Inizia così una storia che si dipana nella vita di ogni giorno, rivelando l'esotica quotidianità di un luogo e epoca ormai perduti.

Un primo volume piacevole, ma che manca dell'accurata, squisita precisione grafica de I giorni della sposa di Kaoru Mori, e della complessità dei suoi personaggi.

Set in 19th century Tibet, Khang Zhipa is a 13 year old doctor's apprentice who loves collecting herbs and helping people who are suffering and in need of medical help. When A peddler and his family stay for a one night visit, the peddler leaves his daughter Rati, who is Khang Zhipa's betrothed, to live with Khang Zhipa's family until the wedding. Rati and Khang Zhipa start to learn about one another as the two continue to do different task together.

Izumi does a great job making sure that the characters emotions are depicted extremely well. The story all seemed to flow nicely, especially paired with the artwork.

Blissful Land was a wonderful story set in a Tibetan mountain village in the 18th-century. We follow Khang Zhipa a 13-year-old boy, who was an apprentice healer. One day his bride-to-be arrives in his home and we follow him and his family life after that.

First of all, I really liked Khang Zhipa, he was a very mature boy for his age and I really liked his personality. He was a wonderful character that genuinely enjoyed helping others, he loved what he did and was not ashamed to share his love for his work with others.

Moshu Rati was also a sweet girl, even though she got betrothed to someone she didn't know, she didn't wasn't mean or spiteful to Khang Zhipa or his family and showed, throughout the story, a very mature personality. She wanted to learn and help the one she was going to marry.

I found his family was funny and supportive and I really appreciated that I could see their daily life.

I have to say, while I read this I had a big smile on my face. The artwork was amazing and very detailed from the setting to the clothing, the author did a beautiful job drawing everything.

I'm in love with this story and I want to read the next volumes. I recommend this manga to everyone who wants to read a light-story that leaves the reader with a warm and happy feeling.

Khang Zhipa is a 13-year-old doctor living in 19th century Tibet. He's obsessed with his herbs and making everyone feel better and happy, but so focused on his studies and learning and plants that he doesn't realize that the pretty new bride living at his house is his fiancee until it's painfully spelled out to him.

Luckily, Rati is patient, kind and empathetic, and yearning to fit in with her new family.

Together, maybe she and Khang Zhipa can find happiness.
~
I saw this pop up on the NetGalley feed last month, and while I generally don't read much manga, this was was interesting because it takes places in 18th century Tibet.

The illustrations in this are breathtaking, and honestly, Tibet is the main character in this story. I sped through the interpersonal relationships between Khang Zhipa and Rati (because they were kinda boring) to hone in on the background.

Most panels are painstakingly detailed, providing a wealth of history and home. I also loved the clothing details—particularly the juxtaposition of Rati's ornate attire and Khang Zhipa and his family, which reinforces the fact she is literally a stranger from another land (and that she's a dyer and cloth-maker).

The relationships are okay, but feel very similar to a lot of other manga that I've read (this is why I rated it three stars instead of four). Same with the characters. I did like that Khang Zhipa was so focused on helping people despite his over-empathetic soul (he gets squeamish over injuries because he keeps imagining how much pain people are in), and his little sister Pema's getting-int0-everything nature.

The highlight, once again, is Tibet itself. From the breathtaking mountains overshadowing flower-filled valleys, to the villages with their long fields and sturdy buildings, to the many herbs and plants and animals and people—it's depicted as a beautiful, beautiful place where people and nature work together.

Also, it's almost breakfast here and all of the food looked really good.

There was

so

much

food

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

Khang Zhipa has a heart of gold at his young age of thirteen. He is a devoted doctor’s apprentice and taking hours upon hours a day collecting herbs for medicines. After long days in the fields, his work usually does not end. There is the drying of herbs and boiling and stirring of herbs to make medicinal salves and teas. He is not complaining, because he loves his work and helping people.

One evening after another long day, an entire group of a wedding party seeks shelter in his town and home. Among them, is a young bride, close to Khang Zhipa’s age. As the two of them become acquainted, the bride’s entourage has left the town and left the bride to stay! At this point, he finds out, that he is her betrothed…or at least that is what it seems to be. It sort of ends on a cliff hanger.

But Khang Zhipa stays devoted to his cause and does not become too flustered about what the others are saying about his gorgeous bride that was so eager to get to know him. He rather enjoys her company and help with the herbs at the moment.

***

The cover of this graphic novel is gorgeous. I wish it was more colorful on the inside pages. The premise of a love story set in a Tibet village is what drew me to this novel. It sounded wonderfully foreign. It is one of the places on my bucket list to visit.
Since volume one of this series served as an establishment of characters, there wasn’t much culture other then the family and medicinal aspects explored. But it was enjoyable to read and I would give volume two a try.
I also looked up some of the Tibetan foods and liked the pages at the end with extra graphics.

I received a copy of this title from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review. All opinions are my own. Thank you.