This new manga from Perfect World writer Rie Aruga is more than just a coming-of-age story. Sheltering Eaves is an in-depth look into group homes and the foster system in Japan. Told through the eyes of teenagers Yoru and Tenjaku, the series provides uncommon insight into the struggles that orphans and abandoned children face, even in the kindest of living environments.

After being discarded by an emotionally abusive mother, Yoru finds her footing at a new group home. There she meets Tenjaku, who was physically abused by his father. As they approach the age at which they must go out into the world, they navigate a “normal” high school life. From the misconceptions of classmates to the changing emotions of the parents who abandoned them, the pair cling to each other through their difficulties. It’s an emotional and important read.

Prepare thy tissue for potential eye dabbing. Or at the very least, prepare to have something to mentally chew on because Aruga never creates a work of art that is a story that doesn't point out something significantly lacking in the current world. The fact that it has to do exclusively with children this round makes my heart sore.

Sheltering Eaves follows the story of Yoru, a girl who is sent to a Japanese Children's House at the tender age of 10. She was taken away from her mother who neglected and verbally abused her. She meets Tenjaku shortly after her arrival. Tenjaku comes to Yoru aid when an bigger child at the home is picking on her, taking away the one possession her mother ever bought her.

All the children at the home have experienced various levels of neglect and/or abuse. The home is supposed to serve as something similar to a 'normal' home environment for the children. But throughout the manga it becomes quite apparent that though there are adults looking after them and they get to go out on seasonal trips, it's not a true home filled with love. It's a poor simulation of a functioning, normal family. There is no real love. It serves mostly as a safe place where they can get 3 square meals a day and learn healthier life habits. And that, my friends, is depressing.

Again and again it's shown how various kids handle the insecurity and stress this way of living puts upon their young shoulders. How some kids hope and pray to never go home, others hope and pray their super flaky parents will at least show up for a visit, and how even though they were abused, some hope they will go home. It also shows how each time a parent fails to show for their kid, a parent suddenly decides they want a piece of their child's life for the wrong reasons, it chips away at something in the child. Makes me sad to think about and Aruga even tacks on some statistics exclusively for Japan that makes it even more uncomfortable for any reader with a big heart.

I absolutely love Rie Aruga for bringing issues like this to light via her manga. This is the type of story telling I live to read. Definitely going to be looking for the next volume. Definitely going to read it. Definitely going to be buying this for my library.

Sheltering Eaves is about two orphans Yoru and Tenjaku. We mostly focus on Yoru and what’s she’s going through. They have only a year and a half before they are able to leave the orphanage they see as home. I felt like crying as I reading this manga. Yoru was through a lot emotionally. I felt for what she was going through.

I hope that we get more of a background story for Tenjaku. It seemed to me that he is also going through so much emotionally as well. He comes off as someone who doesn’t care but really does. We also got a glimpse of what his childhood was for him when he was still with his father.

the file was unable to be downloaded. Not sure if this was a netgalley issue or what, but I tried repeatedly.

Was very excited for this but will be trying it physically when it releases.

Solid first volume by Rie Aruga, mangaka of Perfect World. Sheltering Eaves covers an emotional topic of neglected (physical, verbal, emotional) children in group homes and what happens after they outgrow the system. Our two main leads, Yoru and Tenjaku, are both in the same group home. Having gotten close after Tenjaku stood up to Yoru's bully, they both face the reality of what happens after they reach the legal age to part with the group home. Tenjaku seems to have a plan, and Yoru can't see a future without Tenjaku. There were many moments that made me sad, from the parents letting down their children to the trauma the children relive daily. But it's well written just like Perfect World, and I will be adding this series to my collection. If you give this series a read, please read the trigger warnings.

I was a bit sceptical about the realism because I've read this author in the past, but I was really curious about the setting of this story.

So far, I really liked it. It's interesting to read and see how foster care works in Japan. I liked how they portrayed the children and the relationships they form with each other, as well as how they feel about their parents.

It deals with heavy topics but it is not a dark read at all. I'd say it does offer comfort after presenting hard truths.

This was an incredibly interesting first volume. We are dealing with 2 kids in a foster style home who formed a special and unique bond with one another. Is this bond healthy? Not really. Will this magaka address it in future? I'm pretty sure that they will, since they are unafraid of doing so in their other series.
The triggers in this one are plentiful. I would have appreciated a list at the beginning of the volume personally, but I was able to handle them ok.

I was interested in this because I know of the author and her other series (of which I have read the first volume only, but I liked it). I think this is a case of me not being in the right mood/mindset for this. I don't really have much to say about this yet, since it's only the first volume. There were things I didn't like, but these things seem to be discussed within the story, so it all depends on where it goes from here. I don't think I will continue this series however. The overall tone of the series is very serious and a little dark, and there is nothing wrong with that, but I am just not in the right headspace for it atm. I did like learning about the foster care system in Japan, and the little notes with updated information was useful too. I like that the author seems to put a lot of research into whatever topic she writes about, so there's that.

This isn't really what I normally read in terms of manga, but I thought I would try it since it's not considered shoujo. It's a lot of teenage angst and growth, so if you enjoy that, this is for you. The art is actually really nice and the storyline has good pacing. There's a little too much drama and tension for me. I also just end up feeling bad for these characters that I can't really enjoy the book. I know that they're just trying to make it on their own and that they don't really want to be treated that differently from other kids, but it's a little hard to see them have to take on so many obstacles. I think if I was younger and more similar to the characters' ages, I would've related more and enjoyed this manga. It was beautifully drawn and written though, so I recommend.

"Sometimes, just one extra drop seems enough to break what's holding our emotions together. We're constantly struggling to make sure that it never overflows."

How do you rate a manga like this?

I really have no idea.

It's hard because this story IS fiction, but at the heart of it, you can really see it's not. These characters are reflections of other real-life people with real problems, worries, and anxiety. It reminds me of My Girlfriend's Child in that this story is much larger than good or bad storytelling because it's one that grips you and pulls you into someone else's world, and in my case, is very different from my own.

I can say that based on my experience of reading Perfect World, the creator's other work in English, this volume definitely left on a very painful cliffhanger that made me want to get volume two. My only concern is that I would LIKE to read more, but with how deep and triggering this story is at points, I really want to know if it will have a "happy ending." That might come across as incredibly shallow, but seeing the effects of parental abuse on children is not something I would rush to pick up at any given point because that is extremely triggering and upsetting for me personally. (I foresee myself feeling unsettled for the rest of the day so it's something I need to think hard about on what I want to do.)

I can say that even outside of my struggle with what to do, this is a very meaningful read. It's not light-hearted or a "happy" one, but again, going back to My Girlfriend's Child, I think it's powerfully insightful in light of it being a fictional setting. The characters are very compelling and really found my heart went out to each one of them.

I think if you're looking for a story that is eye-opening and heart-wrenching, this is one I would recommend (but please don't forget the trigger warning I mentioned above).

*(I received a digital e-copy via NetGalley. All thoughts expressed are my own.)*

Two young kids meet in a group home and form a deep emotional bond. It's a very sweet, touching book that also gave me insight to how Japan's version of CPC operates. I look forward to the next installment.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kodansha for providing me with an arc for review.

As I get older I’ve been gravitating more towards josei manga instead of shōjo (but let’s be real, the shōjo nostalgia is very real.) Sheltering Eaves is heartfelt and something of a slow burn. And also, sad. Yoru and Tenjaku are two high school students in a group home, the foster care system in Japan. And they are both on the eve of graduating from high school and also being legally required to leave the group home that they’ve been in together for years. Friends, brushing on romance.
While I enjoyed the story in the first volume, I wish there was just a little bit more to grab me and make me immediately go to order and then preorder the second volume.
I appreciated the translation notes that provided extra context into this part of Japanese society.
All that being said, the art is beautiful and expressive.

[Thanks to Netgalley and Kodansha for an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.]

A tale of Japan’s foster and orphan care and two children, Tenjaku and Yoru, who find themselves surviving within it.

It’s hard to review this manga because, while I didn’t really like it, it had a lot of important information that did give me an appreciation of the foster and orphan situation in Japan. Its educational bona fides are without reproach.

Unfortunately, its plotting and characters are overwrought and underdeveloped, respectively. The plot seems like it has to get so much of this information across that the home comes off like the most hard luck place in Japan.

There’s a moment where a disaster befalls the home that is used to illustrate how badly hurt some of these children have been, but it also comes off as total nonsense because no way would the events play out like they did.

It’s manga, it’s going to be wild sometimes, but this simultaneously wants to educate about the real world while also having a foot stuck firmly in melodrama town. A long-lost parent showing up at the end does what the writer wants, drama-wise, but it doesn’t feel organic.

Which is shocking because I read the first volume of <i>Perfect World</i>, the mangaka’s previous title, ages ago and it has a far better balance and I liked both aspects. This is, unquestionably, a step down.

Part of it is the pile-on. There’s so many awful stories here and they’re all coming at the reader so fast that it’s numbing. Tenjaku’s scars are enough, we can infer that something bad happened, but the story decides to go there anyway and it feels like overkill that’s borderline cartoonish.

Yoru is incredibly underwritten - her mother and her mental health issues are given more depth. She clings to Tenjaku while he’s trying to figure out the future and she mostly goes on about her desire to stay together.

I refuse to believe that people are so defined by their trauma that it’s all they can talk about, but this manga appears to believe different. Sure, it looms large and weighs heavy, but the balance here is skewed to misery in a way I don’t believe.

It’s just too much everything and all done with the subtlety of a mugging. There is a lot here that is neatly done - the clear PTSD and subconscious reactions of the kids to it are really portrayed quite well. But it keeps going and then loses me on the points it wants to make.

Manga with sad stories are fine. Manga with heavy subjects are fine. This hasn’t figured out how to educate without the browbeating and, well, it left me underwhelmed with the end product.

Yet I also recognize the skill that went into the research and it doesn’t have nothing to say. A lot of people think this is a good story and it has emotional heft. They are not wrong; I just think it’s weighted all wrong.

3 stars - an important subject, but one that deserves a better story than this. It’s complicated - I wrote this whole review twice and I’m still dissatisfied with my wording here, but I know that this just was not for me.

I loved this volume of manga.
These series could be as good as Perfect World by the same mangaka. Its so emotional and gives a real look on what lives of neglected children look like.
Looking forward to the next volume !

I ended up really liking this first volume. I'm not entirely surprised, as I liked their previous series released in English "A Perfect World," which shined light on living disabled in Japan. So, when I saw the same author was doing a story about the foster care system, I was intrigued. This was both informative, and a solid start to a story about wounded children trying to make it in the world. That emotional core made a very strong showing. I loved the strong bond between our two main characters. It's probably going to be a bumpy road for them if Perfect World was anything to go by, but I trust the subject matter is going to be handled fine.

"Sheltering Eaves" by Rie Agura is a visually stunning and emotionally resonant manga. The artwork is simply breathtaking, with each panel filled with intricate details and expressive characters that enhance the overall storytelling. Agura’s ability to convey emotion through her art elevates the reading experience, pulling readers into the complex and sometimes painful world of the characters.

One of the standout aspects of this manga is its bold exploration of heavy, often overlooked topics, particularly focusing on the experiences of children in foster care and group homes. The story doesn’t shy away from the realities of child neglect and abuse, making it a deeply impactful read. While the portrayal of these themes is handled with sensitivity, without any graphic or gratuitous content, it’s important for readers to be aware that the subject matter can be emotionally challenging or triggering for some.

What sets Sheltering Eaves apart is its delicate balance between addressing these darker aspects of life while still offering moments of hope and healing. The narrative captures the struggles and resilience of children navigating trauma and uncertainty, making it a powerful and thought-provoking work.

Overall, it’s a beautifully crafted story that not only captivates visually but also tackles important social issues with grace and care. I’m eagerly awaiting a second volume, as the first has left me deeply invested in the characters and their journey.

I picked up this book because I enjoyed Rie Aruga's Perfect World, which is another phenomenal manga. Rie Aruga writes stories with delicate topics, and she portrays the struggles and tribulations of humans in a way that moves you.

Sheltering Eaves is no different, and we're introduced to two orphans: Yoru and Tenjaku. They were both hurt by their biological parents, and now live separately from them in a care home. There's no real overarching story aside from following their daily lives as they approach 18 and prepare to leave the foster care system. The story is more character-centric than plot, but I enjoyed learning about our main characters, their day-to-day experiences, and struggles. We're given a glimpse into life as a foster child, and how people perceive them and make assumptions about their morals and character. How they find a "home" but everyone involved knows its temporary, and the difficulties of adjusting to a new family dynamic as grown children. Thankfully, their own community is supportive of one another.

I love these kind of slow paced stories, and this is a series I'd be interested in continuing!

Sheltering Eaves, follows our two main characters, Yoru and Tenjaku, who live in a childrens house together. Now nearing 18, Yoru and Tenjaku are wondering what life will bring them once they leave the foster care system.

I really enjoyed this first volume! It is a different take on the living together trope you see in manga, and it is opening me up to a whole different world I never really knew much about. This is only volume 1, but you can tell Yoru has been hiding her feeling from Tenjaku. I look forward to seeing where this story and their relationship will go!

Thank you to NetGalley and Kodansha for providing me with a copy of this volume in exchange for an honest review!

Being a fan of Rie Aruga's previous works, I was fairly confident that I would enjoy this manga and it did not disappoint. The story is very touching and heartwarming, although parts of it were difficult to read due to subject matter shared within the volume. The main characters share such a beautiful connection/relationship and I cannot wait to see it blossom.

Rating: 5 leaves out of 5
-Characters: 5/5
-Story: 5/5
-Writing: 5/5
Genre: -
Type: Manga
Worth?: Yes

Want to thank Netgalley and publishers for giving me the chance to read this book.

This was a bit of a heavy manga. The kids that were failed by their parents is just a heavy subject and this seems like a good manga that lets you have a sneak peek into their world. I am hoping the two main characters get a happy ending and it will be on my list to further read.