Tomehane!

Very enjoyable manga. You don't have to know or care about calligraphy to appreciate this title, as it focuses more on the personalities and relations of the diverse characters and doesn't try to force calligraphy down your throat. Kawai Katsutoshis artwork is distinctive and articulate. The scanlations are unfortunately stalled as at the time of writing this, but with over 50 chapters already scanlated it's worth starting in the hope that someone picks it up before long.

first off, i really dont care for calligraphy. my handwriting is bad, and i dont think there is any need at all to have good handwriting in this computer age. additionally i always thought picture-writing is the least efficient form of writing and i dont understand what is the fuss all about.
but, i read this manga cos i am a sucker for prodigy-improving-a-certain-activity type of manga. and boy am i not disappointed. this manga is intensely absorbing, i read all 55 scantaled chapters and nearly went into convulsion after it ran out. it made me quite appreciative of the art of calligraphy. sure, i still think it is pointless but i do appreciate the hard work, the refinement, the history, etc. it's like reading hikaru no go, i still dont like playing go, but hell it sure an interesting read.
additionally, the characters really make this piece an enjoyable one. i really like the main protagonist with his sleepy eyes and slow personality, unlike any other character i had ever read. the seniors are also likeable bunch, i particularly like the slit eye senior, her antics are entertaining. the others are great too.
the only complaint i have is sometimes theres long winded explanation i am tempted to skip on it. however they are quite interesting and since i like reading anyway it is informative. but a little too much sometimes.
anyway, a recommended read.

Honestly, I wasn't to interesting in Calligraphy, but then I came upon this manga and decided to give it a shot. I was amazed at the story. Each chapter that I read made me want to keep going, but of course we have to stop at some point huh? When they mentioned that writing down the marks requires so many stroke, well..caught my eye that if I were to give it a shot, I'd probably fail, as my penmanship is pretty poor. Seeing in the first several chapters, as Yukari wrote on the beach, he did it pretty good with the left arm. I sorta thought to myself..maybe he is better with the left then the right hand, but who knows. I haven't gotten passed ch.17 yet, but I will continue reading this manga.

Reminds me..I sorta dislike reading or having ads bother me while reading, does anyone know where I may find the downloads to this manga. I mainly see raws for this but nothing scanned. Looked for a scanlator's page..but cannot be found, takes me to a torrent site. If anyone knows...mind messaging me the site please?

I agree with pretty much the other reviewer pointed out. I'm pretty clueless to calligraphy, but they mix in enough humor and such to offset something that might turn boring. All the characters have their own little niche in the manga and they explore each one and not just the two mains.

As for the romance up to the current volume I'd say it's still one-sided if I understand it correctly.

As Yukari is fawning over someone she met in a calligraphy event and they exchange letters often. So poor Yuki has to weather that and the other guy's advances toward Yukari. I'm not a fan of cliche events, but I wouldn't be against tossing in someone that seeks Yuki's attention just to shake Yukari's whole foundation.Seven volumes is pushing it in my book close to Pastel's snail pace for romance.

All in all a fun read so far that doesn't leave you snoozing over something that could have if not done correctly.

The fact that this has to do with calligraphy might turn off many; but while the manga is centered about calligraphy by no means "drowns" itself in it nor in it's technicisms and actually touchs many other subjects common to slice of life stories; making this work enjoyable to everyone.

One of the main demerits of this manga is that it "feels lacking" in several areas. But this is by no means that the story is crap, the "lacking" part is enough to keep this story from being a gem, it isn't lacking enough to make the story unpleasent. It can also be said that the manga also suffers from slow pacing.

To me one of the most positive factors of the story is the chemistry between the two main characters the male "almost honor student" Yukari and female judoka Yuki.

Yukari will show you how the world of calligraphy is when you are good, when you are "a genius" and how much you can study, explore and express yourself with it. And he will also show you that no matter how deep you are down the road or how good you are, you can always "go deeper" and you can always "get better" in calligraphy.

Yuki will show you the world of calligraphy from the perspective of being no good at it. While she triumphs in Judo as an undisputed genius that outclasses every tournament she is in regardless of how big it is, in the calligraphy world she will meet several walls and considers "giving up" many times. However Yuki will learn than even if you are no good, even if you have a bad hand writing and even if you don't completely understand calligraphy, is still fun, you can still express your feelings and you can still be part of the group.

How these two characters propel themselves forward is also an important point of the story. Yukari falls in love with Yuki in something like the first 6 panels of the manga, Yuki by her part has a very changing relationship with Yukari and will view him in very different lights during the story; which dispels in her personality developments being one of the things to look forward in the manga.

Considering how deep the world of Calligraphy actually is, this story could actually extend until the characters are already married and have children. Personally I'm looking forward to see what type of relationship there is between Yuki, female Judo Olympic candidate and Yukari, super serious master calligrapher, along with a zillion of situations and misunderstandings in the way.