This is the third volume so I won't spoil anything
I will just say that everyone should give this book a try since is so good!

I enjoyed this manga story. It is the continued from Vol.1 and 2. Where Tsugu and Sora find out that they have been stay with Tsugu grandpa so far. Also Tsugu finally deals with the lost of her father leaving their family. Yuushin has also came to Tokyo to take the professional boxer test. And Asari is now dealing with problems at school. And also Sora is still dealing with his problems too.

I still enjoyed the illustrations. All the friends are still having their problems and trying to work through them. This is the last book in the series. The end was good.

I received a complimentary copy via Netgalley. This is my honest unbiased opinion.

I was unsure on whether I wanted the main characters to be friends In the end. I feel that it'd be hard to execute but I liked the way the author ended it. I find all of the characters journey interesting and well done. I'd also like to add that the one shot at the end was tugging at my heart strings. While I knew this serious talked about dark topics and would be emotional I didn't expect it to have be so impactful to me.

No, I haven't read the first two so let us just dive in.

Asari, Sora, Yuushin, and Tsugu are all friends who have drifted apart as they grew older and their lives change as teenagers. It's a heartwarming and poignant story about coming of age and friendship with a few bits of romance sprinkled in. If you are in need of something fairly light-hearted, this is a cute story.

There is also a side story of a soul who comes to Earth as a young woman's baby. This soul loves this woman so much, it keeps coming back as anyone and anything just to be near her. It's bittersweet but adorable. Overall 3.7 out of 5.

What it's about:

The Golden Sheep series by Kaori Ozaki is about a group of friends, with Tsugu being at the forefront of the group. Tsugu is a high schooler who has a passion for music, even playing the guitar and she is brought back to Tokyo by her mother where she sees her old group of friends again. Time has changed the group, both physically and mentally and we, the audience, see how so.

There are some heavy themes in this series including; bullying (both physical and verbal), suicide attempts, running away from home and divorced parents.

It such a nice series to read and I got the latter two as ARCs and bought the first one, all three I would gladly read again as the characters as so complex and interesting. I read them all in one go and thoroughly enjoyed them all.

Pros:
The art is cute
The relationships are so complex
The entire main cast feel important even though Tsugu is the one more in focus
Cons:
I feel like a few things could have been tied up a bit more but it is nothing that riles me or annoys me
Rating:

4⭐

Would I read it again:

Yes

Would I recommend it:

Yes

https://www.dannisbookreviews.com/post/golden-sheep-volume-1-2-and-3-bought-and-arcs-review

It was a story that marked this month that he read the volumes and say that it has been a pleasure to read, with the art of manga he transports us to this great story that has characters that remind us of our friendships, the passage of time, and they wrap you in those threads that transport you to the past to remember it.

"Youth is made of regret"

A manga that yes or yes you have to have on your shelf, a story that can be prudent and be a reading that you remember and that you recommend to your friends.

Thank you very much for the advanced copy.

I loved this one so much and now I’m extremely emotional. I have an huge amount of love for stories about friendship and this one about how a group of kids that were so close but grew apart for different reason just got my heart and pulled all its heartstrings.

I am so glad by the way the story developed, they didn’t put the blame in one of them, they all made some mistakes that hurt the others, but even then, the feelings never really left.

I was incredibly invested in the arc between Yuushin and Sora, they were best friends and then they were not. Then fears happened and they felt hurt, lonely and oh god, feelings happened. I’m so glad they could mend their bond.

And the fact that Asari that always felt left out, found out that her friends wished for her wellbeing, my heart melted and broke all the same time.

What a beautiful story. Thank you so much Netgalley for allowing me to read this volume.

I did not expect my heart strings to be tugged on so hard in this novel. It wraps up beautifully and keeps you wondering how life will continue for these four friends. We’ve all been in situations where we weren’t sure whether our friendships would survive through hardships and strife. This is a beautiful reminder that life goes on, even though we think it won’t.

"Youth is made of regret"

While Sora and Tsugu stayed in Tokyo, Yuushin also went there trying to become a pro boxer, their paths crossed again but not without trouble. Back at their old town Asari is suffering the same things she did it to Tsugu. But also experiencing the same old feeling of being left behind and learning that maybe she was wrong all along. People change but deep down their old essence still remains.

Old disagreements, pain from the past and a lot of feelings and bad blood that needed to be solved, or at least talked since maybe some things can't be actually forgiven. Sometimes you try to help and save your friends, but a good part of growing up is realizing people need to learn most of those things by themselves, but you can be there for them as long as they are there for you as well, that's friendship.

This comic came to a beautiful end. It was emotional, touching, if you don't cry or feel the emotions at least one you definitely don't have a heart 😂. The artwork was beautiful and the covers was absolutely stunning especially this one. The whole creation of this series was a masterpiece. Just beautiful.

This short manga series could easily be overlooked by the readers who would appreciate it.

The covers are unassuming. The round, cute, art style is misleading. And the synopsis' barely hint that this story is going to dive deeper than your typical high school life drama.

I think the only way a reader could expect this to be a darker, more complex, story would be to already be familiar with the work of this mangaka.

In the Golden Sheep our four main characters are teens stuck in a small town. They're old enough to want to take charge of their lives, but still in high school, dealing with the issues they've been dealt.

Though Tsugu and her guitar are on the cover, this wont be a story about music.

Instead, it's a story about the rifts that formed between a childhood friend group as they grew up and life got hard.

I highly recommend getting all 3 volumes and reading the whole series at once. It's best consumed as a complete story.

The opening pages of volume 1 quickly alert the reader that this story will deal with some dark topics. The first thing we see is a scene of attempted suicide.

Then we go back in time to see what led us to this point. We're in the POV of Tsugu as she comes back to her hometown from the city. We slowly realize her childhood friends are no longer the people from her memories.

A lot has changed.

Through Tsugu we get an incomplete picture of whats going on. Then we start to jump between characters to see what happens when she's not there. With the addition of some backstory, we can finally piece the whole puzzle together.

The truth is pretty heartbreaking. These characters are flawed, struggling with their feelings of hurt and regret.

You get the sense that each does mourn the friendship that was lost, but none of them knows what to do about it.

All the teen angst and poor decision making is there. Things go from bad to worst.

At the end of volume 1 I was not hopeful we'd get a happy ending to this series.

Volume 2 takes us to a new setting and divides up our main characters. I enjoyed this because after volume 1 I desperately wanted Sora and Tsugu to get away from Yuushin and Asari.

The characters still feel lost, but we're seeing evidence of their desire to change.

I feel like we saw satisfying repercussions for Yuushin in this volume. Which is necessary for his potential growth. How is he supposed to move forward with all that bitterness he holds onto?

My favorite scene of the whole series is in this volume: When we're shown how tall Sora is. It was a really clever and impactful way to show to the reader that the status quo has changed.

While hoping for a happy ending in volume 1 felt futile, by the end of volume 2 I could see the potential for that to change.

This third volume proves how well Kaori Ozaki did with the character arcs throughout the series. The changes we see are believable and you find yourself rooting for this group of friends after all.

Volume 3 opens with an update on Asari. It also fills in some missing backstory for her character.

I enjoyed watching Sora and Yuushin begrudgingly repair their friendship.

Tsugu was the catalyst for this change, but at this point it feels like she became a background character in the overall drama. While I expected this entire story to center on Tsugu this shift felt right.

I like its message about the importance of speaking up for yourself.

In the end these characters didn't necessarily choose the destructive paths they got stuck in, but they couldn't get out of them on their own either.

In Conclusion

This story is well worth your time.

Definitely read all three volumes of The Golden Sheep at once.

While its a very different plot than The Gods Lie, another of Kaori Ozaki's manga, I'm certain you'll enjoy this story if you enjoyed that one.

There are some similar themes. Most notably that The Golden Sheep and The Gods Lie both deal with strained parent / child relationships. The short story at the end of volume 3 of The Golden Sheep is a particularly sad one on this topic.


This was a NetGalley Review! I was able to read and review volumes 2 & 3 of this manga thanks to Kodansha Comics on NetGalley! Thanks!

So I marathoned this whole manga series. And it was amazing ride. I cannot recommend The Golden Sheep enough. Just try it. I am sure you'll tear up at least a little bit.

Third and final volume. Here we go. Sora's and Tsugu's adventure must have come to an end, naturally. They both went through hell back home and now they learnt a little bit of themselves. They also get to meet Yuujich and change for a better. That's basically what happens. And I am very satisfied with how this series ends. Author did great job in portraying such a wide variety of characters. My favorites were definitely Tsugu and Sora. Series about self-discovery, music and learning how not to give up.

I also have to pinpoint that final volume includes a one-shot story called Love Letter, telling a story of a single soul who keeps reincarnating to keep a company to woman he loves. Very emotional, very heartbreaking, but beautiful.... definitely worth checking.

I'll definitely pick Kaori Ozaki's manga again in the future, because not only is her art beautiful, she is a great story-teller as well.

Sally is being bullied at school and we learn a little bit more about her in this volume. Sora and Tsugu come back home and they all go back to school and continue their journeys to become stronger. The four of them coming together to become friends again.

There wasn't much content in this volume. I really enjoyed the journey that these four characters have taken, I would like to see them grow more and find what their futures hold. Although it seems as if this may be the end of the series?
I really enjoyed the short bonus story at the end called Love Letters. It made me cry but was also so good and touched my heart as a mother. I have lost a child during labor and the thought that they may be watching me from above and coming back as many times as possible to touch my live and spend as much time with me as possible warmed my heart.

This book brings the friends back together, after they have each changed and grown through the story, with some confrontation, some recollection and some realizations. While Tsugu and Sora have been living with her grandfather in the city, Asahi is starting to get a taste of her own medicine when her friends freeze her out. She comes to realize how awful it was of her to do the same to Tsugu out of jealousy. We also see where her complex came from, when in childhood she felt like the fourth wheel of their group, not that it justifies her resentment towards Tsugu but goes in some part to explain it. Yuushin also confronts his own anger and works on his own goals. Tsugu is made to understand that helping out your friends sometimes just means being there for them. Sora confronts Yuushin properly and tells him about how he had been hurt, and they mend their relationship a bit, but he doesn't forgive him completely (which I felt natural considering the circrumstances). It brings the four teens back together as a group, but with more understanding of their relationships and their own selves, leading to a slightly rushed but good conclusion.

Included in this was also a short story "Love Letter" in which a soul chooses a young woman to be their mother, and keeps coming back in different incarnations to be close to her. It was...interesting, and the topic of child neglect is viewed from a different angle.

The Golden Sheep ends on a fairly typically happy note, where most problems are forgiven, but it's important to remember that this is a story that many are going to find triggering. It's handled fairly tactfully, but I'm not sure it's right for my library's collection, where I have a hard time getting them to check out manga other than shojo series and titles from Shonen Jump. It really does depend on what your patrons are into; I enjoyed the series, but I don't think that my teen patrons are going to.

Also, the included oneshot from the author was pretty messed up. It was set-up like it was supposed to be sweet, but oh man did I hate it. I would have been really glad to have never read it.

Can I cry? Because that is the only appropriate response to this volume! My goodness I loved loved loved this final chapter of The Golden Sheep. It was everything I wanted and more. Every single character fell into their moulds so perfectly yet so unexpectedly. I knew this would be the last instalment but it still had me crying when Asari and Tsugu hugged each other. Their friendship was done in such a realistic and compelling way. I couldn't have asked for more. Sora's narration at the end was just *chef's kiss*. Overall I'm in love and I don't know what to do now that it's over.

Thank you to VIZ Media for the ARC.

I received this as an eARC to read for free in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for giving me access.

Wow. This series was surprisingly good. With all the difficult topics that it confronted, the ending was uplifting. Such a great story and perfect ending!

A sincere and heartfelt final volume to such a wonderful story. The characters truly shine their most here, especially Asahi, and seeing their journeys and ways they come together was something very special.

The arc provided by Netgalley for exchange of honest review.

<blockquote>... there's nothing you can do for your friends. All you can do is still be their friend.</blockquote>

Honestly, so much happened in this book. It dive deepen into the history of their friendship, why Asari held grudge against three of her best friends, and so much more. Also, I could saw Yuushin character development through this book. Their friendship is just... amazing. This volume is what I've expected to read and so much more.

3.8/5 stars!

This was a great conclusion. I'm very happy to have this realistic manga series in my library and be able to recommend it to new readers.