This story is based on actual historical facts and even some characters are based in historical figures. The art is breathtaking and the character development is very consistent and through out the story most characters have quite a large impact on the main charcter or the other way around. What I find a little bit hard to deal with in these series is the large amount of characters that come along the story. Althought most characters will catch your atention, I still find it a bit hard to remenber every single one of them. Since it's an historical manga, people tend to think that itwill tedious in every single way. Shoukoku no Altair is more than history. It's packed action, comical and dramatic scenes. The characters really catch your eye and and it's easy to take a liking to them.
I promise you that you won't be disappointed if you give a try.