I don't really have the opportunity to immerse myself in long manga anymore, due to lack of time and motivation. But when I do, I always try to select manga that I think are relevant and interesting to discover for my own culture. Les Gouttes de Dieu was in my little papers, so I decided to get into it. So what is this manga worth? First of all, we have to put a point of honor on the author Shin Kibayashi, who knew perfectly how to transmit us his passion for wine through a really interesting story of heritage. Overall the manga is a longfamily story around wine. In his last breath, the father of the protagonist decides to challenge him through a series of winetasting where the goal will be to find the submitted wines, all this with the ultimate goal of acquiring and deserving the complete wine collection of the deceased. The main antagonist of the story will be the adopted son of the deceased, who happens to be the greatest sommelier and critic in Japan today.
I personally enjoyed this story very much. Its main redflag is the length. Indeed it takes no less than 44 volumes to get to the end of the first part of the story, because there is a second one! For everything that is narrated inside, I think that we could have reduced the story's length to around thirty volumes. Nevertheless the story has also a lot of quality.
What impressed me the most was the huge number of references to different wines. The characters spend their time discovering different kinds of ends, and each time the situations are perfectly brought. This is a story that will suit the novice but also the experienced wine lover of all kinds.
Moreover the progression of the different characters is really appreciable throughout the volumes. Although the story is long, the authors have taken their time in the moments slices of life. They are essential and real engine in the progress of the events.
On the technical side, the manga is irreproachable. Although the ideas of cuttings are not revolutionary at all, we still have a very beautiful manga in terms of drawing. The graphic metaphors that the artist uses during the wine tastings are really top. It allows us to travel at the rhythm of the characters, and to be totally bewitched by different sensations.
It is also worth noting that the physical version of the manga contains a lot of additional information about wine, its references but also its harvesting techniques, how to choose and appreciate it. Most of the prefaces are written by great names of the wine industry and French gastronomy.
By the way... I think it's a manga worth reading especially if you are a young adult. But you have to take the time and mostly be interested in this kind of story. Without it I think you will quickly get bored.