To me, Ikoku Nikki is that piece of media, that is hard not to relate to. At many points it felt, as if those conversations - about your own self, feelings, yours or others, relationships, life aspirations and, well, life as it is - were not directed only towards characters, but to me as well. It's actually a pretty difficult task to put my love towards this manga into words, except for "I really loved it, and even cried a little at the end, so please go read it!" On a more serious note though, as I said at the start of this review, this storyis really hard not to relate to. Every character is like a real person you could know, with their own struggles or hardships, desires and ambitions, and so on. Same with their interactions, especially, of course, between Asa and Makio - they felt natural, or understandable considering the circumstances they live in, and were pretty adorable at most times. Both behave and react the way someone their age and temperament would.

As for art, I wouldn't call it gorgeous, but it is beatiful, colored pages more so. I'd say, paneling is what makes this manga worth looking at. How, for example, Asa's emotions were not always told, but shown by simple metaphors, left quite an impression on me.

Overall, Ikoku Nikki is a story, that gracefully handles mature topics it touches on, and I can't recommend it more to anyone, who's looking for anything like that.