@Zeroblade: yeah, Tokyopop were in charge of the Western edition, although I suspect it’s out of print (I had to wait for Amazon to dispatch what must have been old stock in the back of a warehouse somewhere). I’m afraid I can’t comment on Sahara’s style overall, but it’s not the worst I’ve seen but not the best either. A happy ending wouldn’t have worked nearly as well either – Shinkai’s storytelling leaves endings a little bit open with a vague sense of loss, but are wonderfully uplifting at the same time. I’m just hoping he stretches his talents a bit further than the ‘distance’ thing though, because a trilogy of movies on the subject is about right at this phase of his career!

Likewise, I thought it was a pretty well done manga; rather than rewriting the story altogether, as I’d feared, it simply expanded on what was already laid out. For someone as unknown as Sahara Mizu, the art was actually very easy on the eyes. It was a little lacking in some scenes, but overall it was pretty unexpected from the artist to deliver this well. The ending was real heartwarming, if a little bittersweet. The sense of hope that they will meet again really permeates the whole affair, and though I’d like a happy ending too, I don’t think I would have it any other way.

Then my sister got this manga out from our local library, and we both agreed that it was excellent.

When I finally got around to seeing the anime, I was disappointed to see that the story was stripped down and didn’t seem to have a conclusion.

Basically, the manga ruined the anime for me. But it’s a good manga, so I can’t really get mad at it.