おにいさまへ... 1

Came here from the incredible anime, and this is like a much snappier version. The paneling and emoting is fascinating. If you're used to more recent manga, then note that black backgrounds here are usually for emphasis rather than flashbacks. I couldn't always tell what the author was trying to tell me at certain moments, and there's a scene or two that could be clearer, but overall the message gets across loud and clear.

In terms of language, it's a lot less お嬢様っぽい then I would have expected. Much simpler speech style than say マリア様がみてる. While there's furigana, there's also a lot of hiragana instead of kanji. So some vocab may take some guess work. The style does feel slightly dated, but not enough that it's hard to understand

Overall I think the anime is the superior version so far, but this is certainly worth a read - both for historical reasons, and for pure enjoyment. Looking forward to vol 2