I really enjoyed this story, it's quiet and sweet, about family and love. A young man learning to be a doctor meets his wife-to-be, who has come to stay with his family before the wedding. In this first volume, we see them starting to get to know each other, learning about each other, and developing a friendship. They each have something they love- he loves all things herbs, she loves dyeing and weaving, and they discover their loves are complimentary to each other, which was really adorable, I thought. The artwork is gorgeous, and adds so much to the story. I look forward to continuing this series!

I read the English translation, but didn't find a separate listing for it.

Blissful Land is such a lovely manga, it's steeped in Tibetan culture from the food to the relationships. Seeing Khang Zhipa and Rati's relationship slowly develop is so heartwarming and satisfying. I didn't expect much romance from this since this volume is before their marriage, but I'm so pleased to see them become good friends. This reminded me of A Bride's Story by Kaoru Mori, which is another historical manga that follows a young woman who is engaged to a boy 8 years younger than her. In Blissful Land, they seem to be around the same age, and they also get along very well. However, this story is very subtle so I think it will take a while for their relationship to truly develop. I love the subtlety and the use of humour in this manga.

The art style is beautiful, I could almost feel the wind in the mountains as Khang Zhipa is collecting herbs. I really enjoyed the scenes where Khang is making medicine or Rati and Khang's mother are cooking together. I already want to read the next volume.

I definitely recommend this for people who enjoy historical, shounen, romance, and slice of life manga.

Thank you to Netgalley for this free book.

* 2.5 stars

Blissful Land is a manga about a Tibetan family of doctors. Khang Zhipa is a 13-year-old doctor in training who is a bit of a goofball, obsessed with herbs and kind to everyone. One day a foreign party comes to visit his village, and with them a beautiful and sweet Moshi Rati who will stay with Khang Zhipa much longer than he could have ever anticipated.

Blissful Land is a delightful celebration of Tibetan culture, rich in nature, clothing and food details. I absolutely loved this part of the manga!
Also the characters are all sweet and kind, they care about each other and the village has a strong sense of community.

In mangas, the illustration style is very important for the story. Blissful lands is mostly drawn spectacularly with a lot of little details and beautiful textures everywhere. However, I was slightly frustrated how often Khang Zhipa's face was left unfinished. Having read a bunch of manga, I know well that usually having goggly eyes is a way to transmit emotion, but in Blissful Land I felt that it was a bit too usual. I started to feel like Khang Zhipa just was a goggly eyed person, and the 'normal' illustrations of him started to look odd. This was a bit confusing for me as a reader. And those goggly eyes kind of haunt me.

Although I liked the idea of Blissful Land, it had a huge problem: nothing happened. It was cute and nice to look at, but there is virtually no plot whatsoever. The characters barely communicate with each other and mostly we just look at Rati and Khang Zhipa picking herbs or see Khang Zhipa's little sister fight. I know it is pretty and has loads of great cultural elements, but dang I was bored. It took me a long time to finish this just because I kept spacing out while reading. Although I find the art intriguing, I don't see myself continuing this series.

I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Blissful Land was a wonderful story set in a Tibetan mountain village in the 18th-century. We follow Khang Zhipa a 13-year-old boy, who was an apprentice healer. One day his bride-to-be arrives in his home and we follow him and his family life after that.

First of all, I really liked Khang Zhipa, he was a very mature boy for his age and I really liked his personality. He was a wonderful character that genuinely enjoyed helping others, he loved what he did and was not ashamed to share his love for his work with others.

Moshu Rati was also a sweet girl, even though she got betrothed to someone she didn't know, she didn't wasn't mean or spiteful to Khang Zhipa or his family and showed, throughout the story, a very mature personality. She wanted to learn and help the one she was going to marry.

I found his family was funny and supportive and I really appreciated that I could see their daily life.

I have to say, while I read this I had a big smile on my face. The artwork was amazing and very detailed from the setting to the clothing, the author did a beautiful job drawing everything.

I'm in love with this story and I want to read the next volumes. I recommend this manga to everyone who wants to read a light-story that leaves the reader with a warm and happy feeling.

The Blissful Land, Vol. 1 by Ichimon Izumi is a very slow, lovely slice of life manga centered around a 13-year-old boy, Khang Zhipa, who is apprenticed to his father, the town’s doctor. It is a sweet, slow manga that is more iyashiki than slice of life. Iyashikei, for those who are unaware, are very slow manga that focus on the everyday activities of people, the tiny, happy moments in life, and nature as a calming, healing read. The emotional and plot driven stakes are virtually nonexistent, instead presenting the reading with a very calm, mellow story.

Blissful Land, Vol. 1 introduces Khang Zhipa, a 13-year-old boy who is apprenticed to his father, the town doctor. Khang assists his father in healing the town’s people of various illnesses, traverses the woods for medicinal herbs, and assists his mother in the kitchen when needed. One day a travelling merchant arrives in town with his daughter, Moshi Rati, who is to marry Khang.

What follows is a slow story of Khang and his fiancé getting to know one another. It’s a story about family, friendship, and budding love. It’s slow and sweet. The stakes aren’t very high, but they don’t need to be for this sort of story. Instead, the reader is immersed in a world very different from our own. We are invested in this young family and the everyday issues they face.

There isn’t much more to say about this title as plot and character development are secondary to the everyday activities of Khang’s family and creating a warm, happy feeling in your chest. And that’s okay. The manga does exactly what it sets out to do.

The art in this manga was quite lovely. The village where Khang and his family live is idyllic, with a quiet beauty you never tire to look at.

If you like slow, sweet stories this is absolutely a manga you want to pick up. I quite enjoyed reading The Blissful Land, Vol. 1 by Ichimon Izumi. It was the perfect manga to pick up between denser reads, and I’m looking forward to further volumes in the series.

This review and more can be found at Looking Glass Reads.

I received a copy of this manga from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and Kodansha Comics for an e-ARC of Blissful Land, Volume 1.

When I saw the cover for Blissful Land, I was immediately taken with the lovely artwork, and the summary helped cinch my interest. This is a historical, slice-of-life story about a young boy, his family, and his young bride-to-be, and it was such a joy to read. The art and story reminded me so much of A Bride's Story by Kaoru Mori, though without the drama involved in that series (along with the controversial marriage). Blissful Land has such a calm and easygoing pace to the story, I think most readers would enjoy seeing Khang Zhipa's everyday experiences with his family and Rati as he learns more on how to be a proper doctor. I've not seen any (that I'm aware of) manga that take place in Tibet, so the background for this story was quite intriguing in that regard. I think the only thing that caught me off-guard about the art was the fact that Khang Zhipa's eyes are drawn rather wide for the majority of the volume. I would guess this is to show that he's always paying attention (if not "spacing out" to quote Pema, his younger sister), but I grew accustomed to it.

Between the endearing story and the beautifully detailed artwork, I would highly recommend Blissful Land to manga readers.

I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Blissful Land is a charming manga set in 18th century Tibet. It follows a young man, Khang Zhipa, who is training to be a healer. Khang's life is interrupted when a girl is brought to stay at his house while waiting to be married to her fiance... as it turns out, she's been promised to marry Khang.

I thought this was a simple and sweet story. The plot is very low-key and relaxed - each chapter gives a "slice-of-life" look into Khang's life. As the plot progresses, Khang and his bride-to-be get to know each other better, and the reader in turn learns something about Tibetan life. I was really drawn into the story by this aspect - I know next to nothing about Tibetan history and culture, so it was interesting to get a little peek into that. The art and character designs were also very captivating.

If I have any complaints, I hope we get to learn more about each character. Khang is the character who develops the most, and it would be nice to learn more about his bride or his family members.

Overall, this was a charming cozy story, and a perfect book to choose for more lighthearted reading.

Blissful Land is, like its name suggests, a comfy slice-of-life manga with an idyllic setting in 18th century Tibet. It is the story of a 13-year old boy who is a doctor's (his father) apprentice, and who loves everything there is about herbs, and healing and seeing people happy in his village. So, the story is also pretty much relaxed, just telling us about the life in his village, his surprising new bride that was arranged by his parents, Rati (another teen like him who has a passion for dyeing and weaving) and their slowly building friendship (romance is pretty much non-existent in this manga).

The best part of the manga may be the soothing atmosphere it creates! Like, I normally don't like meandering plots, or the ones where there is not direction, but here I was like - go on, I am just going to relax and imagine myself in the lush mountainous landscape of Tibet. The artwork also shows a lot of care towards the costumes, the food, the culture - there's even sort of a mini-guide at the end - and it is all beautiful with the right amount of detail. The only thing odd may be the weird expressions at times - at most times, people are just smiling, smiling and then there's Khang Zhipa with his owl-eyes, and lost expressions when he is flustered or thinking about herbs, respectively.

On the whole, though, this is a nice relaxing manga you can entertain yourself with.

Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review from Kodansha Comics, via Netgalley.