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.