Thank you to Kodansha Comics and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this manga. This was a really intriguing story involving space and artificial intelligence. I loved the parallels with the generations and the accessible science. I think I just didn't like the bullying aspect and the emotional whiplash that occurred. Because of these points, I have to give this a 4 out of 5 stars

I am a big fan of manga and I actually really enjoyed Break of Dawn. That said I do think some may not enjoy it as much if they prefer their manga to be more about the panel action than the panel text/dialogue. Break of Dawn at the heart is a coming of age story just set in space. Now saying that I don’t mean it’s not enjoyable it is. But there is a lot of science and a lot of dialogue which I personally loved but some may not.

The story is simple at the basis but does keep you engaged. The art work is also perfect for the genre. A bit of a mixture of coming of age, adventure and slice of life with a heavy dash of sci-fi. So if you like those things you are sure to enjoy this one.

DNF at 18%. I tried but it was so boring. So much space talk and zero things interesting about it. The most interesting thing was that the main character (a literal child) has beef with his robot home assistant. This is not my thing and it is so long that I couldn't see myself finishing it. The art is simplistic and carries the story forward instead of being appealing in its own right. I will say that the book is very "word centered". So if you like manga where the words are more important than the pictures and you like to read a lot, this is the thing for you.

Netgalley Review

Star Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

This one was entertaining. Id give it a 3.5 out of 5. The Ai robots were pretty cool, but they weren't as expanded and as well thought out as they could've been. They seemed to just kind of be glossed over especially considering they are some of the biggest characters in the story. Overall Im glad I read it, but probably wont reread it.

I enjoyed this manga more than I anticipated. I found the children to be interesting characters. They were frustrating to read at times but in ways that were realistic. I liked the character growth we got from Yuma but I wish we had gotten more from the other characters as well. For instance, I wished we had gotten more of an ending to Shingo's sister's storyline as I felt that it ended abruptly. The ending of the story was a little rushed as well but I did like the ending overall. It tied up the story and character arcs well. As this is a manga, I feel I should mention the art style which was nice but nothing remarkable. I would recommend this book for older kids and young teens, though I think that it can be enjoyed by older readers as well.

Review to come in May/June on blog/goodreads/other places.

I received this book from Netgalley/the publisher in exchange of an honest review.

+ The coming of age stuff
+ The summer adventure feels, the days of going to school and having adventures after while the days turn hotter. And then also the summer vacation! Ah, I remember those days of just having fun.
+ Some parts of the space/spaceship/AI things that happened. The spaceship I especially liked and I love that the boys did everything they could to help him out.
+ I did like that we got to see Honoka's POV.
+ Seeing some more 2010 stuff, the first time I missed it, but the second time it was clearer. And I really liked getting some more background on the spacecraft, but also see these 3 discover things and try, with limited technology, to do something. And then also see how it all went wrong and why they abandoned the plan.
+ I liked that they all started to work together. The kids from 2010 (who are now not kids of course) and the kids from 2038 (aka our main characters).

+/- I did like the bonus story but I just wished it was a bit longer, a bit more everything.

- Too much dialogue. Especially when it went on and on about AI and space and technology and all that. It can be quite fun to read, but it was just dry AF in this one. I was just getting bored. Which is why I had to scroll back because apparently at one point we went back to 2010... however the characters looked the same to me, haha, so I didn't know it was different until we met a certain character and he mentioned something. But there was just too much blablbalblabla.
- I feel like this one could have been much shorter. It just felt like it kept going.
- The bullying subplot.
- Wako can just fuck off. LORD.
- Wait are the boys at the same school as Kawai? I thought they weren't, but during a big ceremony there they were and it would be a bit weird if they weren't part of the school to just be part of that, right?
- Though I did like that everyone came together it just got too technological and all that.
- The whole thing with Nanako. It just felt a bit too convenient given how Yuma went from hating her to finding her OK.
- While I knew what the space entity/ship looked like, I have to say I had a few different expectations in regards to how it looked now. [spoiler] I was actually kinda looking forward to seeing the whole apartmentbuilding just disappearing, haha. [/spoiler]

All in all, while it had its fun moments, for most I was just utterly bored and I just dragged myself through the book. The fun bits were like little bait bits that just kept me going. If it wasn't for the fun bits, the coming of age, the summer adventure, I think I would have dropped this at around page 100.

This is a sci-fi coming of age manga which leans heavily into the latter. Although a first glance at the cover led me to assume the story would take place in space, I was pleasantly surprised by the earth-focused direction. An alien ship ends up stranded on earth and is disguised as an apartment building. I found this to be very clever, and played well into the question of the morality of AI that the manga focused on. Meanwhile, Yuma is shown to not like the AI bots which strains their relationship with Nanako. This design choice aids in highlighting the story’s core question about the integration of AI with the natural world, and whether or not they can be a part of the ecosystem and planet. The story consistently does a good job of focusing on the relationships of the children. There is a minor bullying subplot that could have been examined more, however the conversations around AI were well-explored and an interesting topic. When it comes to the artwork, the backgrounds are a visual treat, with the apartment building being particularly eye-catching. The character designs stray to the simpler side, however this helped pull the attention towards their environment. There are many visual cues, such as insect sounds, written out across the pages. This all builds into an enjoyable epic summer adventure.