Eien no With - A Story for Dog-Lovers

Title: Eien no With
Story & Art: Miyauchi Saya
Volumes: 1
Genre: Shoujo

(It's been a long time since I posted a review of a manga, so I'll write about one that I finished reading yesterday and has made cry a bucket-load of tears.)

Having a soft spot for dogs (me owning a very spoiled American Bulldog named Piper and a recently adopted Siberian Husky named Shin), I immediately started to read Eien no With when I saw that it was a heart-warming story about one.

Eien no With focuses on Eye - a dog trained to be a guide for blind people. The story starts when a lonely girl named Hitomi gets motivated to volunteer to semi-train a guide dog for one year. She picks out the runt from the group, seeing that he is like her in so many ways and calls him "Eye."

Eventually, Eye had to leave to undergo training that will ready him for his job. It was heart-wrenching reading about Hitomi's feelings when she had to part with Eye. Although Hitomi found out from her dad that she could see Eye again after he retires from his job - meaning, he could go back home to them again.

10 years later, Eye and Hitomi once again meets as Eye retires from being a guide dog. This is where the story becomes super dramatic *cue tears as large as ping pong balls* and this is the part where I stop telling you about the plot. No spoilers! The story is too good to be spoiled!! ^V^

So anyway, Eien no With is only 3 chapters long, the first one is when Eye and Hitomi meet. The second is when Eye comes home after ten years and the third? The drama :)

Art-wise, Miyauchi switches from two different styles which is obvious as the transition happens from the first chapter to the next. The first style is pretty much old-school shoujo while the second style is contemporary shoujo and personally, I like the latter better.

Story-wise, it's one of the best ones I've ever read. The plot is very realistic - too realistic that I was crying as I read it (my officemate was looking at me funny). I can so relate to Hitomi in terms of her feelings for Eye. (I can't help but wish that I wouldn't have to go through her ordeals with Piper.)

Eien no With is a very, very good story, especially if you have dogs, or any other pet for that matter, that are close to your heart!