Aug 04, 2025
The Place Promised in Our Early Days meets 5 CM per second meets Attack on Titan Season 4.
I really dug this story. First and foremost, Heinrich is an absolute comedic weapon. It's not an exaggeration to say I laughed basically every time he opened his mouth. I think out of this and Usagi Days, he's the strongest character you've created. It's just so much fun whenever he's involved in a scene. I did like the other characters too. I know there's been discussions of archetypes but archetypes are archetypes for a reason - they're effective and create fun dynamics. And I don't even know if archetypes is the right word here. Compared to Violet/Ivy in Usagi Days, no character is interchangeable here. Cameron is an overthinking engineer, Miyu likes to tease and can be a little childish, Yuka is strong-headed, Heinrich is my waifu. I thought the characters were strong enough that calling them just archetypes is selling them a bit short. I did get a good sense of who they are and the character interactions are fun. Would it be fun to have a couple more chapters of them lazing around in the summer shooting the shit, and learn a little bit more about them that way? Sure. But I don't think that's necessarily needed. I do think a few more scenes with Miyu's parents and the townspeople would be good to flesh out Lazumere though, since you have a lot of opportunities for "fish out of water" type scenes there.
And I did like the romance a lot. The 5CM part after the village with Cameron hit like a truck, as did the last five or so chapters. You really knocked it out of the park with the epilogue(s) and the ending. I thought the war was well foreshadowed, I did get the sense that they were in the fantasy equivalent of the summer of 1914 or 1939 before shit hits the fan. It was a huge tone shift but I think the 5CM part built up nicely to it.
The prose was fun, and like I said with Usagi Days, you really make your style work. I really love it when somebody else is talking but then another character comes in and makes an aside comment (in parenthesis).
There's a book called Tears of Autumn by David Wiltshire I think you'd enjoy, I stumbled upon it online a while back. It's similar vibes as Crystalline Summer - an old man reflecting on his youth and first love before World War II breaks out. I thought of it a decent amount while reading this.
Thanks for writing this, I really enjoyed it. Your creativity always astounds me and whatever you write next, I'll read. I'd be very interested to read something written outside of a contest. With no time or word constraints, I'd think you'd cook something up that kicks even more ass. And your contest stories kick a lot of ass already.
PS - shout out my slimes Demetri and Walter. I thought they were fun little characters
