Before we begin: This review for the most part does not contain spoilers but assumes you have read the description as well as containing one detail about a character thats revealed on the second chapter Characters Emotional Portrayal Id say this story is very characteroriented every aspect relies on the decisions of some character which is why its tragic to say the characters are decent for what the story aims to achieve. I specify that last part because they are actually good characters its just that I feel in terms of the whole emotional aspect they fall short. Apart from a few odd exceptions will be touched on later I never really felt bad for any of the characters. There were times were I said to myself Damn out of shock from a cold moment but I feel like they never fully explored these kinds of moments. The thing is the parts where I felt the most came from the notebook that is Shizu talking with herself. Ill go over that a bit more in the next section but my point is charactertocharacter emotional nonsense doesnt really excel which is all a bit tragic since a lot of the story centers on how characters feel and no not just the romance. My guess as to why nothing hit me so hard is that its a fairly fast manga when it comes to... well a lot of character related nonsense. There isnt much buildup for certain emotional moments leading to them coming off as a bit flat. Additionally I wish there were more moments of characters thinking or lingering on what someone said and no not like those internal monologues which always finish with Im gonna make em so happy. The Concept The ghosts and nearly everything related to them is definitely the strongest part of the manga for me I REALLY like the concept. Now about the notebook: theres something about it that really gets me. Ill skip over the minute details but I found it to fulfill my wish of wanting to see how the characters think while also showing more of Shizus relationship with the ghosts. It shows Shizus loneliness stunningly even though its a direct device to show she isnt alone. The unfortunate part is that its hardly shown and thus you hardly get to see how Shizu thinks. Regardless and to extend the ghosts were definitely my favorite characters I also thought it was pretty nice/cool/interesting how easy it was to discern between them all theyre all pretty distinct. Comments There are a few things I want to comment on but dont deserve their own section thus theyll get compiled here The final volume has a very worrisome and conclusive cover but luckily the actual ending does leave some room for the imagination Id say the ending was good enough Harumichi was my favorite character they were fun but interesting and stayed true until the end Unrelated to the story but I dont really like the name of the manga its just a bit too romantic for Tetsu... There are so many extra panels and chapters I wish they had just incorporated them naturally... This is a very minor spoiler but it was a great display of character dynamics All Together Altogether I think Wake Up Sleeping Beauty is good but only just barely in my eyes. It has an incredibly interesting concept thats done pretty well but the characters dont relish in their circumstances and a lot of the emotional aspects come off as a little flat they have content but they dont pop as much as I feel they should. This isnt to say the characters are bad its just that the story is so absurdly characteroriented that the bar that the characters need to pass is way higher than it would be for most. I would still recommend trying it though it still makes for a good story and I can admit Im pretty hard to please when Im so infatuated with a concept.