Welcome to a new weekly general thread! That means it is time for Monday. Or, is it the other way around? In any case, feel free to use this thread to ask questions, ask for recommendations, or any other general discussion topic you please. May the manga be with you!
Like normal, please be careful with spoilers. I wrote a guide about spoilers in case you need a refresher on how to handle them (also linked in the sidebar).
I have a serious whiplash of a post today.
First is Hibari no Asa, short (14 chapter) story about a 14-year old student who’s appearance is used to justify shitty behavior by people around her (kids and adults alike). It’s depressing, disappointing (in how characters act) and, at times, a bit unfocused (I swear I had a better word for it last night). The last one isn’t really a surprise considering the afterword where author openly states that
afterword spoilers?
this story became a dumping ground for their anger.
It’s not a fun read in an entertainment sense and it has some issues caused by the spoilers above but it was interesting enough, in a “watching an unstoppable tragedy” kind of way.
Next is Cats Own the World, a comedy 4-koma about a cat wanting to exterminate humans. It has a simple yet expressive art style and fantastic translation. Pretty great gags too.
Finally there’s Satellite Coin Laundry - another comedy, this time about a girl working in a space laundromat. Just started this one but what I’ve read so far was really cute and funny.
I ended up reading through another series by the author of Hibari no Asa titled Don’t Cry Girl. It’s an absurd comedy about a school girl moving in with her father’s acquaintance who’s a nudist.
It was pretty funny for the most part but I hate the ending. Should’ve stopped with chapter 5.
MangaDex also has a bonus chapter that seems to be a completely separate story - this one was kind of ‘meh’, I guess? Perhaps I’m dumb but it felt rather random and disconnected story wise, with another terrible ending popping out of nowhere. It actually made me more confused rather than angry or disappointed.
It is sometimes easy to forget that the people writing these stories we consume are humans with all the emotions that come with that. These works, despite the commercial nature of manga publication, are really outlets of creative expression for the authors. Sometimes the things they want to express can evolve over time, be very dark, or change suddenly on a whim. I have certainly come across series in the past in which there is a big narrative turn at some point deep into the story and it makes you wonder if something happened to the author irl.
As for the other two you list, I have seen both recommended before, so I will have to try to find some time to check them out. They certainly check all the boxes to get me interested: cats ✅, sci-fi slice of life ✅.
I didn’t necessarily mean it as a negative. Yeah, the story is messy and ugly in a very human way that’s unfortunately present in real life. It was mostly just an observation that I could definitely feel the anger author mentioned when reading the chapters.
It’s a bit of a rough read but I didn’t find it to be bad per se.