Panpanya's Kani ni Sasowarete, An Invitation by a Crab in English, is a short manga or essentially a book comprising of 18 chapters in total. It follows a high school aged protagonist of indeterminate gender. Each chapter in the book(?) is seemingly random in the sense that none of them are exactly related: do not seem to follow a linear storyline. The manga basically disregards any and all conventions so it's a tough task assigning a genre to it. Since it disregards conventions other manga (or anime) pertains to, the basis of comparison is taken away; therefore it's pretty hard to score it (which I did anyway). Every second chapter there's an excerpt from the author; although they're unrelated to the story in the manga, they help understand the themes of it.

In short, An Invitation champions the thoughts that pops up spontaneously in your daily routine, and you're incapable of retaining them later on testament to their insignificance. In every chapter the protagonist is introduced to some vague, ambiguous situation pertaining to these thoughts. What really seals the deal is how surreal these situations play out, and just how absurd the solutions are (if any). Albeit the fact that the only real takeaway from the manga is to appreciate the trivial things around us, it still holds up as an enjoyable, memorable experience solely because of how it's presented. The transient humor in the manga for example, due to clever illustrations and simple dialogues, is presented in a way that doesn't get lost on you.

So do I recommend this really short, Avant Garde, indie masterpiece? YES.