Solanin

This manga is a slice of life masterpiece. Touching people in the heart, and how could it not? The story is very realistic and there are a lot of things that can be learned from the story. After reading it twice, I have been able to engage the story in a more meaningful manner. It was very very touching in my own eyes and it made me appreciate the life I live today.

My suggestion would be to do the same: take time in reading and appreciate this beautiful work, and reread it if you must. Stories like these aren't as known and appreciated, so I hope you suggest this to people so that they would be able to take part in reading this work.

"I realized it one day. The lyrics I struggled to create are only made up so I would have something to sing. Nothing genuine can come out of these flat and boring and ambiguous lives we're living, out of faking your worries for the sake of it".

The works of Asano Inio are very often different on the uptake of life and society and this was no exception.On the surface, this is a story about a couple in their twenties who are in the midst of self exploration.Some things happen and then the story takes a slightly different route.It is a relatively short manga with only 2 volumes(28 chapters in total) but I think that it was never meant to be long.

The feelings of anxiety,uncertainty,mediocrity,hopelessness etc. which plagues the minds of the younger people nowadays is more or less perfectly displayed through the various panels of the manga.The central theme of the manga is linked to music though it does not drag it down to the ground.

The characters themselves are flawed which makes them realistic to their cores.The monologues in the story are nicely written and at various points add to the melancholic atmosphere.

The art is unique and supplements the manga very well.Some panels are very beautifully drawn.Inclusion of some photos in the later chapters and tuning them to be in sync with the style of the manga was also a nice effort.

Well I can't say that I didn't enjoyed Solanin but it left me with some uneasy feelings.On the whole it was a nice experience and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read some slice of life done in a slightly different way.

SS Review – Solanin
(Short and Sour)

This is a story about a struggling band and the relationship between the band members, with it mostly centering on the lives of the lead singer and his girlfriend.

Like I said the manga focuses on the relationships of the band members and how they cope with a certain incident. They formed their band in their school days and the name of the manga shares the same name as a song they made. Unfortunately I haven’t got much else to say regarding the story and characters as this is a short manga and I don’t want to spoil any of the character interactions. This is a drama at heart.

Art’s pretty good, has a unique look to it I guess. I enjoyed the short manga it play’s out like a drama in my opinion, if you are wondering if this is anything like Beck, no…no it’s not. It’s okay though.

7/10

I decided to read on behalf of Oyasumi Punpun, like most of people; I expected something and got what I wanted, maybe even a little more.
Solanin portrays a simple everyday life, the life of a girl who has finished her studies and is in her life now, a complicated time, full of uncertainty and wow, I'm going through it too! It is simple, but it shows this simplicity in a pleasant and melancholy way at the same time, just like Punpun; where you have the admiration of what you have, of life, of an afternoon, of music, of heaven and of company; but it also shows our thoughts, how the characters are dealing with something, from jobs to relationships.

The art is beautiful, personally I love Asano-san's traits, as they are pleasant, simple and "cute" in a way, the details of a room, where each item has its importance, its meaning; the details of a character, that his shoe has a story, a reason, that his hair expresses personality, what is happening; the features, of which they are rich in feeling; all this accompanied by an incredible story, with common and deep dialogues, that make you think about what you’re doing in your life and that’s okay, this is how it is and you have to keep following, doing your best to enjoy the little ones things, being able to survive thinking about getting well and discussing it with people close to you, who worry and go through or went through it too.

It is incredible, even though it is not very impactful, it is an incredible development of the simple, of ordinary life.

Honestly man, the Meiko character relates to any of us when we graduate from college directly going into the big bad world. We always tend to ask ourselves a series of questions such as "what company will accept me? if I put myself out there?", "where do I see myself in 5 years time?", or "Do I see myself being in a similar career position to what I studied in college/university? ". I felt Asano did a pretty good job at seeing what goes through young people's minds when it comes to knowing how to look after themselves in later life. It's always a huge step to go out into the world of work and leaving your parents home for the first time.

Anyways let's get into talking more about the manga shall we? Lol

I really felt the Meiko character was pretty mature with how things go for her. She doesn't seem to be the type of person who stays in the same workplace, she's more of a social butterfly and knows herself on how she feels about things when going forward with her life. I think her and Naruo did the right thing to separate because they just seemed two different people who had their own way of living. That can happen and I really applaud realism in this man!

SPOILERS AHEAD

I also liked in this manga is that one of the side character's Kotani said to Meiko after they split up " No matter how well you get along together, sometimes the smallest of cracks turn into a lethal abyss in time." So friggin true man, just because you got along together while in a relationship, it doesn't mean it's 100% . I could be wrong from my guess here but that's how I personally felt from what Kotani said to Meiko.

I highly recommend this to anyone going through life struggles, as well as worrying about the future! It's again, definitely relatable to any of us in what go through with of course, going through life itself!

The couple are both avoidant, and they have great needs for meaning, assertiveness and efficiency in their life. It's frustrating and sad for me that they have no outside help, nobody that can can provide any significant guidance.
Taneda is trying to take a lot of the responsibility for providing meaning but doesn't have high enough empathy or insight which ends up enabling Meiko's lack of accountability.
It's hard for any of the characters to be vulnerable with each other but they do take steps towards growth.
I was touched by several of the main characters' outbursts and moments of assertiveness (most relevant scene for me is when they talk to the producer about their record.)

"Zero and zero got together and made infinity."

That quote in this manga was the perfect quote to represent these characters. It is not a story about any special or extra ordinary people, it's not one about rags to riches or people who started from the bottom and ended up at the top. It is just a simple down to earth story about a group of friends who just getting through life. It is a real feel to it that you can almost like I can relate to these characters.

As for the setting is pretty simple and the overall plot is very simple. As we mainly focus on the relationship between the group of friends and the band. I don't want to spoil anything so I will do my best to make this spoiler free. And I wonder how I can convince you to pick this up and read it without spoiler.

If you enjoy slice of life and story and characters you can relate too. Story that is not about people who found a dream job and living up life and now is the greatest band of all time. If you just enjoy a simple group of friend who just enjoys life and live for the moment, for sure, it's worth reading!

It is the simple moments in life that sometimes we overlook. Those precious moments we share with others that we won't realized how precious until they are taken from us. It is about living a life without regret and enjoying it with those around you. However you see it, life is momentary and live your dream out. Even if others laugh at your dreams, they are your dream. Make the moments count as the manga is screaming out to enjoy life.

So please do pick this up if you haven't read this yet as I went into this blind and I am glad I did without knowing anything about it. I was moved by it as I don't often read manga at all if you noticed my manga list is pretty short...

As with the only one other Asano work I've read thus far ("A Girl by the Sea"), I'm left with one prevailing word amongst all others in this effort to say what I feel: "damn." Not "damn," as in a disappointed exclamation. Just an expression of my dumbfoundedness by breaking the dumbness.

Asano's "Solanin" leaves me with a bittersweet, yet bright look towards the future. I'm not a college-graduated 20-something, but I am a 19-year-old a year out of high school and struggling to find a way to move forward without sacrificing all of my happiness and emotional stability. Along with sharing this sentiment with our main girl, Meiko, I also share traits with our other main friends. With all of them, firs and foremost, is a love of music. I've been a musician since seventh grade, and I've been playing bass since I was 13, drums since 14, and guitar and singing (singing in the context of show choir and musicals at first) since 15. I understand more than most people how a love for music affects these young people in the primes of their lives, but are unable to move the way they'd like. I know the immense struggle of wanting to play my music for the world but not being able to.

Now, onto how I connected with characters on a person-by-person basis, I want to start with Rip, since he plays drums, which were - and are still - my first musical love. Rip works in his family's pharmacy just being a retail worker. He doesn't get anywhere else from there, and I know that feeling all too well, having worked in retail to the point of nearly breaking down emotionally. Next up, Kato(u?), who is the guy who is just stuck in school. This resonates with me on a level of "I don't want to move on. I'm most comfortable here, and change disrupts the balance." Much like Kato(u?), I have come to accept that change is a necessity, no matter how obnoxious it may be. Taneda is my wish to pursue what I love, but accept that it may not be feasible. He represents how I need to get over it and go, taking the happiness I can get along the way. "Are you really happy?" Finally, we get to our main girl, Meiko. Meiko represents another side of the same feeling that Taneda does. They serve as an excellent dynamic. Meiko wants to do something that she'll enjoy, but there's really nothing that does it for her. However, instead of taking it all in stride and finding her happiness as she may, she hesitates, holds back, and generally shies away from stepping too far out of her comfort zone until the final act of the manga.

Asano wrote an afterword, and it mentioned how just the people around you are the real heroes. No one needs to have a Stand or be capable of blowing holes through walls with a single punch to be a hero. Regular old Joe Everyman is a hero, just like you, dear reader, are.

Solanin is a beautiful opus detailing what I might refer to as "the aftermath of teenage angst," and how young people who aren't quite old yet deal with such an obnoxious set of feelings. I highly recommend this read to anyone who is alive or undead. These feels cannot go ignored.

I'm writing this from the perspective of a high schooler, and one who entered 9th grade this year. I bought this manga after hearing about it on this very site. Inio Asano is a highly acclaimed author, and it is extremely easy to see why.

First off, this manga is super easy to recommend to general comic book fan. The plot is down to earth, relatable, and most of all, engaging. Considering that this story came from Asano's mind during a period when he himself was in this very age bracket, just starting as a mangaka and making his mark in the underground market, this series comes off as a heartfelt calling to this very period of life. It is really hard to explain what makes this story really work...it just...does. Something about these struggles, a relationship, jobs, and just in general tragedy, that make this manga great.

On a final note, I particularly like how Asano handles the character Meiko. It takes a lot of effort and consideration to write from a different gender/perspective, and Asano can do it seamlessly, transitioning from character to character effortlessly. Oftentimes, writers put characters into blatant stereotypes, with masculine men and feminine women. Moe otaku and yaoi fujoshi. Meiko as a character has goals...and her relationship with Tanada is very authentic, and not overly forced. This series truly has multi-demographic appeal, as males and females can both enjoy this, something not many mangas can do without pulling out a certain audience.

Overall, this manga is near perfect. I don't mean to bandwagon but will do it anyways. Read this series!

"What now?" is the dilemma some fresh graduates experience. On the surface, the issue seems extremely trivial and somewhat privileged. The graduates who experience this must have the luxury to hesitate and question the world around them instead of just plunging headfirst into the cool and foreboding waters of society to make ends meet and survive. Which, I acknowledge, is fair criticism. However, that does not invalidate the legitimacy and emotions felt by those graduates. There is actual meat to what they contemplate over. It is a question of meaning. And it's a personal question. Feeling trapped in a dead end situation because the path you chose wasn't the one you were passionate about; it was the practical decision. How does one deal with that feeling? That's what Solanin is all about.

Enter the main character, Meiko. She's the girl who's looking for an answer. She's not happy with her job, her coworkers suck, and her boss hits on her in his spare time. The story starts in the critical moment when Meiko realizes that she needs to get out of her ditch, which she does. The problem is that living in a big city like Tokyo doesn't come cheap and this puts pressure on her boyfriend, Taneda, who hasn't really gotten into the habit of integrating himself with society yet.

That's because Taneda also suffers the same blues Meiko has except there's a sense that he's been ignoring it. He lives in a nebulous state where he's only working part-time and still jams with his college band. He's got one foot in the "real world" and another one in the past, reluctant of letting the easier times go. He has a hint of passion for music but isn't all too sure about himself, which is why things go topsy-turvy once Meiko breaks it to him that she quit her job. Now, it's a question of whether he goes for a stable job or risks it all on music.

It's a search for some faint trace of fulfillment in the face of such an unflinching world. Yet, this alone does not make Solanin good. That's just the set up; the heart of the story lies in the way it ticks. How the characters interact and speak with each other feel natural and real. There are enough quirks to differentiate when someone is talking to a friend or someone they're not too close to. There are moments when the dialogue is a bit too contemplative for casual talk, but it never comes off as out of place or pretentious. All their actions and conversations organically flow with their personalities.

The typical Asano visual flare is also there to spark enough absurdity and kookiness to give the manga some levity to balance out the overpowering rawness of the emotional scenes. In those scenes, the emotions rush and pulse feverishly without restraint as if to burst out in an explosion of anxiety, melancholy, and frustration. But then, the manga also knows how to step back to let you breathe and allow the heavier moments to sink in.

All of these factors give real depth and power to the endeavors and experiences of Meiko and Taneda. It allows the audience to relate, or at least empathize, with the struggles and heartaches in this manga. Whether or not Meiko and Taneda find an answer--whether or not any of us find an answer--we can find solace in the fact that these emotions and struggles are not artificially strung. They're real. The pain, the hardships, the loses, they all stand as evidence that we feel and our feelings are real. If anything, this manga gives us something genuine to anchor ourselves on.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a college student, a fresh grad, or a high school student, as long as you’re looking for meaning, give this manga a read. It doesn’t have the answer you’re looking for, but it’s going to be with you until you find it.

+This is a spoiler-free review+

Solanin is a manga by Inio Asano, who is widely known for his work in Oyasumi Punpun, so if you have already read that one you can have an idea of what to expect. Solanin is not a happy story, yet is not entirely depressing. I cried, yes, but I laughed as well. Just as life. On its basis, it tells a story about a young couple. They love each other, yet they feel heavily the pressure of what they are going to do with their lives. The manga revolves around them, their dramas, their friends and their families.

The story is as good as it gets. It’s not a complex story, you won’t have any trouble keeping up with all the events. This doesn’t mean it’s not well written, rather that the story is told with enough elegance to keep it deep yet concise. As I already said, the story follows a young couple trying to survive. While it begins with their daily lives, the story starts quickly unfolding about what the future stores for them. The universe is believable and fleshed out, giving the story a nice realistic and relatable feel. Whether is laughing or crying, the storytelling won’t let you go. The manga is only 28 chapters long, so you can easily read it in a day.

The characters are perfectly fleshed out, each one with their own personality and unique characteristics. In general, the cast is really charismatic so you won’t have trouble feeling attached to them, even when some of their decisions can get to the point of being irritating. This helps to the general feeling of the manga and creates lovable yet flawed characters. I can’t elaborate that much because a big part of the enjoyment is getting to know these people at your own pace, but trust me about the quality of the writing here.

Asano uses here his trademark style, a semi-realistic style that mixes well with the story. It’s a pleasure to see, especially the stunning backgrounds. The drawings are also incredibly clean, the panels are never too overcrowded or overcharged. The structure is also really neat, allowing a with-the-flow reading experience. The expressions also stood out to me, which play a big role in transmitting the emotions in the more sentimental scenes. Whether is a carefree smile during a meeting with your friends or a sharp cry of grief in the light of the moon, the expressions do an excellent job in telling you exactly what everyone is feeling. I swear to god that in one of the sadder scenes the expressions alone were enough to make me sweep.

In general, the story is really enjoyable. Sad, yes, but in a good way. The comedy is well played and the pacing is enough to keep you interested but never too heavy. There’s never a dull moment or an overcharged one, the first chapter settles a tone and a rhythm and it sticks with it. It might even steal some tears from you, but my point here is that the manga is never a torture. It gets extremely emotional but never depressing, which is my favorite thing about the whole work.

In overall, it’s hard for me not to give it a 10. The art, story, characters and general feel of the manga are just flawless. These aspects are not game changers that break from the barriers of the medium because the manga knows itself and strives for perfection in a simple way. There’s nothing that is not properly executed and so one earning a 10. Is a definitively recommended read. Just in case, I must clarify that the +18 etiquette is important. There’s nothing heavy about it, maybe a few swears and nudity like, one time. But the themes are designed to resonate with someone who’s of that age or more. The anxiety of a new life as an adult is masterfully presented and you’re probably not going to like the manga as much if you have never felt that.

Solanin poses questions I’m willing to bet most people above a certain age have asked themselves. The first is whether it is better to pursue an unlikely dream or to face reality and resign yourself to working 9 to 5 so that you can survive and enjoy your hobbies in your free time. This question becomes more difficult to answer when nothing drives you and you don’t know if there is anything you can be passionate about. The second is the question of when the right time is to leave your childhood behind and join the world as an adult, possibly giving up on unrealistic dreams. And so, this brings us to Meiko Inoue, our main character, who decides to quit her boring and thankless job for a while to chase something else and finds herself in a predicament of not knowing what to do with herself. She is joined by the friends she made in university, who, employed or unemployed, also find themselves in that same state of uncertainty.

Solanin doesn’t try to make grand statements about the meaning of life or what it means to be human, and it doesn’t need to. All Solanin aims to do is show the reader the lives of a group of people in their early to mid-twenties, lost, aimless and generally unsure of themselves and their futures. This is a story about a difficult transitionary phase of life and what people do when confronted with this situation. Most of the story, divided into relatively short chapters, is seen from Meiko’s perspective, but occasionally another character will receive a chapter to show a different side of the central problem, as well as whatever unique challenges and insecurities each character may face. This structure works very well, as each chapter is succinct and valuable, both on its own and as a part of the whole.

The characters don’t display immense growth over decades or anything like that; no, they simply experience life, just like you and me, and Solanin shows us a year of it. There is not a great deal of easily noticeable character development to be seen, but what subtle change is there is significant: that slight change in mindset for each major character involved learning a valuable lesson, making for a satisfying conclusion to the story, even if on the surface the characters’ personalities haven’t changed much at all. By the end of it, they are still unfulfilled, but have at least decided on a direction in which to head. That, in my view, is what marks the beginning of their transition into adulthood.

Meiko and the others may not be the most complex, but their reactions to the events that befall them, as well as the details of their body language and facial expressions, make up for that somewhat, and sell them as unmistakably human. This is helped greatly by the artwork: Asano doesn’t exaggerate character emotions in his art, but it is always easy to tell what a character is feeling in any moment. In addition, the large amount of narration present allows the reader an even closer look inside the mind of the perspective character for that chapter. All of this serves to add more realism and relatability to the story and its characters.

Those questions I mentioned at the beginning of the review never receive a clear answer. However, this is for the best; the dilemmas might have been cheapened had definite answers been provided, and there is no “one size fits all” solution. The closest thing to a moral or message that I could find was “appreciate the little things in life and where you can, do what makes you happy.” It’s a simple message, but no less valuable because of its simplicity. If any part of what I’ve described sounds like your own life, then I urge you to read it, because Solanin is a story that will resonate with anyone who is or has been in a similar situation.

One of my favorite mangas ever! Asano effectively captures the true emotion and thoughts of modern young adults. He tells it like it is without adding any "Hollywood" glamor or unrealistic plot characteristics. The characters are sincere and believable, and the reader can fully sympathize with them. Being intricately weaved throughout the characters' memories and thought, Solanin focuses much on the restlessness of youth and what happens to get there.
Asano also pays close attention to detail, making the art very exceptional. The character design is unique; each of them has their own physical, realistic depiction very different from the huge eyes and spiked hair typical of many other manga art.
Overall, this work is excellent!

Stories you can relate to on a personal level are some of the most powerful ones you’ll encounter, but sometimes, they can be a bit hard to swallow if they hit too close to home.

STORY - Solanin is about the quarter-life crisis: your quarter-life crisis, my quarter-life crisis. After graduating college, Meiko finds herself working as an “office lady.” The hours and pay are decent, but she doesn’t feel any connection towards what she does, her coworkers, or her boss. So she quits. How many other graduates find themselves wanting to do the same not long after starting their first job? We leave high school with the goal of finding something we want to do for the rest of our lives. We spend years in college or university trying to pinpoint what that is and to collect the necessary skills to pursue such a path. We graduate and find that the real world isn’t that easy. The time and money you spent on that degree may not help you get the job you want at all. All your work could have been irrelevant or the job you thought you wanted might not be what you expected after all.

Meiko flounders around her first couple of weeks without a job. She finds her freedom to be just as boring as her job had been. Direction is hard to find. “The rest of your life” is a scary thing to consider, but this story paces through a few months of that long journey. Solanin echos the twentysomething’s fears and worries very well, but is ambiguous in the answers it offers, if you choose to consider them answers at all. They are half-solutions, partially formed, and depend wildly on the person executing them. Solanin’s narrative feels very personal though, and despite that it’s very much a slice of life in that this is only a snapshot, the story feels complete. Growing up doesn’t happen between two predefined points. Meiko spends the story growing up, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t start long before the first chapter, and that doesn’t mean she’s grown up by the end. But she’s learned something.

The quarter-life crisis is a problem of self-identification, self-worth, and self-motivation. Who are we? Who do we want to be? What do we want to do? Why should we do anything at all? What is happiness? It is a coming of age problem that stretches on beyond the teenage years. So Solanin is about growing up, long after the ages at which we thought we’d already grown up. It is about life. It is about “saying goodbye to your past self.” We spend our whole lives growing up, always trying to figure out where exactly our childhood ended and when our adulthoods began.

CHARACTER - All of the characters in Solanin feel very real. Meiko could be anyone, absolutely anyone. The things she feels towards her job, the things she thinks and feels, her fears and doubts and hopes and pipedreams — I don’t know a single person her age that doesn’t think and feel at least half of the same things. This universality doesn’t detract from her identity though; Meiko is a person sorting out life in her own way. The decisions she makes are based on her own whims, and her failures and triumphs are hers to decide which are which. They could be anyone’s, but they are hers. The rest of the cast works in very much the same way. I feel like I could personally know Taneda, Kato, Jiro, Ai, or any of the others; they are all thoroughly convincing people and Solanin could have very easily been centered around any of them. The story details would differ then, but there would be very few thematic differences, if any. It’s fascinating that supporting characters could feel so in-depth and real despite only two volumes to develop in.

ART - Inio Asano has an oddly whimsical style. His girls in particular appear very childlike, which made it harder for me to see them as twentysomethings — kind of awkward for some scenes. Most of them were also very similar in design and body type, making them less visually interesting. His men were also rather young looking, but facial hair helped set a more convincing age range and widely varying body types made them seem more like real people. Regardless of stylistic drawbacks though, Asano’s artwork is very solid and all of his characters are wonderfully expressive; there’s a good balance between silly caricatures and serious faces as well. Many of the backgrounds felt like stock to me because the straight-up realism and details clashed a bit with the character art, but as the characters often interacted with their surroundings, it would have been impossible for all the backgrounds to be stock. Either way, all of the backgrounds fit in seamlessly and help emphasize that this is the real world — that these are real people facing their real problems in their own real ways.

OVERALL - Assuming I actually manage to scrape together all my credits and do it on time, I’ll be graduating college next spring. It’s easy to see why I could connect so well with the characters and story in Solanin. It’s every twentysomething’s story, even those that think they know what they’re doing (which, for the record, does not include me). My friends and I manage to talk about the future all the time without actually talking about the future, so it’s hilarious ironic that it takes a story like this to drive things in deeper for me. It isn’t like I hadn’t realized all of those questions and doubts before, but having them presented to me so clearly is like discovering them all over again. And it’s unnerving. And terrifying. And depressing. And something I’ll have to deal with again and again until I figure something out for myself. As I said, Solanin doesn’t really offer any answers, but there’s some kind of reassurance in that too.

Under the guise of postmodern human life lays an undisputed mystery, searching for an undiluted answer to living a good life. This mystery would be the purpose one has to endure to escape out of adolescent life and try to cultivate under harsh conditions of the financial needs of surviving in the adult world. Do I stick with the status quo and live a stable life with hardly any trouble despite the boredom that goes with it? Or try to luck out by giving a big middle finger to it and indulge me into a lifestyle that will practically make life difficult but will make my experiences more interesting? Welcome to the stage of young adulthood.

There are manga that have delved into this subject matter in a variety of different ways with their storytelling or even art styles. What many consider to be one that encapsulates this in the slice of life genre is Solanin. Written and drawn by the much-beloved, and arguably the most melancholic, Inio Asano, it is considered to be the most accessible manga in his bibliography. In Solanin, it is a relatively simple story of a young adult couple who want to pursue their dreams of being musicians and try to cope with any hindrances that prevent them from accomplishing that goal. There are no abstract or obscure plot structures in Solanin, unlike in most of his other works. If there are people who are interested in starting in Inio Asano, this would be the best one, both in quality and attainability.

In discussing the quality of Solanin’s story, one has to fully acknowledge the amount of depth Asano puts into the realism of it. All of it is prevalent from the atmosphere it portrays from the dialogue that involves numerous monologues from the character Meiko. What also helps is the panels that are colored black with soliloquies describing Meiko’s despair or confidence that she says to herself. This eternal blackness helps give the atmosphere a sense of dread and vulnerability to the reader by feeling what the character is feeling at that exact moment. The significance of their reason for existing in the manga is to represent despair itself in a minimalist interpretation of it; that it is pure nothingness in physical and mental form.

These subtle and distinct measures that Asano incorporates into the story and artwork help with tremendous effect in establishing a pathos to the emotions that the characters portray. Realism is what he wants to be seen as a prominent backdrop. There are no sudden apparent inclinations of a miracle being pulled through the tragedy because that would not correspond fully on how real life is. However, that is not to say the whole story is filled with angst-ridden anguish throughout. It can be conceived as a tone that is neither happy or sad, just in the middle ground of both emotions where you can’t feel one-sided about either feeling. This emotional manipulation is what makes Solanin unique in that regard, in that although there are notable moments that entail tragedy, it isn’t overbearing to where it feels overly bogged down by it. Asano knows full well how to invoke realism into a story like Solanin and achieves it with great care and precision.

Pacing comes at a slower and methodical speed in each chapter, with most of them ranging at a 14-page length. This length, I would argue, is where a few of the big problems Solanin has from it becoming a masterpiece. Because of the short amount pages that we get from each volume, some of the plot arcs feel a little rushed, especially near the later portions of the story. For instance, we see Meiko wanting to become a guitar player for Taneda’s band who, as far as we have seen, had no experience with the guitar. However, Meiko plays it with no problem. Either she knew beforehand how to play without Asano telling us so, or there was not enough to build up even a montage of her trying to hone her craft. Nevertheless, when the chapters focus more on how Meiko and Taneda rekindle their relationship and their internal struggles, the pacing is nicely done the way it is.

Our two main leads, Meiko and Taneda, make up a majority of why Solanin’s story is fascinating. As I’ve said before on the manga’s realism, Meiko and Taneda feel like actual human beings rather than pure caricatures of one. People may criticize Meiko in calling her idiotic for her actions in leaving her job to lounge around doing nothing to find her purpose in life. But that really should not be characterized as an actual criticism based on actions characters make that are rooted in their intentions. They make our leads more empathetic for us to relate to, and that should be important for a writer to invoke from the story that they are portraying.

Another aspect to be admired from them is how their romance is depicted pragmatically, without any superficial tropes you typically see in any romance story. Young love usually does not bode well in the future because of the difficulties that couples face through fear of where their relationship might go in the future. Here in Solanin, we see a couple that is both madly in love with each other and yet they are afraid of each other as well. Almost as if they are hesitant on wanting to give up on being in a single life and having to rely on the anxieties of being a couple. Asano has excellent knowledge of youth culture, and there is no question that he puts that in great detail when constructing Meiko and Sanada as characters.

Asano has a distinct style to his artwork. At times it can be seen as your typical manga character drawings and then later it would transform into something abstract and almost unidentifiable. His work for Solanin is one of his less obscure creations since it’s more inclined in giving us an actual depiction of life in Tokyo. Although there are notable scenes that are drawn very beautifully, not a whole lot of the manga was drawn with real awe-inspiring aesthetics. Sure, on the one hand, it can be construed as Asano invoking minimalist aspects to fit the tone, but even with that in mind, it never resonated entirely with me.

Realism, when done right, can be an impacting literary tool for readers who want to experience a story that feels close to home. In many respects, Solanin hit the right notes to be given a high recommendation for anyone who have yet to encounter a work by Inio Asano. Not many people can stomach realism in stories in a continuous sitting. But once you have read one that captures the true nature of human life, only the word “triumph” can describe its impact.

Grade: A-

[THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!]

To be honest, the only redeeming quality about this is the art.

For me, a slice of life is only successful if you CARE enough about the characters to want to know what happens in their life. And the characters from Solanin? ugh. I couldn't connect to ANY of them!!!

Meiko and Taneda's relationship didn't seem real to me. They didn't seem like they liked each other, it just felt like they were together out of necessity, like "I have no one else here in Tokyo so I'll just have to stick with you". That's... not romance. That's not what a relationship is supposed to be like.

[!!!!!SPOILER!!!!!!] and naturally, since I didn't care about the characters nor the romance, when Taneda died I was just like "oh ok"[!!!!!!!!!!END OF SPOILER!!!!!!!]

And the drama... I mean, it's pretty much the same problem as slice of life. For me to care, I need to like the characters. I didn't.

So this has just been a huge waste of time FOR ME. If you like drama and slice of life manga AND are a fan of Inio Asano, this could probably be a pretty good story for you.

Solanin by Inio Asano
Long-Winded Review #3 [Sleep Deprivation Edition]

This is, in my opinion, yet another masterpiece by Inio Asano. This is a lot more grounded than some of his other work, and as such a lot more accessible. This manga focuses on capturing the fragility of life for someone in their mid-20s. Asano explains it best in his afterword:

"[...] In my anxiety and impatience, I felt that all I could do in my manga was try to get a true depiction of the times as experienced by my generation.

Lovers, friends, money, jobs, a society with an unclear future, one's own pride... Writhing in these multiple, entangling factors, perhaps they are unable to draw their own conclusions. Perhaps this instant now is just a small part of their futile daily lives. The only thing that's certain is that they can never return to the days gone by.

There's nothing cool about these characters. They're just your average 20-somethings who blend into the backdrop of the city. But the most important messages in our lives don't come from musicians on stage or stars on television. They come from the average people all around you, the ones who are just feet from where you stand. That's what I believe."


For me, being around the same age as the characters in this manga and the same age Asano was when he wrote it, this book really hit home. Asano succeeded in what he set out to do: he simply yet sublimely captured the essence of being in your mid-20s. The uncertainty about the future, searching for a purpose, seeking a semblance of fulfillment in an apathetic world, taking a risk pursuing an unlikely goal or succumbing to a stable but tepid life. Despite those depressing themes, the main message of the book is quite positive: treasure the small moments. Cherish the good times with friends, revel in the times when you're doing something new or out of the ordinary--the times when you truly feel alive.

On to the technical part of the review:

The writing is really good. The plot itself is fairly simple but very satisfying. The characters are nuanced, relatable, and endearing. Watching them bounce off one another felt like watching my own friends interact, and it gave me a sense of nostalgia and appreciation for those moments. I enjoyed the use of symbolism (i.e. the sandals and the bandage), and I especially liked how the titular song's lyrics take on a different meaning depending on when you read them. Everything ties together very nicely.

As for the art, it's also really good. Asano has a knack for facial expressions, so the emotional moments really hit home. He still uses a lot of his signature exaggerated body language here and there, with characters acting kooky and eccentric for comedic relief, but it is a lot less common than in some of his other manga since this is generally more grounded. His establishing environmental shots were also really good, as are his interiors. By the end of the manga, I was attached to Meiko's little house as if it was an old friend's house. In relation to some of his other work, the art is generally a lot simpler and more subdued to fit the down-to-earth vibe of the manga, but Asano still knows when to bring out the moody, flashy, or over-the-top scenes when needed. The standout scenes were generally the music performances, which were very well done, with detailed instruments, dynamic movements, and raw emotion pouring from the page.

All in all, while I don't think Solanin is as good as Goodnight Punpun or Nijigahara Holograph, I think it definitely deserves the same perfect rating of 10/10. It achieves exactly what it sets out to do. It is relatable, memorable, evocative, and emotional. Like in most of his work, I felt like Asano wrote this just for me. It is the perfect snapshot of what being in your mid-20s is like, and I couldn't have read this at a better time than now.

Slice of life is a genre that I'd consider to be inherently flawed when not having an additional element added to have it stand out from the crowd; for example, Planetes having the interesting premise and execution of slice of life elements in futuristic sci-fi or Haibane Renmei being slice of life in a fantasy setting with a philosophical focus. When not given a unique and specific focus to tie events together and allow it to stand out from the crowd, however, it causes a slice of life to not have much to make one interested or invested in it.

Solanin is an example of such a flaw. Whilst it does have some focus on music and the passage of time, the former is a minor focus for the first half and the latter doesn't start to appear until halfway through. Even when both these topics become integral to the story, neither is executed in a way that stands out compared to other series.
On the topic of music, this story focus shows how many parts of the series are limited by its medium. A lot of impact is taken away from a story with a focus on music when there is no way of hearing it, or even a way for music buffs to imagine the songs being sung when not even as much as the musical notes are present.

Speaking of not making the most of the medium, it's time to talk about the art. As far as the backgrounds and character designs go, they're fine, though not outstanding. One damaging factor that did stand out to me, however, is how many black spaces are used for monologues. Stylistic or not, it seems wasteful to limit the visual element of a visual medium so much.
That said, the series would have been a lot better had it been condensed into an anime original movie with some of the filler chapters removed.

As far as characters go, they serve their purpose, but are in no way any different from what you'd get in any typical slice of life or romcom series, nevermind stand outs for manga in general; and the time wasted focusing on the mediocre support cast causes the story to meander and weaken the series overall when the series would have far more worth as a conceptual piece than a character one. The main character at least has some development from events that transpire later in the series, though as far as female characters growing as people from a loss in their life has been done in far more interesting and fleshed out way through both Misato from Neon Genesis Evangelion or Kanna from 20th Century Boys.

Overall, the only reason Solanin seems to have gotten any sort of praise is for its relatability, though that element means little when every other factor of it is a mediocrity. I can at least give praise to the mangaka executing things competently for what they wished to accomplish, though that premise was just more of the same. If wanting to see interesting ways of how to make a focused story with slice of life elements, watch the anime Planetes, Haibane Renmei or The Tatami Galaxy; or far better, look outside of the anime/manga medium and watch The Sopranos. For Solanin, however, I can provide no sort of recommendation.

This is the story of Taneda and Meiko, two young guys who have a relationship. They have to confront with the life, and they search to understand what they want from this. But it isn't so simple...

Meiko hasn't talents or passions, and as many people, she hates own mediocre job, but she also haven't project for the future. Taneda instead has a great passion for the music, and he is a dreamer, but he hasn't the maturity to realize own dreams so also him do a job which isn't in line with own desires.

Also the friends of the two lovers have similar problems, they have a normal and dull life, but in the bottom of the soul they don't want this.

So Solanin show the the passage from young to adult, the fears, insecurities, doubts, the moments of happiness, in general a part of life of all us. Probably many readers would identify with the characters, because they are really humans. Certainly, the author Inio Asano has a melancholy vision of the life, but in generally the events and characters reflect very good young guys of our days.

The story has a wonderful narration, despite this isn't so happy, some moments are very funny, but in generally is all much reflective and be based on the emotions. The behaviors and the expressions of the characters help, they are so lively, surely also for the drawing, which is realistic for the environment and more "cartoon" for the chara, who anyway has full of details.

Also if I think this story is generally for all, I recommend this manga especially at the people with a reflective character and the teenagers/twenty years old who would feel more near this story.

Having read the 11 volumes of Oyasumi Punpun (by the same author), which I'd easily rate as a 9/10 or 10/10 personally, I decided to read this manga. Unfortunately I found myself disappointed.

Starting out, there wasn't really much in particular that hooked me into story, except for maybe the fact that the main character is somewhat cutely drawn. Regardless, having some awareness that something dramatic will occur later on during the story, I read on with an open mind. Ultimately though, I was disappointed by the twist.

Though the short two-volume format doesn't help matters, apart from the heroine, I feel that the characters were not really fleshed out. They had some soliloquy here and there, but in the end I couldn't help but viewing them as shallow background characters. I couldn't even find them likable. Due to this lack of character exposition or development, the main turning point of the story seemed not so much a tragedy, but an unbelievably melodramatic and selfish act of a character that I can't imagine becoming emotionally invested in. I couldn't even take the main romantic relationship of the main character and her boyfriend seriously.

Even if this story did pull at my heart strings. I still don't think I'd be able to describe it as very creative or insightful in the manner of the manner of the author's later work.