Reviews

Downfall by Inio Asano

tessasreads's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

emilychau's review

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

tiffyelefano's review against another edition

4.0

To this day, Inio Asano continues to be my favourite mangaka for how he portrays the dark sides of the human condition while remaining grounded and avoiding going into ‘torture porn’ territory. As a young adult, I love to read manga centred around working adults and the difficulties they face. Specifically as an artist, I can relate to burn out and losing the motivation and love I once had for my own craft. I find solace in reading about characters that possess traits I could so easily obtain if I continue to spiral and leave my mental health unchecked. Reading this was like a slap of reality. 4 stars.

_lunaria_'s review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

chan_bean's review against another edition

2.0

Pretty sure this IS the point but: MC is a freak, he's not seeing the gates, everyone is right to hate on him, he WILL die alone and miserable as he should. Anyway shout out to my girl Yunbo.

m4rc0s4n's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

sarahrnr's review against another edition

4.0

Las historias de Asano son tan crudas, pesimistas y deprimentes que hay gente que dice que esto es realismo, yo pienso que la vida despues de todo,no es tan horrible, pero Inio piensa otras cosas, como se ven en esta obra que es un poco bastante autobiográfica o al menos su pesamiento.

No he llegado a conectar del todo, pero si he empatizado, y le llego a entender.

Lo mágico de sus mangas es que los lees, piensas que no son para tanto, pero al rato le sigues dando vueltas, pensando en ellos y , al menos a mi, me llegan a poner triste, por la realidad del manga que acabo de leer, es complicado y visceral, pero no he leido a un mangaka que consiga hacerme sentir así y hacer que su obra se quede en mi mente bastante tiempo.

hyliansaiyan's review against another edition

4.0

I tend to drift toward melancholic fiction and this hit the spot. I can't say MC is a good guy but he's interesting enough.

fullmooneaters's review against another edition

3.0

I loved Punpun, Solanin and a few of his other works so I picked up this because the plot was something I was really interested in. I guess I didn’t really like it. It felt like the story was maybe a reflection of Asano’s exhaustion with the manga industry and he wrote this as an outlet and he is exhausted with constantly trying to keep up with their demands. This character feels like somewhat of a self insert (definitely not saying that Asano is terrible and abusive like the main character, just in terms of the being a mangaka and being exhausted with the job and things like that) and I’m not bashing self inserts, sometimes they’re fun, but the whole book just felt like a let down, like something that wasn’t a fully fleshed out, potentially because he was kind of forced to put this out and because it was rushed, because he is exhausted. Hell, I’d be exhausted too if I wrote Goodnight Punpun, that whole series is just a permanent blow to morale (in a good way), so I can’t imagine how he felt processing and putting it together. I still call myself a fan of his, but this just felt like a bit of a let down.

emalda's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Minor: Suicidal thoughts