fridge_brilliance 's review for:

That Time the Manga Editor Started a New Life in the Countryside 1 by Kumagae

4.0

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It's very wholesome, suffused with golden glow and longing to ditch the city life and touch the grass every now and then -- and at the same time, completely self-aware and pragmatic, which is unusual to see in soothing slice-of-life stories. This is definitely an escapist downshifting fantasy, but not exactly Ghibli material, either: this story has a more millenial, relatable to today's life sense of humor. I mean, you have to give it to the meta-ness of the framing devic: a ex-manga editor comes back to tell a story in a manga medium about how he quit manga publishing to live in the countryside. The pragmatic adult in me enjoyed that the protagonist was first dipping his toes into country life before completely cutting his umbilical cord with Tokyo, and that together with his wife they didn't commit their all to the country life with abandon, but went about sensibly choosing a place to live in, and finding things to do as they figure out what they want to do. A bubbly, lighthearted cosplayer wife could have been a throwaway character, but she came across as genuinely supportive and willing to share adventures with her husband as they try this new lifestyle.

Thanks to #Netgalley and #Kodansha for an advance copy of this manga.