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A review by 3rdtimelucky
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
3.0
Yeah this was a weird read. Firstly it reads like a screenplay which could be partly down to translation and/or general cultural differences in narration style but it was hard to immerse in. The first story was mid, the second was standout and made me cry, but the third and fourth stories felt SUPER melodramatic and deaths were just dropped in too casually to even process. I 1000% lost patience with the final storyline being about a woman committing to give birth to a baby that's guaranteed to kill her and I'm supposed to sympathise with how her husband "can't choose between the [currently 4 week old cluster of cells] baby and her" ????
also the time travel lore just makes NO sense. Which I'm completely fine with suspending my disbelief over except it will not stop reminding you of the inconsistencies! the premise is that you can go back to the past but it doesn't change anything - then instead of this just being some kind of alternate timeline, it gives the example that if you went back and shot someone in the past who's alive in the future, they would just always be really lucky and get to the hospital quickly and pull through. what?????? i really LIKED the premise that even though nothing tangibly changes it's about the change in yourself from getting a new perspective, so then why have people literally be able to take objects back with them and influence the past in many ways. And the way new lore would be introduced each story when necessary even though it should have come up before. Still it had heart in there deep down but it was hard to get to beneath dull prose and frustrating lore.
also the time travel lore just makes NO sense. Which I'm completely fine with suspending my disbelief over except it will not stop reminding you of the inconsistencies! the premise is that you can go back to the past but it doesn't change anything - then instead of this just being some kind of alternate timeline, it gives the example that if you went back and shot someone in the past who's alive in the future, they would just always be really lucky and get to the hospital quickly and pull through. what?????? i really LIKED the premise that even though nothing tangibly changes it's about the change in yourself from getting a new perspective, so then why have people literally be able to take objects back with them and influence the past in many ways. And the way new lore would be introduced each story when necessary even though it should have come up before. Still it had heart in there deep down but it was hard to get to beneath dull prose and frustrating lore.