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Tokyo These Days, Vol. 1
The winner of multiple Eisner Awards, author Taiyo Matsumoto explores the relationships between a manga editor, manga creators, art, and the rhythm of life these days.
After 30 years as a manga editor, Kazuo Shiozawa suddenly quits. Although he feels early retirement is the only way to atone for his failures as an editor, the manga world isn’t done with him.
On his last day as an editor, Shiozawa takes a train he’s ridden hundreds of times before to impart some last advice to a manga creator whose work he used to edit. Some time after, he is drawn to return to a bookshop at the request of a junior editor who wants Shiozawa’s help dealing with an incorrigible manga creator who refuses to work with any editor but him. For this manga editor, Tokyo these days is full of memory and is cocooned in the inescapable bonds between manga creators, their editors, art, and life itself.
After 30 years as a manga editor, Kazuo Shiozawa suddenly quits. Although he feels early retirement is the only way to atone for his failures as an editor, the manga world isn’t done with him.
On his last day as an editor, Shiozawa takes a train he’s ridden hundreds of times before to impart some last advice to a manga creator whose work he used to edit. Some time after, he is drawn to return to a bookshop at the request of a junior editor who wants Shiozawa’s help dealing with an incorrigible manga creator who refuses to work with any editor but him. For this manga editor, Tokyo these days is full of memory and is cocooned in the inescapable bonds between manga creators, their editors, art, and life itself.
216 pages, Hardcover
First published January 16, 2024
About the author
Taiyo Matsumoto
145 books481 followersSee also: 松本大洋 and 松本 大洋
Although Taiyo Matsumoto desired a career as a professional soccerplayer at first, he eventually chose an artistic profession. He gained his first success through the Comic Open contest, held by the magazine Comic Morning, which allowed him to make his professional debut. He started out with 'Straight', a comic about basketball players. Sports remain his main influence in his next comic, 'Zéro', a story about a boxer.
In 1993 Matsumoto started the 'Tekkonkinkurito' trilogy in Big Spirits magazine, which was even adapted to a theatre play. He continued his comics exploits with several short stories for the Comic Aré magazine, which are collected in the book 'Nihon no Kyodai'. Again for Big Spirits, Taiyo Matsumoto started the series 'Ping Pong' in 1996. 'Number Five' followed in 2001, published by Shogakukan.
Source: Lambiek website bio .
Although Taiyo Matsumoto desired a career as a professional soccerplayer at first, he eventually chose an artistic profession. He gained his first success through the Comic Open contest, held by the magazine Comic Morning, which allowed him to make his professional debut. He started out with 'Straight', a comic about basketball players. Sports remain his main influence in his next comic, 'Zéro', a story about a boxer.
In 1993 Matsumoto started the 'Tekkonkinkurito' trilogy in Big Spirits magazine, which was even adapted to a theatre play. He continued his comics exploits with several short stories for the Comic Aré magazine, which are collected in the book 'Nihon no Kyodai'. Again for Big Spirits, Taiyo Matsumoto started the series 'Ping Pong' in 1996. 'Number Five' followed in 2001, published by Shogakukan.
Source: Lambiek website bio .
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
November 21, 2023
A beautiful, slow, melancholy story about a couple of manga editors and several mangaka, mostly focusing on retiring manga editor Kazuo Shiozawa, who decides he wants to produce one more book, so he approaches several older mangaka to get them out of retirement and working on his book.
I've always loved Taiyo Matsumoto's idiosyncratic art in his weird and/or sci-fi stories, and here that very fine, delicate art works perfectly to show the lives of fine, delicate artists. The book is quite profound and has an incredible stillness about it. Just great.
(Thanks to VIZ Media for providing me with an ARC through Edelweiss)
January 18, 2024
What does it mean to work in a creative field? What happens when you need to take a break from it? Can you ever really escape what it means to be creative, whether you're in the writing, drawing, or editing aspect of it?
Matsumoto's book seems to suggest that you can't, that manga (or any other creative field) is in your blood, and even if you think you're ready to move on, a piece of you will never be able to. I've never wanted to leave my own creative work, so I can't truly relate to some aspects of this, but I think at the end of the day Matsumoto wants to explore the relationship between the creators, the editors, and the art itself. It's an uneasy one, but maybe that's why it's worth having.
Matsumoto's book seems to suggest that you can't, that manga (or any other creative field) is in your blood, and even if you think you're ready to move on, a piece of you will never be able to. I've never wanted to leave my own creative work, so I can't truly relate to some aspects of this, but I think at the end of the day Matsumoto wants to explore the relationship between the creators, the editors, and the art itself. It's an uneasy one, but maybe that's why it's worth having.
January 20, 2024
Shiozawa leaves his job as a manga editor, but the trappings follow him wherever he goes. Unsure what to do with himself, it turns out that, much like the Mafia, it’s probably easier to die doing manga than it is to up and quit it.
I’m hardly making a bold statement by saying that most manga is black and white, but, even with a spattering of colour pages, this story feels like it’s black and white. And maybe French. It reads like a foreign film to me.
Which is to say that it takes its time and presents itself as a study of various characters and we really get to know them and their interactions. The question becomes… how interesting is that?
Shiozawa is interesting enough - he’s throwing himself on his proverbial sword over a failed magazine, lamenting that he’s out of touch with what people actually want. He’s very good at his job, if a touch poor at self-examination, as he uses his retirement to point out how out of touch some of the mangaka he knows are.
It’s the classic story of an industry that has run away from its artistic roots and become more and more focused on commercial success, leaving very little by way of unique voices. Every facet of this is backed up when a new isekai comes out.
This is a very quiet story that doesn’t necessarily appear to be going anywhere, merely an examination of the triumphs and detritus of one man’s career, until the very end, which appears to be suggesting that Shiozawa is intending to make something he would love in the medium he loves.
As time passes and tastes change, what if you could do the thing you loved the way you wanted to, one last time? That’s Shiozawa’s true victory lap, potentially, which we see him being sowing the seeds of. The moment he recognizes what he’s losing by abandoning his profession is both a polite homage and real moment.
Some of it is bizarre - the female artist whose son is throwing his money away on absurd nonsense, for example. Yet, even in that story there is a reflection of the passion of a creator and how it waits for a spark to rekindle it.
This feels mostly real, possible talking bird aside, and it’s very interesting taking this journey and meeting these unique characters and seeing what has driven them or how their passion has faded.
Which is odd, because when I finished I genuinely felt that I had read exactly enough of this story for my tastes. There’s clearly more to come, but do I want to see more? I’m pretty content with what was on offer here to the point that I have no real intention to read another volume.
It’s a lovely, mature, engaging piece that aims rather higher than the usual fare, so I certainly don’t regret any of my time with it. Maybe I’m just as basic as I think I am though.
3 stars - it’s good, most assuredly, and I wavered with giving this less than 4 stars, and if it sounds like your jam then it is most definitely worth your time, but the simple fact is that if I’m feeling done with your story after the first volume, then I don’t think it’s quite as ‘for me’ as I was hoping.
I’m hardly making a bold statement by saying that most manga is black and white, but, even with a spattering of colour pages, this story feels like it’s black and white. And maybe French. It reads like a foreign film to me.
Which is to say that it takes its time and presents itself as a study of various characters and we really get to know them and their interactions. The question becomes… how interesting is that?
Shiozawa is interesting enough - he’s throwing himself on his proverbial sword over a failed magazine, lamenting that he’s out of touch with what people actually want. He’s very good at his job, if a touch poor at self-examination, as he uses his retirement to point out how out of touch some of the mangaka he knows are.
It’s the classic story of an industry that has run away from its artistic roots and become more and more focused on commercial success, leaving very little by way of unique voices. Every facet of this is backed up when a new isekai comes out.
This is a very quiet story that doesn’t necessarily appear to be going anywhere, merely an examination of the triumphs and detritus of one man’s career, until the very end, which appears to be suggesting that Shiozawa is intending to make something he would love in the medium he loves.
As time passes and tastes change, what if you could do the thing you loved the way you wanted to, one last time? That’s Shiozawa’s true victory lap, potentially, which we see him being sowing the seeds of. The moment he recognizes what he’s losing by abandoning his profession is both a polite homage and real moment.
Some of it is bizarre - the female artist whose son is throwing his money away on absurd nonsense, for example. Yet, even in that story there is a reflection of the passion of a creator and how it waits for a spark to rekindle it.
This feels mostly real, possible talking bird aside, and it’s very interesting taking this journey and meeting these unique characters and seeing what has driven them or how their passion has faded.
Which is odd, because when I finished I genuinely felt that I had read exactly enough of this story for my tastes. There’s clearly more to come, but do I want to see more? I’m pretty content with what was on offer here to the point that I have no real intention to read another volume.
It’s a lovely, mature, engaging piece that aims rather higher than the usual fare, so I certainly don’t regret any of my time with it. Maybe I’m just as basic as I think I am though.
3 stars - it’s good, most assuredly, and I wavered with giving this less than 4 stars, and if it sounds like your jam then it is most definitely worth your time, but the simple fact is that if I’m feeling done with your story after the first volume, then I don’t think it’s quite as ‘for me’ as I was hoping.
February 2, 2024
Editar, dibujar, escribir o crear manga es lo peor que hay.
January 26, 2024
Matsumoto’s love letter to manga as a profession, as a lifestyle, as an obsession. Does art matter if the creation process is mundane and perfunctory?
An effortlessly beautiful and sublime work.
An effortlessly beautiful and sublime work.
January 14, 2024
I received this volume as an ARC on netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
My initial reaction to finishing this first volume was that I didn't think I had much at all to say about it. It was different than I had been expecting. I thought it take a closer look at how the job of a manga editor actually functions, and to some extent it does show that, but it focuses more on the various characters' (both manga creators and editors) struggles with the current manga industry. They feel disconnected from the stories they tell, disillusioned by the publishing world, and some of the characters are previous manga creators who have quit all together. One of these is the main character, a manga editor with a 30 year long career named Kazuo Shiozawa who decides to retire early after his magazine folds.
Most of the cast tries to completely cut off their connection to manga, to the extent that one of the mangaka Shiozawa visits won't even step into a place that carries it. A few tried to create manga that were closer to what they really wanted to make, but their sales plummeted despite their dedication. Others once had that passion and managed to find great success, but now they drift through their current life and work in a creative rut, making works that Shiozawa says feel thin or hollow in comparison. What happened to the creative spark they once had?
Rather than a story about how manga is published, it is a closer look at the feelings of artists and editors who have hit a bump or low point in their work and lives. As someone who enjoys making art myself, I could relate to their frustrations when it comes to not being able to find the motivation or inspirational feelings you once had. The world can sometimes wear you down or take the joy of creating out of you. That's even more of the case when you're making art for a business that these mangaka say focuses on profits above all else. It's difficult to keep your head above water and write from the heart when you have to worry about breaking even at the very least, and trying to keep a connection with readers over the years. People's tastes change. They seek out something fresh and exciting. Perhaps you can't always keep the attention of the same readers regardless of the work you truly want to create. For some artists, that can breed a sense of resentment.
How does one push past both the suffocating world around them and the criticism of both their readers and their editor in order to make a breakthrough? I think this series will show that it takes strength of character, incredible passion, or maybe just a whole lot of stubbornness to not give up. Most artists are sensitive and sometimes eccentric people (I say that as someone who likes to draw and write, but is also surrounded by others who do, as well) who can get stuck in their heads or on a very particular vision they have in mind. This story shows that the relationship between an editor and a mangaka is meant to assist in improving their storytelling and illustrations in order for their work to truly shine. Other times, however, an artist's work can be muddled down by the redirected focus of "this is what will sell the best right now" even if it's not the story they actually wanted to tell. It is a line that Tokyo These Days shows us must be hard to walk in order to find a happy medium in this industry.
After sitting on this manga for roughly a full day after I had completed it, I realized that had more to say about it than previously thought. As originally I wrote this review, I bumped my rating up from a 3/5 to 4/5 stars. It affected me more deeply than anticipated, and I will probably continue to think about Tokyo These Days in the future, even if my expectations going in were different than what I received.
Final Thoughts:
So, what kind of reader is Tokyo These Days for?
If you're a creative person, or even someone who's been feeling as if you're stuck in limbo with your current job or life in general, I think Tokyo These Days is worth reading. Of course, if you love all types of manga, this is also a series that you should try picking up. Even as Shiozawa and the others try to escape manga, they can't help but return to it, for they love it too much, and that shines through everything else. Manga has become part of their lives, and isn't something they can easily leave behind. It's something that manga lovers and the characters share.
However, if you were expecting a series more along the lines of Bakuman, this likely won't be your speed. Volume one did not go in depth about the creation of manga in a technical sense or how the magazines themselves function. It's also not written with any type of competition or sportsmans-like rivalry or goals. The best way I can describe Tokyo These Days in comparison is that it is a more down-to-earth, melancholic, and "literary" type of work. It fits perfectly in the Viz Signature line-up, which is catered toward older readers and those who be new to transitioning from US comics to manga.
My initial reaction to finishing this first volume was that I didn't think I had much at all to say about it. It was different than I had been expecting. I thought it take a closer look at how the job of a manga editor actually functions, and to some extent it does show that, but it focuses more on the various characters' (both manga creators and editors) struggles with the current manga industry. They feel disconnected from the stories they tell, disillusioned by the publishing world, and some of the characters are previous manga creators who have quit all together. One of these is the main character, a manga editor with a 30 year long career named Kazuo Shiozawa who decides to retire early after his magazine folds.
Most of the cast tries to completely cut off their connection to manga, to the extent that one of the mangaka Shiozawa visits won't even step into a place that carries it. A few tried to create manga that were closer to what they really wanted to make, but their sales plummeted despite their dedication. Others once had that passion and managed to find great success, but now they drift through their current life and work in a creative rut, making works that Shiozawa says feel thin or hollow in comparison. What happened to the creative spark they once had?
Rather than a story about how manga is published, it is a closer look at the feelings of artists and editors who have hit a bump or low point in their work and lives. As someone who enjoys making art myself, I could relate to their frustrations when it comes to not being able to find the motivation or inspirational feelings you once had. The world can sometimes wear you down or take the joy of creating out of you. That's even more of the case when you're making art for a business that these mangaka say focuses on profits above all else. It's difficult to keep your head above water and write from the heart when you have to worry about breaking even at the very least, and trying to keep a connection with readers over the years. People's tastes change. They seek out something fresh and exciting. Perhaps you can't always keep the attention of the same readers regardless of the work you truly want to create. For some artists, that can breed a sense of resentment.
How does one push past both the suffocating world around them and the criticism of both their readers and their editor in order to make a breakthrough? I think this series will show that it takes strength of character, incredible passion, or maybe just a whole lot of stubbornness to not give up. Most artists are sensitive and sometimes eccentric people (I say that as someone who likes to draw and write, but is also surrounded by others who do, as well) who can get stuck in their heads or on a very particular vision they have in mind. This story shows that the relationship between an editor and a mangaka is meant to assist in improving their storytelling and illustrations in order for their work to truly shine. Other times, however, an artist's work can be muddled down by the redirected focus of "this is what will sell the best right now" even if it's not the story they actually wanted to tell. It is a line that Tokyo These Days shows us must be hard to walk in order to find a happy medium in this industry.
After sitting on this manga for roughly a full day after I had completed it, I realized that had more to say about it than previously thought. As originally I wrote this review, I bumped my rating up from a 3/5 to 4/5 stars. It affected me more deeply than anticipated, and I will probably continue to think about Tokyo These Days in the future, even if my expectations going in were different than what I received.
Final Thoughts:
So, what kind of reader is Tokyo These Days for?
If you're a creative person, or even someone who's been feeling as if you're stuck in limbo with your current job or life in general, I think Tokyo These Days is worth reading. Of course, if you love all types of manga, this is also a series that you should try picking up. Even as Shiozawa and the others try to escape manga, they can't help but return to it, for they love it too much, and that shines through everything else. Manga has become part of their lives, and isn't something they can easily leave behind. It's something that manga lovers and the characters share.
However, if you were expecting a series more along the lines of Bakuman, this likely won't be your speed. Volume one did not go in depth about the creation of manga in a technical sense or how the magazines themselves function. It's also not written with any type of competition or sportsmans-like rivalry or goals. The best way I can describe Tokyo These Days in comparison is that it is a more down-to-earth, melancholic, and "literary" type of work. It fits perfectly in the Viz Signature line-up, which is catered toward older readers and those who be new to transitioning from US comics to manga.
February 5, 2024
Already in the running for most interesting book I will read in 2024, Tokyo These Days is a cinematic, engrossing, reflective book. It asks the reader to think about what one's life is really for, where is the line between work and art and how do the two tie together. Shiozawa's journey has a profound affect on the lives around him as he strives to make sense of his 30 years editing manga when he thinks he's reached the end of the road.
This book is incredibly easy to read and also deeply introspective. I read reread certain sections to better absorb the broader implications to the world around Shiozawa and how everyone he comes in contact with finds themselves unpacking the themes he introduces. Truly the work of a great artist, Taiyo Matsumoto immediately made a new out of me and I cannot wait to read vol 2. In the mean time, I'll check out more of their award winning work.
This book is incredibly easy to read and also deeply introspective. I read reread certain sections to better absorb the broader implications to the world around Shiozawa and how everyone he comes in contact with finds themselves unpacking the themes he introduces. Truly the work of a great artist, Taiyo Matsumoto immediately made a new out of me and I cannot wait to read vol 2. In the mean time, I'll check out more of their award winning work.
January 4, 2024
In a nutshell: If you like contemplative, character-driven stories that explore the complexities of burnout, (dis)passion and the enduring desire to create, this is the story for you.
This was a well-paced, slice-of-life manga that provided a quiet exploration of the complicated relationship between artists and their industry. Each character had a distinct, interesting personality that was well-developed through purposeful dialogue. From the editor who is paired with a difficult artist, to a rejection-sensitive artist that struggles as a newbie creator, to older mangaka who have settled into different lives outside the manga-sphere: all of them are struggling one way or another with the bittersweetness of working in a creative industry. While the manga explores themes of burnout and artistic compromise, Shiozawa’s relationships with the other characters simultaneously reveals the enduring inner passion and love of manga that drives these characters to create.
I adored the art style, which was heavily background-detailed and relied on pen and ink for values rather than screentoning. The freestyle linework and the way the characters were less stylized and leaned more towards realism matched the down-to-earth tone of the story well. One interesting detail was that a lot of the living spaces of the characters were small, humble, with a normal amount of clutter (proportionate to the character’s personality). You could tell that the artist was drawing from reality: a reoccurring theme throughout the manga.
If you’ve ever felt stuck in a professional or creative rut, this story will resonate. However, if you’re looking for action-packed escapism, you will not find it here.
This was a well-paced, slice-of-life manga that provided a quiet exploration of the complicated relationship between artists and their industry. Each character had a distinct, interesting personality that was well-developed through purposeful dialogue. From the editor who is paired with a difficult artist, to a rejection-sensitive artist that struggles as a newbie creator, to older mangaka who have settled into different lives outside the manga-sphere: all of them are struggling one way or another with the bittersweetness of working in a creative industry. While the manga explores themes of burnout and artistic compromise, Shiozawa’s relationships with the other characters simultaneously reveals the enduring inner passion and love of manga that drives these characters to create.
I adored the art style, which was heavily background-detailed and relied on pen and ink for values rather than screentoning. The freestyle linework and the way the characters were less stylized and leaned more towards realism matched the down-to-earth tone of the story well. One interesting detail was that a lot of the living spaces of the characters were small, humble, with a normal amount of clutter (proportionate to the character’s personality). You could tell that the artist was drawing from reality: a reoccurring theme throughout the manga.
If you’ve ever felt stuck in a professional or creative rut, this story will resonate. However, if you’re looking for action-packed escapism, you will not find it here.
December 6, 2023
Tokyo These Days is wonderful in an eerie and distant way only Matsumoto can produce. Taiyo Matsumoto is one of my favorite mangakas, since his works are magically mundane. In Tokyo These Days our main character is Shiosawa, who's just retired from being a manga editor. He wants to do something and detach himself from manga, but it seems impossible. We get to meet people, who've played a role in his life, and get to picture him and Tokyo through their eyes too. The manga is slow and a slice of life, very philosophical in a way and at the same time so normal and boring. I love this contradiction in Matsumoto's works. They are like hidden gems, you just have to tune yourself into the right readerhood or so to speak.
The art is great like always, the roughness, naivety and the lack of facial expressions is beautiful once again. This is not everyone's cup of tea, but something different and beautifully stale in a moving world. Like looking back into a time frozen and still lively. Such a wonderful manga indeed.
The art is great like always, the roughness, naivety and the lack of facial expressions is beautiful once again. This is not everyone's cup of tea, but something different and beautifully stale in a moving world. Like looking back into a time frozen and still lively. Such a wonderful manga indeed.
January 5, 2024
thanks to netgalley for a free arc of this title in exchange for an honest review. with an eclectic cast of nuanced characters in the world of manga, tokyo these days is a slow-paced character study into the authors, illustrators, and editors of the piece. the art style was unlike anything i've encountered in contemporary manga, and the mundanity of the plot helped to really highlight the character's struggles. sometimes, a narrative with little action at all gives us the most insight on the lives of the people it highlights. if you like action, this isn't the one for you, but if you prefer to witness the ennui of everyday living, you may enjoy this one.
January 7, 2024
Tokyo These Days is laid out like an indie film. The summary for the title sounded interesting enough but I was still not sure where the story would go. I did enjoy the flow of the story overall. I also enjoyed Matsumoto's art style; I love it when I read a book and it plays out like a movie in my head. There's a second volume, and I would read it given the chance, but at least the first volume does not leave one on a cliffhanger, which would not fit the themes or mood of the book. (I received a free ARC of Tokyo These Days, Vol. 1 from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.)
January 16, 2024
I did not care for this at all... This was my first Matsumoto book, and it didn't look or feel like what I'd seen of either Ping Pong or Tekkonkkinstreet. The art was much scratchier and crooked. The paneling and the shots were obviously good but the actual line art kinda hurt to look at. The story was boring and meaningless. Another book about the ins of manga making. It kind of starts to pick up towards the end but even then, the interactions between the characters don't make a lick of sense lmao. I guess maybe I just excepted something else than this. I won't be picking up vol 2 though that's for sure
February 8, 2024
I liked the personal, quiet nature of this book, but I prefer the manic energy of Tekkonkinkreet. Just a matter of taste, but weirdo kids fucking shit up with goggles on does more for me than the quiet retirement attempt of a manga artist.
I kind of also feel like there are some pieces of this that I don't relate to because A) I don't fully understand the place manga occupies in Japanese culture, and B) I don't really know what it's like to work a job that's your one true passion, and then what it's like to sort of see that passion die out or be misdirected along the way.
I guess a good thing about just having a job that's a job is that you can never really feel like a sellout. But I guess it's also kind of impossible to be a sellout in a normal job because it's not like there's a side of work that's big money with moral problems or something, at least for most jobs. It's not like working for Circle K is for good, ethical clerks and 7/11 is for scumbags who are just in it for the money.
I kind of also feel like there are some pieces of this that I don't relate to because A) I don't fully understand the place manga occupies in Japanese culture, and B) I don't really know what it's like to work a job that's your one true passion, and then what it's like to sort of see that passion die out or be misdirected along the way.
I guess a good thing about just having a job that's a job is that you can never really feel like a sellout. But I guess it's also kind of impossible to be a sellout in a normal job because it's not like there's a side of work that's big money with moral problems or something, at least for most jobs. It's not like working for Circle K is for good, ethical clerks and 7/11 is for scumbags who are just in it for the money.
February 17, 2024
Shiozawa quits his job as a manga editor because reasons. He visits a couple creators because reasons. He was going to sell his entire manga collection because reasons. He talks to his bird because reasons.
And then he changes his mind and want to get some good creators together to make one last manga together... because reasons.
It's very realistically drawn, though a little off kilter. I'm not sure what the end goal is, because each chapter feels isolated even though they're sequential. It's... just off and kinda... flat? I didn't enjoy it, but I didn't hate it. So I'll stick with it.
This series has 3 volumes.
And then he changes his mind and want to get some good creators together to make one last manga together... because reasons.
It's very realistically drawn, though a little off kilter. I'm not sure what the end goal is, because each chapter feels isolated even though they're sequential. It's... just off and kinda... flat? I didn't enjoy it, but I didn't hate it. So I'll stick with it.
This series has 3 volumes.
December 6, 2023
I loved this mangaka's art style. It's stunning and you can really feel their passion through the page.
The story is about someone who works in manga who feels incredibly burnt out and dispassionate with their work. They decide to retire from their job early at their magazine company that publishes manga. With support from their talking bird, they decide to ask their most trusted friends to help them with a manga that will be fully their story (and their last work).
Thank you Netgally and Viz for an ARC in exchange for my honest review!
The story is about someone who works in manga who feels incredibly burnt out and dispassionate with their work. They decide to retire from their job early at their magazine company that publishes manga. With support from their talking bird, they decide to ask their most trusted friends to help them with a manga that will be fully their story (and their last work).
Thank you Netgally and Viz for an ARC in exchange for my honest review!
January 21, 2024
A nice 'warts-and-all' look at what goes into making manga and the people who make it.
Matsumoto is very hit-or-miss with me, but his ambling, meditative pacing meshes well with a story about a recently-retired manga editor wandering around Tokyo. I like getting to see a glimpse of the manga world through the eyes of a former editor, checking in on various manga authors, some retired, some still working, some recently deceased.
Also his art rules! Can't get enough of it. Love when he draws a person's hair with just a big splash of ink wash.
Matsumoto is very hit-or-miss with me, but his ambling, meditative pacing meshes well with a story about a recently-retired manga editor wandering around Tokyo. I like getting to see a glimpse of the manga world through the eyes of a former editor, checking in on various manga authors, some retired, some still working, some recently deceased.
Also his art rules! Can't get enough of it. Love when he draws a person's hair with just a big splash of ink wash.
December 23, 2023
ARC given by NetGalley for Honest Review
A charming and immersive read about those involved with the manga industry and one manga editor's last job. The pacing was a little slow but the characters are well rounded and interesting to get to know.
The art treads the line between detailed and slightly sloppy in a endearing and deliberate way.
A charming and immersive read about those involved with the manga industry and one manga editor's last job. The pacing was a little slow but the characters are well rounded and interesting to get to know.
The art treads the line between detailed and slightly sloppy in a endearing and deliberate way.
January 22, 2024
I've always bounced off of Taiyo Matsumoto's work (The pacing always throws me off), even though I can understand people loving it, but this new work is precisely my bag - the story of a retired manga editor putting together a new magazine made up of ex-manga authors, who are all living their lives, but find the strength to, maybe, give it one more go.
Beautiful stuff.
Beautiful stuff.
January 30, 2024
This digital ARC was obtainable via NetGalley for an honest review!
As a manga reader, "Tokyo These Days", was a fresh read for me. I usually don't go for the serious type manga but I love the truth being portrayed in this volume. When we read these stories from our beloved mangaka we do not always take into account that these are real people with real lives. This perspective on the publishing industry is eye opening. It is sad to see that some people will stop doing what they love because of expectations or lack of strength to carry on. Thank you, Taiyo Matsumoto, for leading me to ponder about my own expectations.
As a manga reader, "Tokyo These Days", was a fresh read for me. I usually don't go for the serious type manga but I love the truth being portrayed in this volume. When we read these stories from our beloved mangaka we do not always take into account that these are real people with real lives. This perspective on the publishing industry is eye opening. It is sad to see that some people will stop doing what they love because of expectations or lack of strength to carry on. Thank you, Taiyo Matsumoto, for leading me to ponder about my own expectations.
October 17, 2023
ARC from Netgalley.
A wonderfully deliberate and meditative work. Matsumoto does an excellent job of displaying the exhaustion of passion.
A wonderfully deliberate and meditative work. Matsumoto does an excellent job of displaying the exhaustion of passion.
January 23, 2024
I don’t quite know what to make of this. Beautiful in a way.
January 30, 2024
A poignant meditation on the business of Manga creation and loneliness. Waiting for the next volume.
February 12, 2024
Can’t wait to read the sequel :)
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February 16, 2024És com llegir Ozu Yasuhiro
February 20, 2024
art pretty, my brain hasn't processed the plot
February 11, 2024
Score: 89
Art: 19/20
Story: 18/20
Characters: 19/20
World-building: 17/20
Writing: 16/20
Art: 19/20
Story: 18/20
Characters: 19/20
World-building: 17/20
Writing: 16/20
August 10, 2023
[2023.07.04_71]
這部作品，應該可以視作松本大洋的漫畫論。
PS: 喜歡長作毛線背心上面的馬，有種松本大洋無論如何一定得找個地方畫動物的愛。
【3 July 2023 / 博客來 / 272】
這部作品，應該可以視作松本大洋的漫畫論。
PS: 喜歡長作毛線背心上面的馬，有種松本大洋無論如何一定得找個地方畫動物的愛。
【3 July 2023 / 博客來 / 272】
July 7, 2023
好喜歡這本。像書中主角一樣能堅持初衷，是走過許多艱辛的路，卻又懂得以寬容的心回望過往的人，才有的回報。
期待續集。內頁紙質很好。
期待續集。內頁紙質很好。
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