{"id":605,"date":"2011-04-16T09:00:49","date_gmt":"2011-04-16T01:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/?p=605"},"modified":"2014-03-24T12:08:42","modified_gmt":"2014-03-24T04:08:42","slug":"17-solanin-by-inio-asano","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/2011\/04\/16\/17-solanin-by-inio-asano\/","title":{"rendered":"#17 – Solanin by Inio Asano"},"content":{"rendered":"

Solanin by Inio Asano<\/strong>
\nSerialized in Shounen Sunday
\nPublished by Kodansha and Viz.<\/p>\n

There are times when we just want the world to stop.<\/p>\n

There are times when we try to ask the meaning of our lives.<\/p>\n

There are times when we wish to find these dreams filled with meanings.<\/p>\n

There are times when we find the strength to find these dreams\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 only to see life take its chances away from us.<\/p>\n

Solanin is a manga about the hopes and dreams of couple in want of a particular change in their life. This is perhaps a life we once dreamed of. This is also the manga that reminds us what is real.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Living the dream<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I remember a friend of mine used to say that at some point, we live in a quarter-life crisis. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that point where we brashly decide on what it is that we want to do with little thought of its consequences. It was at this point that Meiko decided to quit her job and live a carefree life that she wanted after hearing an encouraging word from her boyfriend.<\/p>\n

Life suddenly looked up and lazy mornings, warm afternoons, and lively evenings became Meiko\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lifestyle of choice. All of this geared towards not only her dream\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s but also her boyfriend\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s.<\/p>\n

I read through the early pages with great optimism, amused that there is a story of a couple like this, surrounded by friends just as eager as them. It wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a hippie culture but they were tight-knit and the support they have given each other is moving, to say the least.<\/p>\n

There is something about its art, their pudgy faces and the scenery that draws me into their laid-back life, as if I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m feeling the breeze through every panel. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a laidback read but it was not boring. In fact, this bit of hope draws you in every panel.<\/p>\n

Like them, you too want to live your days like this. You too want to be carefree. You too wish to live the dream.<\/p>\n

Living a life is not living a dream<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What astounds me with this manga is how it reminds me of the difficulties that come with putting your life to a halt to live your dream. This isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the first manga that has done it but perhaps, in this day and age, this is the most poignant and perhaps the most real and relevant.<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not the kind of manga that reminds us of our dream. In fact it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a reminder of the possible painful consequences of trying to live the dream. If we fantasized for a rock and roll life, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Beck and Detroit Metal City for that. In fact, this manga is hardly about the music but really living one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life the way we should live it. No dreams come without the cost. Dreams may also not be worth in the end. Living does not also entail living the dream. There are things worth living for outside our dreams. Answers are all within reach and while it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a tough battle to get there\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 giving everything that we got might help us. We shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stop our life just because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s starting to suck. We have to move forward with a brave smile.<\/p>\n

What I had not expected was how real this story can get. I have read this a few years back but didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exactly follow through the second volume. I honestly thought that it was just one of those modern day love stories where love just ends in tragedy. Had I pushed to follow the manga, I would have realized that it was more than love. It was greater than love. It was love, hate, anger, frustration, sadness, melancholy, all combined into one ball that rolled along: life.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a manga that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s always close to my heart but I must admit reading this is emotional for me while I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going through tough times. In a way it still feels ideal even if the story holds quite a number of real emotions. Meiko may have ended up being herself but she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel alone. Finding friends like hers is one in a million and she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s quite fortunate to have them. People do get by with the help of friends. If you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have friends to support you, then getting that push to move along becomes hard.<\/p>\n

It deserves every acclaim for how real it can get in capturing emotions of lost and found youth. If there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a book that captures the quarter-life crisis best, then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s this one.<\/p>\n

This review is dedicated to my seinen buddy, Paolo Miguel. He reminded me to give this story another look and it was worth it. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Solanin by Inio Asano Serialized in Shounen Sunday Published by Kodansha and Viz. There are times when we just want […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[298,274,180,64,299],"class_list":["post-605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews","tag-inio-asano","tag-viz","tag-shounen","tag-shounen-sunday","tag-solanin"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/solanin.jpg?fit=610%2C865","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p26e5y-9L","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":722,"url":"http:\/\/www.punkednoodle.com\/champloo\/2011\/08\/04\/exhibit-manga-realities-the-art-of-japanese-comics-today\/","url_meta":{"origin":605,"position":0},"title":"[Exhibit] Manga Realities: The Art of Japanese Comics Today","author":"khursten","date":"August 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I have been more excited about this than the Kingdom of Characters display (I had tons of things to complain about that one!) and more so, when I saw this in the Japan Foundation Magazine, back then, they only hide five series on display. 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