Solanin

Solanin is a slice-of-life story about a recent college graduate, Meiko.  She's been working as an office girl for two years, and she hates it.  Her boyfriend, Naruo, has a part-time job as an illustrator, but his real dream is to become a rock star.  They live together, but she mostly supports him because he can't get a full-time job.  The band isn't really going anywhere, but after Meiko quits her job, she realizes that Naruo has a dream, and that he should chase it.

I just love Inio Asano's work.  Sure, there have been plenty of movies, comics, and TV shows that have captured the "slacker" generation, but very few that I have seen have captured that generation in Japan.  I can relate to the characters.  While I like my grant writing and my editing, my true passion is reading comics and writing this blog.  At some point, endeavors like this go beyond hobbies and become micro-careers.  I remember when I first started making money teaching piano, guitar, and drum lessons.  I thought I'd MADE it.  Then, after six months of singing melody lines along with 9-year-old kids taking lessons, my voice gave out.  I couldn't teach piano lessons anymore, and I started writing novels.  I still do, although the only remuneration I get from that is the rare stranger actually reading one of my books.

Solanin is a sad story; it speaks of loss and depression.  Meiko, right after quitting her job, suddenly finds that she has a lot of time on her hands but doesn't know what to do with it.  Meanwhile, her friends in Naruo's band are experts in killing time, employing a technique I once used on my days off a long time ago: getting drunk at the zoo.  The artwork is somewhat reminiscent of Tin-Tin, with hyper-realistic backgrounds and iconic characters.  Naruo's Fender Mustang guitar and Vox amplifier are drawn to exacting detail, while Naruo looks cartoonish.  I love this book.