 | "Living Game" by Konstantin
(2006-03-07) |
Been poking around for more seinen manga to read ever since getting hooked on REC, and happened across a real gem called Living Game, off of a random 4chan mention of all things. I've only read the first 5 volumes' worth of the scanlations so far (and the chances of an official translation look pretty slim, seeing as it's an early 90's seinen manga), but I can already tell that this is one for my collection, once I manage to find some place that has it in stock and ships to the US.
The story is a gentle (and remarkably tame, fanservice-wise) romantic comedy, with complications courtesy of the Tokyo housing shortage at the height of the Japanese land price bubble. The manga's protagonist is Fuwa, a mid-20's salaryman, whose humble 6-tatami apartment gets invaded by his company, copier and all. As if things weren't cramped enough, soon enough he's stuck sharing the remaining space with Izumi, a cute new female employee with no place to stay. All would be set for a blossoming romance, except for the fact that Izumi's only 15, there's never any privacy, and their living space seems to be continuously shrinking.
The manga has very solid art, and Hoshisato Mochiru has a knack for drawing facial expressions. It's a rare manga that can bring a grin to one's face just from the look one character gives another, and Living Game manages it constantly. Another strong point is that, being seinen manga, it derives a lot of its humor from knowing digs at twentysomething life, whether it's the relief of suddenly not being the newest employee at the office or the shock of calculating the birth year of the girl you were just checking out (but probably shouldn't have been). After years of reading manga following the lives and times of schoolkids and college ronin it's extremely refreshing to read something aimed at your own age group.
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