Three Days of Happiness

There will be major spoilers throughout this review, so please read the manga before reading this.

With the sudden spike of popularity this manga had and after seeing constant 10/10 reviews, I decided to see for myself whether or not this manga was "peak fiction" like everyone was saying. One word came to my mind after completing this manga: overrated. That word alone sums up all the hype and popularity it's been getting. Don't get me wrong I thought it was a good manga, but I came into this with some really high expectations, thinking I was going to cry or just sit there bewildered after reading it. Though I did not cry, this manga really made me appreciate my life a whole lot more.

With the main themes of self acceptance, letting go, the manga keeps hitting us with the constant question the characters and we were left wondering . . . "What really is true happiness?" The story follows the main character Kusunoki as he is on his last legs and struggles to get back up. After selling his CDs and books for little pocket change and now with all his hope now crushed, he decides to sell his life for "10 thousand yen per year". Now with 3 months left to live he now struggles to decide what to do with it. He finds out he is assigned an observer, Miyagi who is bound to change his life forever. One of the main protagonists last wishes was to talk to his childhood friend, Himeno. After meeting Himeno and having dinner with her, he learns that he was the main cause of her sadness, which eventually lead to her suicide. With the cry for help he didn't notice years ago from the letter Himeno had sent, he starts to open up to Miyagi. Here is where he starts to truly learn what "true happiness" is. He stops caring about what other's think, talking to Miyagi even though other's can't see her. He starts to truly enjoy the relationship he has. After learning that his life actually only cost a measly 30 yen, he decides to sell the rest of life, except for 3 days, to try to pay off the debt Miyagi has. Though of course, Miyagi sells her life, except for 3 days, so she can live in the real world with Kusunoki. To sum this up, it had semi-good pacing, some non-wasted meaningful dialogue, with beautiful word choice throughout all the panels.

The art style and pretty visuals of the panels of the lake and fireflies were very pleasing to the eye. The more mature, sharp and realistic style fit the tone of story, especially with the supernatural aspect of it.

The main protagonist's self development throughout the story was phenomenal. He went from a depressed, almost dead state, where he even finds himself selling the last bits of his life. Then learns that his childhood friend is committing suicide because of him and how he didn't realize her little SOS. But then he uses Miyagi as a shoulder to cry on and uses her to find his "true happiness" as they start to open up to each other. Halfway through the story we get Kusunoki and Miyagi's developing relationship. Though Kusunoki knows he is viewed as a crazy person, he never hesitates to talk to Miyagi and even show her off to the public. This shows his overarching development from the beginning of the story and we see that he has found something that he can truly find happiness in and with. Overall it was phenomenal development.

Now here comes the nitty gritty stuff. I personally like to rate my manga and anime almost mainly based off of my pure enjoyment. This is because I don't like looking into and analyzing shows/manga unless I'm really invested in it. Shows like Monogatari series make it fun to analyze and find hidden meanings through little scenes of the show. Now looking at this manga without an analytical perspective, I would say I didn't enjoy it as much as others say they did. Maybe it's because I came into the story with really high expectations, but it didn't hit me as hard as I thought it would. The ending ends on a somewhat happy note, if you consider it that, but overall really predictable. Though I can't think of any other way the author could've handled it, other than just leaving the main protagonist to die without saying goodbye. That could've left a deeper impact on me that the happy ending the manga hit me with. Leaving that aside the romance part of the manga was pretty good. I was able to relate to the themes of self acceptance and finding happiness, which made me enjoy it a little more.

"Peak fiction" seems a little bit too radical for this manga, but looking at the story again from an analytical perspective, I can definitely tell why people enjoyed it.