Under the guise of postmodern human life lays an undisputed mystery, searching for a straight answer to living a good life. This mystery would be the purpose one has to endure to escape adolescent life and try to cultivate under harsh conditions of the financial needs of surviving in the adult world. Do I stick with the status quo and live a stable life with hardly any trouble despite the boredom that goes with it? Or try to luck out by giving a big middle finger to it and indulge me in a lifestyle that will practically make life difficult but will make my experiences more interesting? Welcome to the stage of young adulthood.

There have been manga that delved into this subject matter with their storytelling. What many consider to be one that encapsulates this in the slice of life genre is Solanin. Written and drawn by the much-beloved and arguably the most cynical Inio Asano, it is considered the most accessible manga in his bibliography. In Solanin, it is a relatively simple story of a young adult couple who want to pursue their dreams of being musicians and try to cope with any hindrances that prevent them from accomplishing that goal. There are no abstract or obscure plot structures in Solanin, unlike in most of his other works. If there are people interested in starting in Inio Asano, this would be the best one, both in quality and attainability.

In discussing the quality of Solanin’s story, one has to fully acknowledge the amount of depth Asano puts into its realism. It is prevalent in the atmosphere it portrays from the dialogue that involves numerous monologues from the character Meiko. What also helps is the panels that are colored black with soliloquies describing Meiko’s despair or confidence that she says to herself. This eternal blackness helps give the atmosphere a sense of dread and vulnerability to the reader by feeling what the character is feeling at that exact moment. The significance of their reason for existing in the manga is to represent despair itself in a minimalist interpretation of it; that it is pure nothingness in physical and mental form.

These subtle and distinct measures that Asano incorporates into the story and artwork help with tremendous effect in establishing a pathos to the emotions that the characters portray. Realism is what he wants to be seen as a prominent backdrop. There are no sudden apparent inclinations of a miracle being pulled through the tragedy because that would not correspond fully with how real life is. However, that is not to say the whole story is filled with angst-ridden anguish. It can be conceived as a tone that is neither happy nor sad, just in the middle ground of both emotions where you can’t feel one-sided about either feeling. This emotional manipulation makes Solanin unique in that regard. Although there are notable moments that entail tragedy, it isn’t overbearing to the where it feels overly bogged down by it. Asano knows how to invoke realism into a story like Solanin and achieves it with great care and precision.

Pacing comes at a slower and methodical speed in each chapter, with most of them ranging at a 14-page length. This length, I would argue, is where a few of the big problems Solanin has from it becoming a masterpiece. Because of the short pages from each volume, some plot arcs feel a little rushed, especially near the latter portions of the story. For instance, we see Meiko wanting to become a guitar player for Taneda’s band, who, as far as we have seen, had no experience with the guitar. However, Meiko plays it with no problem. She knew beforehand how to play without Asano telling us so, or there was not enough to build up even a montage of her trying to hone her craft. Nevertheless, when the chapters focus more on how Meiko and Taneda rekindle their relationship and their internal struggles, the pacing is nicely done the way it is.

Our two main leads, Meiko and Taneda, make up most of why Solanin’s story is fascinating. As I’ve said before about the manga’s realism, Meiko and Taneda feel like actual human beings rather than pure caricatures of one. People may criticize Meiko for calling her idiotic for her actions in leaving her job to lounge around doing nothing to find her purpose. But that really should not be characterized as an actual criticism based on actions characters make that are rooted in their intentions. They make our leads more empathetic for us to relate to, and that should be important for a writer to invoke from the story they are portraying.

Another aspect to be admired by them is how their romance is depicted pragmatically, without any superficial tropes you typically see in any romance story. Young love usually does not bode well because of the difficulties that couples face through fear of where their relationship might go in the future. Here in Solanin, we see one madly in love with each other, yet they are afraid of each other as well. Almost as if they are hesitant about wanting to give up on being in a single life and relying on the anxieties of being a couple. Asano has excellent knowledge of youth culture, and there is no question that he puts that in great detail when constructing Meiko and Sanada as characters.

Asano has a distinct style in his artwork. At times it can be seen as your typical manga character drawings, and then later, it would transform into something abstract and almost unidentifiable. His work for Solanin is one of his less obscure creations since it’s more inclined to give us an actual depiction of life in Tokyo. Although there are notable scenes drawn very beautifully, not a lot of it was drawn with simple awe-inspiring aesthetics. Sure, on the one hand, it can be construed as Asano invoking minimalist aspects to fit the tone, but even with that in mind, it never resonated entirely with me.

Realism, when done right, can be an impacting literary tool for readers who want to experience a story that feels close to home. In many respects, Solanin hit the right notes to be given a high recommendation for anyone who has yet to encounter work by Inio Asano. Not many people can stomach realism in stories in a continuous sitting. But once you have read one that captures the true nature of human life, only the word “triumph” can describe its impact.

Grade: A-