In this touching autobiography Kabi Nagata narrates with honesty the ten years of her life that followed high school and saw her slowly drifting away from society. This volume not only manages to present a realistic depiction of mental illness, but it also hints at how our society can be cold, distant and ultimately pathogenic.

A modern Eleanor Rigby, Kabi Nagata looses her "place to belong to" shortly after graduating high school. Without friends and a goal to shape her life, she falls into depression. All her efforts to get back to a reassuring routine are useless, as she starts suffering from disordered eating, trichotillomania (i.e. compulsive hair pulling) and other disabling symptoms that prevent her from keeping a job or a "normal" life.

Despite the chibi art style and the pastel pink colour of the panels, what this manga is actually illustrating is anything but cute. It is the almost life-long struggle of a girl who cannot find her place in society; a society that implicitly but cruelly rejects her and her need for affection.

Sadly, 1/10 of people living in occidental countries suffer from depression during their life and will be able to directly relate to the situation depicted in this manga. However, the majority of people luckily does not have experience of binge eating or self harming, and MLEWL's themes could be alienating to them. Just like No Longer Human's well-known protagonist, Kabi is someone who has failed at being human, that is, at integrating into human society and at making connections with other humans.

When telling her story to "normal" people, it could appear weird or incomprehensible. But unlike Osamu Dazai's alter ego Kabi Nagata retains her humanity even in her estranged state. Her writing style is so powerful in its honesty that everyone can relate to the feelings of sorrow, isolation and despair beneath the protagonist's mental symptoms. Kabi's painful loneliness, her striving for her parents' approval and the excruciating need of human contact are told through eloquent visual metaphors. That makes it easy to relate at least to some of her struggles.

Paradoxically, Kabi Nagata talks to our human side: the one that needs friends, that tries hard even though it's difficult; the one that loves and wants to be loved.

A discouraging portrayal of this world as cold, alienating and indifferent to human suffering slowly emerges. All the people portrayed in MLEWL are caring and supporting of the protagonist. Her parents, despite their flaws and lack of understanding, are always there for her. Strangers cheers for her. Nobody is ever shown having a negative interaction with Kabi. But somehow this is not enough.

Trying to satisfy her psychological needs with an escort marks Kabi's final, desperate attempt at creating a connection with someone. Being unable to open up to others, this ends up in a predictable failure. To assimilate this complex experience the author pours all her pent up sadness and loneliness into this volume: a complete and total disclosure of her intimate self, for all to read, albeit with still some distance from her real person.

Kabi Nagata asks her readers who the least human actually is: someone who is flawed and struggling, or a society where the only love you can get is the one you buy?

MLEWL sheds light on the cruel reality of depression and hints at society's role in it. As this kind of suffering is getting more and more common, MLEWL represents an important work definitely worth reading.