Kimi no Suizou wo Tabetai
I Want to Eat Your Pancreas

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Spoiling the ending in the prologue chapter? Interesting choice.

Keep in mind that at the point of writing this review, I have yet to see the movie, so however well the adaptation performed, it bears no influence on my evaluation of the novel.

This is another work of the “dude with poor social skills gets the popular girl” genre. The schtick this time is that the girl is just straight out terminally ill. This is of course used as a plot device to get these two together, because how else would you build a relationship, duh.

Well, I say “together” but the protagonist couldn’t be more passive. But ... of course, the story depends on this, as it could have been over quickly and differently had he not been completely unassertive. These kind of stories should just be slapped with the fantasy genre, as awkward asocial male getting the attention of the resident gyaru is about as plausible as suddenly being teleported to another world and being awarded cheat powers and personal harem. It is no coincidence those two tropes have overlap in the intended audience. So, my dear blank state protagonist, had this not been a fiction, a girl would not suddenly appear and discover your totally awesome personality that is surely hidden only because the harsh society - such scenario is only a simple wish-fulfilment. Only a protagonist of young adult novel could get a free hand-out like that. This is simply not going to work out in a real world.

Seeing the general success of melodrama stories involving some kind of illness or handicap (not just in anime or manga but in media general) makes me wonder, could it be that they are so greatly received simply because people would feel bad not rating it super high, like not doing that would feel like they are being mean towards the poor patients? Well, not that I can fault the work itself for such overreaction of course, unless it’s deliberately exploiting this.

That said… beyond cringing over this kind of setting, when reading this I wasn’t bored most of the time. It’s no brilliant script, but it was quite an alright read. “But wait”, you might be saying at this point, “you’ve spent the whole intro tearing the premise apart, you’re saying it was just alright and yet you gave it a 7? What happened ta girl?”

Well, you see, right when the writing has been going from the “alright” to the “meh” territory and I was contemplating whether to rate this 5 or 6, the finale came around. Ironically, I’d say it was thanks to the novel being so self-aware about how everyone saw the conclusion of terminal illness coming. Thanks to confessing right from the start what is going to happen the story was able to go a bit further than being just a generic final moments of a patient melodrama. A finale that was surprisingly nicely executed with well done emotional pay-off. Now, as much as I would love to write in greater detail about it, I would also like to not rob you of the opportunity to experience it first-hand, so you’ll have to be satisfied with me not spelling everything out. What’s important is that I was suddenly contemplating not between 5 or 6, but between 6 or 7. And I’m possibly getting soft as “good” it is. There, I didn’t completely trash a mostly sentimental piece of fiction, save your booing for later.

So, the most important piece of info regarding this novel that I want to deliver through this review is – if you pick this up, even if you don’t like it that much, I suggest you should at least finish it.

After watching the movie and loving it, I decided to check out the original source material for I want to eat your pancreas. I bought the book and it took me about a month to complete. I wasn't expecting much from it since it was just the movie without animation and music. Well, this novel was an absolute masterpiece. If you are a fan of the movie then I highly recommend reading this novel. There's a lot of internal monologues from the main character in the book that you don't really see in the movie. Since this is a book you get to spend a ... lot more time with these characters with extra scenes and conversations. Reading this book you get to see the characters grow. This book really builds up to the ending and it really pays off. The tears while I read the final chapters were painful. This book was painful while I read the end. Everything that you knew about the main characters was very thoughtfully written in the end. The beautiful words at the end of the book got to me. If you enjoy dramas this is the book for you. I want to eat your pancreas is a very beautiful book that everyone should read.

Taking on themes of personal conduct and functions of the world, I Want to Eat Your Pancreas offers a story showing the great contrast in thinking patterns, personal issues, and general lifestyle between Protagonist-san and Sakura, their bouncing dynamic showing within their time spent together and how even though these two are on opposite ends, they still manage to influence, value, and learn from each other.

The way Yoru Sumino writes this novel is meaningful, the highlight point of the book being the attractive storytelling and choices in story flow, often times connecting separate passages with each other to emphasize points and more. There is much ... isolated attention on our two characters, and they have enjoyable personalities. Even though protagonist-san is portrayed as more of a "gloomy" guy that avoids people, he's fairly open-minded and considerate. His thoughts are interesting to hear, and even though he is the realistic one of two he still has a sense for pointless beauty. Sakura is a pleasant girl, with a brightness that shines on everyone around her.

That being said, I definitely was not deeply moved with this story. Throughout the book and after, I had very passive thoughts and emotions. Whether it be the forced pacing of their connection due to Sakura's circumstances and time, the lighthearted nature of their time spent together, or the level of depth the book goes into there is seldom opportunity for us to fully develop a deep investment.

For a story with average students and a terminally ill plot, it has an appropriate level of individuality. It is best to read during spare time.