Subarashii Sekai
What a Wonderful World!

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Asano Inio is the unsung Aesop of our time. He weaves his set of ideals and his take on life into his manga, teaching and inspiring us time and time again.

In this compilation of short stories, Inio tries to teach us one thing, saying it directly on the first and last pages of the second volume: "This world that we live in is gentle yet sad, fun yet sorrowful, strong yet ephemeral..." / "...but as long as you're alive, something good is bound to happen. I'm sure of it."

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Each and every one of the stories shows struggle. They show how terrible "ordinary" ... life can be. Two friends separate because one becomes "popular." A father who is too engrossed with his job to go back for even his child's birthday. A couple with a hollow relationship.

Each and every one of the stories shows hope. Sometimes, bullies can be real people. Sometimes a person can realize their worth. Sometimes two people can make up.

Each and every one of the stories doesn't overdo the hope. The working father doesn't suddenly quit his job to spend time with his son. The hollow relationship stays at "casual talk" level. The two friends are still separated. But at least there's a glimmer of hope.

And that's what separates Inio from other mangaka. You can be as inspirational as you want, but if you don't pull through and deny your readers that ultimately "happy" ending, it's no good. "Happy" endings often ruin anime and manga for me. I don't want to see a tragedy with a deus ex machina ending (lookin' at you, After Story...). When bad things happen, they happen. There's no miracle. What a Wonderful World doesn't show a utopia because it isn't meant to - this world is wonderful because there is a glimmer of "hope", not because everybody gets to live happily ever after.

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The main appeal of this manga is in its bittersweet story and the themes Inio has placed in it - the chronicles of the struggles, dreams, and ambitions of regular people. That said, though, the other aspects aren't lacking at all. The art is top-notch, the characters are amazingly deep, and every single panel has a purpose. Even if you aren't a fan of realistic manga, this work of art would still be appealing.

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In the last chapter, tragedy strikes. The ultimate tragedy - something almost worse than death. But in the midst of this, Inio devotes his only two-page spread to show that there is hope. Even if life after this tragedy is like hell, one day, something good will happen.

What a wonderful world indeed.

When it comes down to authors who can make the mundane appealing, you'd be hard-pressed to find who could fit the bill like Inio Asano. He's one of the few mangakas out there who can take something mundane like a slice-of-life setting and really turn it into a unique experience that other mangas just can't compare to. To get a good idea of what I'm talking about, let's look into Subarashii Sekai (What a Wonderful World!): the first manga of his to ever come to the West. Subarashii Sekai can be succinctly described as the manga equivalent of a book from the Chicken Soup for ... the Soul series in that this is a series of stories about the lives of various people and what keeps them around to live another day.

Well, I don't think it's entirely fair to say that Subarashii Sekai is a compilation of stories since there really isn't much story to be found. This may be a bizarre thing for me to say, but please hear me out. Subarashii Sekai consists of 19 chapters, each chapter being a vignette taken from the lives of people just like you and me. From these vignettes, we get to see what it is that these people go through on an otherwise daily basis and what it is that keeps them going. That's not all that we get to experience, however. There's also the chance that we get to see an unusual day in the life of some random bloke and what happens when they decide to go against the current of their otherwise miserable lives.

Despite the fact that Inio Asano is known for his cold and unflinching portrayal of reality, Subarashii Sekai is one of his more optimistic works and it has a worthwhile message to be found: life is a precious gift that shouldn't be taken for granted. This is a manga that anyone who's gone through or is going through some tough times in life needs to read at some point, if only because of the fact that it's something that's sure to brighten their day if only by a tiny margin. Subarashii Sekai also serves as a great introduction to the rest of Inio Asano's works like Solanin and Oyasumi Punpun.

On the subject of how well Subarashii Sekai holds up to Asano's later work, I prefer Solanin and Oyasumi Punpun, if only because of the fact that I could connect to the both of those on a much deeper and more personal level than I can with Subarashii Sekai but that doesn't mean that this manga isn't worth reading. Despite the fact that Inio Asano's improved his craft by a conisderable margin, Subarashii Sekai is still a worthwhile buy and is definitely something that you should have in your shelf and the messages it has are worthwhile no matter where you are in life. That's all for now. Feedback is always welcome and with that, I'm out. Peace :)

Asano Inio is a bad writer. But he's the best writer for the MAL. I don't mean this to be a condescending review but the fact is he writes for 15 year olds. You know the 15 year olds who just recently learnt what "nihilism" meant or that the structure of society isn't perfect? This is his core philosophy and audience. And teens love it. When I was a teen I loved it!

The issue with this style of writing its that it is shallow, so incredibly shallow. I'll get in to spoilers here. There are five characters who suicide in this work. Suicide is thrown ... around like a plot device. It's so unbearably childish. It's just a thing people do, they say "oh screw it I'm done" it's done with literally no subtetly. I think David foster wallace put suicidal ideation best "“The so-called ‘psychotically depressed’ person who tries to kill herself doesn’t do so out of quote ‘hopelessness’ or any abstract conviction that life’s assets and debits do not square. And surely not because death seems suddenly appealing. The person in whom Its invisible agony reaches a certain unendurable level will kill herself the same way a trapped person will eventually jump from the window of a burning high-rise. Make no mistake about people who leap from burning windows. Their terror of falling from a great height is still just as great as it would be for you or me standing speculatively at the same window just checking out the view; i.e. the fear of falling remains a constant". And this view on depression and suicide marks the difference between a poor writer and a writer who has the ability to look at something and truly see it and bring new and thought provoking conclusions.

The writing also falls in the same trap I think we all had as 15 year olds, dark = mature. If I saw a movie with gore then it was for adults and super mature. But that's not really true. In fact it is more often than not the opposite. It continually aims to introduce these large concepts and winks at the audience saying "deep and and dark right?". Some people say this is due to the fact it's a short story style of story telling that it doesn't expand on these concepts more but a good writer can explore concepts with depth regardless of length as I already showed with DFW.

Overall a very weak work that is kind of insulting.

Time for a bonus round for the cringiest moments.
-tone of suicide for the edgelords
-absurd bullying scenarios. Kids can be mean but they're not insane
-drug addicts who think they've workd everything out
- the same mentality rick and morty fans have is all over this work "its so tough being smart am i right fellas :)
-weird borderline pedo relationships
-bad imagery and symbbolism "a raaaiiiinnnnnnboooowwww"
-everyone's parents are dead like everyone's
-high school students who have the vaguest understanding of existentialism
-teens looking at the sky philosophizing and saying things teens would never say