Boku no Chikyuu wo Mamotte
Please Save My Earth

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Please Save My Earth is a manga about the complexity of human relationships and the seemingly insurmountable burden of sin. A group of high school students, and one younger boy, suddenly begin to experience strange dreams alluding to their past lives as alien scientists stationed on a secret moon base. This sounds like an audacious and almost absurd premise, and it really is audacious, but never once did it strike me as such after I started reading in earnest, which is a testament to the organic storytelling. Over time, these dreamlike memories unravel more and more of an epic tragedy, while also threatening to scrape ... away at the characters' current selves. At first glance, the character introductions may seem a bit overwhelming, and likewise, the story is admittedly hard to follow, but once you wrap your head around the gist of it all, everything starts to flow together seamlessly to the point you that you can't peel your eyes away. As you delve further and further into Saki Hiwatari's rabbit hole of peculiar storytelling devices and such accompanying various interlocking and intertwining twists and turns that would seem capable of confusing even the most astute of readers, the story's essence all at once begins to take a tangible shape, and what was at first bewildering suddenly becomes both unexpectedly congruent and consequential.

In accordance, the science fiction world-building is put forth at a tepid but proper pace, and as with the other plot elements, couldn't be more deceptively appropriate to the grander story at hand. With time, you gradually learn the mechanics and intricacies of a complex alien society. However, the fulcrum of PSME's story is a much more isolated and intimate event, which has a profound impact on each of the scientists' lives, and in turn comes to torment the students' who inherited their memories. It's perhaps a bit difficult to describe because nothing else I've read or seen is quite like it in terms of inordinate narrative structure and layering.

The cast is rich with depth and nuances that drive the series forward. Rin, Alice, and Jinpachi, in particular, along with their past lives, undergo extreme character development as they struggle to come to terms with their mysterious pasts and the overbearing sense of guilt inhabiting their inherited psyches. The flashbacks are layered in PSME, as the story frequently shifts between the characters' current selves, their lives on the moon base, and their upbringings in a distant alien society before becoming scientists destined to study the Earth from its lunar accompaniment. All of these experiences contribute to a perfect storm of complex human interactions that test the boundaries of morality and self-identity. The retroactive approach to unveiling the aforementioned "critical event", and the emotional and societal conditions that precursed it, depict a hauntingly visceral coalescence of love, loathing and regret.

The most integral motif of PSME, or rather, the motif most present and to blame for in this "critical event", is of the encumbrance of loneliness. One of the scientists, Shion, is a war orphan who shuns others out of spite for their innocence. Another, Mokuren, is something of an angelic deity blessed with a supernatural power as well as natural beauty and brilliance. Her immense value to society forces her to lead an isolated childhood, where she struggles to form meaningful interpersonal relationships in a world where she is viewed as a perfect object more than she is a human girl. To Shion, Mokuren embodies everything he hates in the world, and to Mokuren, his coldness towards her is precious proof that she is but a regular woman and not the doll others' perceive her to be. And thus, with this mutual shared loneliness, along with precarious environmental circumstances, the two's fates become intertwined forever. Along with the rest of the cast, these are extremely flawed characters with realistic complexes and coping mechanisms, but that's part of what makes PSME so inherently human. Hiwatari's core characters constantly struggle between magnanimity and transgression under the duress of a moral crucible, and in her narrative artistry, the reader bears witness to both decay and rebirth in a cathartic defiance of the oppressive and incorrigible gravity of the story at large.

It should be noted that the art is a bit dated, and sometimes lacking in the same level of detail present in most modern manga, but it's overwhelmingly artsy and effective at conveying the visuals necessary to complement the entrancing narrative. PSME is an unrelenting emotional roller-coaster lovingly adorned with intricate detail and profound psychological examination of the human sense of self and belonging. It's almost so utterly and inescapably grounded in psychological realism that the sci-fi exterior morphs into something more like a pretense rather than a premise in itself. Upon the most graceful possible descent from this pretense unfurls a majestic and indefatigably heart-wrenching tale of love and loss. It's in this deconstruction and constant blurring of traditional genre lines, tropes and narrative sequencing that PSME's brilliance manifests most strikingly. Hiwatari's highly calculated ensemble of thematic and narrative chaos is spellbinding. Under this anarchic context of a dauntingly large-scale epic of alien civilizations and the fate of the Earth, PSME simultaneously solicits both cutting emotional resonance and deeply philosophical propositions, yet through it all, never loses sight of what it means to be human, and perhaps more intrinsically, and in the authoress's own words, what makes our world so maddeningly beloved.

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

I've noticed that most of the reviews for Please Save My Earth (Boku no Chikyuu wo Mamotte) are overly positive on this site, so I'm going to go against the grain this time. Mind you, I dropped the series after I finished Volume 6, chapter 30, and I still have a lot to say. I know, I know, how the heck am I able to formulate a solid opinion if I only completed 1/3 of the manga?! You can take my words with a grain of salt, but I have a valid reason as to why I dropped it and why I ... am giving my opinion. One word: RAPE!

This review may contain a few spoilers. I will go into details by describing the rape event, and how that specific event is the reason I cannot look at the series with admiration.

Abridge storyline: A group of ordinary teenagers begins to have dreams that are similar (but are from a different perspective depending on who is dreaming it). Some of them later come together, and they realize that their dreams are events that occurred to them in their past life at the moon. Judging from the few conversations at the start of the manga, the past-life involved romance, love-triangles, unrequited love, and rivalry amongst the characters. That being said, as the characters in the present slowly uncover their dreams, some of them become aware that their feelings from the past-lives are seeping into their present personality. The current characters begin to even have the same feelings as their past. So, what do you do when you're in love with someone, but you've been reincarnated as a 9-year-old boy while the girl you fancy is a high schooler? Or, what if you were a female in the past life, what would you do if you became a heterosexual male in the present but start to have homosexual feelings because in the past you were so in love with a specific guy (who is still reincarnated as a guy)? What do you do when the person you love doesn't love you back even in the next life? What do you do if you were a crappy person in the past-life and you feel so bad in the present because of it? These are some of the questions that are being explored by the characters as the story progresses.

Let me just start off by saying that the author is able to wonderfully transition between fleshing out the story of the past and the present (I am a little bias to this type of writing style because, in my opinion, it allows the story to be fresh and lively. When the story starts to feel boring, there is a chance that it will shift to another group of main characters to keep your attention. Reminds me of 7 Seeds, 20th Century Boys, and even Baccano). When the chapters of Please Save My Earth were about the characters of the present, I was invested in it. When the story began to delve more into the past, I was HIGHLY invested in it! The reason being, it already stated that the past characters were dead and that there was some conflict between the characters that led to the death. Trying to discover and find out what had happened, and how those characters interacted with each other was the captivating element of the flashbacks. Positive commentary aside, the characters of the backstory are absolutely generic. You have the angry bitter main character, Shion, who complements the kindhearted Gyokoran. Shion hates him for some reason but likes the girl version of him, Mokuren. Everyone likes her. She's your typical angelic, gentle-hearted Godly creature (along with these three goons, you have the side characters: that also loves one of them, is jealous of one, etc, etc.). There is nothing wrong with stock characters as long as the story gives them the opportunity to grow, and this is where the problems begin. GLORIFICATION OF RAPE. I'm gonna spoil this part so read this remaining paragraph at your own risk. Shion is less than a trash bag, he is the trash- the tsundere boy that has no redeeming character trait at all. He hates people. He hates "God". He hates God's creatures. He just hates everything. He also hates Gyokoran sooooooooo much that he rapes Mokuren just to tick him off. And you know what Mokuren does??? She forgives him!!!! She tells everyone that she was engaged to Shion!! Her reason you ask? She's a Kiche, which means that she is similar to God's angel. She's "perfect." By Shion raping her, treating her meanly, and "deflowering" her, she felt human. To add to that, when she told Shion this, he realized all he always wanted was to be loved and be a part of a family. However, he thought he could never have it, so he became the ruthless person that he is. Alas, the main love story begins, and I drop the series the same way I would throw away trash. Usually, I instinctively like characters that are kind and endearing, but I cannot like Mokuren. Her reasoning is so flawed because yes, the others probably idolized her so they treated her extremely nice, but it does not mean that belittling someone means that they're treating you like a human. So much extreme and so little in between. Maybe the way the characters handled rape is original, but it's so frustrating and gross. How can rape be romanticized that easily? I'm sure the next few volumes attempted to redeem Shion by showing how misunderstood he was, how all he was missing was love, and that he was really a kindhearted person at heart, but I'm not able to read further because of how irritating the whole scene was. I'm also sure Mokuren's perspective will be highlighted; I understand she's a person who has no hate in her heart, but I'm not able to wrap my head around the tomfoolery. She was EFFING CRYING when she was raped!!!

Now that I mentioned the elephant in the room, I'm going to write about the few little things that irritated me. I brushed them aside while reading, but the rape scene just scratched those irritations more.

1. The art is old. Sometimes it's hard to tell who the characters are because it was made in the 80's-90's. I heard it does get better. (I personally didn't mind for the most part.)
2. The age gap between potential love interests. This was a little creepy for me, but I was willing to sit in my own discomfort because the storyline was interesting. Obviously, that changed, after I read more. Anyway, the main character is an 8-year-old who is in love with the high-schooler.
3. The cheesy love triangle, love-square, and unrequited love scenes. This frustrated me on a whole new level when the rape scene happened.
4. The generic characters of the past.
5. The comments about homosexuality (although it is understandable as some of the characters are afraid of their feelings and are only beginning to be in terms with what's happing to them).
Also, the subtle jokes about a male mentor liking young boys simply because he helps them. What's wrong with wanting to help people?


What did I like?

1. The eerie feeling.
2. The story execution.
3. Slight originality.

I think what Please Save My Earth did best is the fact that it allowed me to sit through my discomfort for as long as it did. Nonetheless, I just cannot read anymore because I know I will be angrier by the end of the story. I rate this story a 5 and not lower because I did not complete the whole series. I did not rate it higher than a 5 because there is no possible way in my life would I think it deserves more than that considering how things were handled so far.

This is my crappy and hasty review for a series I genuinely wanted to like. Woe – is a story with great potential that goes all wrong!!

This story had so much potential, but it has two MAJOR issues that can’t be overlooked. What I’m about to write are, of course, spoilers - but I feel like people should know about these things before going into the story. I really wish I did so that I didn’t waste so much time reading this garbage. (All of my sarcasm in this review is referring to how things were presented in the story.)


1. The romanticisation of rape. The main couple in this story is initiated by rape. Yes, you read that right. Shion rapes Mokuren and ‘defiles’ her (his words), because she’s just sooo ... perfect and he hates her for it. And you know what she does?, she forgives him. She forgives him even though she cried throughout it happening, and announces that they’re engaged to cover for him. Then they actually grow to love eachother.

But that's okay because he's just a damaged hot boy, right guys?. And Mokuren is just too empathetic, what a boundaryless sweetheart!1. Forbidden love and the ideal woman is right here! <3

If the first point wasn't enough to turn you off, maybe Shion and Mokuren’s reincarnated relationship will be.

Their love transcended to another lifetime - where they’re now known as Rin and Alice. Rin is 8 and Alice is a high schooler, and they’re engaged. At first it was a forced engagement (typical Shion, manipulating and forcing Mokuren into things even in another lifetime!) - but don’t worry, because they really get engaged in the end. Yes, Rin who’s 12 by the end marries Alice who’s an adult. But that's alright too guys, because Rin is mature and tall for his age. Not to mention, that Alice also felt romantically drawn to Rin while he was 8.. you know, because he was Shion.

Both of these plot points are major in the story and are sickening. I couldn’t care for the other qualities of PSME. 'Complex relationships' don't mean shit in the face of rape and pedophilia. Not to mention that Shion/Rin and Mokuren/Alice's relationships were extremely toxic in both lifetimes. Shion continued to lie and manipulate Mokuren in their reincarnation, so the author did a great job of romanticising abusive relationships as well.

If you care about these issues, I don’t recommend that you read this manga. There are plenty of good manga out there that don't perpetuate the garbage that this story does.