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"This is just a playground for me."

Our story starts by introducing us to Kasumi, a young girl who has only known a world rampaged by earthquakes and other natural disasters. Despite there being little to hope for, she finds solace within a building that used to be known as a stationary store, filled with pens and crafts of all kinds. We soon find out that this store, which has survived all of the natural disasters that have occurred so far, ends up being the place that Kasumi goes as much as possible. She makes up one half of the pen-pals in this story.

The second character, ... without spoiling anything about the middle of this one-shot, is somehow interconnected with this stationary store. The two begin communicating and develop an unexpected pen-pal relationship in a world where communication is otherwise totally unavailable. This concept feels fresh and interesting because we witness the world surrounding our characters as hopeless and empty, yet they find themselves filled with excitement and happiness to have something worth living for. Things suddenly don't feel completely hopeless. The story delivers from start to finish.

Aside from the plot, this one-shot has some of the best art design and expression in it's category. You feel like you're part of the world. The characters are accurately expressed in each panel, and they do a great job at including little details such as small, significant motions as well as Kasumi singing parts of a song but using letters or syllables to fill in the parts she doesn't remember; something I recall doing myself as a child.

Thematically, this story is dark, melancholic, and sad... But also extremely positive and uplifting. It's unique because you are presented with an environment that is very bleak, however at the same time it is utilized in a way alongside the characters to create a wholesome and memorable experience. Despite the situation, the world and it's people are calm.

Most of us have likely never known what it feels like to live in complete destruction and isolation, and likely never will. We often take our comfort and safety for granted until it's too late, and this story allows the characters to look beyond the hopelessness on the horizon of their living quarters and naturally find a place that they feel safest. Pen Pal At the End of the World explores living within a harsh reality in a way that I haven't seen before. This will likely be one of your favorite one-shots and is well worth the adventure.

"Regardless of the shape... so long as there's a person who talks and a person who listens, that's enough to make one fine story."

“I think not being able to do much actually brings out more fun in working hard.”

This short story begins with our main character, Ten, who is displayed right from the beginning as someone who decides to fight through his shyness and admit his feelings for someone, only to find out that the person he confessed to was the twin sister, Karin. For comedic effect, the twin reacts positively and uses the situation to her advantage, setting the tone for the rest of the dialogue between Karin and Ten. They are both likeable characters despite having no background knowledge provided, and the short story does do ... a pretty good job at expressing them individually as you read through.

Tone is a good overall starting point for reviewing a one-shot like this one. It never tries to do too much, knows what it wants to accomplish, and keeps the same energy throughout the entire story. If you are familiar with the Rom-com genre, you will feel right at home. You'll see mostly light-hearted dialogue with the characters touching on their more serious thoughts as they get more comfortable trying to figure out how to get what they want. Many of us will be able to relate with the difficulty behind figuring out how to share our true feelings, and it gives a good look into the good that may come from choosing to take that leap.

Without spoilers, next up is story and direction. Ten confessed to the twin, Karin, who now makes a game out of the situation by saying that he must dig for info on Karin's crush, Haru, or else she will leak information to Yuzu, Ten's crush instead. Karin admits that she likes Ten's brother, so the two try their best to work together in an attempt to help each other reach the person they truly want to be with. The direction this theme takes changes and explores some deeper truths as they discover what brought them here in the first place. It's short, so you should take this introduction and find the rest out yourself!

Going into art and design, this one-shot is laid out quite well and gives off a timid, yet approachable atmosphere within all of it's panels. The dialogue isn't always shown through typical speech bubbles, so there are a few spots where you have to piece together who's saying what, but for the most part it's clear and to the point. Each characters thoughts and personal feelings are spelled out within the main dialogue very nicely so you don't feel like there is anything missing.

Lastly, this story does leave room for continuation and would fit perfectly if a serialization is given in the future. I wouldn't count on it though as this released in the spring of 2020, however it's still well worth the short read. For now, I will leave you with a statement from Ten that stuck with me the most:

"Doing all of this stuff that you're bad at for the person you like... I think that's awesome."