Parallel timelines?

The story’s timeline is somewhat confusing, but a clever narrative weaves it all together. I could not tell whether I was trying to solve a mystery as I read or simply following along; it somewhat forced me to think.

Overall, it was good. Dreams Come True, its companion piece, and Mother all resonated with me. Taken as a whole, however, its themes feel somewhat scattered, and what it has to say about death and lifespan feels faint—or rather, quite shallow.

That is no exaggeration. The novel and manga versions of Three Days of Happiness

, After “A Year for Ten Thousand Yen”, We Who Have No Tomorrow Fell in Love Yesterday, Existentialist Reading Notes, and I Come Alone, I Leave Alone have together given my thoughts about death and lifespan something like the effect of thematic reading. By comparison, this work’s discussion remains on the surface for me. Perhaps manga as a medium lacks some of the complexity that prose can provide.

Still, as the first book I have finished in one sitting in quite a while, it was a good start.