Today's episode makes an argument that villains in slice of life manga could be better than Shounen manga villains, and how high school toilets can be quite trepidatious! Skip the plot summary @ 4:36 and feel free to join in on the conversation by emailing to [email protected]

082 – I'll Give It My All… Tomorrow vol. 4

Chapters 17 to 22, '19 Years Younger' and 'Midlife Crisis' with bonus chapter 'All about Aya Unami'

By Shunju Aono

Translation by Akemi Wegmuller

Lettering by Steven Ryhse

Struggling Manga artist Shizuo Oguro gets a new editor, Aya Unami,

she proves to be critical of Shizuo to the point that she is able to send him in a slump. Shizuo even gets a neck hernia due to the stress of dealing with her. However, Unami isn't just critical of Shizuo but she has also lost respect for her father too. For years her father has failed to write a bestselling novel as her mother is forced to be the breadwinner of the household.

But things turn around for the better when Shizuo meets his childhood friend, Osamu Miyata, who opened a bakery to be closer to his own son. He reminds Shizuo of the promise that was made, many years ago, reminding Shizuo that he should become the father that his daughter would be proud of. This gives Shizuo enough energy not to quit making manga.

Not long afterwards Miyata gets a visit from his ex-wife, claiming that she is to be married once again but this time she is taking herself and her son to live in America with her new husband. She asks Miyata to end his relationship with their son. Miyata becomes hopeless and devastated, and shows no will to fight her on this matter.

Meanwhile Unami's father dies of a heart attack, he dies at his desk with a pen in his hand, Unami never spoke to her father in his last days but she realizes why she resented him. It was because Aya Unami was her father's number one fan. She hated her father for not giving her stories to read and now she cries knowing he will never have anything for her to read.

Days pass by and Shizuo burns his rejected manuscripts. His meetings with Unami are seemingly non-existent until both Unami and Shizuo run in to each other on the street. Shizuo pleads for Unami's help. And Unami, reminded of her dead father, agrees to help him.

Topics:

• The Akira Nakanishi character looks a lot like the main character of 'Angel Densetsu', Seiichiro Kitano. For more information on this great OVA you can't go wrong than by starting at Anime News Network.
• The Antagonists Aya Unami and Miyata's ex-wife. And how most antagonists in slice of life manga compare to the one's in Shonen manga.
• The trepidation of being inside a High School toilet.
• James compares Shunju Aono's illustration style to that of the BBC Cartoon 'Monkey Dust', although the show itself was a series of sketches that used a variety of cartoon styles and studios, it shows a crudeness that is most common in independently funded and cult works. Dan Wilkinson of Vice also made a retrospective piece on the show.

Other references:

• Shizuo's classmate Eriko Osaki reads 'The Setting Sun' by Osamu Dazai.
• Shizuo's Shirts: Semi-pro, Italy, Empty, Mie, New and Max.
• In the chapter 'Aiko Comes to H burgers' Shizuo offers her Kinako shakes, Kinako itself is a protein powder made from roasted and grounded soybeans. To find out more about Kinako and the many varieties that exist of it just go here.
• Aiko is a Japanese singer/songwriter, the bonus "omake" chapter Aiko Comes to H Burgers' was created for her tour pamphlet, specifically 'Love Like Pop Vol. 12'. Do you think Shunju Aono captured her likeness very well?