https://files.catbox.moe/zl106k.png Tokyo These Days is about nothing more than the act of creation. It ends prematurely cutting the protagonists journey off short with a brief and then it happened handwave coupled with a baffling endcard but you see thats because Matsumoto was sick. Sick of talking about creating and wanting to do it. Much like the characters within these very same pages. Theres a loose throughline leading man Shiosawa a veteran of the manga industry retires from the totallynotKadokawa publication company and vows to leave the life of behind himonly to place on himself the dream of creating the ultimate manga. All Avengerslike Shiosawa seeks to assemble a group of talented creative elites for this project each in their own stage of life and career but each with something rich that only Shiosawa can see. What follows is an anthology of stories about different mangaka whether they be writers or artists or editors or mixmatches of any certain degree and how each of them see art and how each of them approaches art and how deeply this art juts into their soul. In many ways its the antiBakuman. Ohba and Obatas manga Bakuman wherein they tackle the same subject of mangaka their dreams and the ultimate project flies through its hotblooded shonenstyle plot with sheer recklessness. As the protagonists are young so is its spirit. Just as the characters are older so too adjusts the tonality of Tokyo These Days to accommodate its spirit. It takes a measured approach that one from the industry would do and only one from the industry would know. Each mangaka chosen for the projects has their own personal decision to make on whether they want to. Whether it be for the reasons of age mental wellbeing other occupations lack of skill or flat out rejection not everyone comes on board for this dream project of veterans. Shiosawa gets it though. The artists accept or deny his offer and he takes each response as the same. Tokyo These Days doesnt shy away from the fact that manga is work just like anything else and while its lauded as an golden dream job in Bakuman its combated by creation as droll and difficult in Tokyo These Days. https://files.catbox.moe/klco3t.png Its a side that you dont see talked about often the Melancholy the Mundanity the same old the dayin dayout the cyclical. Not to say that there isnt this Joy in the process of creation too because Matsumoto makes a point to say yes this is the reason why we all do it the Spark the Feeling But To get there requires bones. To get there requires dark circles and addictions and troubles of their own headscratching and pulling and yelling and despair. To tell a story to spin a yarn is not so easy as putting words and drawings on paper. Sometimes it is work. These are the words of a hardened veteran. With the characters as mouthpieces maybe for Matsumoto but maybe for others and through the city as ritual and the pen as a constant work to be done the author speaks and speaks freely and ugly and true because of his vehement love understanding of this job this love this passion. This is the authors life purpose this is what he was meant to do placed on this Earth for and you can feel that in every stroke of the pen every meandering conversation every loving panel of the city. To be an artist is to struggle and suffer and yearnBut so is it to succeed and fail and love. Not a bit of emotion is left behind To create art is the human experience. https://files.catbox.moe/5i4pg1.png thanks for reading read more reviews here on anilisthttps://anilist.co/review/26192 or on my substackhttps://wavieff.substack.com/