You Can't Live All on Your Own!, Vol. 1

ひとりで生きるはままならぬ [Hitori de Ikiru wa Mamanaranu] #1

by Mizoko Tsuno

What is considered "normal" for a 30 year old? Should she be married, have a carreer, live independently...?

A cute and quirky slice-of-life manga about four women who are roommates.

Shuuko, Eika, Misaki, and Shio are roommates and friends making their way in the busy world of Tokyo, Japan!

Though they share an apartment and a friendship, each faces her own unique problems. Shuuko is feeling the pressure of those around her getting married and has no idea whether she'll truly be happy on her own for the rest of her life. Eika, a hardworking career woman, wants to prove herself to the judgmental men in her office. Romantic and idealistic Misaki is spurred into action when it turns out her "boyfriend" of two years didn't know she thought they were dating. Nurturing and good-spirited Shio struggles to set a work–life balance while paying her many bills.

Join these four roommates as they navigate the biggest question of their late twenties: What does happiness really mean?

Genres: Manga, Graphic Novels, Slice Of Life, Comics, Romance, Contemporary, Josei

162 pages, Paperback

First published August 15, 2021

Reviews

[Laura A. Grace]

FIRST IMPRESSION VIDEO HERE: https://youtu.be/p9fBezKiIxI

"Even when I'm frustrated…I can come home to you all and some warm food. That and your guys' compliments are what keep me going."

My expectations for this manga missed the mark a little bit in the sense that I saw someone hype this up as a non-romantic josei manga, and feel that is not fully true?

The manga reminds me a lot of Play It Cool, Guys but without the humor element as this first volume was very soft and relaxing to read. I deeply enjoyed how the story centered around four different women who have different goals and passions as I think it really brought the manga to life in a way where I felt attached to ALL the women and what they were going through.

I think I was just a little disappointed that one of the ladies who was the main focus unexpectedly started looking for romance? I honestly was hoping more for the ladies to be together and it center more on their time at home, which it DOES still do, but not quite the way I thought it would?

However, I still enjoyed what I read and very much loved the art! It's an easygoing slice-of-life where you can feel a little bit of relatability with each woman and deeply appreciate that. I was caught off guard in feeling that way because again, each woman is so different and has a different lifestyle that I expected myself to only relate to maybe one or two of the women, not all of them! So that was really nice!

I am interested in getting volume two because I feel this is a series you can read at the end of the day to unwind! I also want to see what unfolds in each person's life because everyone has a goal and working towards it, leaving me wanting to see how they reach that said goal!

Cheers to all these women's success!!

[Hannah]

so so so cute oh my gosh. I had heard some people earlier this year talking about the translation coming out, and I knew I had to get my hands on it! The art is so cute, and all of the different women have such unique personalities!! This is really such a treat, and everyone should check it out when it gets released later this year!

Thank you to Edelweiss and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

[Chantaal]

Very cute slice-of-life manga that focuses on four women who live together and their various lives. I love that they're all in their late twenties, and while I wish there wasn't such a big focus on romance, it's nice seeing them all interact and be supportive friends. Continuing on!

[Snail]

Based on the title of this book and the brief summary I thought I skimmed, I went in thinking this would be a story about women enjoying living on their own… and when it wasn’t, I at least hoped for lesbians or something queer based on some of the character’s interactions, but so far it’s just about women feeling like they need to date men before they get “too old” , and that they have to stick with shitty boyfriends who can’t communicate….

Now that my misguided hopes have been smashed and I know what to expect, I might be able to enjoy future volumes better, but…. At least right now, I feel pretty deflated having read this one… and I don’t think the future volumes will align with my interests, unless something changes.

[marcia]

I didn't read the blurb before going in. Looking at the title and the cover, I thought it would be a cute series about the everyday lives of four women living together as roommates. In reality, it's primarily about their unsatisfactory dating lives. The chapters are so short that we barely get to spend time with one character before the mangaka moves on to the next: I still don't have a good sense of what any of them are like. On top of that, I also struggle with the superficial dialogue. This just feels like Tokyo Tarareba Girls but worse. Since this series is so short, I don't mind finishing it eventually but I remain unimpressed by this volume.

[Mark]

Four women coming to the end of their twenties live together in Tokyo and try to navigate life while figuring out what they want from it. Not a bad premise, as it turns out.

Our lead is probably Shuuko, whose friends are all getting married around her and who feels self-inflicted pressure that she should follow suit. This dives into the art/nightmare of dating in the modern day and the way her narrative arc plays out this volume is solid.

Second best is probably Misaki, an aspiring musician who has a boyfriend until she suddenly doesn’t (but not in the way you’re thinking) and is forced to grapple with her own dreams and what she can do to achieve them.

Eika is the dedicated career woman who is hellbent on climbing the corporate ladder, even if it means working herself to death in the process. She is the prototypical salary person and I’m interested to see if that’s about to get knocked out from under her going forward.

And the house mom, Shio, has excellent work-life balance, but an unfortunate spending habit that is just barely kept under control. Her budgeting failures are something new for this sort of thing and I was pleased to see something unique in her character.

They’re all interesting enough and they hang out and support one another like a much younger version of The Golden Girls (kids, ask your parents).

It’s rather terribly charming, as they both share the joys and soothe the failures. You can tell the four of them all get along and know one another well enough that they’re both great friends AND roomies. They cheer for each other, even if that might eventually lead to the end of their living arrangement.

It’s slice of life, sure, but not being mired in the high school scenarios of most of these series makes it a relatively nice breath of fresh air. It also has an art style very similar to How Do We Relationship?, which I personally love, so bonus points there.

This is a believable scenario with a nice cross-section of working women who want different things, yet are friends. It’s not high drama, but there’s enough plot and enough character work to make it enjoyable. And the romance that does crop up is executed well to boot.

4 stars - lower if you aren’t big on slice of life, but this has a really unusual setting and makes the most of it. Very worthwhile new series.

[Logan]

I reached the latter half of my 20's this year and, unsurprisingly, I can relate to these characters. The cast is a bit too large and everyone's development suffers greatly. It'll get better as the story expands, but it's pretty tough to care about most of the people in this series...

One of the ladies was 'with' a guy for two years and, in all that time, they somehow never went over what they were to each other or had it come up in conversation with friends/family. These two spend almost all of their time together... they regularly have sex, kiss, hang out, and so on. She's been cooking the guy's favorite meals for all that time too... How did she let two anniversaries slip by without addressing this situation? It's too unrealistic!!

[erin ★]

Depuis mon coup de cœur absolu pour la série Mon coloc’ d’enfer, j’ai toujours eu l’espoir de pouvoir retrouver un livre avec la même ambiance et qui pouvait donc m’attendrir tout autant. Même si je n’ai lu qu’un seul tome sur les trois, je sais déjà que je ne vais pas y retrouver tout ce que je désirais. Certes, les quatre filles introduites ont l’air fantastiques et le lecteur peut ressentir leur fort lien d’amitié forgé au fil des années, mais il manque cette étincelle qui, généralement, me serre le cœur.

En effet, j’ai trouvé que l’introduction état très peu originale et trop construite sur des codes basiques. Cette banalité n’est pas si dérangeante, mais ne m’a pas permis de vraiment m’attacher aux filles, ce qui devrait pourtant être un point essentiel au manga. Je pense qu’il me faut sûrement plus de temps pour apprendre à mieux les connaître et les apprécier dans leur entièreté, notamment en embrasant mieux leur personnalité, goûts et mode de vie. De plus, même si c’est un phénomène assez récurrent dans mes lectures de mangas, je me suis un peu perdue dans les chara-designs et j’ai donc eu du mal à différencier les personnages des uns des autres.

Je pensais qu’on allait beaucoup plus se concentrer sur la relation des filles, mais au final c’est survolé pour se concentrer sur leurs intérêts amoureux : elles n’ont ce sujet à la bouche, ou si elles osent discuter d’autre chose entre elles (travail, nourriture, etc.), elles le compareront toujours avec cette thématique. J’ai donc fini par comprendre que c’en était un élément central et qu’il le sera probablement jusqu’à la fin de la série : je ne dis alors pas que c’est un défaut, mais plutôt que ce n’est pas un aspect que je recherche nécessairement dans ma lecture. Je n’en suis donc fatalement pas le public cible. Et comme le dirait Théa : et c’est ok, ma vie.

Les illustrations sont par contre d’une douceur absolue ! J’apprécie énormément ce style qui donne immédiatement envie de s’enrouler dans une couette moelleuse, un café aux épices à la main, et une petite lampe à la lumière tamisée et orangée. En plus de cela, les tenues changent régulièrement : un point toujours agréable dans une série de livres graphiques et que je ne manque jamais de souligner.

[Jennifer Peña]

Loved this! I’m planning to continue reading this series. It follows a group of friends who live together as they’re nearing 30 and navigating their different life paths and worries. Really cute and realistic scenarios. Recommended!

[Abigaëlle]

C’est mimi je veux lire la suite

[Tachan]

La sororité a le vent en poupe ! Après Bride Stories, Tokyo Tarareba Girls et bien d’autres titres au féminin, les éditeurs continuent de surfer sur la vague. Et cette fois, Delcourt propose un mix entre sororité et coloc qui aurait pu être rafraîchissant.

Qui aurait pu car si comme dans Enfer et contre toutes d’Akane Torikai, où nous suivons également trois colocataires d’horizons différents, il y avait eu une vraie réflexion sur le statut de la célibataire, on aurait pu dépasser le divertissement un peu trop hétéro-normé que nous avons ici, où le but de nos jeunes femmes est au final, encore une fois, de trouver l’amour, se mettre en couple, se marier, parce que c’est la sacro sainte norme -_-

C’est dommage mais j’ai vite été obligée de faire avec et j’en ai pris mon parti pour arriver à suivre sans déplaisir Shuko l’employée de bureau qui voit toutes ses amies se marier et veut se trouver quelqu’un, Misaki la musicienne qui pense être en couple depuis 2 ans mais fait fausse route, Eika l’accro au travail qui semble ne pas s’intéresser à l’amour (quoique…) ou Shio une free lance qui a fui son entreprise et est la maman du groupe, mais…

Prise séparément chacune a une situation qui peut être intéressante. J’ai aimé qu’on interroge sur la peur de ne pas être en couple quand on voit tous ses ami(e)s se marier, qu’on questionne le tout tout travail, qu’on remette en question la pression (voire plus) dans les entreprises qui peut pousser à préférer être à son compte. Les sujets ne sont pas sans intérêts.

Je regrette juste que l’autrice nous ait bien fait sentir que le but était de caser tout le monde. Au détour de chaque chapitre, on s’intéresse à l’une d’elle et un love interest pointe le bout de son nez à chaque fois, que ce soit au premier plan pour Shuko et Misaki qui sont plus mis en avant dans ce tome, mais aussi en arrière-plan pour les deux autres, comme si c’était le seul plan de vie des femmes… En plus, on est 100% dans de l’hétéro-normé, mais bon ça à la limite, la diversité n’est pas une obligation et peut ne pas être le sujet. En revanche, marre de cette norme qui impose aux femmes de trouver l’amour, se caser, avoir envie d’une relation de couple, etc. J’aurais aimé qu’on nous montre une vraie vie de coloc point, où tout se passe plus naturellement, où on suit les aléas de la vie, sans focus particulier sur une quelconque romance, mais sans l’exclure non plus si elle survient pour l’une d’elle. Cela aurait été bien plus original dans un sens, car là on est encore sur ces histoires de »limites périssables dans la vie » -_-

Petit à côté avec cette série dont j’attendais autre chose que le message classique normé par la société des femmes qui doivent être amoureuse, en couple, mariée à 30 ans… Marre ! Heureusement qu’on a un petit volet critique à côté de la vie au travail, des applis de rencontre, de la peur d’être célibataire… pour compenser un peu. Heureusement sur le quatuor est amusant et interagit bien ensemble mais j’ai peu d’espoir d’avoir quelque chose qui sorte de l’ordinaire et ne finisse pas par donner une histoire d’amour à chacune T.T

Article complet : https://lesblablasdetachan.wordpress....

[Larakaa]

It's nice that they got each others back, but the story focuses a bit too much on the love stories for my personal taste.

[Madelyn]

Super sweet! Fingers crossed they learn about polyamory and lesbianism in volume 2 🫡

[Ruth]

This is such a cute manga! I really like how it focuses on each individual woman's story. I think it's a great breath of fresh air from some of the more high school related stories I typically tend to read. It's mature but also really relatable, as someone entering the last half of her twenties. I feel far removed from it because 1. I live at home still and 2. I'm in grad school surrounded by younger students (granted only by a couple of years- but still) and also 3. I just don't have any friends who are the same age as me (or friends at all, really...) Reading this makes me want to make a ton of female friends and then live in the same house as them. That really is the dream for me! I hope that in the future not every single of the characters stories revolve around love. I couldn't find any other volumes available in English other than the first, so I'm afraid for now this is the end for this story.

I totally empathize with (sorry I'm awful at character names) the woman who didn't know that she wasn't actually in a relationship with her boyfriend of two years. That's just awful, and then of course he's treating her coldly after she realizes. She's so insistent on making him her husband that she doesn't see how he's treating her. I hope that she find someone better in the future. I also really like the main woman's story and her hope of finding love. I really like her love interest so far. He's more reserved than her but he does genuinely seem to like her. I wish we had more of the woman who stays at home and her story.

[Meline Marcos]

Premier tome hyper sympa ! Des histoires de meufs dans une société qui les mets sous pressions, de pleins de façon differentes !

[Clara A]

Je relate fooooort ! Un manga trop mimi.

Juste Kida je te hais, pas de contexte.

[Paula]

todas son bastante relatables tbh

[Ivy]

Comforting and relatable - would love to read more of this series (less so for the plot but more to see the different ways the girls navigate their lives).

[Astrophel AKA Beeneedssleep]

5/5
Thank you to Edelweiss for a digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

This is such a fun story and the art is so cute!! I love seeing more manga with protagonists in their late 20s, dealing with all sorts of late 20s things. I really loved how different the 4 main friends are and how their priorities in life differ so drastically, but they’re all still there for each other. I think I could read one million billion volumes of this and never get tired of it.

[Paige (pagebypaigebooks)]

*3.5 Stars

This was such a cute slice of life read! Each of the characters had such different personalities and life goals. They were all relatable in their own ways, and I was constantly rooting for them all! I also thought the art style was very cute and fit the vibe of the story well. I'm excited to continue the series!

[isabella]

Adorei adorei adorei! Muito fofo e com dificuldades reais da minha geração que tá beirando os trinta e entrando em desespero (fiel representante aqui, lol). O traço é lindo e eu cheguei realmente a conclusão de que meu tipo favorito de mangá é slice of life, o que se encaixa perfeitamente nesse. Já quero o segundo volume para ontem! :)

[Lola _ddn]

On suit quatre trentenaires qui vivent ensemble en coloc, elles ont toutes des objectifs et des personnalités très différentes.
On est sur un petite tranche de vie qui aborde beaucoup de thématiques autour du mariage et de l'épanouissement ! Le début était plutôt chill, j'aime bien la dynamique des personnages entre elles, hâte de savoir vers où l'on va !

J'espère que ça ne se centrera pas uniquement sur les intérêts amoureux des perso ça risque d'être ennuyeux, et y'a moyen de faire de la représentation de modèle de vie autres que la famille nucléaire classique !

[Angela]

This was so cute! I loved the concept of four women living together under one roof and navigating life. What do you do when everyone around you is getting married and you've never even been on a date? What do you do when your boyfriend says you two aren't together? How do you balance your professional and personal lives?

The art is so cute too! I want Volume 2 now, please!

[Othy]

A nice slice-of-life story. It's nothing special, but the characters are good and the concept is compelling.

[Giorgia Pascali]

buon volume di presentazione di tutti i personaggi, sono curiosa riguardo come si svilupperanno tutte. shio-san sta vivendo letteralmente il mio sogno

[Vanessa]

siiiiigh another story about women that's mainly just about boring romances siiiiiiiiiiigh

[Vanesa Pacheco]

~kawaii~

[Alexis]

It's cute, and with the variety of characters, you're sure to relate to at least one of them. I don't think I'll become obsessed, but I'd read more.

[raquelllll 🥰💘💅🏿✨✨]

I don’t know if I want to read the next volume. The musician story absolutely infuriates me.

[karissa✨]

really cute!