The cover of Inio Asano’s new manga, Solanin, caught my eye—this band-aid faced, toque wearing, worried looking girl. What’s her deal?
Solanin follows Meiko, a young Tokyo woman who feels like she might not be making the most of her life. Meiko takes a look at her savings account and realises she can survive for a few months without an income. She quits her boring office job without any real plans, just the excitement of knowing she won’t have to work every day.
Meanwhile, her boyfriend Taneda is getting his old band, Ratti, back together, and thinking about quitting his day job too. They live like this for a while—Taneda writing new songs, and recording a demo, and Meiko spending her days in that bored/blissful state of unemployment, mostly playing video games and meeting friends for coffee.
And then, (spoiler alert!) I’m going to tell you what happens because I feel like this is where Solanin gets good.
(more inside…)



















