lazy-fuji

[lazy-fuji]

Jumyou wo Kaitotte Moratta. Ichinen ni Tsuki, Ichimanen de

by: Taguchi, Shouichi (Art) & Miaki, Sugaru (Story)

Here is my take on this beautiful manga that I found a couple of years ago. Before that, let me give you an introduction:

Jobless and struggling for money, Kusonoki is left with selling the last of his possessions in order to get by for a few more days. He then gets an advice from the shopkeepers that there is a place that buys an individual's health, time, or lifespan. At first, he was skeptical about this claim but then as soon as he started hearing more of it, he tried to find it and in the end, he sold his lifespan.

Initially thinking that 30 years of his lifespan would amount to a few billion yen, he was crushed to find out that his life was only worth about 10,000 yen per year, the supposed minimum worth of a year of lifespan.

With three months left to live, Kusonoki heads home and is suddenly greeted by the clerk he sold his lifespan to, Miyagi. It was then revealed that she was given the task of observing him during his last 3 months by her higher ups, only leaving him alone during the last 3 days of his life.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

This manga was a very important story for me as it served countless realizations at different phases in my life. It will make you ponder, wonder about what truly gives life meaning, what gives it worth, both figuritively and monetarily, and it also makes you question what real happiness is.

Its concept was somehow familiar and relatable, everyone will face death eventually so it's no surprise that we all have vaguely thought and questioned ourselves if we are making the most of our lives.

At first, I was horrified of the thought of falling into the same state that Kusonoki had obtained as I am a very easy-going person and I have always thought that I could get through in life even with the most minimal effort. I became even more cautious of my future and started paying attention to my actions but I gradually forgot about it as it didn't really seemed that necessary to worry about, given the fairly high standards that I was maintaining through most of my academic life. But then the pandemic hit and I got even more careless to the point that I could see myself failing in everything that I once excelled in, it was horrible, the endless praises that I would get every month from my academic standing turned ito frowns and eventually, it led to me convincing myself that I really am worthless, because the only thing that I thought I was good at was now out of sight and unreachable. It was then I started to consider that I was deadweight, a waste of money and space, I felt that I couldn't do anything right, that the only right thing for me to do is disappear from everyone because I felt that I was a burden to all.

These events reminded me of this story, it urged me to come back and read it again and sure enough, it made me reconsider life. I wondered that if i were to do the same thing as Kusonoki, what would my life be worth? Working these thoughts in my mind all day, it made me realize, be it worthless or priceless, I would not sell my life. If it was worthless, why bother selling it for some pocket change if you could do more just by realizing it was worthless and started making change. On the other hand, if it was priceless, then it's all the more reason not to sell it. Why would you sell away the ultimate happiness and joy for mere money?

Life has always had no meaning, it's both worthless and priceless at the same time because it will only be worthless the moment you give up on it, but it's a different story altogether if we find a purpose for it. That said, purpose is also not the only thing in life. If you found out that it isn't working, then there's always other ways to give meaning to life, maybe it's through contributions to the society, subjective happiness, or even just the happiness of others.

This manga really helped me in broadening my horizon and finally getting rid of my narrow vision. It made me appreciate more things, pay more attention to objects that I would have never even considered in the past because I know that there is a lot more to life than what I am currently facing, maybe it's just a matter of looking in another perspective.

[lazy-fuji]

For me, the time we spent together was the best of times, even small things. Trivial as they may be, they were all important to me.

I don't know who I am to you but you are precious to me. You may loathe me, hate me, wish me the worst but I, I will always wish you nothing but the best. I'm sorry and thank you for all the memories.

[lazy-fuji]

"bub"

Bubble Nebula taken by Hubble