After introducing you to an action-packed series, we now present a josei, New love, New life, available at Kana Edition.
New Love, New Life!
Does the title of this series vaguely ring a bell? Well, if you know New job, new life, it's normal! Indeed, New Love , New life is none other than the prequel to New Job, New life.
Available in 3 volumes, this series plunges us into the daily life of Momoko, a young graduate. Discover his first job, graphic designer in a design agency specializing in pachinko. Follow Momoko as the days go by, trying to combine professional and personal life.
A scenario flown over…
At first glance, it seems interesting to us to discover the world of work in the guise of a manga. Job demands, overtime, fatigue and so on. In New Love, New Life, the author introduces us from the outset to the reality of the world of work. No glitter or idyllic scenes, here, just the reality of today's world. However, while reality is important, a more constructed scenario would have been desirable. Indeed, we follow Momoko in her daily professional life, but we do not really know what she does there. At no time is his work presented to us. The days follow each other, look alike, the months pass but no detail is brought to us. It is a shame to make a manga about the world of work without exploiting its full potential. In addition, we do not know what is really the common thread of this first volume. Indeed, throughout this volume, the main character tells anyone who will listen that she will resign, without doing so, of course. Again, the story is not deep. Momoko wants to resign, but when the opportunity arises, she eventually turns back. One wonders the point of relying so much on this detail if it is not to exploit it more deeply.
Extravagant characters
On the side of the characters, they are not really presented to us either. Indeed, we learn some details from the pages but nothing that allows us to attach ourselves to Momoko's colleagues. "Pervert" and "exhibitionist" are actually the only two words that come to mind to describe his colleagues. No details about their work, their personal lives or even their characters are revealed to us. We can guess that they are "determined" given the number of hours they spend in their office, but that's about it. And as for Momoko, it's pretty much the same. Her family (mother) appears on two boxes when she talks about sleeping at the agency and her boyfriend is very briefly introduced when she goes to his house or goes out with her girlfriends. But again, very few details are revealed to us. It is a pity that the main character of a work is still so unknown to us at the end of a first volume. The appreciation of a work obviously goes through a pleasant scenario, but also through characters that make us feel emotions. Joy, sorrow, laughter, anger, … So many emotions that make us appreciate or hate a character. However, indifference is not an emotion that we are supposed to feel for a character and even less for the main character.
Difficult to combine love and work?
Momoko was hired by a design agency specializing in pachinko (a mix between a pinball machine and a slot machine, very popular in Japan). What a shame to learn that our main character does not appreciate pachinko. Momoko began her professional life in a company she did not particularly like. However, wishing to do her job properly, she accumulates stress, overtime, fatigue,… To avoid sleeping at the agency when she finishes too late, she goes to her boyfriend's house, to sleep there. But, it is not easy to maintain a romantic relationship when professional life takes too much place. We will therefore follow Momoko in her love setbacks, trying to find love again, despite a job that does not always suit her. This first volume again flies over Momoko's love life. An absent boyfriend, an unexpected encounter, which leaves our main character in a somewhat wobbly situation. How to break into the world of work while maintaining a romantic relationship? This may be the answer to this question that we will discover in the next two volumes. New Love, New life is a series that can be read, but will not be part of our series of the year! If you want to discover a fascinating work, immediately dive into Shangri-la frontier!
