Today I am doing a review of multiple titles because it felt right to bundle them together.
Nagata Kabi has a very interesting set of manga at hand with My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness and the follow-up stories. They are very much a reflection on her life and the challenges she encounters. The very first one talks about how she feels lonely even in company and also trying to discover her identity. Her making this into a manga and sharing it gives her the opportunity to be more “successful” and to have a career, but then she struggles with further mental and more books happen.
The books are intense and very honest about her perception of things as they go, but as you read more and more and get through the volumes she also self reflects on her previous works and how she may have got some things wrong and misunderstood things.
Part of it focuses on her sexuality and the loneliness she feels, that she feels like she cannot cope on her own. It also focuses on the concept of adulthood and what this implies, what success may be conceptualised as, and that sometimes we assume someone has it together but they do not .
The set also explores health and burnout, and other health issues, but overall there is a big focus on mental health and on figuring life out. I found I partly wanted to rush through it but also there was a lot to ponder and reflect on and at times it hit hard and made me ponder my past or decisions. It does have an interesting viewpoint and gives some insight I hadn’t expected to find in this manga and collection of them and I want to keep on reading on how her life goes on and does.
