Jul 6, 2022
River End Cafe is so good that I wonder why I've never heard of it before.
This manga is an incredibly potent and intimate character study of its central protagonist, Irie Saki who experiences a form of prolonged, generational trauma birthed from the remnants of a national tragedy. But the manga's perspective does not solely limit itself to its central character, managing to extend beyond and explore the trauma of the people living in a disaster-torn town.
Perhaps most fascinating is the manga's effortless shifts in tone, bouncing from tranquil slice of life, to comedy, to surreal horror, and to existential drama. More impressive is
...
how these stylistic shifts manage to remain thematically consistent with the manga's exploration of human trauma.
While River End Cafe can feel at times a little structurally loose and lacking in narrative momentum due to the absence of a clear central conflict (as most conventional stories do). Yet, the conflict and struggles of human existence is undoubtedly present. It's there in the torn landscapes and architecture, the history of disaster, and in the eccentric figures whose eccentricities stem from their traumatic experiences. The skill and finesse of the storytelling and illustration - the artful, emotional panels, and the three-dimensional characters and their atypical but believable struggles generate drama, intrigue, and comedy all at once. It is this skill in non-explicit storytelling and ability to bounce between the different tones and 'vibes' of life that transforms River End Cafe into a masterful exploration of the human condition.
People are sleeping on this. This is truly something that needs to be experienced first-hand.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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