Ranked #1964

She Got Off the Bus at the Peninsula (One Shot)

The smallest things in life can keep a person living, just a little longer...

This nostalgic one-shot deals with the sombre issue of suicide in a sweet but melancholy manner. Mitsuko and her son Yui return to her grandmother's shop; a place where she was raised and spent most of her youth. It is a solitary little shop that sits alone near the tip of the peninsula, at the place of the last bus stop. Very few people ever stop there and all of them leave on the next bus by the end of the day. But as a child during those times she spent in her grandmother's store, Mitsuko began to realise that some of the people who got off the bus failed to get back on...

The art is very simplistic and is composed of a lot of dark shading. This creates the nostalgic and bittersweet undertones that the one-shot tries to evoke. There is a sort of hazy, dream-like quality to the art that makes it a relaxing and enjoyable read.

The characters in this one-shot are fairly two-dimensional but I believe that for a one-shot such as this, this is not a very large issue. It is the very strength of the themes and the story that carries this one-shot along. We are introduced to a few secondary characters who serve to reinforce these themes.

Overall, this one-shot carried the purpose of relating a message of hope. Even in the darkest of times, the smallest things in life, like buying a packet of smokes from a shop, or the smile and kind words of a stranger, can let the light shine back in and give us the sustenance to continue on. read more