Subarashii Sekai (What a Wonderful World!)

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: WaWW

Japanese: 素晴らしい世界

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Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 2

Chapters: 19

Status: Finished

Published: Jan 19, 2002 to Mar 19, 2004

Genres: Drama, Slice of Life

Demographic: Seinen

Serialization: Sunday Gene-X

Authors: Asano, Inio (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 7.61¹ (scored by 11,507 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #2225²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #546

Members: 31,967

Favorites: 416

7.61

Ranked #2225Popularity #546Members 31,967

MangaSunday Gene-XAsano, Inio (Story & Art)

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Volumes: /2

Chapters: /19

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Synopsis

Twenty-three-year-old Yuriko Togawa dropped out of college six months ago. In the past, her classmates envisioned her as a reliable and independent person even though she saw herself as the opposite. Yuriko wants someone to provide for her needs, not the other way around. Thus, when she meets her former colleague Horita Tomotsugu, she hopes that romance will spark between them.

Horita had a great ambition of debuting his band together with Yuriko. However, as time progressed, he slowly succumbed to reality and became an office worker instead. Encountering Yuriko reminds him of what was once his dream, and he aspires to reignite it with her. Despite the two having different motives, Yuriko decides to lend him a helping hand after going through a myriad of events.

Yuriko and Horita's story is just one of the compelling narratives in Subarashii Sekai. Entwined with their tale are several other short stories, each depicting the arduous, painful, and realistic hardships of mundane life.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Subarashii Sekai was published in English as What a Wonderful World! by VIZ Media under the VIZ Signature imprint on October 20, 2009. It has also been published in Chinese by Taiwan Tohan; in French by Kana; in German by Egmont Manga & Anime and Tokyopop Germany; in Portuguese by JBC; and in Spanish by Norma Editorial.

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Related Manga

Other:

1999 (What a Wonderful World)

More characters
Characters

Happy Girl

Main

Shinigami Dog

Main

Yokoyama

Main

Tomotsugu, Horita

Main

Syrup

Supporting

Bear Bandit

Supporting

Shop Attendant

Supporting

Togawa, Yuriko

Supporting

Takachi

Supporting

Kato, Tae

Supporting

Reviews

Jan 31, 2010

Yxel

Recommended

Asano Inio is the unsung Aesop of our time. He weaves his set of ideals and his take on life into his manga, teaching and inspiring us time and time again.

In this compilation of short stories, Inio tries to teach us one thing, saying it directly on the first and last pages of the second volume: "This world that we live in is gentle yet sad, fun yet sorrowful, strong yet ephemeral..." / "...but as long as you're alive, something good is bound to happen. I'm sure of it."

______

Each and every one of the stories shows struggle. They show how terrible "ordinary" ...

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May 11, 2015

defunctmaluser

Recommended

When it comes down to authors who can make the mundane appealing, you'd be hard-pressed to find who could fit the bill like Inio Asano. He's one of the few mangakas out there who can take something mundane like a slice-of-life setting and really turn it into a unique experience that other mangas just can't compare to. To get a good idea of what I'm talking about, let's look into Subarashii Sekai (What a Wonderful World!): the first manga of his to ever come to the West. Subarashii Sekai can be succinctly described as the manga equivalent of a book from the Chicken Soup for ... the Soul series in that this is a series of stories about the lives of various people and what keeps them around to live another day.

Well, I don't think it's entirely fair to say that Subarashii Sekai is a compilation of stories since there really isn't much story to be found. This may be a bizarre thing for me to say, but please hear me out. Subarashii Sekai consists of 19 chapters, each chapter being a vignette taken from the lives of people just like you and me. From these vignettes, we get to see what it is that these people go through on an otherwise daily basis and what it is that keeps them going. That's not all that we get to experience, however. There's also the chance that we get to see an unusual day in the life of some random bloke and what happens when they decide to go against the current of their otherwise miserable lives.

Despite the fact that Inio Asano is known for his cold and unflinching portrayal of reality, Subarashii Sekai is one of his more optimistic works and it has a worthwhile message to be found: life is a precious gift that shouldn't be taken for granted. This is a manga that anyone who's gone through or is going through some tough times in life needs to read at some point, if only because of the fact that it's something that's sure to brighten their day if only by a tiny margin. Subarashii Sekai also serves as a great introduction to the rest of Inio Asano's works like Solanin and Oyasumi Punpun.

On the subject of how well Subarashii Sekai holds up to Asano's later work, I prefer Solanin and Oyasumi Punpun, if only because of the fact that I could connect to the both of those on a much deeper and more personal level than I can with Subarashii Sekai but that doesn't mean that this manga isn't worth reading. Despite the fact that Inio Asano's improved his craft by a conisderable margin, Subarashii Sekai is still a worthwhile buy and is definitely something that you should have in your shelf and the messages it has are worthwhile no matter where you are in life. That's all for now. Feedback is always welcome and with that, I'm out. Peace :)

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Nov 8, 2019

ANDy342

Not Recommended

Asano Inio is a bad writer. But he's the best writer for the MAL. I don't mean this to be a condescending review but the fact is he writes for 15 year olds. You know the 15 year olds who just recently learnt what "nihilism" meant or that the structure of society isn't perfect? This is his core philosophy and audience. And teens love it. When I was a teen I loved it!

The issue with this style of writing its that it is shallow, so incredibly shallow. I'll get in to spoilers here. There are five characters who suicide in this work. Suicide is thrown ... around like a plot device. It's so unbearably childish. It's just a thing people do, they say "oh screw it I'm done" it's done with literally no subtetly. I think David foster wallace put suicidal ideation best "“The so-called ‘psychotically depressed’ person who tries to kill herself doesn’t do so out of quote ‘hopelessness’ or any abstract conviction that life’s assets and debits do not square. And surely not because death seems suddenly appealing. The person in whom Its invisible agony reaches a certain unendurable level will kill herself the same way a trapped person will eventually jump from the window of a burning high-rise. Make no mistake about people who leap from burning windows. Their terror of falling from a great height is still just as great as it would be for you or me standing speculatively at the same window just checking out the view; i.e. the fear of falling remains a constant". And this view on depression and suicide marks the difference between a poor writer and a writer who has the ability to look at something and truly see it and bring new and thought provoking conclusions.

The writing also falls in the same trap I think we all had as 15 year olds, dark = mature. If I saw a movie with gore then it was for adults and super mature. But that's not really true. In fact it is more often than not the opposite. It continually aims to introduce these large concepts and winks at the audience saying "deep and and dark right?". Some people say this is due to the fact it's a short story style of story telling that it doesn't expand on these concepts more but a good writer can explore concepts with depth regardless of length as I already showed with DFW.

Overall a very weak work that is kind of insulting.

Time for a bonus round for the cringiest moments.
-tone of suicide for the edgelords
-absurd bullying scenarios. Kids can be mean but they're not insane
-drug addicts who think they've workd everything out
- the same mentality rick and morty fans have is all over this work "its so tough being smart am i right fellas :)
-weird borderline pedo relationships
-bad imagery and symbbolism "a raaaiiiinnnnnnboooowwww"
-everyone's parents are dead like everyone's
-high school students who have the vaguest understanding of existentialism
-teens looking at the sky philosophizing and saying things teens would never say

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Poll: Subarashii Sekai Chapter 9 Discussion AlexSadist-sama - Feb 8, 2012	4 replies	by hik1komori »» Mar 30, 2022 11:39 PM
Poll: What a wonderful world Chapter 5 Discussion Beatnik - Aug 11, 2008	7 replies	by hik1komori »» Mar 30, 2022 11:22 PM
Does this manga have nudity? phcz05 - Jan 9, 2022	1 replies	by Kiritonb »» Mar 10, 2022 4:06 PM
Poll: What a Wonderful World Chapter 19 Discussion ClosedCX - Feb 6, 2011	14 replies	by TitanInsane »» Jan 15, 2022 8:40 PM
Poll: Subarashii Sekai Chapter 15 Discussion AlexSadist-sama - Feb 8, 2012	5 replies	by EGOIST »» Jun 1, 2021 10:22 AM

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