Boku to Issho

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I have no idea how this got on my plan to read list and i gave it a spin after commencing clearing alphabetically every manga that is completed. I was positivelly surprised with the plot which is quite original, on one hand tragic, on another hilarious.

The story itself is about social problem of runaway children, orphans and street kids with no place to go andhow they try to make living without a possibility of finding a proper job. The tale starts when after their mother dies, stepfather kicks two kids out of the're mothers house without suitable funds, story follows when they arrive to ... Tokio and meet most unnusual street kid who introduces them to some illegal, weird, immoral ways of funding their life expenses... stealing, cheating, giggoling!? Every job and the way they do it is hilarious, at times I almoust felt guilty laughing at their hardships, but couldn't help it.

Author made a great job with dark humor, matching facial expressions and the tragic adventure of those young unfortunate children. I highly recommend reading it because it's well executed and quite original in the terms of art, story, well made characters and offers great enjoyment reading. It's not possible to find such well executed dark humor often.

Boku to Issho is the 2nd manga written and drawn by Minoru Furuya, it follows the humorous and depressive journey of Suguo & Ikuo Sakisaka alongside Shigeru Itou to find a place they can call home in this harsh and absurd society. They are going to meet various bizarre characters throughout their adventure and suffer many times. Will Suguo finally graduate from being a virgin
and will they figure out the meaning of life though?

STORY
In this manga we follow the lives of 2 brothers , Suguo 14 and Ikuo 8 whose mother just died, and got abandoned by their step-father. They decide to go to ... Tokyo to try and have a life there but they are broke and clueless. Arriving there, they meet Itou another 14 years old orphan who’s only passion is sniffing glue and makes a living by scamming tourists. They quickly become friends
and decides to live together until they get kicked out of their appartment and have to overcome the wilderness of the streets.
The story gives a pretty cynical yet humorous view on the society they live in , with exaggerated and absurd comedy on their journey to find the meaning of life.

CHARACTERS
There is a versatile cast of characters in this manga each blessed with a unique (fucked up) personality and most of the time design (they ugly) as well. This numerous cast of weirdos allows for the crazy and dark comedy to nicely fit in with the manga , as the side characters are effectively used in that way.
We will see the characters bizarre and extreme quirks shamelessly exposed by the author and follow their daily lives illustrated by their struggle to attain their respective objectives. But what the main characters actually strive for is a place to call home. Don’t expect deep characters with incredible developpment because all you’ll see are imperfect teenagers that are nothing but human beings.

ART
The art in itself isn’t anything too incredible, but Furuya makes a good use of facial expressions to emphatize the grotesque of the situation or the character’s emotions. We also sometimes have some nice chapters covers. I also bear in mind that this manga is quite old and is Furuya’s 2nd manga whom has considerably improved his art since the 1st.

ENJOYMENT
Overall I found this manga extremely funny as a fan of shameless, toilet humour. The manga only has 49 chapters so it’s pretty easy to binge and we barely have time to get bored or tired of the running-gags. However, this type of dark comedy is definitely NOT for everyone, some might find it childish, some might be uninterested in the overall premise leading them to get bored of the same type of comedy. In my case I totally loved it and read 49 of the funniest chapters I’ve ever read (I read it 2 times) , laughing for no fucking reason
everytime. I also found the subtle satyre of society pretty interesting.

OVERALL
As a whole this manga is perfect at it’s job, making me laugh. Nevertheless, everyone doesn’t have the same sense of humour, thus I can’t guarantee you that you’ll love it, but y’all should at least read 5 chapters to get an idea of it. It is definitely a great manga to pass time and definitely deserves more recognition around the western manga community.

When I first saw the cover and the description of this work, I was a bit skeptical (the characters on the cover are ugly).

Even so, this manga is not shy when it comes to painting its main characters with vices, manias and failures. Many of his characters have a somewhat tragic past, but at the same time none is a saint so you will not find any Mary Sue or Gary Stu, and neither any noble character without any strikethrough but what I did find was a crude and cynical , but well executed humor. Characters that are not shy when talking about their preferences ... and bias even if they are not well received by society but at the same time, cowards when it comes to having to accept responsibility.

The humor? Well, imagine that you go with a friend to see a wasp nest ... then throw a stone and annoy them while your friend approaches their nest and laugh at his misfortune while both flee in terror. Mean? Yes ... Hilarious? Of course!