A Distant Neighborhood - Vol. 2 Ch. 16
- Thread starter MangaDex
- Start date
Dex-chan lover
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2020
- Messages
- 891
This manga was short, so I didn't think too deeply into it when I started reading. Now I'm quite happy that I did. It made me think of life from multiple angles... Thank you, Taniguchi Jiro and Manga-Sketchbook, for making and translating this book!
Fed-Kun's army
- Joined
- May 10, 2026
- Messages
- 96
This ending was good, but it was too underwhelming for my liking. It was all a dream? then MC sees his dad again who is pathetically sad (he failed the life he chose) and we see Daisuke become a successful writer (dang so it wasn't a dream). I wanted to see MORE of the MC's aftermath (How is Tomoko, Masao, Takashi, etc.)
I hated how the MC treated Tomoko in the end, I get the MC was in his feels, but he was being a little TOO selfish no? granted he probably was never interested in Tomoko since he had a wife and kids, but he still went about it the wrong way.
Glad MC finally understood why his dad left, it's cool that he learned about family lore, and the dad leaving was the realistic fate. The problem was never the MC or the family it was himself.
I hated how the MC treated Tomoko in the end, I get the MC was in his feels, but he was being a little TOO selfish no? granted he probably was never interested in Tomoko since he had a wife and kids, but he still went about it the wrong way.
Glad MC finally understood why his dad left, it's cool that he learned about family lore, and the dad leaving was the realistic fate. The problem was never the MC or the family it was himself.
Dex-chan lover
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2021
- Messages
- 3,930
The story is really just about the mystery of the father's disappearance, with everything else having little relevance.
You probably could have just made this a detective story with no time travelling, and it would have had little consequence on the over arching plot.
A lot of elements just don't feel quite satisfying, like with how the little sister was sad that the brother wasn't being nice to her anymore and... it's just left at that. So his relationship with her wasn't fixed, bar his time travelling back? Was there much point in ANY of the characters really, beyond the family and Daisuke? Everyone else could have seemingly been cut.
One of the conflicts of the story was the MC worrying about his wife and children, but we never really saw his relationship with them beyond a quick dream.
But despite everything, I still really quite enjoyed it. all the unresolved plot threads, and unnecessary characters, somehow feel appropriate. Like it's kind of a statement on the plot itself.
You can't change the past, and we have to live with all the questions and unresolved mysteries.
The only thing we can change is the now, which is why the MC is changing his attitude with his family... though this would have more impact if he actually HAD an established relationship with his family (from the view of the reader).
Overall, a good read that I quite enjoyed.
If you're looking for something similar, that has a bit more tooth to it, I recommend "High Position" (https://mangadex.org/title/f59b01e3-2e05-4883-a9cd-3f718363fd04/high-position)
You probably could have just made this a detective story with no time travelling, and it would have had little consequence on the over arching plot.
Like, what was the point of his relationship with Tomoko?
Why didn't he try capitalising on any of his 'future knowledge'?
Why didn't he try spending more time with those he knows will die soon?
Why didn't we get to see what the father was up to?
A lot of elements just don't feel quite satisfying, like with how the little sister was sad that the brother wasn't being nice to her anymore and... it's just left at that. So his relationship with her wasn't fixed, bar his time travelling back? Was there much point in ANY of the characters really, beyond the family and Daisuke? Everyone else could have seemingly been cut.
One of the conflicts of the story was the MC worrying about his wife and children, but we never really saw his relationship with them beyond a quick dream.
But despite everything, I still really quite enjoyed it. all the unresolved plot threads, and unnecessary characters, somehow feel appropriate. Like it's kind of a statement on the plot itself.
The MC couldn't stop his father leaving,
That friend would have died on his motorcycle anyway,
That guy was going to get stabbed and by a yakuza,
Tomoko was going to leave to America and thus their relationship was fated to end regardless.
You can't change the past, and we have to live with all the questions and unresolved mysteries.
The only thing we can change is the now, which is why the MC is changing his attitude with his family... though this would have more impact if he actually HAD an established relationship with his family (from the view of the reader).
Overall, a good read that I quite enjoyed.
If you're looking for something similar, that has a bit more tooth to it, I recommend "High Position" (https://mangadex.org/title/f59b01e3-2e05-4883-a9cd-3f718363fd04/high-position)
Similar threads
