@criver It's all about the mentality of Japanese people. First, in Japanese culture there is a cult of work, a person who is unemployed for any reason is a failure in the eyes of society, and one thing Japanese fearing the most is to be blamed and shunned by society, which is REALLY harsh. The other thing in to cause inconvenience to someone (ANYONE). These are two main points of Japanese mentality. Second, the problem lies in the structure of Japanese economy. In 70s-80s there was a big boom and Japan flourished with all types of big companies and conglomerates which offered their employees a lifetime contracts with full social support. This was a synonym for stability (especially considering post-war state of the country) and it also aligns well with old Japanese mentality "a samurai must have a shogun to serve". You can see how it all began and where black companies emerged from.
@Ribath Yes, and this applies too, there are a lot of social elevators like that, "school - uni - parent company". Well, there are a lot of ones in almost any country, especially for government-operated companies.
@Rheeve Simply quitting a job is certainly NOT a black mark of any kind, there are other reasons not to do it. 1) Hard to find a new job, and it's as harder as you're older. It's generally true for elder people near the retirement age, especially in my country, but in Japan it becomes harder progressively, unless your occupation is relatively unique or heavily skill-based, and you're not just a "white collar" manager. There is also a system of wage rising where your wage is proportional to your years of service in a certain company, and if another company employs you, there's a dilemma - to pay you more just because you're older (with no proven experience) or to pay you as a newbie (but then you'll receive less or refuse offer outright). Another reason is that Japanese companies (especially big ones) are pretty much closed environments and could rarely be open for new people "from outside", they're interested in employing students for lifetime contracts mentioned above (it's also much more simple for them). 2) If you don't have any savings (and given your wages in a black company, you don't, as well as Worker-san here), you're as well could be dead, a vast majority of suicides in Japan have money troubles as one of the reasons, along with society-induced depression, stress from overworking and personal troubles. Life in Japan IS expensive.
Thankfully, nowadays Japan changes and new generations are much more open to quitting a job and finding a new one, as well as employers are, but it's still a LONG way to go. Not to mention that the internal corporate culture still remains the same.
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Beside all of that... I knew that this will be a short manga given the pace and plot structure, but it's still sad to see it being finalized. It is really good and heartwarming, and there is a lot of potential at least for another volume with relationships developing and characters growing. I really want someone like Lily-san here too...
