Chikyuu no Houkago · review
tl;dr: A manga with the interesting concept of slice of life type in a post-apocalyptic like setting that does very well with its slice of life aspects though is only decent in terms of its more serious story aspects. The best way I can think of to describe this would be a casual post-apocalyptic slice of life. I’ve seen stories that were a bit similar to this, but none that were as light hearted and just lite overall. While there is an overarching serious plot relating to the mystery of what’s going on, for the vast majority of the manga it is only provided as smallhints and glimpses up until things finally get revealed in the end.
What the manga is primarily composed of instead, is just the cast living their lives in a relaxed manner. This is in part explained as the protagonist simply being very competent, though some extra explanation is provided later, but ultimately despite living in a world where civilization has disappeared, it’s really not much a crisis with the only danger they face generally being pretty mild. Thus, the majority of the manga is simply a guy and group of girls having fun doing various things in a world without anyone else.
I think this is handled quite well, and results in a lot of small stories that are amusing, humorous, and quite comfy. There isn’t really any character development, but there is also solid relationship and friendship development and it feels like the cast have good chemistry, and thus they’re all pretty likable and easy to get invested in. The solution to the mystery was solid enough in that it seemed to wrap up everything that needed to be wrapped up so I would have to say I was satisfied with it, even if it had to force it at times and the finer sci-fi related details were nonsense.
The ending in terms of characters was also solid, but less so, in that while it had some good moments it felt like things didn’t really go anywhere long term. Still, I suppose that fits the running theme throughout the book, that the characters were in a sort of after school period where they could temporarily relax and have fun, but that they’d have to move on to doing what they have to do eventually. The art was solid in terms of design and framing, though a bit weak of quality, but it was used effectively enough that I still consider it really good.