Whereas Kabi-sensei’s first two works shared some of her internal and mental issues, My Alcoholic Escape From Reality is more of a physical experience for both her and the readers. And while the newest entry doesn’t reach the peaks of introspective reflection as its predecessors do, it doesn’t take away from the quality and is still a great read for fans of the series. Kabi-sensei’s struggle to draw and write manga about herself is no secret to anyone reading, and the hesitance is as clear as day after she reveals that she and her mother talked about how much of their private relationships they’re comfortablewith sharing to the public. Quite ironic, isn’t it? A writer who’s most successful when writing about her struggles now struggles with sharing her more personal struggles and ends up encountering newfound struggles overcoming her creative block. But the recurring theme of one problem leading to another isn’t a huge surprise at this point.

The third installment doesn’t pick up right where the second left off, but it wouldn’t be wrong to say that the second leads up to the third. After trying to deal with moving out, living alone, and periodically moving back in with her parents, our tragic hero picks up a habit of alcoholism, which is lightly touched upon in the second and is now the main focus of the third. Through this she hits not exactly a new low, but a different low, where her unhealthy physical body has finally caught up with her deteriorating mind and now she must find a new way to well… live. Whether it be intermittent stomach pains, a demotivating hospital diet, or an irritating IV drip, Kabi-sensei carefully illustrates how ordinarily negligible pains become considerably more painful when stacked upon an already anxious and draining lifestyle. She’s no model citizen (and she acknowledges this), and while it’s easy to just take her mistakes as decisions NOT to make, I think there’s more value to be found in learning how her mistakes made her a stronger, slightly more capable person.

The main internal struggle of this entry deals with Kabi-sensei deciding whether or not to continue writing memoirs or to switch to writing fiction. This struggle is outlined by the unfolding of events in her hospital but is also apparent in how she approaches this book itself. Like I mentioned before, there is a clear hesitance for her to share her relationships with her friends and family compared to her previous books, whether it be because she thinks it’s wrong or that her writing’s getting stale. It leads her to digress into writing about her more surface-level, obvious struggle in a sickbed and stretch a month-long hospitalization into something readable. That’s why to me, this doesn’t directly feel like a 3rd entry but a 2.5th. But as she finds a new level of solace in her writing style following this condensed experience, I am left feeling confident that Kabi-sensei will deliver a new, compelling sequel to come.