A moving autobiographical manga about her father’s alcoholism that inspired a critically acclaimed live-action film.
Mariko Kikuchi tells the painful story of her father’s alcoholism and her own journey through guilt to understanding her father’s illness. She rejects the common belief that family members can and should be forgiven for anything they do, no matter how much harm they cause. This powerful, self-contained autobiographical manga began as a web series that went viral, and inspired a critically acclaimed 2019 film in Japan.
This is a painful manga to read. It’s autobiographical, and the title very much tells you what you’re in for.
The mangaka speaks of how she grew up with an alcoholic father and the reflections she’s made regarding her life until the present. Dealing with him has fucked her over, a shadow on her life for her whole life. She finds herself hating her father for the effect he has had on her life and how much she has ended up hating him— and yet still loving her father, because he still was her father.
This for me is a struggle to read, but to watch the mangaka work through her feelings is somewhat cathartic.
