Enjoyable, hilarious and fun! A 40-year-old man quits his job in order to become a manga artist/writer. Problem is… Oguro is lazy and not exactly a good writer or artist.  Can the lazy Oguro manage to get a manga published? Volume two features other slackers close to Oguro, his new young friend Shuichi and his father. Definitely recommended!
© 2007 Shunju Aono/Shogakukan. All Rights Reserved.
MANGA TITLE: I’ll Give It My All…Tomorrow – Volume 2
STORY AND ART BY: Shunju Aono(é’野 春秋)
FIRST PUBLISHED IN JAPAN: Shogakukan, Inc.
PUBLISHED IN USA BY: VIZ Media, LLC
RATED: T for Older Teen
Throughout his heretofore unimpressive existence, Shizuo Oguro adopted several different – yet all equally mediocre – personas: phenomenally unintimidating street punk, materialistic yet talentless folk musician, nondescript office worker, and forty-something burger joint employee. Can Shizuo, a man with an unblemished track record for failure, eventually channel his life experiences into a publishable work that will shake the manga industry to its very core, or will he continue to feel the cruel sting of rejection time and time again?
Once in a while, I get the opportunity to read a manga that comes out of nowhere and just surprises the hell out of me.
A storyline that relies on no supernatural storyline, nor the characters being the top of their class, very rich or very beautiful or handsome. If anything a storyline that is very close to reality and for those who do read manga, these type of storylines let alone a series are often a rarity to see released in the U.S.
Here we are with “I’ll Give It My All..Tomorrow” (Ore wa mada Honki Dashite Nai dake) by Shunju Aono is one of those manga series.
Aono won the “Young Magazine 45th Chiba Tetsuya Award” in the Newcomer’s Category in 2001 and in 2005, won the 17th Ikkiman Ikki Newcomer’s Award and debuted with “Somato” (Kaleidoscope) which would eventually become his manga series “I’ll Give It My All…Tomorrow” and is featured on Ikki Magazine and has had three graphic novels released each year since 2007.
The story revolves around a man named Shizuo Oguro who just turned 40-years-old. He’s a single father with a teenager named Suzuko and lives with his father. He also just quit his corporate job which he had worked as a Subsection Chief for over 15 years and is now trying to find himself.
Now, jobless and lazy, Oguro sits at home playing with his Sony PlayStation 2 and because of is lack of doing anything, angers his father.
That is until Oguro decides that his goal in life is to become a manga artist.
The problem is that Oguro is not an artist, nor does he have the focus to write a good story and each time he submits one to a manga publisher, it’s not the right content they are looking for (their nicest way to reject him).
But Oguro is determined to create a manga series and to step things up in his life by working a fast food job that will allow him to make a little money but work on his new passion in trying to create a manga.
In the first volume, Oguro continually gets chastised by his father to get a job, meanwhile he finds out that his smart daughter has been earning money by becoming a prostitute, finds a job at a fast food restaurant and because of his age, the younger people refer him as “manager” despite not being one. He also meets a younger guy named Shuichi and befriends him.
Shuichi is like a younger version of Oguro and is unable to keep a job and tends to get himself in fights.
Volume two continues to focus on Oguro as he tries to become a manga artist and prove to his father that he’s not a slacker, meanwhile Shuichi thinks about his life and wonders if he will be like Oguro.
In the second volume of “I’ll Give It My All…Tomorrow”, here is a non-spoiler breakdown of each chapter:
- Chapter 5: Miracle – Oguro continues to submit his manga to a publisher and see if he will finally get his manga published.
- Chapter 6: Principle – Shuichi works at a bar and doesn’t like how the new employee is being treated.
- Chapter 7: Our Future – Oguro gets in an argument with his father and tries to prove that he can leave home and tries to find friends that will take him in.
- Chapter 8: Middle Age 101 – Oguro meets the editor Meguro and the manga publishing company and is falling for her.
- Chapter 9: Smile – Shuichi has enough of how his boss is treating the new employee.
- Chapter 10: Hey Master – Oguro’s father tells Shuichi a story of how he is a slacker too and how he and Oguro were after his wife died.
- Bonus Chapter: Back Then – Part 1 – Shuichi’s sister Yukako talks about her life and how she has always wanted to get Shuichi’s attention and goes to visit him.
- Bonus Chapter: Back Then – Part 2 – Shuichi’s sister Yukako re-evaluates her life and the things she done.
- Extra: “Letters Corner” – Shunju Aono prints a few of the letters of those who have read volume 1 of his manga.
Overall, “I’ll Give it My All…Tomorrow” is quite an interesting manga. It’s protagonist is pretty much a lazy bum who plays video games all day long but he does show enthusiasm at times in trying to create a manga. If anything, he’s not a hikikkomori (depressed unsociable people who stays indoors all the time) as he is able to get out, hang out with people of all age groups, having sex with prostitute but despite having a social life, he is a guy that suffers from bad body odor and emits the aura of laziness.
So, it’s interesting to see the life around him. His daughter who wants to study abroad and makes a job decision which shocks her own father. Then there is Oguro’s father who is always on his case to do something with his life. But it’s interesting to see the people that Oguro associates with. May it be a person with a criminal record, a depressed and divorced father or a suicidal woman, he tends to attract interesting people into his life.
If anything, “I’ll Give It My All…Tomorrow” is a rare treat to see here in the US. The manga is different in not just storyline and its characters but also Aono’s style of illustration and for those wanting to try something more realistic but also humorous and odd, this is one manga series I can easily recommend.
It’s important to note that because Aono has only released three volumes thus far since 2007 (makes you wonder if Aono and the character Oguro have something in common), the third volume is set for May 2011 and who knows when we will see a fourth volume.
But still, it’s a fun manga series because it’s not that farfetched. Many people quite their dayjobs to pursue something that they love at an older age, despite not being good at it. But for them, the fact that they tried it and have no regrets is important. But for Oguro and the storyline in “I’ll Give It My All…Tomorrow”, the people around Oguro, young and old, are each slackers in their own way.
While one wonders if there is hope with Oguro, volume 2 tends to give us a glimmer of hope that the younger Shuichi may at least have some potential, despite losing every job he has because he has a short fuse.
Anyway, this is a manga series that is not like anything you will see out there. Humorous and enjoyable, “I’ll Give It My All…Tomorrow” vol. 2 is definitely recommended!