This alt manga, published in the 80s, follows a housewife raising her children, with societal norms being forefront in the depiction of home life. She is very stark in what she is content with and what she isn’t, and her observations of inequality between sexes are starkly drawn. I think it’s fairly subversive of current manga too, let alone back then. Each set, serialized, is a short vignette, basically a musing on a specific thing. Most are relatable and I think her interiority is very well rendered.

The art style is quite sparse, but works very well. It’s a nice contrast between male dominated art style too, which is thematically appropriate. The only reason this doesn’t get 5 stars from me, is that it ends really abruptly. Partly this is because an essay of the importance of the work starts from the left and you read from the right, so you think you have a few stories left to go, but you don’t. But also, there is no “arc” or plot, and so the last story mostly feels like another one. And towards the end there emerges a thematic through line that cooould be addressed, but isn’t really. I imagine they just didn’t know it was going to end and then it does. The essay at the back (front) is really interesting reading, though. Very edifying and helps situate a lot more context for western readers, such as myself.