It feels like an indie movie, in the way it almost feels like a biography of someone's youth. It feels slow, spacious, but weirdly connected in certain ways I can't fully put into words, like a moment of breath amidst a busy life. Sometimes the yearning echoes loud, sometimes the answer grasped before let go again, but the reminder of what's there, of what could be never leaves you. Maybe I am one to read into things, but Kyouji and Satomi's meals, to me, symbolize a commitment only known to them. It's brought up in one of the chapters, but unlike in the prequel, where they're connected via "karaoke", arranging meetings to have meals even when they didn't have to always feel like an attempt to connect; always a deliberate choice towards each other. Moreover, I think the meals could be read as their satisfaction in their relationship. Sure, you get to sate your hunger after one meal, feel satisfied at the moment. But the thing about hunger is it comes back, over and over, no matter how much you think you're far from being famished. Much like Satomi, there will always be a lingering yearning for more, even if not said loudly, a hunger that will never be sated.
Also I like how the story shows other characters' lives. They mostly surprise readers (and Satomi) when they show a side dissonant of their outward appearances. And in their quiet, weird ways, they are shown to also eat/visit restaurant, ergo shown to yearn connection, be it in career purposes, in familial reconnection, in wanting to be understood, or in finding a place of comfort. It's always in connection that people discover parts of themselves, even in acts as simple as eating with others. And this story pays homage to a culture of collectivism, of coincidences stemming from wanting relations.
It's befitting of the genre slice of life, but also goddang the pining is making want to commit atrocities (ノ｀Д´)ノ彡┻━┻
It feels like an indie movie, in the way it almost feels like a biography of someone's youth. It feels slow, spacious, but weirdly connected in certain ways I can't fully put into words, like a moment of breath amidst a busy life. Sometimes the yearning echoes loud, sometimes the answer grasped before let go again, but the reminder of what's there, of what could be never leaves you. Maybe I am one to read into things, but Kyouji and Satomi's meals, to me, symbolize a commitment only known to them. It's brought up in one of the chapters, but unlike in the prequel, where they're connected via "karaoke", arranging meetings to have meals even when they didn't have to always feel like an attempt to connect; always a deliberate choice towards each other. Moreover, I think the meals could be read as their satisfaction in their relationship. Sure, you get to sate your hunger after one meal, feel satisfied at the moment. But the thing about hunger is it comes back, over and over, no matter how much you think you're far from being famished. Much like Satomi, there will always be a lingering yearning for more, even if not said loudly, a hunger that will never be sated.
Also I like how the story shows other characters' lives. They mostly surprise readers (and Satomi) when they show a side dissonant of their outward appearances. And in their quiet, weird ways, they are shown to also eat/visit restaurant, ergo shown to yearn connection, be it in career purposes, in familial reconnection, in wanting to be understood, or in finding a place of comfort. It's always in connection that people discover parts of themselves, even in acts as simple as eating with others. And this story pays homage to a culture of collectivism, of coincidences stemming from wanting relations.
It's befitting of the genre slice of life, but also goddang the pining is making want to commit atrocities (ノ｀Д´)ノ彡┻━┻