It's not Manga as you might think of it, the design seems similar, especially the Japanese attitude that centers on the surrounding, the setting of the story and describes it with loads of care to every minute detail, while treating the human participants in the story almost as if they were an after thought. In a very generalize fashion that makes most people look almost identical (they usually vary in their hair style and clothing so we can tell them apart). This aspect of Manga is still here, but the stories are nothing like the romantic or sci-fi stories Manga lovers are so familiar with. Tatsumi is interested in the real life stories of real Japanese, or to be precise, among all the stories presented in this film there's a common thread - the interest in people that can't handle success, the only one among these treated in the movie that lives well with his success is Tatsumi himself (we get to see his autobiography in between the stories) and he himself says in the film how he hated all those success stories popping up all around him in the years of the great economic boom in Japan. If this was an American movie, we'd be speaking about losers (one of the terms I detest the most) but Tatsumi has no judgmental approach to people that can't handle success, he understands them and in fact likes them better than the success driven people around them. For these stories and for the novel approach to Manga, this movie is highly recommended even if I didn't think it was perfect.
