きみを死なせないための物語 1

This is a sci-fi shoujo manga, which we don’t see so much of nowadays. It was #7 on the 2018 このマンガがすごい！ranking, and in 2021 won the Seiun Award for Best Comic.

Humanity now lives on space stations that orbit the earth, called “cocoons.” There are observation cameras everywhere, and contracts define social relationships. The protagonists of the story are Neoteny, a new type of human with an extremely long lifespan. They physically grow up and age slowly and in this volume, at age 20, they still outwardly appear to be children. On a trip to the red-light district, they meet a young woman with Daphne Syndrome, which causes her to have an extremely short life span.

I found the beginning a bit confusing because of the world building aspects happening along with meeting the characters, so I re-read the first chapter after reading the second. I didn’t find the middle part of this volume that compelling, but when I finished it I felt like I had to skim the whole thing again for the details I’d missed, and wanted to know what happens next.