You’re never too old to live your dream.
Shizuo Oguro is not your typical lead character. He is a forty year old overweight man who has lived an otherwise dull and boring life. Not content with his current state and no longer happy with his career of 15 years, he quits his job, convinced he can make it as a Manga artist. Shizuo has all the makings of the biggest loser you will ever meet, and that is the largest part of why I’ll Give IT My All… Tomorrow rocks. You can’t help but root for the underdog.
Shizuo lives in the same house with his daughter and father. Unhappy with Shizuo’s decision to quit his job and become a Manga artist, his father constantly berates him and his daughter doesn’t believe in him. His ideas are constantly rejected by Manga publishers and in order to make some supplementary income, he takes a job at a burger joint. On top of that, he can’t even show up on time and his coworkers call him a manager because they think he’s so old. Every day in Shizuo’s life gives you another reason to be thankful for yours and you’ll be more thankful with each new reason this awesome volume gives you.
Highlights
I’ll Give IT My All… Tomorrow is the funniest Manga I have read to date. Gone are the super hero-like characters from most related material – they are replaced with a normal, middle aged, overweight, smelly man. The best part? Shizuo is not convinced he is any of these things. He just prances through life oblivious to how poor his situation is. It creates some of the best awkward, silly and downright ridiculous situations you’ll read through. In one case, he visits a prostitute and upon leaving comes face to face with his daughter. Because of his recent career decision, she had to turn tricks to pay for a study abroad program. Awkward indeed.
As terrible as the situation above sounds, there are plenty more that will cause a double-take upon reading them. At one point, a coworker gets on his case because he hasn’t taken a shower in two days and he turns around and spews the same advice to another friend who obviously doesn’t need it. He cracks his skull open when riding a bike and is further berated by his father for it. Toward the last part of the volume, he gets shit-faced and pukes in his father’s bedroom. This is just a normal day in the life of Shizuo Oguro, Manga artist!
My only small complaint about I’ll Give IT My All… Tomorrow is its artwork. The detail in the characters is extremely lacking, but their individual charm more than makes up for it. The emotion, or lack thereof in some cases, that Shizuo provides throughout this volume is incredible to see. His child-like demeanor seems to easily forget his countless mistakes all while continuing to pronounce that he’s going to make it. You can’t help but hope he succeeds, or at least dies trying.
As a small side note, despite the teen+ rating on this one, the themes suggested in this Manga are very adult and may be too much for the suggested teens to read. Be forewarned.
Overall
I’ll Give IT My All… Tomorrow, volume one is easily one of the funniest Manga volumes I have ever read. The quirky and lovable characters will hook you and keep you so until the last page. Do not miss this incredible first volume, you won’t regret it. This is my first ever 5 score at ComicsOnline and it deserves it.
ComicsOnline gives I’ll Give IT My All… Tomorrow 5 out of 5 overweight middle-aged men.
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