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That Time the Manga Editor Started a New Life in the Countryside · Dad Needs To Talk

• 0:03
  What's up, Y'all? And welcome back to Dad Needs to
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  Talk. I'm at Harsh Robert and today
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  today I'm gonna be touching on volume one of that time the
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  manga editor started a new life in the countryside.
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  Now this series was an unexpected surprise because so
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  sometimes we jump into stuff, you know, either just by
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  happenstance, out of curiosity, whatever.
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  And that is kind of what happened with me with this,
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  because I I guess I didn't like fully read the full title before
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  I had to put in a request for it or whatever, because I was like
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  the cover looks interesting, the title seems interesting.
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  I originally thought it was a asicai.
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  It is not just I can be clear up from but y'all know I love my
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  Isa Kai's so I started reading you know that time the manga
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  editor started a new life okay isa Kai boom request but it
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  definitely was not that but it ended up being something so much
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  more so the series the story is written by the Arthur Kumaga
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  which from what I understand I think that's his this is his
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  first series he's ever done and the art is done by hishawa me as
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  our now the series in Japan is already completed.
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  It was a short series only about 30 something chapters which for
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  what it is makes sense. Oh and by the way I forgot to
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  mention this is published by Kodancha but from what I from
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  what I can tell it's not going to get a physical release at
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  least not yet. It's just going to be digital
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  only. But yeah, so this series follows
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  a 35 year old manga editor named Yohe Sakuma, who basically he's
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  working at a manga magazine who after he's worth it for 13
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  years, you know, one day the hires come in being like, hey,
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  the magazine is shutting down and several months, whatever,
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  and that's it. And so this story is basically
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  kind of like a slice of life so to speak type of story.
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  And it basically follows this Arthur's journey of basically
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  just trying to figure out what he actually wants to do in his
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  life because shout out to all the adults out there and extra
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  shout out to all the 30 plus year olds like myself.
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  I'm 33 right now, like, so the the the this main captain, he's
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  35 and so basically the author kind of starts to have conflicts
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  or a internal struggle as far as like what he actually wants to
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  do with his life because he's like, man, I've put 13 years
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  into this and we're getting shut down and I don't know if I have
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  it in me to try to move and transition to another company or
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  to continue doing this, whatever.
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  Basically he's feeling burnt out and that basically leads him
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  down a rabbit hole where he ends up renting out a plot of land
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  out in the country. It's about two hours out away
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  from where he works and he begins growing a rice farm in a
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  a rice Paddy field. And I don't know man like this.
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  The story of this, like, really hit me in so many ways because
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  I've been in the spot before and I'm sure a lot of, a lot of us,
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  a lot of you out there listening or watching.
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  We've all encountered these different points in our lives
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  where we have worked somewhere, either worked at a place or
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  worked on a project or something or whatever, And things that are
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  out of our control ends up leading to it coming to an end
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  or something not going right. And then we kind of come in a
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  crossroads of like do I want to continue doing this or do I want
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  to find another passion. And of course in the case of
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  the, the MC here, he's also in a very interesting situation where
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  not only you know has he put all this time into this, whatever,
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  but he is also a newlywed. He's been married to his wife
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  for for sure, I think less than a year.
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  And so kind of the thought of having to basically, you know,
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  just be like, hey, I'm not really feeling this job anymore.
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  To someone who he just married. Which shout to his wife because
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  she is also a professional cosplayer, which is something
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  that I love seeing throughout this and I'll talk about more in
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  a second. But but she, she is super dope.
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  I love her design and stuff too. Yeah, so, so, so he also has,
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  you know, the the worry of how he support his, you know, new
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  family, whatever. And hey, as myself, this is dad
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  needs to talk. Not only me being married, being
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  in my 30s, but I have 5 kids and so I've been in this situation
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  before as well to where it's like, man, I I want to make a
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  move, but I also want to make sure I'm not just jumping in and
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  out of stuff, whatever. Because, you know, it's not just
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  me I have to worry about. And so, so, yeah, so, so he
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  begins growing this rice Paddy field or this, this pot of land,
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  which even that itself was something very interesting to
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  kind of follow. Because while I grew up in the
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  country, back home, for most of my childhood, growing up,
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  whatever, I never really had to do like much actual, like
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  farming stuff, whatever. I had to do a lot of farm work.
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  My grandma had a very big yard and stuff but but, but so I am
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  familiar with the kind of slow Country Life and things like
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  that. And so watching this character
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  kind of go through this internal struggle which he he does
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  eventually kind of make the move to going more into being a
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  farmer and stuff like that. But I feel like this is just a
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  story in general that a lot of people can find something to
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  relate to within it. And so another interesting
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  aspect about this as well as I as I was kind of doing a little
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  bit more digging into the actual author of the series of Kumaga.
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  Whatever. Now maybe I might be misreading
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  this, whatever, but I think that this manga is actually loosely
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  based on his actual life. Because as I'm scrolling through
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  his Twitter feed and stuff, whatever, going back, even just
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  stuff from just six months ago, within the last six months,
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  whatever he talked, he's talking about going out into the, you
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  know, growing crops and stuff like this, all types of like
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  nature pictures him farming, growing various crops or
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  whatever. And I'm like, is is this like a
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  story of a story? Because that's another element
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  of this I forgot to mention up top is that the story basically
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  kind of starts off with this guy talking to a editor in chief
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  being like, hey, there's this guy I used to work with named
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  Kumasan from a previous job. He quit after after the magazine
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  went under, basically went Mia for many years.
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  And he kind of he's coming back whatever.
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  And this kind of leads to the main character of Sakoma talking
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  to this editor in chief about his experience and he's as he's
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  retelling the story, the editor in chief is like, hey, how would
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  you like to tell the rest of your story in a manga?
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  And so this feels like this has multiple layers to where
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  potentially the real life author of this series may have went
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  through something like this and told somebody and now he is
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  creating a manga about creating a manga about a a former manga
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  editor turned farmer coming back into manga.
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  So it it's it's it's a couple of different layers in there that I
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  kind of like really love. But but yeah but as I was kind
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  of like just scrolling through the authors page and stuff
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  whatever just like sending these pictures just like something hit
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  me. I don't know if just a mixture
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  of nostalgia for my childhood growing up like say in the
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  country and thinking of it from the aspect of the main character
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  of the story, but like, it really hit me in a unexpected
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  emotional way, just seeing the pictures of nature and stuff
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  like that. But, but All in all that, this
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  was a very enjoyable and heartwarming read.
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  Just watching him go from getting hit with this harsh
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  reality of like, oh, I'm about to lose my job and the struggle
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  of wanting to quit. But the pressures of not just
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  his personal life, but pressures from his boss being like, I know
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  it's a bit of a shock. You know, the news and stuff,
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  whatever, but you really don't want to quit, you know, we can
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  really use you. How about you stick around for a
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  while? And I love this one manga panel,
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  which I didn't really catch until the second time I read.
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  I read through this beginning part the second time and it kind
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  of has a shot giving homage to Attack on Titan and literally if
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  you watch the Attack on Titan this part will sound familiar.
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  That day I was given a grim reminder of the terror of being
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  dominated by a company and the shame of being held captive
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  within these walls and shot. And so the image shows his boss
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  over the top of like the the the kind of like cubicle side and it
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  kind of like added like smoke in the background for effect or
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  whatever, like the Colossal Titan looking over the wall and
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  Attack on Titan. And so I I love that kind of
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  that kind of comparison and stuff.
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  But I just enjoyed seeing this start of his journey.
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  First going out to the rice petty fields and putting in
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  work, planting the seeds. And over time, you know, having
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  to work on it, pull out the weeds, watching the stuff grow.
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  And then eventually gain the courage to talk to his wife
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  about the situation, her being supportive of it.
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  And then them choosing to basically uproot their lives and
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  move out and find a home in the countryside near this rice Paddy
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  farm so that, you know, they can best just kind of start this new
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  life. And just like I said, you're
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  just seeing just that that passion, that drive was
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  something that I really needed right now.
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  And I hope that anybody out there that might be listening or
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  watching this, hopefully if you read it or check it out, you
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  might find something that you can draw from it as well.
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  And so that's why I didn't want to like go into like super
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  specific details because it's it's not necessarily that I'm
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  worried about spoiling it or whatever, but it's more so this
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  is something that I feel like you'll get a lot more out of
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  from actually reading it yourself.
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  Because like I said, like sometimes we all kind of are
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  going through different experiences and stuff and we can
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  each probably pull something little Nuggets from things that
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  can relate to what we're going through in life with what Sakoma
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  and his wife are going through in the story as well.
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  And last of the things I just want to kind of just touch on
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  with the story, whatever. Like I said, I was just kind of
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  skimming through it again. Is that in the early part before
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  he fully commits to leaving his job?
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  I definitely felt this part where you know he he's been
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  doing the going out, doing the farming stuff a little bit for
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  several weeks at this point or whatever.
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  And he's there out the window. And I love the imagery of the
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  smoke from his cup of coffee floating out the window as he's
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  looking at it at the cityscape. But then he slowly is imagining
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  the rice Patty farm and he's just like and he just started
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  snow tearing up like like I I want to go back to the Patty but
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  but yeah and and and and I also enjoy a lot of the other side
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  characters and stuff along the way.
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  He has a close but if he is within the the manga editor
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  world who is on the opposite side of him to where like he's
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  worked 13 years in the industry but he never really found a
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  story or he never worked in a story that was like a big
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  success, whatever. Whereas his friend continues to
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  get banger after banger after banger of stories out and stuff.
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  But his friend is still always there to kind of like talk to
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  him, to support him. And in turn when they move out
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  into this community, whatever the people that are on the farm
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  or in the farm community, whatever, being there to support
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  them, to help them out. Learning the ropes of, you know,
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  planting the seeds and pulling the weeds and stuff.
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  And then eventually when they find a home and stuff like that,
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  it was just such a beautiful thing, just seeing the community
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  come together to support this young guy's journey and then
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  closing. I'll end with this.
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  Whether you do get a chance to read this series, check it out,
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  or you just hear the words that I am saying, I hope that what
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  I've said today or what you might read in the story might
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  kind of help encourage you or push you along the way towards
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  your dreams. Or even just maybe kind of
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  helping you figure out how you actually are feeling about.
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  Whether it be your work situation, life situation, where
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  the case may be or whatever. To be like Kumasan and his wife
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  Miu, where they have an awesome support system.
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  And sometimes there are people that that will support us.
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  But we also have to be able to, you know, step up and speak on
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  our hopes and dreams and our desires because there are often
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  times more people there to support us and have our backs
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  than sometimes what we realize. But like I said, sometimes it
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  just takes having somebody there to kind of give you that extra
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  push of support or words of encouragement to help us along
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  the way. But, but do not be discouraged
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  whether it be like say work life, a project where the case
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  may be or whatever, because there are brighter days ahead
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  for you, for all of us. And like I said, I I just didn't
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  really expect to have all these feelings and to be and to be
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  talking this long about this series when I went into it.
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  But I am very happy that I did. And once again shout out to both
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  the Arthur and the artist, because I also really love all
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  these different little cover pages for the different chapters
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  and stuff, whatever with like the different art styles and
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  stuff. It's like I really don't really
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  cool, but but yeah, like I said this is just like something very
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  interesting to read and stuff so and so I encourage you to do the
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  same. And like I said, this is from
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  Kodacha Digital only as of when I'm reading it and it'll be out
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  early October. So put it on your radar, please
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  check it out and if you have, come back and let me know your
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  thoughts on the series or just your thoughts on anything I had
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  to say. But as always, that's it for me.
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  Thank you so much for watching and or listening and you can
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  find me everywhere at Danny's to talk.
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  Let's conversate and I'll catch y'all in the next one.
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  Y'all, be easy and take care of yourselves.
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  Peace.