Jitsuroku: Adachi Mitsuru Monogatari

Ever wondered who Mitsuru Adachi's loser older brother was? No? Bad luck then because that's what this manga is about.

You can forget about the title of this thing because dressing a biography of Mitsuru Adachi is NOT what this is aiming to do. The most you're gonna get is a bit about their relationship as brothers and some infos about Mitsuru's debut eluded in a few pages.

It's not exactly about Tsutomu's career either because he didn't have much of a career. It's more about Tsutomu Adachi making fun of his own lack of talent compared to his brother except I can't say this is any fun at all because he has no talent for comedic timing and his own character is completely insufferable, so constantly bragging about himself and acting like an asshole that all you'll want to do is to slap him in the face. Also, expect it to be filled with uninteresting textwalls and to look like ass: chibis look amateurish at best and there's some weird transitions to low quality photography that don't fit at all

I don't know who are the people that are supposed to like this manga but at least you're warned.

Tsutomu Adachi is a nobody in the grand scheme of manga. He won a rookie award early in his career and never amounted to anything. His only real notability is his relationship with his brother, Mitsuru Adachi, who is notorious for his sports romcoms that have been published for decades.

It's a manga by a nobody that didn't have enough talent to succeed on his own. How could this manga be any good?

I think this manga succeeds because its story is very unique and very genuine. Tsutomu isn't a great illustrator - his art is quite poor. But that's what the story is about, his poor art skills. The manga is a product of its own story.

It's also a relic of a bygone era; Tsutomu often brings up artists that were generally unsuccessful and lampoons them. These artists are regarded as even less noteworthy today than Tsutomu himself.

But, my favorite part of this manga is the relationship between these two brothers. Mitsuru labels him a failure, and Tsutomu takes credit for his success, but you can tell they really did care for each other.

You probably won't get anything out of this series unless you are a diehard Mitsuru Adachi fan, but as a short, funny read, it kept me interested.

Rest in Peace, Mr. Adachi. you wrote an unremarkable manga, but your influence sure left a mark.