If Anno was trying to have a meta-message in her manga regarding social standards, it’s difficult to understand with how inconsistent the story is at portraying this message. It feels like fiction, which I guess is why I wanted to stress this realization of the horror elements of the story. Noko makes resolves to lose weight in a healthy and safe manner, which is shot down by her boyfriend since high school Toshikiko Saito. While not protecting Noko from the harm she is doing herself, or encourage or condoning the girls character, Anno lets her live her life.

The only reason I am giving it 4 stars instead of 5 is because the ending left me a bit confused about the author's intentions. The protagonist is a woman that feels that her weight is putting her behind in several aspects of life, so we watch her going through a struggle to lose weight.While Noko started out not seeming to mind the fact that she’s fat, the bullying she encounters at work, added to the fact that her boyfriend is cheating on her, makes her think that her life would be better – and happier – if she were thin. Anno does a great job exploring the psychology of an addict, in this case a food addict, but it feels a lot more universal that that. Me hubiese gustado más enfoque desde el punto de vista de la salud mental, y que la protagonista tuviese alguna evolución a nivel psicológico, peeeero no es así. In the same way that the group of kids who will get stung by bees at birthday parties can be said to have a less enjoyable experience than the group who doesn’t get stung—even if through luck, circumstance, and outlook the bee-stung kids eventually happen to experience more joy at said parties unrelated to the bee stings.

Anno allows the reader to dwell in Noko’s thoughts, giving us insight enough into the protagonist’s sense of the world and herself. Anno’s art looks consistently professional, even with the series being one of her earlier endeavors.It’s hard to explain to others the compulsion to eat, particularly when there isn’t a “valid” excuse for it. Today, I’ll be reviewing a particular josei manga that explores this aspect of Japanese culture and still manages to be relevant despite being published 18 years ago.

In the present circumstance in which the world finds itself circa the beginning of the third millennium AD, sexual objectification (esp. To Noko, being 5 pounds overweight means being miles away from happiness in her love life and in her work-place. However, for those who struggle with the same issues, it will be familiar (perhaps to the point of being a bit of a binge trigger)–and just as frustrating as facing it yourself.

For one, the cast of ICCF is almost exclusively female, so there is a lot more going on then just one woman bullying another.