Sirk TV Manga Review: LA QUINTA CAMERA - THE FIFTH ROOM

The idea of entering and existing in foreign lands always contends a feeling of excitement and trepidation, whether in Europe or America. The passage of time contends whether one is able to connect on a basic level to the people and the area or simply let their lives slip away.In examining the transient nature of life through the vision of the roommates at an apartment in Italy, "La Quinta Camera: The Fifth Room" [Matsume Ono/Viz/188pgs] affects a belief that change is inevitable, whichever way the situations of life encumber us.The initial structure follows an exchange student coming to Italy to learn the language. She is met in trepidation on the streets by the way people treat her. Only when they figure out she is simply not passing through when her school sets up lodging with the same people she met on the streets does the brood finally open up.Through the ideas of different characters, whether getting married and having a baby, or running away from life because of the separation from a spouse years before, the narrative shows the different choices that make up our life force. An interesting perception that Ono uses is going against the cliche and instead showing a reality that might work or not. The reason the man and his wife separated is because she didn't want to have kids; only now he finds that she in fact did have one. That kind of black hole shows far-reaching possibilities because of its notions of ego. In terms of the couple having a baby and getting married, the woman in question feels that she is completely at fault with changing the life they so liked while the husband himself questions how it will change their lives but ultimately goes with it.The use of sepia tones instead of a normal black and white coloring gives the necessitation a more earthy feel in terms of being more accessible. The intonation of loneliness that finishes the book with two of the people alone on New Year's Eve while everyone is back home shows an inherent understanding of the human condition connected or not.C+