This manga is one I'm probably sure to forget very soon. Why? Because it simply has nothing memorable whatsoever, no real emotional connection, no desire to see more, no truly interesting characters because none are developed in any impactful/memorable way.
It's still not too bad as a time waster since manga can be read very fast, the art isn't bad and it's a little bit interesting to see the world it's set in, where we pretty much only see a few kinds of animals, plants and so on in a post apocalyptic world. But when it comes to cleverness, comedy, story, character depth and established world settings, it leaves much to be desired.
The protagonist, the chef/old hardened dude tired of his previous gig going around in a food truck, isn't offensive in any way. Honestly, he acts in a way that fits the bill, being obviously weary of life and nothing can surprise or rile him up. But he has nothing else going for him. The girl, some artificial human (not a spoiler since it's very obvious from the start), would be very annoying normally but since she's paired with a dude who doesn't mind cooking for her and doesn't mind much when she, for example, eats all his food. The side characters have nothing worth noting either and few to no real scenes that let us get to know them.
The worldbuilding is sorely lacking. Even to the end, we just have a vague impression of the world at large. Which powers are active, what is happening, how does society work and so on. The author glosses over every single issue with no explanations, just focusing on their trip and what happens right in front of them, what they eat and so on. It feels like he had no actual plan for things, instead jumping into the story with little preparation and no intent to flesh anything out. On one hand, this gives freedom of writing, on the other it's just irresponsible and produces weak writing and very little immersion or concern for the characters.
The romance is actually not developed at all until the end where the author suddenly forces them together. I hated the ending. It was abrupt, forced and sour. Just as we get introduced to the background story of the female main character and some background stories on the protagonist and his previous friends, it's over after unmotivated and unreasonable sacrifices from all involved, because we never get to actually know them. It's as if the author just suddenly threw everything together because he wanted to end it quickly, a last minute attempt to flesh things out but failing because there wasn't enough previous material to work with. It has tons of plot holes and does nothing to fill them.
Oh, and if we're going to talk morals here, she's less than 3 years old (I assume, since it appears the project started after he left, which was only 3 years ago) and honestly her actions mirror this. Despite her adult body, her mind is juvenile at best. In my opinion, the soul age, that is, the actual age is what matters, while body age is irrelevant. So, to me a lolibaba is fine because she's an adult even if the body is childlike, at that point they can take their own informed decisions and no one has the right to claim they can't do what they want. But an actual unlearned, inexperienced and juvenile kid in an adult body is honestly not even a little bit better than generic pedophilia, it's just easier to overlook if you don't think about it since she looks adult. I personally don't really care about that part of it, but it's worth mentioning. She probably acts like a selfish 8-10 year old, I don't feel like she's attractive in any way because she's just a kid mentally. I didn't at all care for the final developments as they
suddenly, with no build up, fuck right after eating, proclaim their love for each other and then get promptly killed after a stupid little last stand, a moronic and illogical end to a subpar story, even more silly because of the last little bit where we're shown his previous comrades who copy-cat him and "takes over his role", as if replacing his role in the world. It's supposed to be bittersweet but it's just a dull and boring way to end what was building up to be a weird romcom
I think 5/10 is a fair score here. As a time waster, sure, but it's not a very fun read. Kinda like how you can watch some movies as they barely keep your attention at levels where you don't drop it because it's not that long. Since 3 volumes of this can be read in a few hours pretty easily, it's a similar thing there.
(-11)
