I want to start by saying this is not normally the type of manga I read, but I really liked it. It is the story of a comic creator who found his big story. He had a super successful run, but now what? He worries he will never be able to duplicate the success of his last project and his entire life starts to fall apart.

I really enjoyed Downfall. He's a mangaka who hates manga. I love that contradiction. It is definitely meant for an older audience. Not only are some of the situations meant for more mature readers, I don't think a younger audience would necessarily pick up on the subtle aspects of his problems. The art is beautiful.

Created by Inio Asano

<b>2 star</b>

*Thank you to the author and Netgalley for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

Nope, not for me!

My first Inio Asano manga book. Probably my last, too, if his other works are in the same lane as <i>"Downfall."</i> Just a personal preference, I don't typically enjoy "adult" manga or graphic scenes in manga, so this was not something that held any appeal to me at all. It was also very dull and depressing and I don't favour books like that.

Downfall by Inio Asano, 240 pages. GRAPHIC NOVEL. VIZ Media, 2020. $14.
Language: PG (2 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: R; Violence: PG13
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - NO
AUDIENCE APPEAL: LOW
Fukasawa doesn’t know what to do now that he’s finished his manga series. Without selling more manga, everything starts to fall apart around him. The only solution is to sell more manga -- right?
I found a lot of Fukasawa’s story confusing but especially the beginning and the end. I’m not really sure how everything turned out because there seemed to be some time skipping at the end. Overall, though, this story simply wasn’t fun to read because Fukasawa is an unlikable character. I was sick of listening to him whine after the first chapter, and I only got more frustrated because of the poor choices he was making. Furthermore, the nudity in this manga horrified me; it's basically pornography. The mature content and violence ratings are for prostitution, vaginal and oral sex, and rape.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

The art and writing are perfectly fine. The story just wasn’t good. Worth noting this is an adult manga, not suitable for young children.

I feel like this starts out as two different stories. One appears to be the story of how manga artists start out loving what they do and then quickly learn that it’s an industry like any other. What they want to do, doesn’t really matter, they’ll do what they’re told. And they end up hating their industry. Surely that kind of disillusionment applies to many folks not just those working in manga, So that aspect is relatable. The second story is the story of a man barreling in on being middle-aged. His wife and he are never on the same page. He’s become miserable, relying on prostitutes to fulfill his need for attention. Some aspects of that could have also been relatable.

I was at a solid 3 for most of the book. They things turned violent in a way that made no sense. In the end it turns out this is really only the story of a man who is so miserable that success, marriage, friends, fans none of it is good enough for him.

Thing is in this case I don’t feel sorry for him at all. He raped someone who loved him just because he doesn’t know how to make himself happy. She wasn’t perfect, but she obviously didn’t deserve the abuse he gave her.. I just don’t see the point of this story. It sounds more interesting that it is. Thought I was going to get a story about a man frustrated with a stagnant life, instead I got poor me, some more poor me, and a touch more poor me with a sexual assault thrown in the mix.

Inio Asano’s latest volume, Downfall, is a complicated story to discuss. There’s no denying the craft of the thing. Asano is a master cartoonist and his skill is on full display in Downfall. It’s the subject matter that requires more nuance to discuss. Downfall is the story of a manga artist hot off of his first series, and with no idea what to do next. His previous series saw declining readership, and he doubts his place in the industry. This complicates his relationship with his wife, a manga editor who is always doting on other, more popular artists. He seeks solace in young sex workers while, at the same time, channeling his inner frustration outwards towards his assistants.
There are several details in the story that make the lead character seem like a stand-in for Asano himself. The story is Asano channeling his frustration with the manga industry. It's an industry that rewards those who give it an almost sociopathic level of devotion. Downfall is an unflattering look at the people this system attracts and of the kind of depraved behavior that it inspires and rewards.
On that level, the book succeeds. If that kind of big picture, big idea storytelling is what you’re coming for, you’ll find it here. But the book and its protagonist do not treat female characters well. They’re objects for the protagonists’ desire, they’re victims of his rage, and -- in more than one instance -- targets of his harassment and assault. Asano does this with purpose, revealing another level of depravity in his malicious main character. He’s not asking for sympathy. But it’s important you understand what you’re getting into when you open up Downfall. It’s all about staring into the darkness and, and there’s no light to find here.
Downfall is a grim story. It exposes all the flaws in the system and the people who chose to be part of it without offering anything in the way of hope for change. It lives up to its title, chronicling the downward spiral of its main character, one that began, it reveals, well before he got his first job in the industry. But to tell the story, the narrative treats its female supporting character the same way that the protagonist does, as objects. If you can understand the reasons for that and stomach some of its difficult material, there’s a story here that’s well told. But it’d be hard to fault anyone for seeing this a darkened path not worth traveling down.

Strange.
Strange and disturbing. Trying to collect my thoughts on this and although I wasn’t unhappy with it overall that completely went out of the window when the protagonist assaulted his wife near the end of the manga. It’s not enough that he cheats on her constantly because he’s a struggling mangaka artist but to attempt to rape her and basically coerce her to have sex with him...

This was a confusing read. One that I guess I could have had more sympathy towards the main character of he didn’t have such a bad personality and morals. It was just constant whining and violence.

The art is beautiful however.

2.5/5

Thanks very much to Netgalley.

A semi-autobiographical piece about the author's life. When he finishes the run of his first successful Manga, the protagonist sinks into a deep and self-destructive depression. He feels he can't be true to his art, because the goal of the manga industry is to sell copies, not to tell unique and original stories, which is what he has always wanted to do.
So, he responds to his depression by destroying his entire life. He fires his assistants, starts sleeping with hookers and leaves his wife, who he is also violent to later on. He also tries to begin a relationship with a much younger call girl he becomes obsessed with because she reminds him of an old girlfriend whom he secretly kind of hated.
It's not uplifting, the characters aren't likeable in any way, but it's raw and it's as honest as it is uncomfortable to read.

Oh boy, <em>Downfall</em>. <a href="https://twitter.com/Spindilly/status/1228270772285825025">I <em>hated</em> it</a>. It follows a manga creator whose life is spiralling out of control. He's just finished his series and has no idea how to follow it; his marriage is breaking down, and his favourite sex worker isn't taking his calls anymore and OH MY GOD I'M BORED. I'M SO BORED. I don't care about stories about awful men and their sad erections! I don't care about men who take their frustrations about their creativity and their cultural relevance and the existance of other creators out on the women around them! I don't care about stories where the character not only fails to learn and grow over the story, but <em>actively resists it</em>! The fact that the protagonist gets so much of what he wants at the end – he outsells a woman he harrassed, coerces his ex-wife into sex to get her to finish divorcing him, starts a new series that sells well – is actively infuriating.

I'm trying to work out what the <em>point</em> of this story is. The art is very good, and I <em>know</em> that the creator can talk about the struggle of life not following the path you want because I have <em>read</em> <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3430763-solanin">Solanin</a>, but this... I can't tell if my annoyance is the point! I can't tell if the boredom and vague disgust I feel at this man destroying everything he touches is what I'm <em>supposed</em> to be feeling! Maybe it's supposed to be a story about how the author is dead, based on the scene where a fan mentions that his work – his "kindness" and "sincerity" – is what kept her alive, but honestly I <em>don't know</em>.

I hoped that this was going to be a manga about creativity and trying to live up to your own expectations let alone anyone else's, and what I got was "Sad straight man fails to understand how he's his own worst enemy." I don't recommend it.[Caution warnings: attempted rape, dubious consent, references to harrassment and suicidal ideation]

I don't think anyone does depression in comic form as well as Inio Asano, and Downfall especially encapsulates that suffocating, inescapable feeling perfectly. It's not absurdist or as tragic as his other manga, not as impactful as Goodnight Punpun--but it's a strong runner-up for me. I love it.

<i>arc provided by the publisher and netgalley in exchange for an honest review</i>

I really did not like this one.

I knew going into it that the mood would be a lot darker but I didn’t realize how angry and arrogant the main character would be the entire time. He doesn’t even self-reflect by the end and see what he’s doing to himself and others, he just blames ‘cat-eyed women’.

There also was this sexual assault scene that made me extremely uncomfortable.

Overall, I really did not like this manga at all.

1/5 ⭐️

TW: sexual assault (graphic attenpted rape scene), depression

⭐️1 Star

My thoughts about this book can be summarised by one phrase ‘what a waste’.

I normally enjoy books with unlikable protagonists but I feel let down by this manga. Although I really enjoyed the discussion it provokes about burnout and the creative process as a whole, I am conflicted because I feel like the protagonist's stagnancy simultaneously took away from and really established his arc.

The depression of the character is palpable. It seeps into all aspects of the story and informs the readers' opinion about all of the other characters we meet. However, this focus on the mental health of the protagonist meant that these secondary characters were one-dimensional foils and the women in this manga were heavily cliched and obviously viewed through the lens of the male gaze. Many of the scenes that included female characters were uncomfortable to read and I considered DNFing this book more than once. The rape scene was one of the worst scenes I have read his year so far and although I understand that it was the cumulation of the protagonists desire for control as seen by his encounters with prostitutes throughout the mange, I hate that he faced no consequences for this.

I think this is my main issue with this book. I didn’t enjoy that there were no consequences for his actions and this meant the ending was underwhelming. I think that this book could have been a startling commentary on power, depression and creation if it were handled in a different way.

Should Read This Book if you Like:
+ Unlikable Protagonists. 🙍🏽♂️
+Commentary On The Creative Process And Burnout.🧠
+Male-Centric Plot Focussing On Unhealthy Relationships With Women.👫

Trigger Warnings: Depression, Anxiety, Self-Harm, Prostitution, Sexual Assault.

I received an advance review copy for free via NetGalley. I am leaving this review voluntarily 📚.

I love a good adult manga, and this was a good adult manga.
The art style is gorgeous and felt more unique compared to other manga art styles I have read previously, there are sexually explicit scenes and attempted rape so please be wary. The manga follows a successful manga artist as his beloved series comes to an end and the crisis he undergoes struggling to remain relevant in such a competitive field.


We see him start to come to terms with his career possibly ending, how this effects his romantic and professional relationships and the grief that comes with it. This story felt very real and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, would recommend to fans of hard hitting contemporary fiction and manga.

I still on the fence about this one. If you're a fan of Asano's work, then go for it. But if not, definitely choose another one to start.

As a pretty big fan of Asano's work, I was excited for this one. But it felt like Bakuman with an extremely unlikeable and gross protagonist. I won't be finishing the series.

Advanced reader copy provided by the publisher on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Trigger warning for this manga: sexual assault

I went into this manga not really knowing anything about it other then the fact that it was about a manga artist finding his way through life after his best selling manga series finishes. The manga is quite a dark one, especially in the beginning. I was reading it and I could feel the sadness and depression coming through the book to me. It's not always like that, but in the beginning I though that it was quite a bleak and dark take on the world because the main character was not in a good frame of mind. I am surprised to know that I did like this manga. I didn't think I would during the beginning but there is something captivating about this book. I wanted to know what would happen in the end and if the manga artist would still be one by the end. I sped through the 2nd half of the book and I wanted more when I finished. If this was a series I would pick up the sequel.

The characters aren't likeable but I don't think that you are supposed to like them. The are very flawed characters but I think that is what makes them seem more realistic. I didn't like a single character in the book but that doesn't mean it was a bad thing. You don't have to like the characters in a book to like the book.

Overall, I did enjoy this book to my delightful surprise and I think I would recommend it if you were looking for a darker contemporary manga. This manga is not for younger audiences as there are graphic sexual scenes.

[ I was sent an arc of Netgalley in return for an honest review. ]

I found 'Downfall' to be a particularly difficult read. The main character was unlikeable and often hard to understand- and I didn't agree with a lot of his actions.

However, the manga gave a deep insight into the manga writing industry, and the troubles potentially faced by artists. It was that aspect that I found to be rather interesting and important, and I would have liked for it to have been the main focus of the story.

Rating: 1.5/5

It’s hard to read and very annoying with the ‘SAMPLE PDF publisher name’ in the middle of every page. That watermark takes up 25% of the page, EVERY page. The prologue was in colour and poignant. I wish the entire book had been like that. The main character is an ass. I found this quite boring and depressing. I wish I had DNF’d it before the main character attempted to rape his wife.
ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I started this, but it ended up being a very good, if difficult read. The main character is a person who is stuck in a depression of his own making. He feels the hollowness of a life spent in pursuit of something he no longer feels was worth the effort and he slowly comes to the realization over time that maybe he wasn't as worthy a person as he wanted to believe either. I'll be frank, he's not only unlikable, but he does awful things and abuses the people around him in multiple ways. It's a very interesting character study of the extremely banal yet harmful existence of a narcissist. The art is definitely the sort of thing you'd expect from a more literary graphic novel. It's detailed, but just as stark and bleak as the character's life.
I would recommend it, with a lot of caveats (I feel I should definitely add a tw: spousal rape here.), for someone who likes characters studies of absolute messes in realistic settings.

This book was a bit rough to get through, mainly because it was so hard to like or connect with the main character. I thought the overall plot was fine and the art was nice to look at. As someone that doesn't read a lot of graphic novels, this isn't one that I'd have purchased but I did enjoy the concept of the story.

A difficult read, solely based on the main character's unlikeability. The main character, Kaoru Fukuzawa, is a manga artist who's main series has come to an end. He only seems interested high sales, though, and his aren't doing so great. As the book goes on he only grows more bitter and jaded, and ends on a negative note.

I enjoyed the read for the fact that it is well illustrated and gives you a lot to contemplate. It did very much sour my mood and I'll definitely be reading something a little lighter next.