Jumyou wo Kaitotte Moratta. Ichinen ni Tsuki, Ichimanen de. Or I sold my life for ten thousand yen per year ( free translation “I sold my life for ten thousand yen per year” ) is a manga adaptation inspired by the novel Three Days of Happyness ( Mikkakan no kōfuku ) by author Sugaru Miaki , published in 2013 by ASCII Media Works .
Romance and Drama without clichés
Attention! Spoilers in this text!
The relatively short story with just 18 chapters is a painful and delicate journey about how much someone's happiness is worth.
The world can be an inhospitable place for some people, this is unfortunately a reality that we cannot get rid of, Jumyou wo Kaitotte Moratta will tell the story of Kusunoki , a young man in his early twenties who is saying goodbye to his last objects of value for not having money or even wanting to eat.
However, a man notices Kusunoki's poverty and tells him about a store that supposedly buys life, time and health. He doesn't really believe the old man's words, but in his state of desperation and a little curiosity, Kusunoki decides to go to the address.
At the store he is greeted by a girl, who will evaluate how much his life time is worth, Kusunoki is anxious for the answer but is soon crushed by the cruel truth, the value of his life time is 300 thousand yen ( more or less R$15,000 ), but even so he decides to sell his 30 years of life for 10 thousand yen per year, Kusunoki only has 3 more months to live.
After going home with the money he is greeted by an unexpected visitor, the same person who assessed the value of his life in the mysterious store. She introduces herself as Miyagi , and has the job of observing him until his last 3 days of life .
How does the life selling system work?
This part is not explored much, and it is possible to sell lifespan, time and health, even to maintain the mystery of the plot in this aspect, but the process is not as difficult as it seems.
In the manga, the value of someone's lifespan is how much happiness you will have or how many people you will make happy, how many things you will accomplish in your life and how much you will contribute to society, in short these are the determining factors.
Simply put, it's how much your life would be worth to yourself and others, a lot or a little?
Bittersweet story
Jumyou wo Kaitotte Moratta is a heavy experience, despite everything that Kusunoki is going through he seems so anesthetized by his way of living that he can't show what he feels, even though he is in his late twenties he often shows his emotions like a child , becoming unresponsive in some situations, asking questions to Miyagi and other characters.
Firstly, Miyagi is a very suspicious figure, full of mysteries about how things work. But her personality doesn't differ much from Kusunoki's. The only difference is that Kusunoki is eager to live out his last days, while Miyagi is working.
Kusunoki's days are literally numbered and like anyone else he would like to resolve his unfinished business. The first panel of the manga tells about his childhood friend and his promise to her to meet after 10 years to be together, something innocent and sweet.
The meeting between him and his friend is an uncomfortable situation for the reader, as Kusunoki is going to die he has started to let go of social ties a little and no longer cares about some things, thus being true to himself, but leaving the meeting with his extremely strange friend.
The vision he has of her is very distorted and again brings out his childish side of seeing things, but in the end he has a revelation that puts his feet on the ground a little, realizing that the two are no longer children.
After that, his relationship with Miyagi begins to deepen little by little with him talking more about his desires before dying and she sympathizes with him and decides to help him pass the time.
Dear Invisible Girl Miyagi
Miyagi has a very complex past that made her work for the mysterious store, which left her as numb to reality as Kusunoki.
Her relationship with Kusunoki eventually becomes love, showing that even in that situation it is possible for good things to flourish. But for Miyagi this love is much more painful than for Kusunoki, after all she is loving a person who is on the way to death.
Miyagi often says that Kusunoki is cruel and she herself knows that these feelings will destroy her after he is gone.
This dramatic development is involved with lighter things throughout the chapters, giving a feeling that despite everything, the present is what matters most. However, the ending is certainly surprising, remembering the rules that the manga placed at the beginning of the story to develop a bittersweet ending.
“Before my feelings reach the point of no return... Before I feel like it's impossible for me to separate from him, please... I pray that Kusunoki-san can die at least a second sooner.”
Final considerations
Jumyou wo Kaitotte Moratta is not for amateurs, touching on heavy subjects and often leaving the reader uncomfortable, showing how distressing and empty life can be, but also presenting many kind moments or as Miyagi says, cruel moments.
Despite having a high rating in most aggregators, the manga greatly divides readers' opinions, with people who hated the story and people who loved it.
The novel was adapted into a manga by manga artist Suzuka with art by illustrator Shouichi Taguchi , which is not a work of art in itself, but conveys very well what the scene requires, with light strokes and simple expressions. The manga was published by Shueisha on the Shonen Jump+ app between 2016 and 2017 with 3 printed volumes published.
The manga images used in this review were translated by Kuro to Shiro Scans .
