She doesn't know why she lives.

This is what real anxiety looks like. 25-Year Old Izumi Sumi Doesn't Know Why She Lives is an excellent look into the realities of living with anxiety/depression and covers some existential crisis of wondering "why do I even exist?" The manga starts off gloomily introducing our protagonist and titular character Izumi Sumi, at first I was personally worried this would just be a cheap sob story, if you feel the same way, don't stop reading, it's actually much better. The story is overall a very simple look into the life of living with anxieties. It deals with this well and includes harsh realities and reflections onmany events and covers many sides of the topic. The art style was great and fitting and memorable. Characters is where Izumi Sumi really stands out, it's a deep analysis of the main character dealing with every day life, covering her backstory and other characters' backstories as well. It's something to be experienced and important we remember these feelings exist and to help people experiencing them as ignorance of these topics causes more anxieties in these people experiencing them. Overall this was an outstanding manga in terms of enjoyment. It is extremely important to take the feelings shown in this manga to heart and to make the world the better for it. Definitely give this manga a try.

It leaves as quickly as it comes. For a quick summary spoiler free; it's worth a read as it's a very quick 28 chapters, decent art, and the start is very strong. Spoilers below: 28 chapters sure flies by quick, especially when it pulls you in so well at the start. I was excited since the beginning truly shows what raw anxiety, stagnation, and a bit of depression can do to a person. A spiral of insanity as we peered into the mind of someone at the edge of humanity in SOL format is what I was hoping for. Instead we are given a rather lovey-doveyfeel good ending, where the light is shown at the end of the tunnel within a mere 28 chapters! The artstyle is cute, light, while also being dreary (a good thing!) sometimes. Eyes are what set characters apart alot of times. My biggest gripe is the coincidences that act as saviors for the MC. Oh a coworker wants to be friends, oh shes extremely nice, oh shes desperate to be friends, oh she's also lonely and thinks the same as the MC, oh every time a misunderstanding could happen its cleared up through eavesdropping, oh the manager is also kind, ETC ETC. It stops the story from having any real meaning. In real life these are extraordinary situations, usually those who fall down in the way the MC does do not get free rides like this. In some ways it reminds me of Welcome to the NHK,in which a depressed and lonely MC meets friends and encounters wild situations. A key exception with that comparison is that the unrealistic friends and situations in NHK turned out to be just as broken or awful as the MC of NHK himself. This tranforms the friends from being a savior, into a more nuanced look at how broken people generally meet and befriend other broken people. The characters of this manga (only two worth mentioning really) themselves are well done, especially the MC who carries the manga start to finish. Certainly the author must have some first hand experience in the kind of troubles that come to those with anxiety. The friend is fine in her personality, but her circumstance and relationship (story related really) to the MC are questionable. It's cute, its quick, its depressing, its lighthearted. You get alot for28 chapters. 6/10: slightly above average, if the story was tad stronger then a 7/10 for sure.

Early adult deals with avoidant depressive personality. The initial chapters are simple personal vignettes of depressive episodes reminiscent of Watamote, but without much for deprecating cringe comedy, and focusing more on self-conceited introspection. These are done well enough if you look for something to identify with, but where the story begins to shine is past chapter 9 after adding to the cast. You get multiple views on experiencing avoidant anxiety, introversion and loneliness, with models to fight these issues. Though told overly simply, it's a pleasant and well-done surprise. The artwork is competent, though it lacks a little in character design and distinguished art-style. Some panels canfeel muddy, while the more important emotional scenes could do with more inventiveness. For what it is, it doesn't get in the way. That said, it seems to try for some moe appeal, but ends up too stale. Softcore half-nudity can add intimacy, but some choices get hard to interpret without cynicism. It's a good healing story, sweet and short, exactly as it needs to be.

Sweet, simple, tastefully short, just a perfect little story about a sad girl that could. Also literally me (without the good-ish ending(at least for now)). Would recommend 100% of the time to anyone, and not just because it's so short you can finish it in a single reading session. There isn't really much more to say. Art is good, dialogue is simple and direct with no mincing and no flourishes, pacing is well done, it's good overall. It's a true comedy, in the ancient meaning of the word. I may be rating this a little too highly because I'm a huge sucker for these sortsof happy depressed stories but who cares, we're not professionals here.