Ana Aki Bukuro wa Wasuregachi

I used to read one-shots all the damn time. I haven't consumed much manga or anime for half a decade now, so "Pocket Full of Holes" was my first in YEARS. What caused me to pick this one up? Well, I wanted to revitalize a club that I'm an administrator of, One Shot Fans. I have fond memories of reading an array of different manga, even shoujo, deciding on what I would choose as the weekly read. Nostalgia has a way of lying, because I completely forget the other aspect of that work. Namely, all the worthless, mind-numbing trashone-shots I had to sift through until I found the pearls. "Pocket Full of Holes" is about a man that forgets everything, all the time. It's never mentioned whether there is a medical reason behind this, or whether he is receiving treatment. Nor whether the malady is confined to short-term memory, long-term memory, or both. It's just a vague symptom he has and doesn't try to fix. We see the protagonist being a complete failure with his girlfriend and a disaster at work. His only reaction is to be a spineless weakling, first groveling, then crying, then groveling some more, followed by more crying, and lastly, a decision to commit suicide. Of course, this is averted and we get a happy ending...without the protagonist changing one iota, remaining the same pathetic loser as ever. Utterly pointless. There was nothing humorous, entertaining, or thoughtful about this work.