Dasei 67 Percent

An exceptional manga let down by an inconclusive, uneventful ending even by slice-of-life standards. Dasei 67 Percent stood out amidst the sea of slice-of-life manga for its mundane, but seemingly truthful depiction of life in an arts university. It captured the mundanity, boredom, and impressively so, the bonds and developing relationships in everyday life. The characters were always lovable and interesting, particularly the central characters the manga fixated upon, and they had irresistible chemistry together. though there wasn't a strong narrative or thematic thread to hold these pieces together well, it held on strong for the 60 chapters or so through funny character dynamics, andintriguing conversations that stood out in their eccentricity, but always felt grounded enough that if the same context were to occur, it may very well be the topic of interest among my own friend group. However, while the manga's mundane storytelling holds its own brand of leisurely pleasures, past the 60 chapters or so, it soon became obvious that the premise is rather thin. The storytelling here mostly stops past the apartment walls and socialisation spaces of the university, and thus there was never the opportunity for the manga to grow out of its initial premise. Relationships between characters stagnated and were unable to enter any dramatic territory, and even when it progressed for some characters (in very mundane and usually inconsequential ways I might add), it never really felt like meaningful change was being made. Nonetheless, the comedic writing still remained strong, albeit no longer as intriguing or exciting as it had been at first. Sadly, this would all come to an end with Dasei 67 Percent's latest chapter. What shocked me about this ending is how inconclusive yet normative it felt in the manga. The chapter literally felt just like any other chapter and if you weren't paying attention, it's almost no doubt you would realise that that's the end. It's truly perplexing that despite 90+ chapters, for better or for worse, it barely felt like anything changed at all.