In her last book about her physical health, My Alcoholic Escape From Reality, Nagata Kabi-sensei explained the circumstances that landed her in the hospital with alcoholic pancreatitis.

We have followed Nagata-sensei through any number of trials. Like many of you, I find myself invested in her well-being. And that reader’s need to see her “get better” has become visible in the style of her comic essay work. The story is told from a crisis point, then we back into causes and effects, then she show us what she has done to move forward, leaving us feeling positive about the future. But Nagata-sensei’s life is vastly more complex than any one manga might cover. And it’s a sobering thought (no pun intended) to realize that Nagata-sensei is balancing a number of serious illnesses that are not likely to “get better.”

In Suizou Ga Kowaretara, Sukoshi Ikiyasuku Narimashita. (膵臓がこわれたら、少し生きやすくなりました。) we learn that Nagata-sensei had developed an addition to alcohol. Her look at the emotional and developmental origins of this addiction are a also look into her current state of mental health. I’m fascinated by her use of those pages as a kind of journal of self-awareness. But this book has a much more leavened perspective than previous books, ending with a recognition that the things that make up Kabi Nagata aren’t going to disappear and magically make her a new person. It’s not so much sad or resigned as it is mature. “One more thing to reckon with in this life” she’s saying and those of use who have had similar lives are just nodding. “One more thing to deal with.”

In her previous book, Meisou Senshi – Kabi Nagata, I wondered how her parents took what was in that book. In this volume, she focuses on the positive influence her parents were for her, especially her father. She comments again that she’s sorry her first book hurt her mother, so clearly that is a really sensitive wound between them.

I appreciate Nagata-sensei’s candor. I know that this isn’t necessarily what she wanted from herself, but there is tremendous value in people being honest about what it takes to survive.

No ratings, except to say her art style is, again exuberantly destructive. It’s incredibly powerful.

I note that this book is published by East Press, not Futabasha. I have no insight to what that might mean, I just found it interesting. Seven Seas has licensed the book as My Pancreas Broke, But My Life Got Better, which is slated for a November 2023 release. Thanks waffle for the correction!