by Matt Marcus, Staff Writer

I have a morbid fascination with LinkedIn. I often peruse the site for a sort of black comedy, a satire where people are genuinely excited about how one divine moment of #leadership made their company infinitesimally more profitable. Even though I decided to willingly join this farce of productivity posturing, I pride myself on holding onto my skepticism of this bizarre forum. I am the man wearing the They Live shades, firm in my knowledge that I can play the game while acknowledging its hollowness. Yet, some days my confidence falters and I wonder if there’s a way to escape all this, to find some means of providing a life for my family that doesn’t require me to use phrases like “maximize stakeholder value”. But it’s a passing feeling, one I have become quite adept at swallowing.

When I go to my feed, what greets me is a deluge of banal job hunting advice, questionable claims about the current job market, rosy prognostications on the future of AI. Each post I scroll by fills me with more and more dread. Does my resumé have a snowball’s chance in hell of even making it through to human eyes anymore? And after that, can I prove myself to be skilled and savvy enough by answering inane questions through three, four, five-plus interview rounds? These days, it’s distressingly common to see desperate posts from strangers with the #OpenForWork badge added to their profile picture loudly shouting about their many, many months of failed job searching. I feel lucky that my current job is secure, but it’s not the kind of luck I can savor. I cannot imagine what the pressure might be like for those fresh to the job hunt.

In this first volume of Throw Away The Suit Together, college student Haru is one of those struggling job seekers. All she wants is some security for her and her long-time girlfriend, Hinoto, so they can live a comfortable life together. Unfortunately, she bombs her second-round interview at one company and proceeds to not pass the first round at several others. Under the pressure of these failures, she snaps, throws all her job applications out into the street, and decides that they should escape Tokyo on “Hii-chan”’s scooter. Hinoto, ever supportive of her partner, agrees to go along with her, abandoning her internship. They head off to Hinoto’s aunt’s summer house on an unnamed island.

Their plan, what little of it there is, doesn’t go smoothly. After falling asleep overnight on the beach, Hinoto’s bike, which held all of their belongings, is taken by a local who thought it was abandoned. They arrive at the house, only for its owner to call and tell them they are not welcome to live there (Hinoto had, of course, neglected to ask for permission). They have no idea what they are going to do for money. But they are in love, and their belief in that love is what will pull them through it.

Things do turn around, a little. Hinoto’s aunt gives the girls her blessing to use the house (all she wanted was some honesty). The bike and its contents are returned by the young woman, Naruko, who took it, and it turns out she’s a diving instructor who may have a job to offer. After an initially awkward proposal from Haru, the girls agreed to upgrade their relationship status to “engaged”. The volume ends as the two lovers begin writing up a marriage application, though they know that gay marriage isn’t fully legal in Japan.

Keyyang-sensei nailed the anxiety and feelings of futility in the job search. Hell, I’m nearly tempted to put a content warning for it. Given that, you’d expect this story to be a straightforward escapist fantasy: screw the rat race, let’s move to an island and live a good, simple life. But, there’s something here that gives me pause. So far, every step Haru and Hinoto have made has been messy and poorly thought out, though they have so far managed to overcome these unforced errors. Nevertheless, it is hard to shake the feeling that the specter of Tokyo and the world it represents still haunts them.

Haru in particular seems to keep pushing away facing the difficult questions and escapes into deeper and deeper fantasies. Hinoto is more pragmatic, but she is willing to do anything to make Haru happy right now, fuck the consequences. I should feel relieved by their adventure, but I’m not. The fears of failure have been merely tamped down, like when you decide yet again to binge YouTube videos instead of updating your years-old resumé. Haru has thrown a rug over the mess, expecting it to disappear. The escape doesn’t feel complete.

As for the art, it’s much like the protagonists: earnest but a bit sloppy. The characters don’t seem consistently drawn, particularly Hinoto whose hair inexplicitly develops a flat top with corners for a couple of panels. That said, there are two really solid two-page splashes which seems a bit excessive for how little happens in the plot, but I can’t begrudge it too much. It is a little odd just how much page space includes our protagonists in some state of semi-sexy undress, though I’m willing to give it a pass as a sign of the level of comfort and intimacy they share (they have been dating since before college, though we don’t know much else). Things don’t actually get spicy until a bonus comic near the end of the comic, the purpose of which I don’t quite understand. The only thing that I can come up with is that it reinforces the motif of Haru attempting something with good intentions and failing, with Hinoto brushing it off and showing her support.

I’m holding out hope that this trepidation I am feeling leaves me once the girls find some means of employment with Naruko, though we know that the jobs may only be seasonal. I’m rooting for these girls. They may not stay on the island forever but I’m hoping that this trip rebuilds Haru’s confidence, and maybe shifts her view on what her goal should be for what is only the very beginning of her career. If not, she could always consult LinkedIn.

Art – 6 Competent but a bit too sloppy for my liking
Story – 7 The road is there is there, but I’m nervous about the destination
Characters – 7 Haru’s avoidant tendencies and Hinoto’s blind support is a dangerous pairing
Service – 5 There’s sex, and the girls spend a lot of time in a state of undress
Yuri – 9 / LGBTQ – 5 There is a marriage proposal!

Overall – 6 Narrowly making it to the second interview round

Volume 2 of this island escape story hits shelves in October.

For all future prospective employers: all opinions expressed in this review are exaggerated for dramatic effect :)

Matt Marcus is a serial enthusiast whose range of appreciations include guitars, watches, and a particular genre of Japanese popular media named after a flower. Outside of writing for Okazu, he cohosts various projects on the Pitch Drop Podcast Network, where he frequently bloviates about video games, anime, and manga. He also hosts a blog Oh My God, They Were Bandmates analyzing How Do We Relationship in greater depth.