Following Seven Seas’ major hit last year, one that reached an even wider audience than many manga are able to achieve, it’s no surprise that Seven Seas quickly announced that they would also be publishing Nagata Kabi’s sequel to My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness, My Solo Exchange Diary. What did surprise me however was the even bleaker tone Exchange Diary took at times. Lesbian Experience was no walk in the park and Kabi’s straightforward look back at her life resonated with many readers.
Even though they both cover the same types of experiences, My Solo Exchange Diary, somehow manages to feel even more hopeless, like there is no way Kabi will achieve a happier life for herself no matter how much she struggles. I think that this perceived difference in tone has to do more with the reader’s feelings, not Kabi’s writing, and that it has to do with the fundamental differences between a one-shot story versus an on-going one. For a one-shot, even a non-fiction, autobiographical one like Lesbian Experience, story threads must be introduced and concluded in the same volume and, by simply of having a conclusion (even if it’s an unhappy one) there is a sense of finality and in some ways, comfort. Having something unresolved creates more stress in the reader, more concern and worry for the characters, and when it’s a personal story of a deeply intimate nature like this one, especially since the readers have already connected with Kabi through her earlier work, it makes this volume seem like more of a downer!
Just like Lesbian Experience, the parts of Kabi’s life that she chooses to write about in Exchange Diary also feel very familiar and really hit home. Seeing Kabi make several false starts before successfully moving out of her parents’ home reminded me of when several of my friends were going through the same situation. Kabi’s was just as stressful to watch but at least with this story I didn’t have to follow it in real time! I also found myself getting a little stressed out when it seemed like Kabi was revealing too much about her current life, like when she talks about starting to see someone. I was honestly relieved when Kabi started a later chapter saying “oh nothing’s happened, I’m just not writing about that right now!” Kabi lets the readers into so many parts of her life that she truly feels more like a friend than a creator thousands of miles away, so it seems quite natural to worry about her when things go badly and to cheer her on when things go well!
As with My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness, My Solo Exchange Diary is more of a story about depression, anxiety, and the struggle to find your footing in the adult world more than it is about being a woman who is attracted to other woman, and Kabi’s struggles with mental health are among some of the most viscerally relatable that I’ve ever read. This is a harder read than it’s predecessor in some ways but I think that any fan of the first book will also enjoy this one. It appears that the series is complete in Japan with two volumes and the second volume is due out in the US this February. Frankly, I wouldn’t have minded waiting even longer for the second volume, especially since the heavy nature of Kabi’s stories don’t lend themselves well to binge-reading, and I hope that someday Kabi is able to create even more manga that it too will be licensed for her many fans in the US.