Taking care of god by Cixin Liu

Adapted by Jun Yokoyama

Mysteriously one day, a layer of circular space ships appeared in Earth’s atmosphere but did little else to impact the day to day life on the planet. After the initial shock, humans went about their business, until one day, the little ships started sending down their inhabitants. The elderly people, termed progenitors, needed a place to go and people to care for them. With a promise of a government subsidy, many families took in one or more progenitors. The government was sure they would, in exchange, receive technological advances from these wizened older humanoids. Zhihan, meanwhile, was untrusting and disgruntled, just as her grandma was at first. With few resources for her family, how could she expect to keep another mouth fed?

---

This definitely seemed like a story that had a lot more depth as a prose novel and asked far more introspection of the reader, but in this particular adaptation, most of the ethical considerations were not present. This became a story about a young girl with a hard family life and who is not very communicative, which is doesn't make for as interesting of a main character in a graphic novel. This society has forgotten about a lot of its citizens, so there are some ethical questions that could be raised but the text doesn't let itself go very deep. Rather, it kept the questionable material in the background of panels and hoped readers pick up on it. The cartoony illustrations detract from what possibly was a more serious tone in the novel.

Sara's Rating: 7/10
Suitability Level: Grades 9-12

Publisher: Yen Press
Publication Date: February 20, 2024
ISBN: 9781975392376 (Paperback)

​Tags: Rating: 7/10, Suitability: High School, Manga, Family, Dystopian, ​Yen Press