You can't live all on your own! vol 1 by Mizoko Tsuno

Four women close to thirty live together, and they're all in very different places in their lives. Shuu works hard at her day job and is mostly waiting for love to find her spontaneously, but she’s feeling the pressure to marry as those around her are finding relationships. Mii is a guitarist and has been seeing the drummer in her band, but he drops a bombshell on her that makes her question where their relationship is and where it’s headed. Eika is solidly a career woman who continuously takes on big projects, and she doesn’t let anyone doubt her ability to handle the workload. Shio used to work at a large, successful corporation, but the long hours and stress were not what she was looking for in life.

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This borderline slice-of-life story tackles many fears and dilemmas of young adults trying to figure it all out. They are faced with challenges of finding partners in a world that is increasingly online, and where there are more demands and commitments of their scarce free time. This title succeeds in creating four distinct female characters with their own unique voicing in addition to their personal struggles and situations they've been placed in. Their stories weave together when they come home and share common space. Their interactions are sweet, and it reminds readers that romantic love is not the only type of relationship that's important.

Tsuno's illustrations are unique. There are lots of simple, clean lines with sparse and effective use of shading and screen tones. Characters are extremely expressive, and Tsuno leans on cartooning details as well as many common icons to show the wide range of emotions the characters feel throughout a page.

TOKYOPOP rates this for Teen readers 13+, though given that the ladies are all adults, this might be more interesting to older teen to adult readers. In this first volume, there are several instances where the characters are drinking alcohol socially as they go on dates.

Sara's Rating: 8/10
Suitability Level: Grades 8-12, Adult

Publisher: TOKYOPOP
Publication Date: July 8, 2025
ISBN: 9781427881380 (Paperback)

​Tags: Rating: 8/10, Suitability: Middle School, Suitability: High School, Suitability: Adult, Manga, Realistic Fiction, Slice Of Life, Romance, Friendship, TOKYOPOP