Oooh, ouch.

Oh jeez, a soul-crushing job. She shoulda taken it and toughen up just like everyone else.

I still think the 'Depressing as fuck' tag is all wrong.
And the 'Aaaaaangst' tag is borderline.
There's a difference between a real depressing story, like something denouncing social evils like abject poverty or racial discrimination, and an 'Awwwwwww poor bay-bee!' kind of story where you just want to hug the lead character to make everything better.

Relatively mundane things can be rather depressing too, especially if they're realistic and easy relatable. The idea of continued failures degrading one's self-worth and empowering one's inner critic is something many people, myself included, have had to deal with, so it's not hard to see why Neeko turned out the way she did.

Considering what happened in the interview, it's not hard to imagine that the company could end up being verbally abusive to Neeko, or that Neeko's current mental state would cause her to crash and burn shortly after taking the job, so maybe it's for the best that she didn't.

I was a college student when I first encountered this story and it motivated me to do better in school. I ended up landing a job right after graduation. Thanks Neeko.

This manga is so depressing ive not read a New chapter in over a year

Was incredibly hard finishing this chapter because's it's too damn real. The job hunt and interview process are honestly soul crushing.

Oh fuck, ugh that hurt to read, you literally watch the life drain from her body

Oh jeez, a soul-crushing job. She shoulda taken it and toughen up just like everyone else.

Absolutely. Along with the 70 to 80 hour work weeks, mandatory overtime, the total sacrifice of her personal life, and being the target of opportunity for the self-cathartic bullying and condescension of her senpai. The only difference between this and prison is that you don't get a salary in prison, but you do get a predetermined sentence, which might make prison more psychologically bearable than this job. Actually Neeko could have just robbed a bank and she still would have ended with more personal dignity than if she jaken this shithole job.

last edited at Mar 21, 2022 11:23PM

I was a college student when I first encountered this story and it motivated me to do better in school. I ended up landing a job right after graduation. Thanks Neeko.

Welp, Neeko didn't help me ಥ‿ಥ

This brings back memories of when I dropped out of grad school and started looking for work ... in 2008 (great timing, me!). I kept a file on my computer of all the places where I applied to remind myself that I wasn't spending my days doing absolutely nothing. I deleted that file when it got depressingly long. I did have one interview somewhat similar to the last one in this chapter. Sitting across from 10 men all asking me variations of "What the hell are you doing here?" was an experience that still gets me stressed out when I remember it. Luckily (after moving back to my parents' home after running out of rent money), I came across a craigslist ad that got me started in my current career.

Oh jeez, a soul-crushing job. She shoulda taken it and toughen up just like everyone else.

I think you need to rethink your phrasing there cause that's the exact kind of line people throw at people who suffer from genuine mental health issues along with such stupidity as "It's all in your head" and "Just get over it".

We all have our breaking points and some of us are more prone to stress and anxiety than others. If you were actually paying attention you could see that Neeko was trying her best and pushing herself hard and yet she was crumbling under the pressure way before that final horrible interview (an experience i could see making even the best of us wanting to just shut ourselves away from the world for some time).

People in such circumstances, and who clearly suffer from some form of mental health issue, need our support and not to be told to "just get on with it and toughen up"!

Oh jeez, a soul-crushing job. She shoulda taken it and toughen up just like everyone else.

I think you need to rethink your phrasing there cause that's the exact kind of line people throw at people who suffer from genuine mental health issues along with such stupidity as "It's all in your head" and "Just get over it".

There's the added issue that in Japan, you are NOT expected to change your career except under very extreme circumstances. There's a huge cultural stigma to changing your job; the vast majority of people get hired by a company and then work there until they retire/become a housewife/die. If Neeko takes that job and it's as awful as that interview was...that's it. Neeko's life is now being yelled at by older men until those older men retire.

Ch 31 is pretty typical of many organization. They deliberately create high pressure environment to assimilate the candidate to conform to the organization. I am studying my PG and it was the same treatment on my first day, the thing is this approach is indiscriminately doused on all of us irrespective of the individual, it doesn't matter whether the person has any insecurities or anxiety, the goal is to create this absolute dominance over the newbies. This practice is effective for more than half of the batch but it seriously cripples the motivation of the few who are actually sincere but "introverted". Honestly, organizations talk big about mental health and diversity but show almost zero consideration in reality.

I knew what I was getting into when I saw the return of the Depressing as fuck tag, but even still, my only comprehensive reaction to this chapter is still "What the hell, yo."

That's a lot of chapter 31's.

And yeah, after that last interview, I'd become a NEET too...

Oh jeez, a soul-crushing job. She shoulda taken it and toughen up just like everyone else.

Just because you're a miserable loser who'll take whatever scraps people like that interviewer will give you, doesn't mean the rest of the world has to join you.

Oh fuck, ugh that hurt to read, you literally watch the life drain from her body

"Literally" is right. Her hair changed color from the stress. It's now canon (in my eye, at least) she doesn't bleach-dye her hair, but it's stress bleached to have no color.

last edited at Mar 22, 2022 7:09AM

Oh fuck, ugh that hurt to read, you literally watch the life drain from her body

"Literally" is right. Her hair changed color from the stress. It's now canon (in my eye, at least) she doesn't bleach-dye her hair, but it's stress bleached to have no color.

Seems plausible, definitely seen the "Character experienced smth so traumatic, it turned their hair white" trope before. Like in Tokyo Ghoul

Poor Neeko. :'(

It's interesting if you think about this from the other side. Neeko went into this interview thinking it was her one last chance at getting a job, with her self-esteem already driven into the ground and depression taking hold.

These guys went into this interview thinking this was a technicality and they'd already decided they were going to hire her. They're bored and uninterested because it doesn't really matter and yeah, why the hell DO we need so many people for this phase? The guy says she should move because the commute is hell, He probably thinks he's giving her good advice and broadcasting that she's got the job. She took it as an unreasonable demand that she has to capitulate to in order to keep the possibility of getting hired.

They don't see how abusive they're being, because they aren't thinking of this event as being meaningful in any way, but to her, this is the key to all of her self worth and her entire future, so they just crushed her without even realizing it.

Too bad she doesn't have someone with whom to throw the suit away together.

Fairypixie24 posted:

Too bad she doesn't have someone with whom to throw the suit away together.

She kinda has one (or two if she goes for wincest) but the other person is actively trying to help her get a job so no rich aunt will be needed if everything goes well.

Oh jeez, a soul-crushing job. She shoulda taken it and toughen up just like everyone else.

I think you need to rethink your phrasing there cause that's the exact kind of line people throw at people who suffer from genuine mental health issues along with such stupidity as "It's all in your head" and "Just get over it".

There's the added issue that in Japan, you are NOT expected to change your career except under very extreme circumstances. There's a huge cultural stigma to changing your job; the vast majority of people get hired by a company and then work there until they retire/become a housewife/die. If Neeko takes that job and it's as awful as that interview was...that's it. Neeko's life is now being yelled at by older men until those older men retire.

And it's not just that. Mental Health is a taboo and Stigmatic issue over there as well. Something you're expected NOT to talk about, or even admit to struggling with.

People in Japan in these situations are completely trapped and without ANY kind of support base. It's no wonder their suicide rate is so high.

last edited at Mar 22, 2022 12:33PM

It's interesting if you think about this from the other side. Neeko went into this interview thinking it was her one last chance at getting a job, with her self-esteem already driven into the ground and depression taking hold.

These guys went into this interview thinking this was a technicality and they'd already decided they were going to hire her. They're bored and uninterested because it doesn't really matter and yeah, why the hell DO we need so many people for this phase? The guy says she should move because the commute is hell, He probably thinks he's giving her good advice and broadcasting that she's got the job. She took it as an unreasonable demand that she has to capitulate to in order to keep the possibility of getting hired.

They don't see how abusive they're being, because they aren't thinking of this event as being meaningful in any way, but to her, this is the key to all of her self worth and her entire future, so they just crushed her without even realizing it.

That is a very optimistic take on the situation, and while it would be nice if you were right about this, seeing how we only experience the interview through Neeko's filter, the one guy possibly giving good advice does not negate them deriding her motivation and skills before that.

Maya02 posted:

Oh jeez, a soul-crushing job. She shoulda taken it and toughen up just like everyone else.

Just because you're a miserable loser who'll take whatever scraps people like that interviewer will give you, doesn't mean the rest of the world has to join you.

There's really no need to get so personal over an innocuous line about a manga.