This is now one of my top 5 favorite manga!
The absurd world after the change is a magnification of the absurd world before, which itself was just a reflection of the absurd world we live in.
This is probably the most satisfying post-scarcity story I've seen. Other narratives I've seen deal with it too shallowly ("oh wow, everything is so nice!" or "without COMPETITION all action is WITHOUT MEANING, as the point of life is WINNING"), or it's not the focus (star trek).
This manga also has this ever-present feeling of frankness. The world is strange, but people and relationships are genuine and real. On two back-to-back occasions though, we see characters fail at this: chapter 30 page 178 where Shimeji's sis was treated poorly because she's different and a few pages before that when the Gardener and Sis' opposing beliefs butt heads. I think those two moments contrast with the tone of the rest of the manga the most. It's late now though, so I'll leave my thoughts till later, after some more chapters have come out probably. I'll be pondering and considering until then.
last edited at Aug 10, 2022 1:45AM