Bokura no Micro na Shuumatsu – Marukido Maki

In 10 days, the world will be destroyed by a meteor. To spend his remaining time as comfortably as possible, bad-luck magnet Masumi decides to visit the library of his alma mater and read as much as he wants until the end comes. But in this hellish world, he meets a devil there: the one man from his past that he never wanted to see again, Ritsu. And if things weren’t bad enough, Ritsu has a favor to ask, a favor that Masumi could never have expected—-

Marukido Maki weaves an eccentric tale of human connection in a world on the brink of destruction in this emotional journey that will take its readers on a wild ride.

The End of the World, With You blurb grabbed me. It’s an apocalyptic second-chance romance, and we don’t see a lot of that around.

The story opens with the abysmally down-on-his-luck Masumi, deciding to spend his last remaining days until a meteor hits the earth in the library. There he bumps into his infamous ex, Ritsu.

Seriously, worst seme ever! Second only to the one in Boyfriend 17. Ritsu is a lying, cheating scum, an unrepentant fuckboy who sleeps with anything that catches his fancy. He did this while seducing the naive and insecure Masumi, who, later learned about the misdeeds the hard way. To top it off, he threatened to out poor Masumi to everyone when confronted. The bastard broke Masumi’s mind and spirit so badly that he ruined the rest of his life.

Ten years later, Masumi the dork, despite recalling the bad memories, let himself get roped into another shady activity by Ritsu. I couldn’t give any fucks about the couple at first, but the story’s hidden charm snuck up on me in the form of a quest, two lost students, and strange coincidences.

Suddenly, I understood why this was good enough to warrant a live-action movie. It’s a poignant story of reconnections and new friendships unfolding through an eventful trip across Japan. Not only do the twists come out of nowhere, but Masumi’s hurts are also so bone-deep and palpable that my chest hurts for the guy. It didn’t help Ritsu was a douche through most of the story. I was rooting hard for Masumi!

Ritsu had his redemption arc but it was almost too little too late. That it took an actual apocalypse for him to make it up to Masumi didn’t commend him to anyone. Yet, the mangaka skillfully salvaged what is salvageable about Ritsu, and I could believe he kept his promise in the end.

Don’t let my rants about Ritsu put you off this manga. It’s twisty, emotional and will make you believe in miracles.

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