Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You Volume 4 Review
Salaryman Sasaki is so worn down by problems at work (his unsympathetic boss again) that he doesn’t even realize it’s his birthday – not even when his favourite checkout assistant Miss Yamada hands him a special coupon with a beaming smile. She’s taken aback at his lack of response. Doesn’t he know it’s his birthday? But then Ms. Ono and her manager remind her that the wording on the coupon doesn’t emphasize the birthday greetings. So when (as her ‘other’ self, Miss Tayama) she coincides with Mr. Sasaki behind the supermarket the following evening, as they both smoke companionably together, she gets him to acknowledge that it was his birthday. It turns out that the day before that was her birthday so after some mutual embarrassment (mostly on Mr. Sasaki’s part) they swap cigarette boxes as gifts and admit to their ages: Mr. Sasaki is now 46 and Tayama 25.
For a while now Mr. Sasaki has been greeted enthusiastically by a big dog, Daigoro, often left behind the supermarket by his owner to be looked after by the staff. Now he meets the owner – and she turns out to be a mangaka, the tall and elegant Nishizono, who also enjoys a cigarette the same area. They get talking… and go off for a meal together at a restaurant that allows late-night smoking. Unknown to them, their disappearance has been reported – dramatically – by Mr. Obata, the young chief of the produce department to Ms. Ono and Miss Yamada, saying “Mr. Vendor and Daigoro… they’ve been kidnapped by a fashionable middle-aged lady!” Mr. Vendor is the store staff’s unofficial nickname for Mr. Sasaki, so Miss Yamada and Ms. Ono are very intrigued indeed by this unexpected development.
In the meantime, Ms. Nishizono has been chatting with Mr. Sasaki over pork cutlet bowls and he’s surprised (and taken aback) at how much she knows about him. It turns out that she, too, has made a friend on the staff: Ms. Ono whom she likes and respects – and she and Mr. Sasaki bond over their mutual admiration for their respective favourite cashiers. “It’s quite like… I’m being allowed to bask in a one-sided love,” she says, smiling gently, and Mr. Sasaki finds himself thinking, Maybe everyone has a secret idol or two tucked away in their heart.
Without in any way condoning the smoking of cigarettes (this series probably needs a health warning on the cover) mangaka Jinushi shows us that meeting up around the back of the supermarket has become something that lonely, work-stressed Mr. Sasaki really looks forward to. And we can see that Tayama/Yamada looks forward to these meetings too, even though she has not yet told Mr. Sasaki the truth about the dual identities she loves to adopt in and out of work. Small wonder, then – after drinking a little too much at the staff farewell do for leaving part-timers – that she merrily calls him, “Mishter Denshe-shaki!” to his face when he encounters her at the back of the supermarket (dense is a word she uses about him but never before to his face). Miss Yamada is ‘washted’ and acting very much out of character, almost falling asleep with her head in Mr. Sasaki’s lap. He doesn’t know what to do – but, nice man that he is, tries to remain calm and self-controlled, which then causes her to get angry with him! Luckily, the manager and Mr. Obata come to the rescue, both worried that she disappeared from the gathering and hadn’t returned. Next day, she’s utterly mortified – but maybe her plain-speaking to Mr. Sasaki has changed everything between them. Will it be for the better, though? She’s still determined not to tell him the truth. How much longer can she keep up the façade?
Jinushi’s portrayal of forty-something Mr. Sasaki is worth reading this manga for alone as he’s shown with a wonderful variety of different reaction faces – and yet the humour is often tempered by genuine sympathy for the self-deprecating salaryman. Yet what continues to make this an engaging read is the way all the character relationships are developing; the staff at the supermarket and Mr. Sasaki and the people they encounter along the way.
This volume, like the earlier ones, has six colour pages at the start which is a real treat! It’s also the volume in which we see Mr. Sasaki with his hair down, instead of smartly combed back for work – as well as Miss Yamada behaving very differently because she’s had one too many. There’s a short afterword from Jinushi, a ‘back-page cosplay’ for the two leads, this time ‘Sister-Yama and Exorcist-Saki’ followed by a sneak peak at Volume 5.
Translation for Square Enix Manga is by Amanda Haley and conveys all the nuances of the character interactions as well as the drunken tirades of Miss Yamada (in vino veritas) perfectly. This is all helped by Kyla Aiko’s lettering choices which help bring all the characters to life, even Daigoro (‘Bworf!).
It surely can’t be long now before Mr. Sasaki guesses what’s going on. He and Miss Yamada/Tayama have got to know each other rather well – although it’s Miss Tayama he knows the best. Volume 5 of this charming slice-of-life May to December tale is out in August and only Miss Yamada – or is it Miss Yamada? – is on the front cover (up till now we’ve seen both Mr. Sasaki and Miss Tayama together). What can it mean?
A free preview can be found at the publisher’s website here.
Our review copy from Square Enix Manga was supplied by Turnaround Comics (Turnaround Publisher Services).
