The Fall 2022 Manga Guide

See You Tomorrow At The Food Court

What's It About? 

To their classmates, Wada is a quiet rich girl while Yamamoto is an intimidating lone wolf…but what they don't know is that Wada is a mobile game addict in a passionate love-hate relationship (with a 2D character) and Yamamoto has a penchant for urban legends with eyes only for her favorite YouTuber. And their biggest not-so-secret secret—these unlikely friends meet at the food court every day after school to rant, rave, and learn what makes each other tick!

See You Tomorrow At The Food Court has story and art by Shinichirō Nariie, with English translation by Ko Ransom, and Yen Press released it both digitally and physically.

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Is It Worth Reading?

Rebecca Silverman

Rating:

More slice-of-life than yuri (although it's not without its moments), See You Tomorrow at the Food Court is the sort of familiar, comfortable story that is easy to see yourself in, even if you were never a mallrat. It's basically just the everyday conversations of two high school girls, gyaru Yamamoto and deceptively unassuming Wada. They've been pals since middle school when they were in the same class (although the implication is that they've known each other longer than that, they just weren't friends), and now that they're attending two different high schools, they still meet up every day at the local mall's food court to just hang out.

And that's it, really. Wada is nowhere near as bland as her appearance suggests, and Yamamoto isn't anything like stereotypes of her appearance would have you believe, and they talk about random everyday things. There are some nice throughlines to their conversations that keep the book feeling like it's moving forward, though, such as Wada's obsession with a character in her favorite mobile otome game and the ways that the two of them aren't anything like most people expect them to be. Towards the end of the volume, Yamamoto tells Wada that she can really only be herself when she's with Wada, and that's the heart of the book right there: more than anything else, Yamamoto and Wada are friends because they have no misconceptions about each other and are 100 percent comfortable together. It's nice and affirming, and even though they have a couple of spats here and there, they always get past it.

It might be nice if a romantic element developed, and I certainly wouldn't count that possibility out. But the story also doesn't need it, because it's just really pleasant to see their friendship unfold. Add in some good details in the art, like the poster behind them changing depending on their conversation and Yamamoto wearing the sweater Wada gave her, and this is what slice of life should be: cozy.

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Christopher Farris
Rating:

A low-key manga about the everyday conversations between a friendly gyaru girl and a weird nerdy girl – what a concept! It's a wonder that no respectable author has thought of this setup before! My heartbreak-hardening sarcasm aside, See You Tomorrow at the Food Court really is an effective exercise in the standby "Cute girls having meandering conversations" genre that seemed so omnipresent over a decade ago, and in that respect, it can feel downright comforting. Partway through this singular volume, gyaru Yamamoto compares listening to the often off-rails ramblings of her best friend Wada as being akin to the relaxing background speech of a podcaster or YouTube essayist, and the way this series pulls that off absolutely echoes that tone. Truly, the formative genre this one occupies was simply ahead of its time.

It's an extremely basic conceit encompassing all its entertainment, but Food Court gets those basics right, hence its success. The wandering conversations feel naturalistic in the diction they're presenting, with each girl having such a clearly-realized 'voice' that it's easy to follow the dialogue between them even if it's presented just as text bubbles on in-between panels. Their body language and A+ facial expressions expand on the combined characterization, playing their reactions off of each other and elaborating on how their relationship powers these conversations, and the little bits of growth and realizations they come by as a result of them. The art is praiseworthy on its own as well. I don't know if the titular food court ever felt like a character unto itself the way you might want for such an integral institution, but it's still detailed and atmospheric. Relevant posters are seeded in the background for gag payoffs, which is the kind of joke the series seems to have a knack for overall.

That sort of dry, slow-burn presentation doesn't preclude any dramatic aspirations for Food Court, as it's more a simple setup to produce some 'Aww' moments based on the friendship of the two leads or some real relatability in their relationship. At one point we catch them just reading each other funny social media posts, which is another demonstration of this series' understanding of modern human connection. And there's a satisfaction to peeling back their history and understanding of each other as we learn more about them; it's great how Wada just becomes more gremlin-y as we get to know her better. Most of the translation does a great job of carrying the naturalistic dialogue that's so key here, making laugh-out-loud moments that aren't necessarily 'punchlines' land regardless. Though there was one point where the character for 'meat' written on Wada's forehead was seemingly erased without replacement text written in, completely obliterating the joke that bit had been set up around, which was unfortunate. Otherwise, this isn't an ultra- ambitious little volume, but it doesn't need to be. It succeeds at allowing us to drop in, spend a bit of time with these girls, and then leave them with a heartening "See you tomorrow!"

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MrAJCosplay
Rating:

There's really not a lot to See You Tomorrow at the Food Court, but that might actually be for the best. It has probably the simplest premise in this entire guide, with each chapter literally just being about two girls meeting at the food court after school to just talk about life and gacha games. Because there's not much to show in the way of variety, the artist has ample opportunity to cram as much detail into each individual panel as possible. This detail not only includes the well-shaded art design, but also extends to the manga's biggest appeal, which is its dialogue. Most of the exchanges basically boil down to random streams of consciousness about rather mundane topics, but there is a certain energy and kineticism to them. They carry plenty of punch with some well-timed humor, and while there are some moments of cynicism, it never feels overly mean-spirited. The manga's dialogue can definitely get overwhelming, especially if you try to read the entire thing in one sitting, so I would definitely chalk this up to more of an acquired taste. However, I am so impressed with just how much Shinichirō Nariie is able to mine from such a barebones premise. If you're a fan of stories that are definitely more on the wordy side with some punchy dialogue, then I don't think you could do wrong with giving See You Tomorrow At The Food Court a once-over.