"Flickering lights, moldy back alleys, noisy neighbors... don't all those things feel inexplicably, irresistibly nostalgic? I think nostalgia is the same as love. The people who live here are the same— they're all in love with Kowloon. With this nostalgic Kowloon. So Kowloon will never change. It shouldn't change. 'Cos it doesn't need anything new."
— Hajime Kudou
Welcome to Kowloon Walled City— the most densely populated place on Earth, with about 33,000 people living in 6.5 acres in interconnected high-rise towers. Within these walls is Wong Lo Realty Company, and within this small firm a love story between two office workers is blooming. Mellow, 32-year old Reiko Kujirai has a prickly relationship with the easy-going and often brash 30-year old Hajime Kudou, but they're close enough to get lunch together almost every day. The two bond over their feelings for Kowloon, and they become closer... but there's something strange between the two of them.
Something nostalgic.
Not all is what it seems in Kowloon...
Kowloon Generic Romance is a Seinen romance manga by Jun Mayuzuki. The manga has run in Shueisha's Weekly Young Jump since February 2020. Yen Press publishes the series in English.
This series provides the following tropes:
- Alternate History: In the real world, Kowloon Walled City was demolished in 1994 and turned into a park. In the series, the city is still around even in the 20 Minutes into the Future setting. In a flashback, "Kujirai-B" reveals the original Kowloon was in fact demolished in 1994 just like in real life, but it was rebuilt.
- Animal Motifs:
- The "hebi" in Hebinuma is the Japanese word for "snake," and the series makes heavy use of this.
- Hebinuma Beauty Center uses a cutesy cartoon snake for their mascot.
- Hebinuma Miyuki himself has very snake-like eyes, sharp teeth, and a habit of licking his lips... as well as a body modification that bifurcates his tongue. In later volumes he's seen wearing things with snakeskin patterns, like his necktie and shoes.
- In Volume 3 Hebinuma drops by Wong Lo Realty Company to present them with a gift: a painting depicting Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden receiving the fruit of knowledge from a snake. After he kisses Kujirai, she notes that his mouth tasted like an apple.
- Miyuki is also revealed to have a massive tattoo of a snake that spans most of his back.
- Hebinuma mentally likens Guen to a dog a couple of times.
- The "hebi" in Hebinuma is the Japanese word for "snake," and the series makes heavy use of this.
- The Anti-Nihilist: The doctor that takes care of Miyuki gives him that advice, trying to dissuade him from his broader plan of vengeance against his father.People are born, they live. There's no meaning to it. But there can be a reason and it's up to you to decide what that reason is.
- Arc Words:
- "Nostalgia". The word is mentioned quite a few times as the reason why people stick around on Kowloon and is described by both Kudou and "B" as a feeling similar to love.
- "Absolute". This is reflected in both Hebinuma's desire to "not settle for anything less than absolute" and Reiko's desire to live as the "absolute" version of herself.
- Call-Back:
- During a date, Miyuki and his boyfriend talk about the kind of person they are. While his boyfriend says he is the kind to get attached to people instead of places, Miyuki is the one to get attached to pain, in the sense that something is only meaningful if it hurts him. When they break up, Guen bites his mouth and leaves him with a bleeding so that he can't forget him either.
- In chapter 37, Miyuki's boyfriend fawns over his Jasmine scent. When describing Miyuki to Yomei later, he describes him as a "jasmine-scented individual".
- Central Theme: The Old vs The New. A conflict that is symbolized by Kujirai and Kudou's tensions over her desire to try new things and Kudou's resistance and reliance in habits. Even more so in regards to Kujirai wanting a new relationship with Kudou, while he is still hung up on the previous Kujirai.
- Double-Meaning Title: At first the term "Generic" in the title may seem as a cheeky joke about its own romance being played by the books, as in a romance that is cliched. Instead, later revelations indicates that "generic" actually refers to the meaning of "brandless", "replaceable", or "non-specific" (like generic drugs, furthered by a pharmaceutical company being a seemingly antagonistic force in the story); this refering to the fact that the romance between Kujirai and Kudou is replacing the previous romance between Kudou and Kujirai-B, as well as Kujirai herself being something of a clone for Kujirai-B.
- Erotic Eating: Hilariously, when Miyuki has a craving for street food there's a panel of him about to bite into a hot dog with Tao Guen watching him with "Rec" written on his forehead. The implications are pretty clear.
- First-Episode Twist: Chapter 8. Up to that point, the story was just an office romance story, then it is revealed that Kujirai and Kudou apparently dated in the past, something she has no memory of. There is also the Mind Screw scene of her being suddenly teleported to a destroyed version of the bar she is visiting and then brought back, adding the sci-fi mystery that the story would have.
- First-Name Basis: After becoming friends, Youmei begins calling Kujirai "Reikpon," her given name with a cutesy honorific. It's a way to show their friendship and also conveniently makes it easier to distinguish Reiko from "Kujirai-B" when Youmei talks about the two of them.
- Food Porn: There's some examples of lovingly rendered Chinese food in this manga, such as the Hong Kong Lemon Chicken that Kujirai and Youmei enjoy in Volume 2.
- Genre-Busting: After its first volume being a simple office romance story with an unusual setting, the revelations at the end of the volume turn the manga into a mix of that with a drama about a woman's search for her identity and love, mixed in with a hefty amount of Mind Screwy sci-fi concepts and a head-scratching mystery due to said mind-screwness.
- Genre Shift: For the first few chapters, the series seems to be a straight-forward romance, abet one with a unique setting in a city that no longer exists in a slightly futuristic era. Then the Wham Episode at the very end of Volume 1 drops, and while the series never loses the romantic element, it becomes more of a mystery with sci-fi elements.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: After discovering Kudou's photo of him and her together and learning that at least one other person knew the two of them as lovers, Kujirai realizes that she can't remember a single thing about her past.
- Mind Screw:
- What is the meaning of the shot in Chapter 8 which reveals the Goldfish Teahouse to be abandoned and dilapidated?. Chapter 44 ends with a similar shot that shows the entirety of Kowloon in this way. Later chapters provides an explanation: The Kowloon we see is also already demolished, but certain people can interact with it in its pre-demolishment state. Perhaps these two shots are comparisons between those who can interact with Kowloon and those who cannot.
- In Chapter 42, while in the middle of a breakdown, Youmei's entire body changes to its appearance prior do her sugeries and turns back once Reiko voices her support for the person she is now.
- Office Romance: The two main romantic leads of the series work together in a realty firm, making the main genre of the manga this.
- Retraux: Fitting for a manga that talks so much about nostalgia, the manga's artstyle mimics visual trends at least 20 years older than the manga itself.
- Rewatch Bonus: After reading the series, rereading the first volume becomes an exercise in realizing Kudou is constantly quoting "Kujirai-B" and showing "Kujirai-A" the things she first showed him. It's also an exercise in realizing how much he loves (or loved) her.
- Sinister Geometry: The Generic Terra. It's a floating and brilliant octahedron that looks exactly like Ramiel from Neon Genesis Evangelion (the trope image for this trope) and hoovers in the sky of Kowloon. The manga builds a subtle sense of dread surrounding it as the viewer and the characters are kept in the dark regarding its true purpose, but are constantly reminded of its presence with scenes of the Kowloon sky.
- Smoking Is Glamorous: In the opening chapter of Volume 2 several panels are devoted to Kudou's point of view as he watches the original Kujirai take a drag on her cigarette. It's pretty clear that he's bewitched by the sight.
- Wham Episode: Chapter 7 is pretty startling when Kudou suddenly kisses Kujirai but it's completely blown out of the water by Chapter 8, in which Kujirai discovers a photo of her and Kudou together and learns that they were apparently lovers. And then there's that Mind Screw shot of her sitting in the abandoned, dilapidated Goldfish Teahouse...
- In Chapter 22 the masked man is revealed to be Tao Guen... or someone who looks a lot like him.
- Chapter 44: Guen returns to Kowloon, which is revealed to be in ruins, despite the shots of the cast existing there.
- In Chapter 54, we find out that Kujirai-B committed suicide.
