Hit the “Random” button and see what comes up! In this feature, we take a look at whatever manga the Random Number God decides to throw at us and find out if it’s worth your time.

This time: Coin Laundry no Onna, by Hiro Kiyohara

In the mad scramble for a random manga to feature after sleeping off the Thanksgiving feast, I was considering falling back onto one of the terrifying things I keep in mind in case I need to write a post on short notice… and then I found this and read it. And I didn’t understand what was going on at all. It’s perfect for a short post that nobody will read because they’re in food comas!

The Laundromat Woman is exactly what it sounds like. There’s a woman who runs a coin-operated laundromat, and she likes to hang out inside the washers and driers for whatever reason. She looks like a typical stringy-haired pale ghost, like from The Grudge or something. And then a bunch of fucking weird stuff happens. Stuff I have no explanation for. I read the words, and no explanation appeared. It was in English, but I did not understand. I could only keep reading until I could read no more.

Other characters include a brooding college student in glasses, his crazed stalker from high school, a very odd-looking dog, the owner of a rival laundromat, a masochist who lives in the wall of the building, and a modern-day prince. That’s all I got. The jokes were baffling and made no sense to me, except for one or two relating to the eponymous character being an otaku of sorts.

Verdict: what

I’m not a big fan of absurdist comedy. I didn’t enjoy what little of Arakawa Under The Bridge I watched, and I think Azumanga Daioh is boring (YEAH WHAT I SAID IT). Consequently, I was not terribly entertained by this manga. I spent most of my time with it just utterly baffled at what was on the screen in front of me. If that sounds like a good time to you, then check this out. Otherwise, pass.