I read this on the day that my nan passed away. Some would argue that reading something thats as emotionally heavy as The Embalmer immediately following the death of a loved one would be a bad idea and I can see why but I needed to drown myself in something and this had been on my list of things to read for years so I decided to take the plunge. Ill get my criticisms out of the way first: I think the romance subplot is underdeveloped and that things wrap up a little too neatly. Wedding bells and all. There are elements of the story that I dont feel work as well as they should such as the dollmakers. There is perhaps maybe a little too much disconnect between the way that Shinjurou is presented in the flashback arc when compared to how he is in present time but these are all minor grievances. Reading The Embalmer was more than anything else a helpful experience. It was a reminder that grief is a universal emotion that there is no truly right way to process it but there are at the very least things you can do to make the pain even a little easier. In the moment it was definitely something that I needed. A lot of stories in The Embalmer tend to play out in a similar way. Someone will die through accident or other means. Shinjuurou will be called upon in his capacity as an embalmer to restore the body to a state in which family and friends will be able to say goodbye in a way that treats the deceased with dignity. We learn something about the lives of the deceased and there will be ruminations on life and the nature of this work. The manga making it clear to its readers that at the time it was published whilst embalming is a more common practice overseas it is seen as unusual and unclean in Japan tainting the dead. Though at the very least the families often end up becoming appreciative of the work done. Its a story structure that allows for a lot of room to have insights on the lives people lead what the death of a loved one means to a person and how theyll cope with it from then on. In the first chapter a student with a promising ballet career is tragically killed in a traffic accident her face horribly scarred in the process to the point that shes nearly unrecognisable. Later on in the manga that same students lover has through time been able to move on with his life by virtue of being able to see her in the state she would likely wish to be remembered in after embalming. Easy? Not at all but possible. It also never forgets to show that even with a process like embalming that no amount of restoration can make the pain easier. People will always respond to any form of grief differently and there is no oneforall solution when it comes to managing it. Some will be able to find the strength to be able to live on others may never truly reconcile the loss theyve experienced. Though it may have criticisms of some of the practices that people may engage in when trying to cope the aforementioned dolls the people who are experiencing this loss are never condemned for it. Theres a level of empathy on display here for people from all walks of life that helps to stop the manga feeling like its misery porn even with the heavy subject matter so regularly in discussion. I think my favourite story comes around halfway through the manga. Its about a woman who only has six months left to live as a result of terminal illness. Though not unusual she makes the funeral arrangements herself only to ask Shinjurou and his coworker to attend the funeral as the mourners she doesnt think anyone else will actually show up. Though she never did it with any malicious intent she often made decisions which resulted in her becoming isolated with no friends or family to turn to almost always being caught up in her work. When the funeral finally does happen she is tragically correct and no one does end up showing up. That is until a mother and daughter who had heard about her passing attend the funeral to mourn her in place of anyone else. As it turns out though she had made these decisions she had also ended up helping out this mother and daughter in the past and they remembered as much. As the funeral goes on more people that she had helped out at various points in time trickle in each one remembering the kindness she showed them. She made semipermanent flowers for a living so during the funeral arrangements she asked for them to be put in her coffin as they were going to outlive her. The people who attend the funeral end up taking a flower each to remember her by. Some might find this story sappy or overly melodramatic. For me there was something so incredibly human about the whole thing. Im not going to say that this is how my nan would have wanted to be remembered but as sad as funerals can be theyre also very much a celebration and honouring of a persons life and in the moment I thought this encapsulated all of that beautifully. If shes going to be remembered then I would hope that in this case that shed be remembered for all the things that made her life worth celebrating in the first place. Im not sure whether or not her recent passing has properly sunk in yet. The funeral was last week but it still feels as though I could go down to the accommodation she was staying in and pay her a visit. The distinct way shed say hiya to me is burned into my memory. Id walk in and hear her tell me that I must be well over 6 feet with how tall I am in relation to her. When I was younger Id go to her house after school and have plates filled with ginger biscuits and mess around on my grandads keyboard as a way to procrastinate from doing homework. If me and my brothers were having to stay there during summer holidays then theyd take us to parks and wed feed ducks. They might not be what some people consider special memories but theyre special to me. I cant recommend The Embalmer to everyone. If the subject matter it deals with seems like it might be too much then Id probably advise staying away from it even with how hopeful it can be. It never shies away from the fact that dealing with grief is hard. If that doesnt deter you then I think its a very worthwhile read it was definitely that for me. Whether or not what Ive written here is good is ultimately irrelevant to me because I managed to get a lot out of this manga on a day that I really needed it. In that sense its a work thats above criticism for me. There are flaws yes but theyll never outweigh the help it offered.