Manga 68883 Colette Wa Shinu Koto Ni Shita

Colette Wants to Die is a romance set in ancient Greece, between the titular Colette and the Greek God Hades. Despite its title, is a very heartwarming manga, that possibly fits into the "healing" genre, for having very little conflict despite the fact that as one of the protagonists is in fact the mythological Hades, it of course also deals with death. Colette is a doctor so overworked she jumps into a well out of misplaced desperation, and ends up in the underworld, where she discovers that Hades himself needs a doctor's care.

I like this manga a lot. Hades and the underworld is not at ... all like you might expect. Much of the afterlife is strangely comforting, underworld "monsters" such as cerberus are in fact adorable, and Hades is deeply caring. What I particularly like about this manga is that I've read a lot of shoujo romances, but this one is pleasantly unique in its character dynamic. Hades and Colette are both adults with jobs to do. There isn't the over the top boiling passion of many shoujo meant to titilate, nor is there any of the drama. They seem like the kind of people that do not loudly profess their feelings, instead quietly showing it by taking care of one another. It's a type of relationship that's rarely depicted because it could easily feel like there's a lack of chemistry between them, yet somehow the manga author manages to deftly write these characters so the reader can appreciate their more subtle romance.

The one oddity in the writing is that it's a very anachronistic (culturally Japanese) ancient Greece. The characters are really into tea, and the traveling by well to another world is a very Japanese idea. This manga is also a bit of slice of life. The story to it is minimal, as it relies completely on the characters and the central relationship to drive the story. I suppose some might think it dull, but for those who enjoy just cute and heartwarming, this is a good one.