Ashizuri Suizokukan and Kani ni Sasowarete

Ashizuri Aquarium and Invitation from a Crab are collections of short, bizarre stories. They both share a similar theme which is why I'm lumping them together, but, as of writing this I'm 4 chapters away from finishing Invitation from a Crab. These quickly became one of my favourite manga I've ever read. In their surreality and visual humor they kind of remind me of Short Cuts. Both Ashizuri Aquarium and Invitation from a Crab share core themes like: wandering around and getting lost in places you can't comprehend, dream like situations, nonsensical conclusions, extremely simplistically drawn characters compared to the environment, big focus on fish and sea animals. Somehow all of this together comes to form something that is extremely appealing to me and my tastes. Maybe it's because my dreams could fit right into a chapter of this manga and nobody would notice, but I really love it. Tell me these images don't invoke a familiar feeling in you:

Maybe it's because of my tendency to not be able to perceive places as they are until I get used to seeing them regularly, but boy if this isn't me in every unfamiliar setting lmao. I used to get lost because I couldn't recognise places from a different angle. That lack of spatial awareness got a bit better over the years, luckily. I digress, the extreme dream like quality these manga posess is what made me enjoy it so much. The matter-of-fact way in which issues get resolved and how the main character is always taken on an unwilling journey but also somehow makes it safely back home, all of this makes for a fun little experience that you can't find in many other places. I don't like using this word becuase all the young zoomers will eat it up but you know - liminal spaces are kind of a core theme of these manga. Wandering from one area to the next, never knowing what you'll experience. Getting off at the wrong station on an acicdent. It's all very interesting to me.