REVIEW: Today’s a New Day
This review is about a completed webcomic with a total of 30 episodes.
Today’s a New Day made its debut on Manta Comics in August 2021 and continued for 30 episodes before completing in October of that year. The slice-of-life webcomic, written and illustrated by Chaeun Han, follows the story of writer Jinhee, who has lived to the extraordinary age of 100 through new technology and is ready to leave life behind after discovering her husband cheated on her. Through a series of events with her robot caretaker M.U. and her optimistic and upbeat neighbor Baegun, Jinhee begins to enjoy life’s simple joys that make life great.
The first episode introduces us to Jinhee, who is still coming to terms with learning her husband cheated on her and their pending divorce. She moves into a new complex, where she lives with her adorable robot medical assistant, M.U. As a robot, M.U. can only see the world in terms of statistics. It worries about Jinhee as best it can but can’t detect when she’s feeling anxious or depressed, relying solely on Jinhee’s stats, like pulse rate and temperature, to determine whether she’s in good health. Despite M.U.’s “shortcomings,” Jinhee accuses it of being too human and banters with it as one would with a close friend, as she wonders who her robot companion was modeled after.
Episode 1 does an excellent job of framing the loneliness that seeps into our daily lives as we grow up and the lack of excitement over “just” living day-to-day. It’s as Jinhee muses, “Today is a new day, but I feel no excitement for what this day might hold.”
Early into moving into her new living complex, Jinhee meets her new neighbor, who happens to be her superfan Baegum, a minor actor and painter. At their first meeting, Baegum expresses his delight over meeting his favorite writer and asks Jinhee for an autograph. Jinhee agrees to sign his book — but only after practicing her autograph, as it’s been two decades since the last time she signed anything. Jinhee’s meeting with Baegum is a catalyst for the turning point in how she views life.
Jinhee has a lot to work through, from coping with the loneliness of a long life to the betrayal of her cheating spouse and her estrangement from her children, including her son, who only visits her when he needs something. Baegum, too, has his own baggage. By Episode 3, Baegum has already opened up to Jinhee, revealing that her book “Daring to Approach You” was his favorite as he could relate to the protagonist, who doesn’t leave his wife even after discovering she cheated on him multiple times. He expresses that the pain the protagonist felt was familiar to him and that he decided not to read the last chapter out of fear. Although Baegum firmly believed in staying in his marriage, a cruel twist of fate took his wife and daughter away from him, leaving him with a sense of bitterness despite his generally sunny outlook on life.
As the series continues, Jinhee confronts her issues, including scolding her children for their unfilial behavior, finalizing her divorce and learning she has cancer from a cruel doctor with no bedside manner. She connects with her neighbors, forging new friendships with them. By doing so, she discovers (and rediscovers!) things about herself, including things she had long forgotten — such as how she enjoys drinking milk. Baegum, too, finds himself healing old wounds as he and Jinhee draw ever closer, realizing that they had missed connections with one another throughout their very long lives.
It isn’t just Baegum that Jinhee has a connection with. She discovers that her precious M.U. was actually created by another neighbor, who happens to be one of Baegum’s best friends, Gaeshik. In fact, Gaeshik views the robot medical assistants as his children, with him personally having labeled Jinhee’s M.U, sik-j-m-m5-you-1225 — the 5th Gaeshik Jr., created just for her on Dec. 25th.
Chaeun Han’s comic features simple artwork that effortlessly communicates the story to readers. As someone who’s lived for at least three decades (you’re not getting my age out of me for free!), I felt privileged to join Jinhee on her journey through the last part of her life. Her struggle with feelings of depression and loneliness is all too real but made tolerable by the small, sweet moments that add up into something beautiful.
I loved Today’s a New Day and its underlying message of hope and perseverance. It reminds us all not to give up when we have a hard time because the sun will rise again tomorrow, and we’ll be able to say, “Today’s a new day!”
Source: Manta Comics
