My favourite manga of 2024 – Colette Decides to Die

While I only read 2 volumes of this manga this year, both towards the very end of the year, it earned the number 1 spot almost instantly.

About the series

Before I get more into exactly why I love this series so much, I want to share some of the basic information about Colette Decides to Die

There are a total of 20 volumes + 1 extra in Japanese

There is currently one omnibus (3-in-1) printed in English

It was first published in 2013, in the Hana to Yume manga magazine

This is a shoujo romance manga, featuring greek mythology

Why I love this manga so much

Typically, I find shoujo romance manga to be a little bit more on the shallow side. That isn’t to say I don’t absolutely love them – I do – just I don’t really expect to be made to feel much by them. Some of the classics like Kamisama Kiss and Ouran High school both have good messages, and respective cult followings for a reason, but when I read them I wasn’t exactly moved. I read them, enjoyed them, and then moved on. And that is exactly what I want in a manga most of the time! I want that little escape that doesn’t really weigh on my mind. Colette, however, is not one such manga.

Colette is a manga that may not really make you think all that much at first, but man does it stick with you (in a good way). It discusses rather heavy themes like human mortality, death and rebirth, and work-life balance. It discusses these themes in a rather skillful way, slightly hiding them behind a fantasy romance. While the male love interest in Colette Decides to Die is Hades, god of the underworld, its no surprise that the topic of death is brought up. What is surprising though, is just in what manner it is brought up.

Hades is depicted as a rather solemn but kind god, who overworks himself in order to keep his kingdom under control. While Colette is a cheerful apothecary, who overworks herself in order to keep those who reside in her village healthy. Both are no strangers to death, and so when the themes of death are brought up, it is always done so subtly. For example, in the Colette Decides to Die universe, once spirits die, those in paradise eventually ascend to rebirth. The longer they spend in paradise, they lose more and more of their memories of their past lives, and become child-like. Eventually, once they lose all sense of their past self and become small enough, they are transported into the next stage in the cycle. Hades casually explains this to Colette, while having her help play tag with the spirits. As being reincarnated can be scary, as its like going into the unknown, Hades decided to distract everyone with a game so that they wouldn’t even notice the change.

How touching is that?? This manga touches on some rather heavy themes, without ever getting too heavy itself. This is probably the manga that made me think the most out of everything that I read this year.

The art

I did briefly want to also bring up the art, because it’s another reason why I love it so much. While I do really enjoy the current style that most shoujo manga is drawn in nowadays, there really is something nostalgic about the art-style found in slightly older shoujo manga. I feel like it adds a certain charm to the story.

What was your favourite read of 2024?

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