How Do Manga Authors Use This Too Shall Pass Symbolically?

Question

Zane · Answer

Have you noticed how many manga use everyday objects to show impermanence? I read a slice-of-life on a slow commute and kept spotting the same tricks: clocks, peeling paint, boarded windows, trains receding into fog. Authors lean on those motifs because they’re universal — everyone understands waiting rooms, delays, seasons changing.

Beyond props, creators play with pacing: a frantic fight sequence followed by a two-page quiet scene, or a time skip with a single caption like 'three years later.' That contrast makes the 'this too shall pass' line feel earned rather than preachy. Sometimes the line is literal — a character says it, perhaps in a cynical tone — and sometimes it’s ironic, as when a supposedly fixed tragedy haunts the series later. I like when a manga doesn't promise easy healing; instead it shows small, believable recoveries and the remnants that stay with a person. That realism makes the theme stick in a way that feels honest, not tidy.

Violet · Answer

I still get a little chill when a quiet panel slows down to nothing — that pause is where manga authors often plant the idea of 'this too shall pass' and let it breathe. I love how they'll use seasons like a character: sakura falling to signal endings and new beginnings, heavy winter snow for isolation that gradually thaws into muddy spring, or a single stray leaf caught in a gutter to show time moving on without drama.

Visually, it's not just what happens but how it's framed. Long silent gutters, a close-up on a wristwatch with a cracked face, a last panel showing the same street at dusk months later — those things whisper that pain, victory, or boredom is temporary. In stories like 'March Comes in Like a Lion' the passage of time is almost a character itself; in shonen works like 'Naruto' the trope becomes fuel for training montages and later growth. Even comedies will flip it into a punchline, turning a character's meltdown into a lesson that the next chapter will be different.

On a rainy night with my favorite mug, that's the part that keeps me turning pages: the promise that whatever mess the protagonist's in is not eternal. It doesn't erase the hurt, it layers it with hope, and that bittersweet mix is what I look for when I want to feel grounded but not stuck.

Faith · Answer

When I'm sketching thumbnails and thinking like a storyteller, I notice how 'this too shall pass' is engineered into the craft. Authors manipulate gutters and rhythm: repeating panels with tiny visual shifts communicate slow change, while a jump cut to a different season signals decisive movement. Reframing an earlier image — the same bench now empty, then occupied — is a shorthand that trusts the reader to fill in the emotional mileage.

There’s also clever use of leitmotifs. A song title as a chapter name, a recurring scent described in narration, or a phrase scrawled on a wall can recur in different contexts to show development. In darker works the motif may invert: something meant to comfort becomes a trigger, showing that passage doesn't always heal uniformly. I often borrow that reversible approach: introduce a small symbol early, then mutate it later to reflect character change. Reading 'Your Lie in April' or similar melodramas, you see this in how music and silence alternate — silence becomes its own symbol of endurance. It’s a craft tool and an emotional compass all at once.

Robert · Answer

I tend to spot the shorthand signs quickly: rain that washes everything, a clock hands-stuck then spinning forward, or cherry petals piling up on a tombstone. Those are simple, repeatable ways authors whisper 'things change' without lecturing. Sometimes it’s even used for humor — a character swears nothing will change and then a dodgeball scene squashes that pride.

You can also find the theme in framing: long establishing panels that show life going on, while the protagonist is frozen inside. That contrast is what lands the feeling for me. Next time you read, look for small visual echoes across chapters — they're usually the clue that the mangaka is reminding you gently that time keeps moving.

How Do Manga Authors Use This Too Shall Pass Symbolically?

4 Answers

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