For those of us who absolutely loved Inio Asano's Solanin, his newest release on these shores might be something of a disappointment, since it seems to cover the same ground (that is, young people unsure about the future), and as a collection of short stories, it doesn't provide the same satisfaction that comes from seeing characters defined and developed over the course of a longer narrative. But while it might suffer in comparison to that earlier work (which was actually published later in Japan), What a Wonderful World! is still a good read, giving Asano the chance to explore a wider variety of characters and tell some fascinating little vignettes that chronicle urban life.