Another intriguing looking Viz Signature manga is coming via their partnership with IKKI Magazine, Hisae Iwaoka’s SATURN APARTMENTS. According to the blurb:

Far in the future, humankind has evacuated Earth in order to preserve it. Humans now reside in a gigantic structure that forms a ring around the earth, 35,000
kilometers up in the sky. The society of the Ring System is strictly stratified: the higher the floor, the greater the status.

Mitsu, the lowly son of a window washer, has just graduated. Five years after his father disappears and is assumed dead, Mitsu takes on his father’s occupation. As he struggles with the transition to working life, Mitsu’s job treats him to an outsider’s view into the living-room dioramas of the Saturn Apartments. 

“SATURN APARTMENTS delivers a brilliant vision of a future where Earth is just beyond the grasp of humanity,” says Daniel Gillespie, Editor, VIZ Media. “As Mitsu endeavors to become an adult, he treats us to touching insights on working life, dreams and ambitions, class tension, the value of community and family, and the perplexing loneliness that occurs when people are forced to live on top of one another. It’s a poignant metaphor for urban life, drawn with stunning intricacy and irresistible cuteness.” 

Creator Iwaoka is a kind of “indie” manga creator, author of the one-shots Hana Boro (Flower Cookies) and Shiroi Kumo (White Clouds), both of which were serialized in IKKI magazine. She was included in the group show “Tokyo Girls Bravo,” curated by Takashi Murakami, which toured internationally. 

You can read a preview at the Sigikki website.

Saturn Apartments 
DOSEI MANSION © 2006 Hisae IWAOKA/Shogakukan

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