Tsuma, Shougakusei ni Naru.

The moments Keisuke Niijima shared with his wife, Takae, were the happiest in his life. After their first meeting as coworkers, the bond between them gradually became stronger. They eventually married and were blessed with a daughter named Mai soon after. However, following Takae's death, time seems to have stopped for Keisuke, resulting in his inability to build a proper relationship with his daughter.

Ten years later, the gloomy Niijima household is bound for change when a little girl knocks at the door—claiming to be Takae's reincarnation. After confirming her identity, Keisuke's world brightens once more as he revels at the thought of making new memories with his beloved family. Unfortunately, this fortuitous miracle comes with its obvious drawbacks, and one mistake will spell more tragic consequences for Keisuke and everyone else involved.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Shiraishi, Marika Main

Yuuki, Aoi Japanese

Niijima, Takae Main

Yuuki, Aoi Japanese

Niijima, Keisuke Main

Hirakawa, Daisuke Japanese

Niijima, Mai Main

Nomura, Maiko Japanese

Shiraishi, Chika Supporting

Kojima, Sachiko Japanese

Moriya, Konomi Supporting

Okazaki, Kana Japanese

Renji's Father Supporting

Volcano Ota Japanese

Tanaka Supporting

Kimura, Suzuka Japanese

Urakawa, Hiroki Supporting

Tamura, Makoto Japanese

Abe, Junko Supporting

Fukuda, Naoko Japanese

Oowada, Tomoyuki Producer

Kuwahara, Kazuya Producer

Iijima, Emiko Producer

Ootani, Yuuichirou Producer

Reviews

Dec 15, 2024

Marinate1016

Recommended

Tsumasho was the most controversial show this season and it really didn’t need to be that way. Despite the title, this is one of the most wholesome and beautiful shows you’ll see this year. It’s a powerful story about grief, acceptance and moving on. I was brought to tears on several occasions in this one and the focus on the family dynamic of grief really resonated with me. This was a brilliant watch and if you can get over the really weird naming choice, you’ll be in for a treat.

Everyone knows Japan is no stranger to controversial and taboo topics and by the name alone ... you’d be forgiven for thinking this is another one of those, like I said before though, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Instead, we’ve got a unique twist on the reincarnation gimmick by having a deceased wife come back as a child to help her family deal with her death. This family’s just glad to have their matriarch back and it never goes beyond more than them just being happy to spend time together again, cooking, family outings etc., essentially your textbook definition of a wholesome anime. Sadly, the series has this cloud and sense of impeding doom kind of hanging over the family throughout even with the return of the wife because you just know this can’t last forever. We only have one life to live and can never get another one which is why it’s important to cherish the moments we have here now.

Again, things stay very wholesome throughout and I really liked how there was so much emphasis on the impact that suddenly losing a spouse/parent can have on the surviving child/spouse. Time kind of stops moving Keisuke and Mai when the mom dies, and then it resumes when she comes back, but her reincarnation and the ultimate conclusion to her character arc is basically a stand-in for people coming to terms with and learning to live with their grief. It’s a really well done story mechanic that’s feels like an emotional roller coaster. I mean, this show had me going through the highest of highs and lowest of lows at times, which is quite fitting because that’s how life after losing someone you care about feels. Good days and bad days.

On the whole I really liked how all the characters’ developed in this one. The daughter going from a shut-in with no social prospects to opening back up to the world and advancing her career. The husband going from essentially having given up on life and having a broken relationship with his daughter to someone who has hopes, and aspirations again and can actually communicate with his child. Marika’s mom accepting that her abusive upbringing turned her into an abusive mother and finally letting that hurt go, etc. My only complaint with this story narratively is that the pacing feels very wonky around episode 10/11 when a relationship(vague to avoid spoilers) seems to develop quicker than it should.. but other than that, I thought the small cast made things very intimate and just showcased how losing a mom can leave such a massive hole in a family. Losing a dad is one thing, but moms tend to be that glue holding the family together and there’s so many little things you lose when your mother passes.

In short, don’t let the name scare you off from Tsumasho. It’s a really nice and emotional story. I don’t know if I’d classify it as a “sad” anime. There’s certainly sad parts, but I think it’s actually quite optimistic and positive. Death is a part of life and we never know when it’ll come for any of us. But when we lose people, they’re never really gone. We take them with us every day, every step of the way.

Tsumasho gets 9 out of 10.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Dec 16, 2024

patkarunungan

Mixed Feelings

TsumaSho, otherwise known as 'My wife becomes an elementary student', created some buzz several months before it aired because of its trailer. Did the anime live up to the hype? Maybe.


§ Overview

Keisuke and Takae were happily married couples. But one day, Takae died in an accident, which left Niijima and their daughter, Mai, devastated. 10 years later, an elementary student knocks on their door, claiming to be Takae.

Will Keisuke's family return to being happy?


... § Notes

So many trolls were joking that this is about pædophilia, but some have taken such criticisms at face value without giving this anime a chance. That is so unfortunate. As a whole, this anime is so wholesome.

It's not about Keisuke reestablishing a relationship with the child Marika who has Takae's soul. It's about resolving Takae's unfinished business because, for many years, her family had been in shambles. Keisuke is unmotivated at work. Mai doesn't have a career to speak of. All that has changed when they were reunited.

That said, there were a few pædo jokes that may put you off. Keisuke was rather careless, calling the child his wife and Takae had to smack some sense to him. It's not really that bad, but they're there and I'm warning you about them.

Takae's husband and daughter started off so insufferable. Once they reconciled, they started leaning more on her. Little did they know that as the child Marika, Takae had a separate life that she must deal with. So basically, this anime is also about how these insufferable individuals grow as a person and come to terms with the fact that Takae can't be there forever.

This is a good drama and the last few episodes are very emotional. For much of the time, I was leaning toward giving it a 7/10. I ended up giving it a 6/10 because there's a detail in the final episode that left a bitter taste in my mouth. Hint: It involves deception.


§ Conclusion

It's a generally wholesome drama. It can be emotional, and for some people, it can make you cry. There's nothing degenerate about it. You might be turned off by different things. In my case, it's the partially flawed ending that lowered its score.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Dec 20, 2024

Chuy_diazz

Not Recommended

A story that made me cry... but because of how poorly adapted the story was.

At the beginning of the season, people sold me this as the drama of the year and that I would need a box of tissues to watch each episode. I naively fell into the trap of the premise, since the story of how a family overcomes the grief of the loss of the family matriarch seemed interesting. Even so, the fact that the wife was reincarnated as a 10-year-old girl seemed quite dangerous and that at any moment a morally improper line could be crossed. Although the story remained within the ... moral, many of the protagonist's attitudes still felt uncomfortable and out of place.

The story was cut short and the production didn't even bother to hide the scissors with which they carried out this massacre. Many subplots developed off-camera, making any kind of progress of the subplots feel inorganic or unnatural. The biggest example is the whole daughter subplot, since her entire love relationship was developed out of the viewer's sight, making you not understand anything about her development. In the end, she was the character most affected because her growth was null and in the end she just feels like a big girl throwing a huge tantrum. Another one of those affected was the character of Moriya, who without giving spoilers, what they did to her was to directly trample her.

It's normal that the story feels rushed since the +100 manga chapters were adapted into 12 anime episodes. The anime tries to avoid the construction of the sad moments and only gives you the drama to force a tear or two in the viewer. Only without construction you are just watching a random moment with sad music in the background. I don't doubt that in the manga this is a wonderful story full of life lessons, but the anime fails to sell its counterpart and doesn't even make you want to read the first chapter of this story.
I feel bad for the fans who waited for this for who knows how long, but the production didn't try even a little to make something decent. Although I must say that not everything is bad in the anime. The subplot of Chika and Marika is told in a satisfactory way and it is the only story that can genuinely awaken some feeling of empathy or sadness. Seeing a mother try to recover and repair her relationship with her daughter is always something nice to see. The bad thing is that you have to watch the whole main story to be able to see these little moments that are worth it.

I don't recommend this even to the biggest fan of the drama genre. I think there are other media that adapted the story better, the anime was just a failed attempt to live off the name of a popular manga.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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