Akarui Kioku Soushitsu
Cheerful Amnesia

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Yuri fans, this one’s for you.

I came across this sweet 4 koma manga during a time of procrastination and frustration, and thus the gods blessed me with adorable lesbians! Surely lifted my spirits enough to feel happy during the incoming doom of a 6 min presentation on flu vaccines.

Story:
Simple yet intriguing scenario where we find our main heroine Arisa having amnesia and waking not remembering the last three years of her life. What she discovers is that she’s gay and got a girlfriend during that blank period. Said girlfriend Mari, feared Arisa would no longer love her because of her lost memories. No fear because ... the power of love is invincible and Arisa falls in love at first sight with Mari, and the two go on to reconnect their relationship. The setup is granted not groundbreakingly original but gives something new to the yuri genre, a pre-established yuri relationship finding ground once again through mental recovery. Arisa getting to know Mari parallels with us getting to know both girls, what their past relationship was like, and where it could go from here. The story has no thematic message nor tries to make a statement, it starts out simple and stays simple. The writing has no technical flaws either, creating engaging and adorable scenarios of our two girls looking out for one another. Also does a great job with background development on our characters, spreading it out to when its important instead of throwing it all at you or not at all. Now this manga is under the genre of comedy, however its sense of humor might not be your style. To be honest I did not laugh a single time while reading, most of the punchlines are of Arisa being hyper and wanting to have sex, not much diversity granted. However the roots of enjoyment lie not in laughs but in awws and adorbs.

Art:
Very well drawn and serves the purpose of creating a fluffy and enjoyable atmosphere. The highlight of the art is clearly the character designs which I admit must judge through a bias lens. I thought the characters were whole heartedly adorable, and the drawing brought out the best of the character’s quirks. My heart was warmed every time I saw Arisa being the happy idiot she was (especially when swaying back in forth with excitement). I loved Mari’s design as well; because design wise she looks more masculine of the two (she was mistaken for a man in chapter 3) she became a sort of vehicle for guys to escape and relate. All at the same time looking feminine enough to be cute in her own right with her slender figure and her adorable faces when she’s embarrassed.

Character:
These characters are simple and relatable and that’s all they need to be. Arisa and Mari create the life that is Bright and Cheery Amnesia. Arisa is a bundle of joy and happiness who is obsessed with all things Mari, and Mari is cool and calm yet passive. Arisa’s amnesia is the vehicle which drives the story and its characters. Behind our two lead’s delightful personalities lies concerns and doubts which they must deal with. Arisa though happy with her fortunate life and relationship, is saddened she lacks the memories of how their relationship came to be. Then Mari’s insecurities about Arisa’s memories and whether she loves Mari the same way, and despite being really patient about the whole amnesia thing she shows cracks of sadness such as over worrying when Arisa got a cold, or missing Arisa’s familiar touch. These worries give our characters an extra human side that fill the story with countless relatable opportunities.

Side Characters:
Clearly not the focus of the story but nevertheless important still. As side characters go they fill their purpose but lack the human element Arisa and Mari hold. Rena gives sassy and entertaining dialogue in contrast to Arisa, however envelopes a “straitman” persona. Maeda definitely was entertaining and relatable to how his love to Mari will never be reciprocated, but that is the only gist of his character when he appears. I do hope to see further development on these characters in the future.

Enjoyment:
I myself am a huge fan of yuri, so I came here knowing what I was looking for and got what I came for: an adorable story of two lesbians with cute designs living their lives doing whatever they can for each other and get some feels. Nothing more nothing less. I did not come for a good laugh or for an intriguing story with loads of drama.

Conclusion:
For fans of yuri and cute girl stories, this will not fail. Bright and Cheery Amnesia gives a stress free story with light drama and smiles. Those looking for a laugh or more serious romances, still worth a read and see what happens. I’m your friendly neighbor dark lord of the arts and entertainment, and I’ll see y’all in the next 216 year eclipse.

Not really sure why there's not been any reviews since this manga finished (especially as the later chapters are the best parts) but I felt this series deserved some appreciation...

Cheerful amnesia is simply put, a fun romcom journey with lovable characters doing cute things.

You have the two main girls who are obviously the focus of the story but there are a number of characters who affect the story and have their moments - from a sweet elderly neighbour to a hairdresser to Mari's mum.

I won't go into any details to avoid spoilers but this is filled with a lot of cute stories essentially following this ... couple in their day-to-day life as Arisa re-learns many things such as what foods she likes, her relationships with different people and most importantly everything from the moment she met Mari until now.

While the story is generally over-the-top to emphasize the humour; the romance element is still there and is enjoyable. Don't expect anything tearful and heart moving but you'll still care for these characters throughout their journey, from their awkward beginnings to their exciting future ahead.

Normally when I see the comedy tag on a show or manga it's hit or miss. On this occasion I think the author honestly nailed it with the light hearted humour and fantastic art to go along with it. Arisa's facial expressions just fit really well with the situations that the character gets into, from the awkward moments to the more sweet and heartfelt scenes. I think this is where it really shines, I had a smile on my face throughout each chapter.

For the most part it's a wholesome heart-warming story with some well placed comedy throughout and some...not-so-wholesome scenes. I recommend this to anybody that wants an injection of pure happiness. This was a fun read and as the title says, a cheerful amnesia.

Akarui Kioku Soushitsu is pretty much exactly what it proclaims to be. The main character has amnesia and proceeds to fall in love with her partner all over again at first sight. She's goofy, cheerful, playful, and just wants to see what happens next. This story really emphasizes how important it is to have someone positive around, because she is continually inspiring other characters with her positive attitude and awkward straightforwardness.

It has its heartfelt moments too. There were plenty of things that I, as a lesbian, could identify with, but it's not like. Tear-jerking. It's more sweet than anything.

Anyway, really the whole thing is about ... Arisa wanting to learn how to be intimate with her partner again, but it's really cute. And all of Arisa's faces were so well drawn to match the situations. It's just a happy, feel good manga.

I think my review might be a little biased because I identified with the protagonist so much, but she's a cute lesbian living her cute lesbian life, what's not to like?

I really, really wanted to like Bright and Cheery Amnesia, but I just don't.

As a fan of gay things, this one's not for me. I just... do not understand the Japanese sense of humor, and it overshadows the gay by a landslide in this one. At least... I assume it's meant to be funny? If not, why does this exist? There's nothing actively offensive about the premise to me, but it's yet another bland, hack-comedy 4-koma piece, featuring a level of humor about equal to that of a Garfield comic.

But this one's different, I hear you say. This one has lesbians. Alright, we can ... go there. Stuff like this is why I pine after that perpetually rare beast, the Josei Yuri. Stuff like this is the filler manga of every season that you suffer through in search of something close to real gay relationships. The best I can say is that this piece features two women living together as long-term partners, and presents both of them as behaving in relatively safe, sane and consensual ways. Unfortunately, the amnesia plot is utterly wasted on wacky 4-koma highjinks, and the relationship feels stagnant, the format of the manga strangling any semblance of life from these characters. It's not romantic, it's not sexy, it's not particularly tender or loving, and it's certainly not funny.

If it took anything about the premise at all seriously, I might have loved this, is the frustrating thing. Amnesia in a serious, long-running relationship could have been a great catalyst for romantic tension/drama, but the format and writing of the manga just... kills that idea and spits on its remains.

If you want some funnies to chortle over while you drink your morning coffee, you might be fine with this, but might I also suggest the far superior Calvin and Hobbes? It's not gay, but at least it will make you think.

The funniest thing I have read all week was about a woman thinking of getting a lobotomy after her dog calming down after getting one. Before that, it was reading through our local nazi party's political ideas and before that it was someone laughing way too much at a picture of a dromedary (it was actually a gazelle, but that's beside the point).

The point is that I'm not much for manga comedy. They almost never makes me react more than a giggle so it's possible that my distaste for Cheerful Amnesia is purely due to a disconnect between my brand of humor and the ... one found in Cheerful Amnesia.

It is also possible that Cheerful Amnesia simply is not a comedy. While looking through the pages, I cannot state without a doubt why most of them are supposed to be funny (the punchline ususally being Arisa doing something flimsy or Arisa being embarrased or silly amnesia gimmicks). I can make educated guesses on the matter, but the main reason why I believe Cheerful Amnesia is a comedy is that it has no other qualities. There is a story, but it has no suspense, excitement or a relaxing atmosphere. It has characters, but they are as basic as comedy characters usually are as they have no greater purpose than serving as walking punchlines.

So yeah, i would not recommend reading this manga. It has the flimsy presentation of a comedy but forgot to include any good jokes to come along with it. It's a very dull read that contradicts the flimsy presentation, and it never does anything you would not expect it to do after reading a few chapters. I would give alternate recommendations, but it might suffice to skip this, go to bato.to and press random until you get something that has chapters. You might get an awful mess, but it should at least be a more interesting mess than what you would get spending the same time reading Cheerful Amnesia.