Tokyo Tarareba Musume

Jul 29, 2019

TrickRift

Not Recommended

It's not worthy of an Eisner. Story wise, everything was typical, you can easily guess what would happen next. And this is not me hating on a cliche, a cliche can be good if done right (Ex: How to train your dragon). The main guy character is needlessly abusive and he gets a pass for everything that he does to the main character just because he had a traumatic/sad past. I'm sorry but this only promotes a very bad example for women, that they can change a bad man into an ideal man. How many times have we seen this and how often did it ...

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Nov 21, 2018

somaisbatman

Recommended

Last month a very strange thing happened. I found myself reading, God forbid, a heterosexual manga. And on top of that, I found myself sincerely enjoying it too. So how did I even get into this position?

Well, it’s my love of Akiko Higashimura’s previous works that brought me to Tokyo Tarareba Girls. The cast consisting of women in their 30’s was the part that really intrigued me. It’s so rare to see mangas about people past high school and young adulthood, and especially ones from the perspective of working women. The closest other thing I can think of to this perspective is Turning Girls, the ... hilarious and overlooked Trigger short about female coworkers struggling together as they face the prospect of turning 30. Tarareba Girls feels like a continuation of that spirit, in name and in plot. Our girls are into their 30s, haven’t married, still have boozy girl’s nights together like nothing has changed in a decade, and are generally terrified about their futures. Reading this through my birthday gave me some very relatable feelings!

Packed into this romantic/depression comedy is a lot of explicit and implicit social commentary. Lots of grumbling about how underwhelming the men in Japan are, lots of questionable guys doing creepy things, some discussion about the role of married women as workers versus housewives, just the whole works. You start to get the feeling that within the current societal romantic setup, everyone is kinda suffering in some way. And this isn’t just a Japan thing! While some of the sexism and ageism is pretty specific, a lot of is totally applicable to any culture. My takeaway from the early volumes was that heterosexuality is terrifying and as long as it entails inherent relationship power imbalances, nobody will be happy.

This sounds sad and hard to read! But I promise, once the manga gets rolling it ends up being way lighter reading. The trio oscillates in and out of all sorts of relationships, some messier than others. A better work-life balance is achieved. The one thing that stays the same is the girl’s endless nights drinking and badmouthing their men. During these drinking escapades they’re visited by anthropomorphized representations of milt and liver who fill their thoughts with ‘what-if’ questions and aging anxiety, which is a nice callback to Clara from Princess Jellyfish.

Milt and Liver also run an advice column chapter at the end of each volume, in which real world ‘what-if’ women mail them their romance problems to sort out. This is a really interesting role for the mangaka to take on, and it’s played fairly sincerely – obviously there’s a lighthearted air to it, but she does try to offer serious advice. The problems get weirder and more convoluted as the manga goes on, which is always a fun time.

Speaking of romantic advice, I actually kind of disagree with the ending that Higashimura went with. But that’s not a problem at all! I’m younger than the depicted women, my world view is way different, and the ending still carries a very coherent message: don’t regret yourself or make excuses, just keep on living to your best.

Like most of Higashimura’s works, Tokyo Tarareba Girls has a painful autobiographical undercurrent to it, which makes it feel all the more genuine. It kinda sucks being an awkward aging romantic mess of a girl, but I love seeing the mangaka reflect and work through it over the course of multiple manga series!

____
Men still suck though. Try to avoid them if you can.

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May 4, 2020

Hoohooer

Not Recommended

Well-written

This manga honestly had a lot of potential, the first few volumes really drew me in and I was excited to read on, but I was not ready for the amount of sheer disappointment that was awaiting me in the volumes ahead. DO NOT read this manga if you want to read a manga with a satisfying ending. The mangaka had so many ending options and she somehow manages to pick the worst one.

The fact that this manga is about 3 friends, all 33 years-old, trying to find love is intriguing for a number of reasons. It gives the mangaka room to explore societal ... exceptions for women and how it can make women feel worthless if they aren't married or in a relationship. It can also explore breaking away from that and learning to find happiness in what you already have. The manga has so many places to branch off and explore new territory and it didn't. The manga adds nothing new, the FL doesn't find new meaning in life and her friends stories are just cast aside.

The characters are bland at best. Out of the three friends I only liked only liked one of them because she had the most character development and out of the whole cast I only like three characters. I really wish the characters were less forgettable and I wish we could get to know them more and their history. I felt all the characters were pretty one-dimensional. I didn't feel attached to anyone and while their problems with love felt relatable, that's the only aspect of them I got to know. I wanted to know them as people, even the side characters. I want to know how they feel about certain things and their reasoning behind things. I wanted them to talk less about love when they were together. They are 33 not teens, they must have something other than love to talk about. I feel as they were the MC's we should have gotten to know them more and I wanted to diversify my knowledge about them. I liked the 19-year old better than them as I feel she has more life and character. Overall I would give the characters a 3/10, some characters were snubbed hardcore and the others were either trash or one-dimensional.

Lets talk about relationships. The pairings in this manga is trash, the one good couple in this manga (the FL and SM) had to be broken up because the FL wanted to be with the ML who literally showed no interest in her (at one point tells her he'd never love her) until the end of the manga, where he has a sudden change of heart. Gimme a break. She has no reason to fall for him, sure they had sex, ONCE, but they were both drunk and sex doesn't always mean romantic attraction. Why did I bring up the point they had sex and that sex doesn't mean romantic attraction? Well that's her friends reasoning for thinking he likes her. Y'all are 33, i'm sure you've heard of one-night stands. They literally are living proof that just because you are sexually attracted to someone doesn't mean you are in love with them. Other than the fact they slept together she has no reason to even consider him liking her (and even the sleeping together reason isn't valid). He literally gets her fired from her job because he didn't want to use the script she wrote and instead of giving her time to improve it uses someone else's script. He calls her names (even when they just met and didn't know each other), he insults her AND her friends, he judges every decision she makes and hounds her for it, he literally doesn't show any interest for her, and most likely sees her as a sex toy. In fact, at the end it's revealed that she reminds him of his first love who died and that's why he wants yo go out with her. Not because he finds her attractive, but because she reminds him of someone else. I can tell that relationship is going sour after she can't meet the expectations he has/ when she doesn't act like that girl.

Next is the FL's friend, the one with the glasses, I'll call her 'glasses' for short and I can't remember her name. I liked her, she actually had some character and I felt that if she was the main character the story would have been less of a disappointment. She's a chef at her families pub and there she meets, what seems to be, the love of her life. They eventually confess, but there's a catch, the dude has a wife already. She enters the relationship, as the man reassure her that he and his wife are not living together. I wish it was explained why she entered the relationship, I'm guessing she was clinging on to the feeling of being in love and being in love. As the relationship continues, she finds out that the wife is pregnant with her second child. She stays in the relationship, still attached to the love she's receiving. She eventually breaks up with him for good, after many attempts. I like the fact that she breaks up with him of her own will, unlike the other friend. It shows that she has morals and conscience, although I don't think she should've been in the affair in the first place, the fact that she stopped the relationship on her own shows character development. I really wish she wasn't shoved to the side to make the ML's and FL's relationship shine (especially since it's a horrendous relationship and they are a terrible couple).

The next relationship is the other friend's. She's going to be referred to as 'hair' because her colour is different. She has an affair with her ex boyfriend, a musician, who already has a girlfriend. Unlike the glasses, she doesn't stop the affair, she has to be told. I don't know why she even got back with her ex, she legit had no reason, but I'm guessing she was wondering what could've been. Whatever the reason was, she enters a relationship with him. She let him have sex with her multiple time, without a condom and can you guess how he convince her? He said 'musicians don't/can't use condoms' and she just accepted the reasoning!? The hell is she stupid or is she stupid, probably both. She's also quite insecure in her relationship, often trying to become the dudes #1. I don't really get why she stays in a relationship with him, maybe she fines a sense of security in his false words or maybe she is struggling to let go of what could have been. I don't know and I really wish the author explained why these women kept being in this affair, I felt like adding an explanation would add more depth to their characters. Anyways, the worst thing about this whole affair is how she got of it. Unlike glasses she doesn't get out of the relationship out of her free will, she has to e told that she's being 'cheated' on by her bf who she's cheating with. Not only that, but by this dude she only knew for a couple of months (I'm assuming the timeline for this manga, since it isn't clear). She would have NEVER, probably, gotten out of the relationship if she hadn't found out. She's fine with helping people cheat, but doesn't want to be cheated on (girl get your shit together). What bothered me the most about this part is that mangaka got this dude to help her out of the relationship. She could've used her friends, who she has known since HIGH SCHOOL, but no lets get this dude (who is trash) to tell her to get of the relationship. She wasted a perfectly good bonding scene, where they realize how much they mean to one another. SMH.

All in all, all the romantic relationship suck ass and the three girls friendship seems quite fragile. All the ever do is talk about love and they don't even try to help their friend out of an affair. So very disappointing.

The story sucks, they try to justify K's verbal abuse by saying he's traumatized, but they're a lot traumatized people out there and they aren't jerks, so why does he have to be. The pacing is confusing, I'm not sure how many months has passed from the beginning of the manga to the end. The only real reference point is the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, but the Tokyo Olympics could be in months, weeks, or days we simply don't know. The story at the end felt rushed and nothing really made sense, the FL's friends know that she has a relationship with another man, but encourage her to get with this other dude. No one in this manga learns anything, no one finds new meaning and virtually no one grows. Glasses and hair are thrown aside, still aching from their affairs and they don't even get a conclusive ending. If you really think about it, no one in this story is going to be happy in a year. This manga was trying to comment on society and trying to be deep, but gives in. They should've ended single and found new joys in their friendships and careers or maybe a new hobby. This manga is not a good social commentary and doesn't make you think about things from a new perspective, as it's trying to do. There is nothing wrong if you don't get a moral lesson from a manga because some are just for fun, but when you're trying market your manga as such, it should at least have an end lesson, and end goal. Don't waste your time with this manga. It'll be a big waste of time, and you can use your time to read better mangas.

My overall score is 2/10, the only thing that saved this manga from a '1' is the concept and glasses. The art is also decent.

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Feb 5, 2018

roro11

Recommended

I was surprised to find that this manga's score is below 8 and this would e the first review! This my first review so bear with me :D
This manga is amazing. You might find the main characters annoying but be patient. It's great!

*This contains may spoilers*

The story is great it mainly deals with how society looks at women. It questions society standards. Why must women end up married? is that women's happiness? What is happiness? What's wrong with living freely and being independent? It deals with this and how it pressures women and their search for happiness
The character which is the voice of the society ...

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Feb 11, 2018

littlegirly

Recommended

I love Higashimura's work and when I heard of this one and it's plot I was immediately interested.
The first and second volume and a bit of the third were so intensely engaging with amazing life quotes and steady rising flow, but by the 4th volume that intensity slowed and you reach the point of where all the characters' are stuck in their own kind of slump and conflict more individually but still together since they are the tokyo tarareba girls.
I really recommend picking this up since it's getting a physical release this summer (I read it digitally because I thought such a niche title would ... only get that).
The characters and the story are all interesting and if you're an older reader or just becoming a young adult, there are a lot of worries about getting old and finding happiness that can really make your heart twinge at times. It can be a bit of a horror story for those that feel the most related to these characters, as a lot of Japanese women in their thirties (fellow tokyo tarareba girls as Higashimura called them) told Higashimura themselves.
At the end of the volumes there is also a kind of advice column where Higashimura herself answers the questions and woes of real life tokyo tarareba girls and those are really funny and sometimes painful simultaneously.
Furthermore, the end of the story gets a proper resolution that did feel satisfying as well which I was very wary about since I had heard the drama adaptation ended a little one note and simple about what the characters should have known in the first place, but the manga is different.
It slows down towards the end and you wonder if anyone will find any sort of resolution or happiness, but Higashimura manages to deliver in a not so cliche way a kind of happy end for everyone. It's a very nice end for all the conflict and strife our tokyo tarareba girls had to face to get to that point and gives the reader one last inkling of advice to ponder on ourselves.

Overall, the story goes between hilarious banter and self-reflecting monologues and conversations that make you laugh at how you change as you get older and also cry at how fast you grow older. There are some monologues that still stand out to me and I feel like I'll be rereading this again and buying the physical later on to have as I get older and to recommend to my friends if they ever get into an age slump or when they hit 33 years old. It was also a nice read before the 2020 Olympics coming up as they mention it multiple times.
I highly recommend, especially if you're a fan of josei or have reached a slump, or have just turned 33. (But beware, you might find it so relatable it feels like a horror as well).

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Jan 27, 2021

Meemochi

Not Recommended

I had so much hope for this one, I love female friendship cause they are so under explored in mangas/anime. I really loved their friendship in the beginning, how they have their inside language and look out for each other. I also loved how they have been friends for like 15+ years. LOVED THAT! Sure they are little nosy sometimes but they are like super close and share every with each other anyway. However, the ending! It was so disappointing! I really wish her friend encouraged her to stay with the other guy cause he clearly loved and treasured her, and they would have had ...

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Aug 1, 2023

KyleScouter

Mixed Feelings

I am a big fan of Higashimura-sensei. Her funny jokes and beautiful pictures make this manga one of my favorites. But, it might be a bit hard for fans from other countries. You need to understand some Japanese to get all the jokes.

The title, 'Tarareba', is a good example. It is a mix of two words, 'Tara' and 'Reba'. Both words mean 'if' in English, but also stand for 'Pacific cod' and 'Liver' in Japanese. The characters and the story come from this mix of words.

But don't worry if you don't know much Japanese. The story is really good. It's about people who wish they ...

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Jan 21, 2019

kkl4261

Recommended

This manga reviews the current view of the role of woman in Japan, which is quite accurate. It questions the stereotype of woman in Japan, where woman are viewed as someone who takes care of home only. Knowing how harsh Japan is on woman, it is easy to empathize with the characters

The struggle of the three main characters in their pursue in happiness is presented very well. In Japan, woman are taught that they must get married in order to attain happiness and that being a bride is the ultimate goal of their life. Seeing how the three characters struggle to find happiness in a ...

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Aug 8, 2019

tsukimiwandering

Recommended

Preliminary (10/31 chp)

It's not often you see a manga with almost all the main characters in their 30's, dealing with real adult issues with realistic reactions. The female characters are multi-dimensional, complex, and although they are friends with similarities, they all have distinct personalities, tastes, beliefs, and flirtation styles/ways to pursue romance. I mention this because this is a rom-com, and generally speaking, slice-of-life rom-coms have female characters who are simple and are more a passive receiver of romance, instead of being the one who pursues or struggles with problems that might arise when you're the target of one's affections.
Romance doesn't come ...

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Jun 21, 2023

Curiouswanderer

Not Recommended

Preliminary (9/31 chp)

I tried liking this manga because this is quite a popular manga too alongside the other mangakas other work. As much as it was sorta funny at first seeing a trio of 30-something women moaning about not settling down with mr right and non stop saying they are running out of time.... I would literally walk away from them because THAT IS SO NOT TRUE DAMMIT!

However I felt the guys they met in this story were just meh and the romance was way too fast which I didn't think was right at all. Even worse, most of the guys are suppose to be married ...

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Oct 6, 2024

holacaracola

Recommended

A group of "young" woman try to enjoy their lives in Tokyo without feeling a deep guilt of not fitting in? Sign me up!
I read Tokyo Tarareba Musume right after I finished Jellyfish Princess because Higashimura's writing really impacted me. I feel like I am at the perfect age and vital point to really understand what Higashimura's characters go through.
I enjoyed Tokyo Tarareba Musume, specially the beginning, it really had me then, but as the story progressed I grew apart from the characters, I don't really understand what happened. In comparison to Jellyfish Princess that every page I found myself growing closer to ...

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