Ohayou, Ibarahime
Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty

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It's not really easy to find a decent shoujo manga to read that fits to our tastes, whether for male or female readers. Sometimes we just read the manga when the manga is quite popular and we've heard the good reviews about it. If you're lucky enough, you'll find a hidden gem like "Ohayou, Ibarahime" or "Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty". When you first time see the manga cover, you might think it's an average shoujo manga but ... it's not like your regular shoujo manga with a far-fetched and overly lovey-dovey story. We need something different sometimes. A sorrowful story with a realistic storytelling and ... of course a good romance approach.

What's on your mind when you heard "Sleeping Beauty"? Probably a story about the princess who fell into a deep sleep for a long time being kissed by the handsome prince in order to woke her up. But ... this is not your regular "Sleeping Beauty" story. Let your wildest imagination fly to the sky. The story follows Misato Tetsu, a highschooler who works at the mansion as a part-timer, and Karasawa Shizu, a mysterious girl who lives in the lodge on the other side of the mansion.

Tetsu is our main hero in this story. With his calm and caring nature, who doesn’t like him? He’s warm and friendly person. Sometimes he can be silly when facing something outside his predictions, but he’s also a responsible person. He always does his job well. He's one of the best boyfriend material. How about main heroine? Is she a typical spoiled princess? I don’t think so. She’s a gloomy girl and never leave her room in the lodge, because she is said to have a “personality disorder” so she’s told not to leave her room. Does she have a “personality disorder”? Or, is there any secret behind the vicissitude that befell her?

Their story begins with an unexpected meeting. Tetsu lost his stuff so he searched around the mansion. Finally, he went to the lodge where the girl lived. When he got there, all he found was a normal girl who’s cleaning the room. There’s nothing unusual about it. After talking for a while, he asked Shizu out to see the shooting star. They came out through the wall with stairs so that they were not known by others. After they arrive at the open field, Shizu is amazed to see shooting stars and start crying in happiness. After that, Tetsu conveyed his feelings to Shizu. However, Shizu didn’t give an answer and told Tetsu to say the same thing when he came to her lodge. When he came there he found Shizu lying on the bench. She got up and said “Who are you?” to Tetsu. What happened with her?

I think it’s pretty hard to tell what’s going on in this manga without give some spoilers, especially the thing I described below. I’ll try to make the spoiler as small as possible.

[MINOR SPOILER]

Shizu is possessed by four spirits. They change roles at certain times in Shizu’s body. Sometimes her personality is like an adult man, sometimes childish like a young boy, sometimes like a popular girl, and sometimes she acted calmly like an old man. That’s why her personality changed all the time. The previous servants of the mansion can’t deal with it. Only Tetsu can handle it. Even though he afraid to face things he usually fears, he tries his best to make Shizu can live normally and showing feelings that have long been lost from her.

[END OF SPOILER]

The main focus of this story is how to cast the spirits out from Shizu’s body. Not by exorcism, but by understanding the feelings of the spirits so that they can rest peacefully and leave her body without hatred. The romance is not the main aspect of the story, but the romance is a way to understand how to treat Shizu with her “disorder” and make her live the life without a bad outlook. I feel like I read a mature (Seinen/Josei) manga with Shoujo touch. There’re so many scenes with deep meanings in this manga.

We can see the character development clearly in this manga. The main or side characters have their respective developments. Shizu, who previously feel inferior to her personality, slowly change thanks to Tetsu who is always by her side to accompany and find solutions to the problems faced by her. Whereas Tetsu, who previously has a trauma for terrifying things, getting used to supernatural phenomenon caused by the spirits who possessed Shizu. They’re both stronger than before. Every characters in this manga are likeable and have their own charms for the readers because of well-written back stories and good characterizations.

When it comes to the art, there’s nothing to complain about. It’s really good and well-drawn. Character expressions are drawn clearly and not overdramatized. I love how the creator draw blushing characters. It’s really cute. Smiles, tears, and sadness of the characters are depicted in a pleasant way. Just perfect. The comedic art is hilarious. Every time I read it, I always feel happy. I never felt bored when reading it. The cover is one of the aspects whether the book is interesting to read or not so the cover becomes a crucial thing to think about.

As the author stated on volume 6, there are different themes in every volume covers based on the flower meanings, especially roses. We already know that roses are symbol of love and passion. There’re specific meanings of roses based on the colors. I’ll try to explain the correlations between them.

● Volume 1 is symbolized with red roses that represent everlasting passion. The love story between Tetsu and Chizu starts here.

● Volume 2 is symbolized with yellow roses. The flower expressing friendship and great pleasure. This volume reveals the relationship between the main characters and those around them. There’re some heartwarming scenes here.

● Volume 3 is symbolized with white roses that represent modesty and purity. Tetsu starts to be honest with his feelings about anything, not just about his love for Shizu. In the other hand, Shizu is like an innocent child who is always curious. Her eyes opened by Tetsu to see the world she never known before.

● Volume 4 is symbolized with purple roses that represent allure and love at first sight. The seeds of love slowly grow into trees. Their feelings go deeper in each other’s heart.

● Volume 5 is symbolized with blue roses that represent the desire for the unattainable and zinnia, the flower of longing. You’ll find many emotional scenes and you’ll experience of losing someone after you finished reading this volume.

● There’s no explanation about volume 6, but we can see Tetsu and Shizu in happiness and embracing with a bouquet of flowers in the middle. We can find out just by looking it. They live happily ever after … Sounds like your regular Sleeping Beauty, huh? But the story is far beyond it in my opinion.

The creator of this manga, Morino Megumi, has manifested the meaning of flowers on her manga well. When some of mangakas don’t think about the philosophies behind the covers and draw them just for aesthetic purposes, Morino-sensei think about it deeply. I think it’s a good thing the mangaka has.

Overall, I will recommend this manga to shoujo manga fans and casual manga readers, or people who never got into shoujo manga. You can feel delighted, depressed, and empty at the same time because of emotional scenes there. The story can drag us in depth. You won't regret anything. I like how the mangaka involves side characters not only to connect stories, but as characters that are on par with the main characters. The conclusion of the story is also satisfying – a closed ending that doesn’t need a sequel. With a good storytelling, I hope the mangaka doesn’t stop to make a good manga for the reader. I’d like to follow the other works of the mangaka.

I’m open with opinions and suggestions. Don’t be shy to give a comment on my profile about this review.

I already wrote a review on this on Google Play books, but let me just write another one for the manga that is seated #1 on my list.

Reading the chapters was one hell of a rollercoaster. I was swooning, then I was frustrated. I was laughing. I was reflecting. Then I was swooning again. It's not that surprising anymore that my tears were spilling.

If a manga made me show this much emotion, then it's definitely a masterpiece.

It's honestly incredible and quite unique. I thought it was just gonna be your typical high school love story, ya know? The usual clichés the shoujo genre would have. ... I expected nothing else. So I was thinking of dropping it, but it turned out to have a twist, and that's what left me wanting to read more.

Personally, this manga hit so many marks on me. Especially near the 'kokoro'. The family arguments were heartbreaking. But in the end, a family will always find a way to stay family. Don't underestimate that bond!

The romance was sweet; not too rushed or overly cheesy, neither was it too slow or minimal. For Tetsu and Shizu, they ran at their own pace, and definitely had a handful of support from their families.

That supernatural twist is probably one of the major points in the manga. Though it's not anything huge like 7 feet three-headed demons, I think with this, it keeps the story balanced.

Also, the art is neat and charming! I really adore Morino-sensei's style.

This is one of the few mangas I'd consider recommending to others — however, I don't think many people know about 'Ohayou, Ibarahime', so now that I've found it, it's kinda like I want it to stay a hidden gem.

'Ohayou, Ibarahime' was hard to put down. I've become so attached to this manga, and I'm sure I still will be in the future.

When I first started reading it, I didn't expect this plot.
If you want a new idea for a story, I highly recommend it.
I loved the art, It's really well drawn. But most of all, all the characters in this manga developed really well. starting with the main FC, she war really isolated, living alone, rejected by her own mother & father (maybe a spoiler: they feared her).
When the main MC got into the picture, her entire life changed, also his, despite his first reaction when he saw "her special condition"

Overall, I really enjoyed it, I laughed, I cried, I was frightened and I ... was very happy at the end.

I hope you can enjoy it as well.

I can’t be the only one who although not liking the shoujo genre in general, still checks the high rating one from time to time to if there maybe are at least some who are good – only to be disappointed most of the time. Thankfully, this wasn’t the case with Ohayou, Ibarahime. This is one of the few shoujo manga that I dare to say most people will enjoy reading, irrelevant to their demographic or genre preferences. This claim is of course not uncommon with better rated shoujo manga in general, but usually claimed by shoujo fans – I would hope that in this ... case my point of view from the other side would be more reliable of a claim.

Ohayou, Ibarahime manages to write outside the usual clichés – sure, the idea of multiple personalities in one body isn’t a new idea (though not that common either), but this time the characters are have more depth then just being a love interest, and each of the characters and the personalities does catch your attention – going more in depth about them would be considered spoilers though, so I’ll abstain from that. I’ll just say that the characters aren’t just walking tropes and feel considerably more human than what is the shoujo standard of character writing. Plainly said it isn’t cringe.

The art for this one is really great and again steps outside from what you would expect from shoujo - no overdone sparkles spam and frills and all that bullshit, you get a clean, nice looking art. If you told me this was published in a shounen magazine, I wouldn’t really have a problem believing you.

Overall, if you’re looking for a shoujo manga that is actually good or if you want something to recommend to someone to prove that not all shoujo manga are subpar, this might be the title to go with.

Lets call it an interesting series.

The story starts with our poor MMC trying to get a certain job. This one being a housekeeper for a rich family. This particular family is special as the main heroine is living seperatly. The reason being she is suffering from having multiple personalities but not the normal kind of mental illness. The dead actually borrow her body which in turn which makes it look like there are multiple personalities but in reality they are in fact multiple people living inside of her. The MMC then promises to find a way to bring back only her spirit.

The series honestly was ... a bit underwhelming considering the praise and people asking me to read this damn thing. Its not a bad series, in fact its quite good. Just not the performance you'd expect. One of the main problem being the classic how everything just works out near the end. Its not that there isn't any explanation but the fact that the explanation is poorly done and honestly not acceptable. Its not just the ending but also other problems and how they resolve. Everyone has the perfect solution and yet practically all of them are unsatisfying. Some get the job done. But really none of them made me go like Wow. or OMG. or really any kind of emotion. This is exclusive to the unfolding aspect because this series does have emotion. and conveys it pretty well.

The emotion itself works to great effect. Characters crying, characters running, characters smiling. A lot of these simple traits are either done comedically which make me laugh or are quite enjoyable to just silently enjoy. This is really emphasized with its characters who are so likable. Especially the main duo. I actually most of the characters in the series as a whole. Even the asshole father i wouldn't actually consider to be a badly written character. My issue with him is the generic bad guy backstory at the last second to give sympathy points. It never works. If you want to write an interesting and sympathizing villain or bad guy, read Death note. The idea of watching some take several chapters to fall into darkness is much better and understandable than just 1 chapter mess.

The romance is just fantastic. Watching the MMC fall in love, watching the FMC fall in love. Dealing with the multiple dead ass spirits. All of these connections and moments that occur are such a joy to watch. There is really no problem in regards to the romance itself. Yeah its awkward to fall in love with a chick who has 2 dudes consistently riding her of course. The feeling of being unable to do anything whilst the women you love has 2 dudes inside her. One of them being her own grandfather. Definitely weird and kind of a mess. But its really due to these Awkwardness that allows for character development of both the main characters in a fluid way. The main character being mostly interested in money for example learns to be more and more compassionate, while the anxiety driven heroine learns to be more open and accepting. I also really liked the bromance and the soccer subplot. They didn't actually show the soccer match since its not a sports manga but it did give a good job on conveying that emotion. The entire friendship aspect of this series is just beautiful.

The main issue with this series is the *reveals* They are done poorly. They are multiple *twists* in this series but like only 1 i really liked the rest either were weak or felt hollow entirely. This is a major problem as these twists are supposed to keep you reading and are supposed to keep on the edge. I was never really on the edge for majority of the series. The only twist i enjoyed was the friend one. Because like i said the series does an excellent job on the bromantic relationship between the male characters. The ending was also quite... meh.

TLDR: Good romance and bromance but weak reveals and low depth. Im very much on the edge of rating this series. It had a lot of surprising and good moments but there was just nothing there really captured me. If you are someone who is sentimental especially in regards to friendship you will like this series. Quite a lot even. But if you are looking for something with more depth in a romcom this just doesn't have it despite the fun concept in the setup. 6/10 just barely missed the cut.

If you enjoy romance manga, but are a little tired by the typical ones with common reused plotlines and character types, then this might be the one you might be looking for.

Boy meets girl - brings her out of a lonely place and helps her discover herself. It isn't that uncommon of a plot, but the supernatural factor in this story really ties in and helps the story reach better heights. It's not a typical high school story with general teenage worries, but people who find themselves involved in a truly complicated situation and have to struggle to find out how they want to deal ... with it.

If you're looking for a lighthearted romance, with exciting moments like kabedons and lovey grand confessions and displays of love - I'm sorry to say you won't find it here. (However, you may try out the author's other manga, Hananoi-kun, as that is the lighthearted one).

However, that doesn't mean that the romance is lacking in this manga. But instead of the usual shoujo-ish progression of love, this manga truly gives us good relationship progression - not so much focusing on exciting stomach fluttery moments, but instead showing how people can come to care for each other deeply over time. This applies to non romance aspects as well, and I must say the relationship between all the important characters are central to the plot of the manga and makes it a true joy to read.

The characters are all memorable and important to the plot, and you won't see a love rival or two thrown in as plot devices just to get things moving. The characters are flawed and not just pure sunshine or one-dimensional characters, and it's easy to feel for them and root for their happiness. It feels like a well written and thought out story, where all the main plot points start building up early and resolve nicely by the end, giving a nice resolution and satisfying ending. The character relationships are really amazing and the ability of this manga to make one care for the characters and feel their bond in a realistic way makes it worth reading.

Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty is totally different shojo manga I've read.
This is the only Shojo manga I've rated almost perfect score 9/10. Because no matter how good the previous shojo mangas I've read, comparing them in general to all the mangas i have enjoyed, they should be about 8/10 max.
If you're looking for the usual shojo fix you have been enjoying, this may not be the right one for you or you're hoping for.

Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty doesn't thread the usual shojo manga route (love triangle, cliche bully, disrespectful behaviour coming from the male mc, excessive comedy).
This manga is heavily focused on family-orientated pace ... which what makes this manga stands out for me. Stressing on the most neglected theme of our times now: Family and blending in almost in harmony with romance.

Regardless the lacking of the usual Shojo taste has to offer, I strongly reckon you to give this a try, for you will never know this may be to your liking or the many messages the author wanted to share with the readers could be the ones you need as a push or change in your life.
Family is forever.

10/10

This manga is one of the most enjoyable things I've ever read it made me tear up for like 6 chapters in a row.

It's a really good story that is pretty unique to anything I've read before. There are of course some very overused Shoujo manga clichés in here, but I would recommend you to start reading this if you are into the Shoujo genre which most of us are.

The art is really good and I haven't got any complaints about it but to be honest I'm not someone that pays that much attention to it so there might be mistakes that I didn't see ... but I doubt it.

There is only one reason that I'm not giving it a 10/10 and that's because the first few chapters felt really rushed I don't know what it is but I felt like if the author decided to extend it by a few chapters and give the manga a less rushed opening I would rate it a perfect score. Also, the manga is only 26 chapters long but each chapter is really long compared to most manga but it still means that if you don't have that much time in your life to start reading a story that's 100 chapters+ long then this is perfect as it is short and sweet.

Overall I would give the manga a 9/10 and I would recommend it to anyone that enjoys shoujo manga I would say the most similar story I have seen is Fruits Basket I would say if you enjoyed Fruits Basket (which if you didn't I will find you and make you watch it until you did) you will probably enjoy this storry

Here is a manga that deserves to be far more well-known that it currently is.

Initially, the description of this manga turned me off from reading it - I generally don't like stories that revolve around the female MC being "rescued" or dependent on the male MC....I prefer female characters that are strong, independent, and not afraid to kick some ass or call others out on their BS when needed. Despite that, I found myself really loving this story. It's hard to pinpoint exactly why - but, the story is very well-written, with excellent artwork and solid characters to back it up.

The story is ... both touching and poignant, with a good balance of both sad and happy elements, but not in an overly dramatic "emotional roller coaster" manner. It definitely pulls at your heartstrings and creates a connection between the reader and the characters. The pacing of the story and the speed at which the romance between the characters develop were (in my opinion) very well-timed. Additionally, the way in which the relationship between the two MCs changed over time felt very natural to me. The overall length of the manga felt appropriate, and the ending was satisfying. It was not an "open" ending - there was definitely closure on all of the major plot points (either implicitly or explicitly), but the mangaka did not beat the story into the ground trying to tie off every little loose end.

I liked the characters a lot, and felt that they were developed without relying on cliches. Tetsu was definitely my favorite. I don't come across well-rounded male characters like him very often. He is a high school guy with a nurturing personality who is passionate about soccer, but also likes cleaning and cooking. He can have a strong, resolved personality at times, but is also fearful of things like ghosts. Despite all of this, he is not portrayed as effeminate or weak , nor maligned by his classmates or used as a source of comedic relief (all or which are how such characters seem to be portrayed in the other manga that I have read). I did like the female MC, Shizu, as well, even though she is different than what I normally look for in a female charater. Even though she does end up relying on Tetsu quite a bit, she is not a completely passive character, and clearly has a mind of her own - she has just become accustomed to suppressing it due to previous traumas. Watching her leave her shell and become comfortable in her own skin was an enjoyable metamorphosis.

There were a lot of aspects about the artwork in this manga that I really appreciated as well. Excellent background detail. In romance-oriented manga, facial expressions are one of the main criteria that I judge the artwork on, and Ohayo, Ibarahime definitely excels in that category. The facial expressions are well-detailed and moving, clearly able to convey what the characters are thinking and feeling without having to rely on assistance from the text or sfx. I was also impressed by the way that the mangaka was able to make it so clear to the reader which spirit was possessing Shizu based on her facial expressions and appearance.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this manga to a wide variety of readers. Despite being a shoujo romance based on school-aged characters, I think that it would appeal to many older readers as well (like myself), and many male readers might find the supernatural elements of the story (as well as a very well-developed male MC) interesting.

Enjoyment is 10. I highly recommend people to pick up this manga, it's honestly the best romance manga I've read, enough for me to make an account to post a review. There are several things I absolutely love about this one, one which I think is underrated is that it didn't really contain fillers, and so it won't feel sluggish to read through. Every chapter I read is either crucial plot or character development. I don't think I've read a romance manga where I've stayed for the protagonist because it was usually the love interest(s) that was more interesting. ... Although, the love interest's development was equally as good.

A bit spoiler review

The story is fantastic because the character development of Shizu and Satoshi were very well executed through her being possessed, which provided fantastic character interactions. None of these felt forced and gave powerful character development virtually every single character, yes including the side character's.

However, the reason I'm giving this manga a 9 is because its missing closure to some of the spiritual characters. Haru (the middle age father), and Aki (the Mother of the protagonist) were given great closure and emotionally charged departure, but for some reason he didn't give as good as a story to the kid, and the Grandpa. I felt as if the Kid didn't really get to fulfill his wishes if he had any. Whilst the fact that the Grandpa never got to reconcile with his "forced" son felt weird to me. This probably doesn't count, but there was a part were I think Shizu got possessed by a girl that drowned, and then, that was like it? I thought the whole time that maybe they'll go back to her or something, but I digress. Perhaps the author wanted it to end this way, but again the closure didn't feel as well crafted.

Character is 10, but probably 9.5 because there were just too many character's that are just, "I don't know how to make friends." Like.. c'mon bro, this is type of character is appearing way to much, causing the character's to lose their uniqueness. Just chill with this trope. But as much as the character's are like this, there were very decent character development that offset this.

Art is very good. I felt the character's and scene were very well presented. And the Author knows how to switch art style, to more like cute styles and whatnot, which made it a lot more enjoyable

Overall 10, just cause this series is underrated.

In a way you could say that this story at first feels very familiar. Its very reminiscent of "The Secret Garden" with the main charcter appearing in a new splendorous mansion where they meet a person that has been locked off the rest of the world due to their condition that their parents neglect to properly take care of. It's pretty obvious to anyone reading, that the plot will resolve around the mc helping that person go out more, experience the outside and achieve their long lost happiness.

Despite the "predictability" this story has about itself, the events are very diverse. It explores love, friendship and ... most notably family relations from the perspective of children, parents as well as grandparents concentrating on many emotions that are hard to convey to others and that we often keep to ourselves. It also deals with parting and death of loved ones. Another very important aspect of the story is the problem of defining oneself and establishing an identity. When found in a place where no one really knows you can you even know yourself? The self exploration is really beautifully done. With how likeable and complex the characters turn out to be it's hard to not drop a tear at the turn of events and how they come to resolve their feelings. It's an amazing story definetly worth your time, the one that you will end up thinking about for a while.

This manga is really touching, i hope more shoujo manga like this exist than typical shoujo manga, anyway lets get started.

Story: (10)
A story about a housekeeper who gave up his passion to support his family by earning a large portion of cash for his family and one day he met the rumored girl that has an illness, or is it really an illnss? its a heartwarming touching story and takes more on a realistic view of it. A story about protecting a fragile girl with an empty heart from harm, and a housekeeper beside her who wants to confront even though his afraid but still ... wants to help her, how are they going to fill up that empty heart of her?

Art: (10)
Its a charming and a fitting art style for the story. nothing much to complaont about it.

Character: (10) Tetsu Misato is a hard working person, who wants to help the people around him, a very capable person and loves his family very much even if he have to sacrifice everything he have for them, and Shizu Karasawa who had been isolated from the world due to her illness and doesn't want to cause harm to others.

Enjoyment: (10)
I enjoyed it up to the last moment where at the point i feel like crying, its a really touching story.

Overall: (10)
Everything was amazing, so make sure to read it and prepeare yourself from the feels.

As a person who grew up reading shoujo and has spent a tremendous amount of time filtering and sifting through various shoujo series and oneshots, I can say with utmost certainty that Ohayou, Ibarahime is among one of the best (if not the best) shoujo mangas ever published (I made this account just to express the adoration I have toward this series lol).

Ohayou, Ibarahime explores the story of two young adults who have to navigate the difficulties of becoming their own people while learning to rely on one another and the people around them. It's a heart-touching, riveting story that will make you laugh, swoon, ... and CRY. Idk if I'm just a really weepy person but while reading this series, I cried so much--about SOCCER at that (this series' main plot point isn't even about soccer--hell, I could care less about soccer irl).

Additionally, Morino's art and writing draws the emotions out of her characters so transparently that you feel every little thing they're contemplating. Anguish, sorrow, and most importantly, joy, are all complex feelings that the characters cycle through constantly. Morino presents her characters as humanly and as raw as possible through her use of expressions and inner dialogues. As a reader, you will repent with the characters while also feeling happy whenever they are. I found myself constantly cheering for these characters and their compelling attitudes never gave me time to put the manga down (binged it all in one go the first time around). I'd also like to note that I say CHARACTERS a lot because the two main leads are not the only characters thoroughly explored which is incredibly delightful to see when a story's entire world is intricately thought out and pieced together to shape the perceptions of the two main foci.

[MINOR SPOILERS] My only criticism with this series has to do with two very particular characters: Shizu's mom and dad. It was very hard to convince me that either of these characters deserved a redemption arc after the lifelong abuse and trauma they put their child through (yes, negligence is very much abuse!!!) so it didn't sit well with me when the author did attempt to vindicate them so tersely. I could write a whole analysis on these two, but I won't do that here for the sake of length. [END SPOILERS]

Overall, Morino presents a unique plot that is packed with emotional depth and storytelling with equally dimensionally fleshed out characters and gorgeous art to boot. Ohayou, Ibarahime is a piece that feels very whole with its ample pacing and resolving of conflicts. I wouldn't recommend this series to just shoujo fans, but anyone who loves remarkable storytelling as it is a fantastic piece of work that would be very close to that of a masterpiece if not for my other minor criticisms. It's obvious that Morino put a lot of thought into this manga and I'd be elated if an animation studio were to pick this series up. If I were to give this manga a solid rating, it'd probably be a 9.9/10; I love it to bits and pieces and it'll probably stay that way for a long while. (I reread this series a year after the first time I picked it up and deadass cried the whole time reading it because I knew what was gonna happen lmao. Right after I finished my reread, I went and bought all 6 volumes off of Amazon. It's seriously that good!!)

“Genuinely disappointed,” is not the feeling I thought I would get after finishing Ohayou Ibarahime. And this disappointment doesn’t stem from sky high expectations either, I came in hesitant but cautiously optimistic. The reason I'm disappointed with Ohayou Ibarahime is that it is an excellent manga with poor execution, be that the stunted characterisation, the inconsistent pacing or the baffling narrative decisions at times. While there is some amazing stuff in here and the art is excellent, I have trouble recommending this without some caveats.

Characters: 7

The manga contains a plethora of characters, more than you might expect for a manga of this length. While ... the quality of the characterisation varies, overall the likability and development of the cast is fairly good.

The main duo in this manga, Tetsu and Shizu, are both likeable and receive great development. Tetsu is a selfless and determined high school boy who isn't your typical male lead. He's short, gets emotional and scared easily, and criticises his own actions often throughout the manga. I liked Testu because of his flaws, and his development throughout the manga makes sense and is honestly heartwarming to see. Shizu is a lot more complicated, but as to not spoil anything I'll just say she is abnormally quiet for her age and doesn't have the best social skills. Her development is fairly formulaic, but it is handled with enough care that it works as the crux of the story. The romance between them is pretty standard but it's good to see and acts as the culmination of their character arcs.

The problem is with the side cast. With a cast of this size for such a short manga, I was rightfully worried that the characterisation would be spread thin amongst the supporting characters. For most of the manga the supporting characters are no more than shallow archetypes with uninteresting backstories. The weird thing about this manga is that it chooses to flesh out multiple characters at the end. It feels tacked on and ruins the natural pacing of the ending. There is only one character I would consider to be poorly written however, that being what you might traditionally call a "villain." I won't spoil their character, but their motivations are strange and at times contrived, and their backstory feels extremely inorganic. I'm not against focusing your writing on the mains, especially for such a short manga, but when the story tries to have emotional moments with the side cast it just falls flat. However, since the main characters were so good, the side cast wasn’t nearly enough to ruin my experience with this manga.

Story: 5

The story is by far the weakest part of Ohayou Ibarahime. The premise itself - that of a high school age boy helping out a girl with a mysterious illness as their romance slowly develops - does not play out as expected, which I was intrigued by. While the romance is certainly central to the story, the narrative includes many subplots, each of varying quality. While the quality of the subplots were on average fine, they ruined the pacing. In particular there is a soccer subplot that does flesh out Tetsu's character, but is far longer than what was required and as a result takes away more than what it adds to the story. I found this subplot in particular to be hard to get through.

The story also includes many plot twists, again varying in quality (are you noticing a theme?) which range from very interesting, unsurprising, and straight up baffling. There is one plot twist in particular involving a character called Mirei which not only removes some emotional weight from the story but also introduces many questions with no answers.

Now, I probably haven't made the story this manga out to be something very good so far. But the story does starts to pick up around the middle of volume four, and really peaks at the start of volume five. At this point the manga focuses completely on Tetsu's family, and the conflict is extremely intriguing and well written. This was the point in the manga that I glimpsed something truly amazing in Ohayou Ibarahime, and I was a fan. Unfortunately, this period did not last for long. For me the brief amazing moments of this story were not enough to make me invested.

Art: 9

If there is one thing that I can wholeheartedly praise, it would be the art. The manga consistently looks great and has a high level of detail in nearly every panel, especially in the characters. Full page drawings always look great and aren’t overused for dramatic moments. I would also like to praise the character designs. For this specific manga the character designs are more important than normal, so it is good that it is easy to tell the characters apart and the designs fit the personality of the characters excellently. Overall the art was of a very high quality throughout. The only bad thing I could say about it is that there weren't any panels that blew me away, but even that's just a personal gripe rather than criticism.

Enjoyment: 6

On theme with the manga, my enjoyment was extremely inconsistent. Volumes 1 and 2 I was vaguely intrigued by, volume 3 I was quite bored, volume 4 and the start of volume 5 I was very interested, and the rest I was disappointed in apart from the final couple of chapters which were sweet. My enjoyment mainly stemmed from the conflict surrounding Tetsu's family and his relationship with Shizu towards the very end. I won't lie, I didn't cry or even tear up once during the experience, but there were heartwarming moments and when I was enjoying the manga I was pretty engaged.

Conclusion

So, would I recommend it? The truth is that it depends. I can definitely see some of my friends enjoying this more than I did, and the plethora of high scores for this manga show that people definitely are. Even though I would say to avoid this if I've described something that you wouldn't like, it's so short and the highs are good enough that if you're on the fence about whether to read it or not you should give it a go. Ohayou Ibarahime isn't likely to be a story you'll forget, for better or worse.

wake up sleeping beauty is one of my favorite mangas by far, it managed to make me laugh, cry, angry, and overall very happy.

this manga's art is one of the main reasons why i bought it at my bookstore, both the cover and the description of the book had me wanting to read it within seconds.

Tetsu is not your average boy since his mother ended up in a coma after an accident he has been taking care of his younger sisters and father's for a few years now. he even has a job at his dad's work after making a bet with him. he ... now works at the mysterious & creepy estate up the hill, despite being such a fraidy cat he manages to do a decent job around the estate.

one day he meets Shizu, the beautiful daughter of the people of the estate. the two grow close quickly to the point where he falls for her. but soon after revealing his feelings for her he discovers there's something wrong with Shizu. that she was born with a supernatural condition that allows different spirits to borrow her body. he wants to help her, but how can he help a girl that has never really cared about what happens to herself or just about herself in general?

this manga knows exactly how to tug at your heartstrings in all the right ways and make you laugh. this isn't your typical shojo manga. i definitely recommend picking up this manga when you want a good romance with a nice supernatural kick with beautiful artwork and characters.

This is truly one heartwarming manga with a unique and well thought out story line. When I started reading it I was expecting it to go to a certain direction but it completely changed its direction.

The art is really pretty. If you’re picky about art styles then do give this a try because I really liked it, for me being quite choosy about art styles.

The plot; (Spoiler free)
Shizu, who nobody knows really exist but have heard, lives alone in a mansion which is different from the main mansion where her parents live. A boy named Tetsu starts his part time as a housekeeper in the ... main mansion, but then he comes across Shizu and gets to know her secret which may be more than just a multiple personality disorder. And the journey of how he helps her to overcome her problems, the loneliness and start building up everything from nothing.
All The characters are lovable.

Who can read this?
If you’re a big shoujo fan and want to read as many mangas out there definitely check this out.
Even if you’re new to the genre do give it a go for it’s nothing like your usual genre and not predictable either. You’d expect certain things to happen but they may not.

Overall it’s a good read! Would love to read it again someday.

I finished reading this manga in two days I couldn't stop from read it.
The story is very interesting and the character so good specially the main characters I really loved their relationship and the way how the mangka develop it and how he\she mange to change it. the story about mc family it was very overwhelming I loved his sisters and his father and like more than anyone in this manga I like mc who work hard for sack his family and to help his father to pay hospital bills for his mother and how he want to work and help shizu-san state for ... his mother is shows how he love his mother and I loved how he managed to overcome his fear for ghost to help the one he loved. And laughed so hard when he confess his feeling to her only to know her state afterword. Every time he spend with her make me feel I want to help someone beside my family.
Shizu-san one of few female character in shoujo manga I loved very much and she was very hell cute when she realize her own feeling and try to understand it
Really she is sleeping beauty.

This was truly, truly an endearing piece of work... Here I am writing this some moments after finishing the series and letting my stirred-up heart settle. It is quite unlike most shoujo mangas you would encounter, and while I would say it is neither thoroughly enjoyable nor addictive, Ohayou Ibarahime is a rare kind of shoujo romance that endears itself to almost any reader; It weaves together a unique premise and interesting line of characters to make a refreshing story.

Steering clear of the common shoujo romance tropes, we are instead taken through the feelings and experiences of each character, all of whom have a ... role to play in the overarching plot. From helping their fellow characters to grow & face up to reality, to influencing the development of things for both Tetsu and Shizu, every character is well-fleshed out along the way.

The story is not particularly exciting as a whole but, impressively, many twists and turns that are actually REALLY unexpected are incorporated into it, all the while keeping together the meaningful aspects which grounded my enjoyment of this manga. What resulted was a storyline that was coherent, consistent, and one that you could tell was very thoughtfully drafted. Admittedly, the story is one which I would describe as 'calmly-paced', meaning it sometimes felt slow to me and did not have as many adrenaline-pumping scenes which would usually drive my binge-reading, but in hindsight, this state of affairs was probably the most fitting for the story.

Something I especially loved about Ohayou was how the feelings and lessons experienced by the characters compellingly conveyed the realities of our lives--both the harshness and bliss of reality--through a beautiful script (really absolutely beautiful), themes, artwork and characters. Readers are also given a satisfying and realistic ending to tie it all up which certainly provides a good sense of closure that doesn't feel at all rushed or idealistic. And one that surprisingly made me tear up numerous times as I read the last volume...

One downside, in my opinion, was that I couldn't fully 'feel'/understand the characters sometimes, which does happen when reading manga, as our ability to interpret the story is limited to what's drawn on the panels. Nevertheless, this was a small aspect that probably would not interfere much with one's ability to appreciate the originality and beauty of this story.

Overall, Ohayou Ibarahime is a refreshing manga with loveable characters whom I could really feel for, though I was not so strongly pulled into it at a few rare times. Would recommend this to anyone who's looking for a novel plot that is both heartwarming and heartrending :')

I can't believe I finished this in two nights!!! I told myself I wouldn't pick up another series until I finish the Promised Neverland manga... but I needed some god damn romance man (and booooyyyyy, did I get it)

Story; You're introduced to a boy named Tetsu Misato, a short, energetic high-schooler whose declared that he won't go to college and will quit school to work instead. As any parent/family would, they were pissed at his out of the blue decision... but instead of fighting him, his father lets him work at his housekeeping agency under the condition he won't get into trouble... little did he ... expect to discover a mysterious girl who lives at the mansion. As time passes, he begins to fall in love and discovers the mystery behind the girl named Shizu Karasawa. Abandoned by her family, a story of being sick and a heart that never got to develop; watch these two kids grow into young adults, learn about dealing with family and how to understand emotions for the first time.
I've been enjoying another series of Megumi Morino's where the art and characters are just as fantastic here... but this one is the cherry to top the freaking cake.

I loved the development of the characters, how you get to learn about the WHOLE cast (there weren't any random characters that were just thrown in and forgotten about from what I can remember) and heart-wrenching family moments (The main message (to me anyway) of this manga is that it's important to talk, discuss and listen to the important people around you. You can't understand the situations around you if you don't speak up, ask directly and take every possible perspective into view)

Besides the slight cliff hanger at the end, the whole manga was a 10/10 for ME!!! I loved every bit of this Shoujo and I can't wait to read more series from the Author.

I walked into this with a skeptical look but I was truly in for a ride.

The story takes twists and turns so unexpectedly it is almost impossible to guess what happens next. You expect peace and it brings chaos, it shows warnings yet all is well.

This is a hidden gem from those who neglect the genre or the art style because this is truly a one-of-a-kind love story with a fresh take on supernatural style rules.

Overall, I was 100% satisfied with everything. I laughed a little, cried a lot, some parts may be cliche yet it doesnt feel that way. I hope you feel ... the same.