Ne Ne Ne

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Ne Ne Ne is a simple, short romantic comedy that does pretty much everything right.

It has a simple theme of romance between a mature man and a young girl who wants him to see her as an adult, with both of them being inexperienced and shy when it comes to love. The interactions between characters are funny, the art is cute and shows all the emotion I expect, and nothing about the age gap, feudal setting, or supernatural elements feels jarring.

You might see that it's only a single volume and think it was instantly axed and had a rushed ending, ... but the ending builds on the relationship that forms over the course of the series and is very satisfying for a series as short as this.

Ne Ne Ne can of course be found online, and is also available physically and digitally in English if that's your thing. It shouldn't take much more than half an hour to read, and I highly recommend it.

To summarize:
Story: 8
Art: 9
Characters: 9
Enjoyment: 9
Overall: 9

“NeNeNe” is just a short cute story that doesn’t require you to think too much. All you have to do is sit back, relax and watch Koyuki in her married life with Shin as she tries to be a “good wife”.

The story is pretty short but I think it’s the perfect length for it. To start, I was look forward to seeing what Shin looked like under the mask but as the story went on their daily life started interesting me more. Koyuki’s tenacity in her goal to be a good wife to Shin despite such a huge age gap between them was very ... mature of her.

She isn’t what most people would consider a “strong female lead” these days but I do. Being able to actually agree to marry a guy while at 16 and never having seen his face before? That’s some strength right there. Especially considering the guy is 37…yup. Pretty huge age gap right there.

I read it because I am a big fan of the author's other series called "Horimiya". This was incredibly disappointing in many ways so let's talk about it.

art - 8: Probably the only thing I enjoyed a lot in this manga. I really enjoy this style because of its sweet feeling. The character design was good. Obviously, it was not exceptional due to the fact that the series was extremely short.

characters - 3: What happened here? Horimiya had some of the best-written characters and now we get a 16-year old husband obsessed, no special personality trait, childish wife? And then we add a slightly pedophilic ... husband with supernatural abilities? Maybe the character arcs would have been better if the series went on further. It definitely seemed as if it was planned to go on because of many factors like the mask and the unfinished storyline.


(SPOILERS)

story - 3: Now what was this? The plot is basically about a 16-year old child that gets married to a 37-year-old man, because of family connections. I am aware that this is historical and this definitely happened in the past, however, these kinds of relationships should not be romanticized. While you could say: "But it is not sexual" It is clear that the only reason that Shin has not made a move on Koyuki is because her father asked him not to until she's 20. I would have ranked the story higher if it was his personal choice, but that this is the only thing holding him back (and not even fully) makes me extremely uncomfortable. I would consider Koyuki to be worse, but she is a literal child. She lives in an age where marriage and being a good wife is essential and so her character is therefore justified. It is sad to see her only mission being a good wife, but obviously, it is a personal choice. She is young, so many things she says should not be paid that much attention to. Shin however always sees her in a different light. He cares for her and often mentions that she is cute. Which is weird. I am generally tired of Mangas/Animes creating (often female) characters that act child-like and look child-like and then putting them into relationships with huge age gaps or saying that they are older than they look. This manga luckily did not sexualize such a relationship but still romanticized it. Psychologically looking at that kind of relationship cannot be healthy.

All in all, I was incredibly disappointed. I kept reading because I hoped for some kind of explanation or justification of their relationship. Maybe he's younger than he says, maybe they are not going to end up together. But nothing of that kind happened.