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
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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.
May 4, 2020
Tokyo Tarareba Musume
(Manga)
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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 ... |
