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TLDR; Pure and sweet rom-com fluff. That's literally it. If you like that type of stuff, you'll find yourself right at home, if you were hoping for a more nuanced romance, look elsewhere.

Im going to completely frank with you all; this is not that great of a story. The characters are paper thin, and there's no cohesive plot to really string the mostly episodic chapters. Despite them being an adult, married couple, I've seen more emotional maturity in teenagers from other anime/manga. However, the simplicity of the story and characters works in its favor. There is no real drama, just two love birds gushing over ... each other, which is fine, especially if you're a sucker for that type of stuff (like me). Coupled with its amazing art, its hard not to find yourself smiling at the end of each chapter. However, if you were hoping to find a more mature romance in the midst of hundreds of sappy teen rom-coms, you'll be sorely disappointed.

TLDR; a very average isekai, and that's not a good thing

Honestly, I didn't know what I was expecting. I sat myself down to watch a mindless isekai, and that's exactly what I got. Perhaps because the first few episodes were kinda interesting, but then it starts collapsing in on itself midway. At best, its another generic isekai, and at its worst, it's blatantly ripping of its more successful predecessors. I'm going to go into some plot points, and comparing it to some other isekai anime later on in this review so if you don't want to be mildly spoiled, stop here.

In short, the main issue ... that this anime has is the lack of set-up and payoff. For example, in the first few episodes where Makoto fights Tomoe, the latter traps the former in an illusion of his deepest desires. In there we see an altercation between Makoto and his kouhai, where she confesses her feelings to him. However, through cuts and obvious color contrast, we can kinda infer that in reality, he turned her down or something? Honestly, they don't really specify anything like, what did she actually ask him, or what did Makoto say specially to make her cry, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. By having some lingering regrets that are part of his "deepest desires" it allows us to explore his character and keeping it vague lets the audience eager to see it unfold; a payoff. And would you look at that, there's a character in the world Makoto is in that looks exactly like that kouhai. How are they connected? What exactly did Makoto feel regret for, and how will he resolve it? We don't know. He rescues the doppelganger, travels with her to another town and they hardly interact for the rest of the story. The fact that she looks like someone who's supposedly important to the MC in his past world is just addressed in one line and never touched upon again.

On the other end of the spectrum, after subjugating both Tomoe and Mio, their respective people join Makoto's town, but it was never really set-up properly. At least the orcs and dwarfs had the paper thin excuse of being saved by the MC. Hell, when Makoto first went to confront Tomoe the people at the shrine are completely different from the lizardmen that we see joining the town, like, who the heck were they, and why were they there in the first place? When we meet these characters they're just like "yeah these guys are my people that kinda worship me or whatever and since I'm under your command they followed" or something.

Speaking of which, stop if you've heard this before. A man get isekai'ed into another world where he befriends a dragon and the local populace and starts developing a town where various mythical creatures such as orcs, dwarves, lizardmen, and more live in harmony! Also his companions are wacky, goofy, and perverted, totally not like any other isekai companions! There are several other parallels I can list like naming companions gives them more power or something, and two characters literally named Aqua and Eris, but I'd be here all day. Unfortunately, unlike its more successful counterparts, there's no sensible progression in the town and world building, and humor is entirely subjective.

While I can go on about Makoto's inconsistent character, or the several plot holes, or how Mio is best girl, but then this review will be longer than I'm willing to expend energy on. The only reason why I'm even writing a review on this is because it seemed like the general consensus was positive, and a solid title in the isekai library. However what I saw was a discombobulated mess of copying ideas from better shows without the setup they went through. "But there's going to be a second season!" I can hear you say, "it's all just setup for that!" But why would I sit through another season for something I've seen done better before? And that's ultimately what this show is; a watered down jumble of various popular isekai all mashed together. This is a very average isekai, but when the "average" isekai is just another poorly written power fantasy, that's a really sad bar to reach.

There doesn't seem to be any reviews for this manga as of this time of writing, so I guess I'll give my 2 cents.


Short Review: A nice read with a cool concept, but how it handles its characters can break immersion for some, and for those who like more definite endings may leave feeling a little unsatisfied.


Full review: Miageru to Kimi wa is a story that had great potential, but was ultimately butchered due to its length. For a romance on the more serious side, most of its characters are set up with interesting and believable flaws and doubts, but we never really get anything ... past that initial development. As an emotional piece, the story feels rushed and unearned, and from a narrative standpoint, it's unrefined at best.

Let's take how they treat our protagonist Yuuki for example. We quickly learn that he is very self-conscious about his appearance, and that point actually becomes a major catalyst for driving the narrative. However, unlike most other stories, there is no buildup to his moment of vulnerability. In more traditional tales, they have it so that we get some form of introduction to the character (their likes, dislikes, hobbies), and depending on the tone and genre, the main conflict of the story, internal or otherwise.

In a more structured narrative, we would've seen some establishment of Yuuki's personality, perhaps with the first few chapters showing that he is a regular high school boy, just with a more feminine appearance. Maybe it could show him getting teased for it from his friends, or show how people treat him differently for how he looks. And from those interactions, we can come to understand how exactly Yuuki feels about it, through his reactions or even an internal monologue. Following in tone with the story, let's say he feels generally negative about his appearance, but despite that Yuuki musters up the courage to ask out a girl he feels comfortable with, only to be shot down by due to the very thing he is insecure about.

However, here, we are immediately thrust into Yuuki's rejection, with little to no context leading up to that moment. This results in making the aftermath feel less impactful, relying solely on our ability to empathize with the feeling of rejection to carry the emotional weight of the scene. This is not to say that it's easy to see or experience rejection without feeling something, but the story constantly repeats this same mistake, making every moment that is supposed to evoke some sort of emotion feel cheapened and unearned.

Not only does the lack of development affect the general tone of the story, it also leaves us without a definitive closure, especially with the minor characters. For a story about learning to accept yourself, it makes sense to have all your relevant character have something they are insecure about, and thankfully this story does just that. However aside from the main pair, no one really gets a solid conclusion to their arc, if at all, and even then most people were unsatisfied with how their story ended.

Now despite all these flaws, it was still a pretty enjoyable read. The basic concept of slowing learning to come to terms with your flaws is already pretty heart-warming, and thankfully the story manages to get that point across. The quality of the art is nice and consistent, and the mangaka also does an excellent job of pacing, directing our attention to the moments they really want us to absorb.

Ultimately, I believe that Miageru to Kimi wa had the right elements it needed to be a really great story, however it wasn't given the time it needed, or deserved to flesh out the characters. Seeing how it is only 33 chapters long, the story was probably more ambitious than what it could handle, but nevertheless, check it out, only if you're ok with what basically amounts to a story that could have been better.