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This is one of the most overrated anime I've ever seen.

It does start out good, with the set up to the overarching plot and drama and the establishment of characters that would contribute to this. However, as more characters are introduced and the story has increasingly less reason to focus on MC all the time, the anime runs into the all-too-common problem of, not being able to tie up any loose ends and half-assing it at the end by using said increasingly irrelevant MC to act as an anchor.

As always I will review this from a perspective of looking out for women's interests. The character ... designs were completely uninspired, especially at the end, because every female character must be beautiful, while male characters are largely unattractive, whether good or evil, making me immediately dislike the anime. The female characters' motivations are at least explored somewhat.

I can't say the same thing for the main character, Odokawa. His personality invites a strong feeling that there will be consistent exploration of his character and how it changes with the people he meets. However, despite the entire cast fawning over him in particular, he remains a static character who doesn't seem to have much presence in the world besides "cool taxi driver." He has no meaningful relationships, no contribution to any theme, no well-written reason to be so involved in the plot. I mean sure, he gets somewhat attached to one character in particular, but that nowhere near explains his zeal in getting involved in increasingly dangerous situations, including working with a criminal guy that he kinda-sorta hates (even though this guy namedrops the title in his fucking honor) that he attempts to murder but not really even though he has this sense of justice and fairness...? It is because of all of this, besides the obvious "ugly guy gets the hot younger girl" trope pushed on us over and over, that he comes across as a self-insert character for a certain male demographic. And his only memorable "gimmick", which gets fully explained by the end of the anime, makes absolutely no sense, because his view of the would should have been made fairly obvious in his behavior if he'd lived with that so long, and so many convenient steps were made to reach that discovery, like finding a hospital that managed to keep a fucking DIARY (not even medical documents) of his from elementary school that conveniently explained everything. I mean these side characters were DEVOTED to figuring him out, but in the end, none of this was acknowledged by Odokawa, because again, relationships with others don't affect him, and Odokawa rests well knowing that he doesn't have to put in any work to doing anything besides being cool and coming up with plans because the narrative caters to everything he does.

This all leads to an extremely lackluster ending. In a very cheesy, extremely contrived, and anticlimactic slow-motion scene, everyone's problems are resolved and they all receive some philosophical awakening due to the poorly animated actions of the MC. And of course he is saved by a female character girlbossing her way to save him... somehow, despite having absolutely no training in anything and doing something physically impossible. And to further rub salt in the wound, the "secret" he's hiding... turns out to be a completely trivial thing, and there's no explanation as to why this was being hidden in the first place and why so much narrative focus was placed on it. Oh yeah, and this "trivial thing" was red herring to hide some other plot point about a missing girl and the true situation behind that, which also ended up being nonsensical because the antagonists involved in said plot are strangely passionate about their craft, a detail the narrative never cares to address or convince you that this doesn't clash with the down-to-earth tone of this work.

Overall, the anime is only worth watching for the opening and ending AMV's. Don't leave it to a single cour (or five fucking volumes of manga) to deliver a multi-layered plot with fleshed out characters and motivations without completely collapsing on itself.

So you look at the synopsis and the character design of the MC. And you say "is ML a fucking lolicon?" It makes you think "well, stuff like that is obviously not exactly for my demographic," except this is pretty clearly shoujo with the old-school cover and all and with no hints of showing the child in that light. And if you're anything like me you give this a read solely to see how a shoujo manga will develop a romance between a 14 year old loli and.... this entity.

The first thing that really helps make this relationship make sense is the very straightforward setting. ... The typical Japanese understanding of what a "demon" is exists in this universe, and they come from Demon world and have bat wings, but they don't really do anything like murder humans or cause them to sin or whatever. They just do magic and fuck around in their high-class societies. And because of this, shenanigans ensue, like the ML being bored and deciding to live in the human world, and other characters bothering him and trying to bring him back. In the midst of all this is Hana-chan, found as a baby by ML and raised in his mansion, and she often gets caught up in these "conflicts," which is lucky for her because they cause ML's feelings about her to change from being paternalistic to more romantic. You see, there's this "potion that makes you grow up" gag, and MC often takes this or has a spell cast on her like that, which causes the ML's heart to get all fuzzy when young-adult her gets close to him. But do not be alarmed, even after realizing he in in love with her he continues to only feel attracted to her physically whenever she is in that form. Even so, he still has romantic feelings regardless because he gets annoyed at being referred as her brother and gets jealous when she is with other guys even as a loli. That's why I think their relationship was possible because of the setting, as the idea that ML was able to develop romantic feelings for MC in part due to seeing her adult form made the way the romance developed to my taste. Although be warned, something that might raise an eyebrow is that ML kisses Hana-chan on the lips a few times in her loli form in dramatic moments, but as mentioned before, he clearly is only attracted to her adult form. And speaking of MC, she is rather obviously in love with ML the entire time as she gets jealous specifically when he is around other women, which was cute as many chapters were devoted to her realizing the difference between platonic and romantic love, although this manga is not free of the "the person you marry is the most important person to you" spiel.

Then towards the end there's a 3 year timeskip where MC is no longer a child, and they live happily ever after. But it's not your traditional "happily ever after." The ending addresses a key aspect of their relationship, which really hits you hard in the end when you get there.

Although the main couple is great, the side characters... not so much. I mean, the human side characters are good, but the demon side characters are so cartoonish, and one of them falls in love for an obviously retconned reason which goes against their entire character.

Overall, if you can enjoy (or at least tolerate) the rampant shoujo-isms that permeate this manga and aren't turned off by the premise, then give this a read.

How the fuck did this steaming pile of garbage get an anime adaptation? Every character sucks, the plot sucks, the "romance" sucks. So fucking angry from reading this.

Lets see. You have overprotective borderline yandere ML who has the creepiest faces ever in every damn situation and the most ill-timed punchable chibi version. Sure whatever, not enough for me to drop it. But he never evolves past this trope-indulging premise and drags down the setting along with it especially when MC makes somewhat of an effort to be some sort of a character. And MC gets groped and almost raped he doesn't even live up to ... his stupid unlikeable premise and doesn't do his damn job and beat the shit out of that guy meanwhile he'll "all men are wolves" and interfere with MC building bonds with males that aren't him.

The romance is truly fucking atrocious. It's so obvious that ML is into MC romantically but she's so fucking stupid and says "he's probably not even conscious of me >m<" even though he makes it abundantly clear over and over again in very boundary-violating ways. None of this is helped by how the MC is a piece of cardboard who can barely react to the situations that transpire around her. A lot of this has to do with the fact that the whole "yakuza" thing could have taken out and nothing would have changed at all, except ML would have no justification to be creepy and hover around her everywhere and sexually harass her. Yeah if you haven't noticed by now ML is also a piece of cardboard outside of his quirky tropes. No wonder there's no POV or internal dialogue because I swear there's nothing in his godforsaken head.

I'm not even going to talk about the second ML imfaooo it's that bad and he's so poorly handled

Don't waste your time on this like I did

I mean. I want to rate it lower, believe me. But I also walked right into this one, so I can't rate it low for having tropes I don't like when that's literally the premise.

What I meant was, I really wanted it to go in a different direction. Like come on. It's cute that a middle school boy has puppy love for this woman. It's "healing" as stated in the beginning. But if the author really wanted the end result to be romance, then I would have preferred less lines about seeing him as a man when he clearly is just a kid, and for ... the woman to stop "ba-dump"ing when he gets close, that's so sus. Maybe a time skip to at least high school would have been better. So do not read this is you want a relationship between the two that is a one-sided crush on the boy's part while the woman hangs out with him with no sus behavior and things change once he gets older, and especially do not read it if you want no indication of a future romance at all.

Read this if you're actually a shotacon and want the woman to feel attracted to him as self-insert. You do you I guess.

Really good and worth a re-read one of these days.

Well-developed romances and also nice platonic relationships between unexpected characters, even with the ML. They never feel like they detract from the story though, even if it is about the titular couple, as it always relates back to them in some way.

Towards the end though is where you will really feel the pressure as conflicts arise, especially for the main couple. Be relieved to know that this conflict is handled maturely and with much thoughtfulness and will not ultimately leave you with a bad taste in the end. This is especially helped by ML trying his ... best efforts not to hurt MC and using strategies like saying "I will leave the conversation before I say anything irreversible" and MC standing up for herself and her needs. There is also a moment that was about to turn sexual (but not for good reasons!) which was handled really well and does not leave you thinking "wow so in the end this was just a shallow trope-indulging manga that doesn't care to build a genuine relationship between two people trying to work together." Although you may be put off by second ML's role in this and say "she should've been with second ML instead," I'd disagree, because I'd argue the ML deserves to have his bad moments even if he is older as he's human too, and it's well written (plus I already have my 100% heartwarming, closely-bonded romances that are also age gap so it's not like every age gap romance has to be the most transcendental, happy-go-lucky bond ever).

There are some aspects of this story that make it not quite perfect though. First, comedic moments are often ill-timed and provoke questions as to what's actually going on. For instance, far into the story when the main relationship is established the MC saying that ML "treats her like he's her guardian" because of a lack of advances seems to be something that's not to be joked with, especially with a manga that deals with heavy themes and generally tries to address many aspects of their age gap relationship (a process that is expected to be uncomfortable and thought-provoking). Luckily, this doesn't happen very often to be a glaring issue. Second, while I appreciate a rather "heroic" MC it can be puzzling as to why she cares so much for certain characters. And... that's about it honestly.

A page-turning read from start to finish. The way romance was woven with family issues for both the MC and ML was very natural. You could see why they're special to each other in ways besides their developing romantic affection for each other.

The side characters were generally lovely. Everyone has nuance to them, even the ones you'd hate initially. Although I'd say one character is held in too much of a sympathetic light, but it's not that much of an issue because MC was allowed by the narrative to make her own decision regarding that character. MC's female best friend is also a welcome part ... of the story, and talks about important issues with her and actually makes her think. I also like that MC treasures her relationship with her and gets jealous when she "gets stolen" by a guy. Her BFF is clearly very important to her and I like that the story takes the time to establish this. And the second male lead(s) were likeable without outshining the main guy in the "she should end up with him" department.

Although this manga is not without some puzzling problems. First, a lot of the times the panels look as if they're drawn in MS Paint, and I'm not one to complain about art. Characters often look similar to one other so it's hard to determine who's who, and designs are often inconsistent. Most importantly, everyone looks so young, especially the women. For example, MC is a teenager but often has loli proportions, and the times when she's shown to be 10 years old she looks like a toddler. This is a little off putting sometimes, especially since the "working adult" women are also portrayed this way and especially for scenes when they're treated as women.
MC is rather tsundere and often calls ML "creepy" for no good reason (like being emotional). I also wish her housekeeping skills developed more, as hinted with her practicing with other characters, because it becomes strange to see ML see her as a woman anyways even if he often has to take care of her like a little sister, I just don't see how that's attractive. Romance to me really requires both people to see each other as a member of the opposite sex and while ML shows some initial attraction and MC tries to contribute more it just becomes more puzzling given how childish MC acts. On a similar topic there's a lot of "finding the person you love" spiel and how you'll be lonely without a romantic relationship, a message I really don't like.
Finally, the conflict at the end I feel was wrapped up a little too quickly, and I didn't really get closure for the character that caused it, especially since they were so important in the life of the MC.

I would tentatively recommend this for the drama with a good focus on a plethora of relationships that are not romantic. I just couldn't really get past the art on top of the fairytale romance message.

The most notable aspect of this manga is the ML Shiota-sensei, who has a very interesting design and personality. Definitely not a guy you'd be seeing too often in a shoujo romance.

What's refreshing about this manga is that there's not really a "I'll wait until you graduated high school" thing. The two are eager to kiss a lot.

It's an established relationship, I get it, but it's puzzling why these two are even together, because Shiota sensei is shown to have rejected Amai many times before they started dating, and his particular personality makes it even more unlikely that he'd be interested in a high schooler ... (or any romantic relationship with a woman). So why is he in love with her? And why does she like him? It also doesn't help that Sensei never blushes around her. Oh well. This manga spoils you with precisely seeing that kind of man jealous if his girl gets close to any guys and seeing them kiss a lot.

Also there's an annoying side character who's gay for MC. I'd rather manga like this explore proper friendships with female characters. I guess this is supposed to balance out the lack of drama but eh.

If you want an age gap romance that actually makes sense then this isn't it.

It starts out pretty well, with the MC in a poor situation and working at a bookstore with the ML. They then bond over books as he recommends her books to read and she reads them. Unfortunately, as is the wont of this genre and trope, MC falls and love quickly and confesses first, and ML rejects her, saying he's not interested in kids. And then he falls in love for no reason later on and proceeds to call her a child even in romantic situations, which is questionable and noticeable ... in a manga of this length.

If you're like me then you hate to see romantic love and platonic love conflated just because the two are the opposite sex. I am not convinced ML would see her as a woman just because they have a connection when he rejected her so thoroughly. And then it ends, thank God. As you can see, the only saving grace is that it's short. No amount of chapters would have made up for how their relationship developed.

Wow. What the fuck. This is just unfair.

This man is GORGEOUS. He has the nerd glasses and slicked back hair with a chiseled face that really pops out, such a refresher in a genre flooded with the same generic prettyboy face with bedhead. I would have rated this manga 10/10 for his stunning appearance alone if the story was actually serviceable enough. Unfortunately, Living no Matsunaga-san derails itself in the final volumes, far beyond repair.

First things first. I am not someone who suffers from second male lead syndrome, especially for a manga of this length. I usually accept the man adorning the first volume cover ... and title, especially since I'm reading this manga to explore a significant age gap and the more mature appearance. But the second male lead is far better than Matsunaga-san despite said generic prettyboy face, bedhead, and being closer in age. His interactions with MC are very organic and shine in the face of the ML's questionable, out of character decisions near the end of the manga, where ML lies about something important which causes a really shitty, contrived misunderstanding that triggers MC's insecurities about their relationship status. Hell, because of this, MC does something that can kind of be considered cheating. This is all brushed aside in a few panels where they "cOmmUNicaTe." All of this really highlights how they're clearly not on the same page, an aspect of their relationship that is never addressed.

The side characters' relationships really make no sense. The manwhore falls in love for NO REASON with another side character, with absolutely no hints to this happening. I didn't really care for them after that. And then this character joins the share house for the sole reason of spurring second ML on to make more advances on MC, a truly lazy plot device that gets explained away in bonus content at the very end.

MC really isn't that well written. The story tries to make a point that she's lonely and she misses her parents and she's not a functioning human being blah blah blah but.... this all happens at the end. And how she's sooo strong for being away from her parents (whom you never get to see ever except in cut content). It seems like the story kind of patronizes her and it doesn't help that ML sometimes treats MC like a grade schooler despite developing feelings for her.

It's so unfortunate that I have to give this manga such a low rating because damn is the art amazing, and a lot could have been done with the premise and side characters, but Living no Matsunaga-san ultimately didn't deliver.

Read this manga if you want to see the second male lead's character development, admire his cute blushing expressions, and watch him suffer. Otherwise just read Tsubaki-chou to Lonely Planet.

Unimaginative and terrible combination of tropes, a questionable message, along with an unlikeable ML make this truly one of the manga of all time.

I'm already annoyed at the "girl looks like bishounen so she's admired by all the girls!!!" as is for myriad of reasons. But there's just no depth to this especially given that FL is bothered by this. But she decides to look like a bishounen anyway for reasons that are unexplained, which was a good opportunity to establish that "she can look however she wants and still be female," something guys should be able to recognize even if she's not a traditional ... girly-girl with long hair. Then comes ML, who cups her face and tells her immediately that she is beautiful but then thinks she's a boy again because... she's wearing a tracksuit. Lol ok. So you're bisexual, I get it. And he reaffirms this later on by saying that he'd still be attracted or drawn to her even if she were a guy. Like........ okay? God I hate this trope when it comes to androgynous women, or women who have to crossdress for plot reasons. Especially since this guy has dated girls who were presumably more feminine in the past. Would he have said the same thing to a girl who was traditionally feminine, that he'd still be attracted to her if she were a guy? Yeah no. Nowhere have I seen this ever.

What I'm looking for is guys that see women for what they are, as obviously female, in spite of the limits of drawing cartoon characters (that often render them conveniently androgynous) or whatever gender stereotypes and expectations they might adhere to. I want "I'm going to be physically attracted to you because you're a woman, but I would love and care for you regardless of gender." And if they're going to do the "bisexual ML, attracted to MC regardless of gender" thing, I'd rather they make him know the difference between male and female regardless of the hair length and not "wow I totally thought you were a boy and yet I was attracted to you anyway, this manga was THIS close to being BL if you weren't wearing a skirt!!" Hence why I said "unimaginative" and "questionable message." Your gender isn't "short hair = man!!1!" and I truly fear for society in general if this narrow view is what's going to be pushed over and over again.