From five to nine

This manga is wild. It's my favourite guilty pleasure read of all time. Technically speaking it's not a very good story, but if you shut your brain off this is the brightest, most brilliant dumpsterfire you'll ever see burning. This is it: Trash of the finest quality! The characters act completely mind boggling. Nothing here is realistic. Obsessive and toxic behaviour is romanticised. And that means that this manga is utterly unpredictable in what it throws at you. I am so obsessed with this manga that I bought it twice - all 16 volumes - once in my native language and once in Japanese, together withthe drama CDs, the fanbook and the spin-off. I'm not joking, I have been obsessed with this since the first volume released in Germany in 2016. So. Moving on. What is from 5 to 9 actually about? Junko-sensei is our female lead. She's an english teacher working at an evening school. Her dream is to go to the USA and she never wants to settle down, especially not with a husband, no. Enter Takane: buddhist monk, son of a prominent family (the temple belongs to them), loaded af but there's one problem... he meets Junko one time and decides: Yepp, that's my future WAIFU. As in, wife. And "no" is not a word that exists in his vocabulary. He's an arrogant narcissist who is totally misunderstood, his toxic behaviour is completely fine. What do you mean, locking someone in a room overnight is creepy and not romantic? There's more to the story. We have the young female office worker who wants nothing more than to get hitched asap. The former best friend from university who has a crush on Junko and is about to head to the USA. We have the co-workers: A foreigner and a fujoshi. And Junkos students: of course the one who is obsessed with Junko is also crossdressing as a girl. It doesn't help that Junko is someone who casually sleeps around, and in true reverse-harem trope gives hope to the wrong people while staying oblivious to what's actually going on around her. This makes her fall deeper into the rabbit hole that is 'actually getting married to a monk' instead of fulfilling her own dream. But we all know that women belong in the shadow of their husbandos and this manga will try everything in it's power to make that happen (/s). And wow, does the story deliver: in the most stupid, convoluted way ever. And thankfully that is what makes it also incredibly entertaining to read. The plot is a wild mix of fabricated drama. In fact, there even is a drama TV adaption of it. I personally haven't seen much of it besides some clips but if you prefer to check that out, it exists. Follow Junko on her journey from being somewhat of a character to obedient housewife, with tropes like "I accidentally got engaged" to "whoops, I slept with my former best friend" to "my new love rival is my younger brother". If you like trash romance, this is the absolute peak of it. I had the most fun of my life reading this and listening to the audio dramas. Don't take this seriously. Enjoy the ride, shut off your brain, and give in to the experience that is this insane manga.