My Wife Is Wagatsuma-san

(Tl;dr at the very bottom of this review) Wagatsuma-san wa Ore no Yome , or My Wife is Wagatsuma-san is a fairly straightforward series. Our lead, Aoshima Hitoshi, has for whatever reason acquired the ability to "jump" back and forth between time. The only problem is that he is not exactly in control of when this happens. During his first ever leap, he finds that he is several years in the future and is now apparently married to the most popular girl at school. When he returns to the past, he seeks to make this future a reality. This premise, though uninspired, actually had somepotential in its earliest chapters. However, it fizzled out almost completely by the end and leaves us with an underwhelming ending that is almost insulting to its readers. Wagatsuma-san is first and foremost a comedic slice of life, following our lead as he attends school. Chapters are connected, but tend to mostly be episodic in nature. The comedy is very peculiar; one moment it's referencing Japanese pop culture, and the next, our characters are dancing Michael Jackson-inspired choreography. Since it's such a wide range of comedic elements, there are bound to be times when one left puzzled as to why that gag or joke means. However, about midway through the series, it takes a turn for the dramatic. This is perhaps where one begins to notice a drop in the quality of not only the comedy but also the story. The art was, for the most part, passable. When there was a sight gag, the art style changed to accommodate this. However, the art as a whole did change towards the end, and the art style went from passable to completely mediocre. Stop me if you've heard this one. Our lead Aoshima is your average high school student with nothing at all remarkable or special about him. Of course, because he is such a nice guy, all the women (including a teacher!) fall for him, even as he is blissfully unaware that there are other women in the world besides Wagatsuma. Ugh. Wagatsuma herself stayed completely static throughout the series. This is par for the course, I suppose. Some attempt at characterization is attempted by making her a bit of a drama fanatic. This ties into a later story arc. Though I enjoyed the way that he initially got her attention and the subsequent relationship they had, by the end of the series, I cared little about either character. This is of course due to the story became more melodramatic and less comedic. Surrounding Aoshima is a strange cast of characters, including an aspiring mangaka, a half-Dutch exchange student, and his supportive if somewhat precocious sister. Unfortunately, few of these characters get much development and what we are left with are, for the most part, flat, one-dimensional characters. This becomes especially apparent with the DX Brigade, Aoshima's "lovable" band of loser friends. They start out as good comedic relief, but by the end of the series they are little more than perverts, idiots, and obnoxiously unfunny. These characters had potential to be more than what they ended up as, and would have made the series much more pleasant to read. I wanted to like this manga. Though the concept is cliche and has been done before, the comedy was strong enough to carry it for a very long time. When our leads finally get together, it's cute. However, the story dragged on for too long and left too many ideas unexplored to be considered anything above just average at best and completely forgettable at worst. Tl;dr: I would recommend you skip this manga and find something else to read, such as The World God Only Knows (harem, similar comedic situations, and even time travel as a plot device). I apologize for the wall of text, and thank you for reading through it all.

Let me start this off by saying the only reason I wound up reading this anime is because it was available on the Crunchy Roll manga app. If it wasn't I would never have found this brilliant slice of life comedy. Wagatsuma-san wa Ore no Yome is a manga about a boy named Aoshima that time slips 10 years into the future and finds out that he marries the school idol. The manga ultimately revolves around him using the information that he gains through these time slips to mold the future into what's best for him and his friends. Now by far the best part ofthis manga for me was the characters, specifically Aoshima's group of otaku friends. They consistently had me laughing out loud at least once every chapter. I do feel as though the female cast was somewhat under used, and not all of them got a closing to their story, but for the most part the character interactions involving them was well done. The art in this manga, while simple, does what it's supposed to very well. As part gag and part romance manga there are a lot of cut away gags where the art changes drastically from the usual. Think the scenes from One Punch Man where Saitama suddenly becomes very serious. The character designs are fairly simplistic, a lot of them following fairly generic character tropes. You've got your big boobed foreign exchange student, the NEET otaku in the making, and your generic male protagonist. Despite this each of the characters feel unique in their own ways. The story is easily the part that I'm conflicted about. As a gag manga there isn't much need for a large overlapping story, however because it's also a romance story there are certain events that carry over throughout the run. I will say that the story that is there had me entertained, until the last 8 chapters or so that is. Unfortunately the ending to the story came across as feeling very rushed, and was fairly unsatisfying ultimately. I really wish that those last 8 chapters had been stretched out over 20 or so, I feel the end would be more meaningful that way. The ending to me the way it was done felt like a bit of a cop out, a way to ultimately make readers happy with how things wound up (although I think that there were many other ways it could have ended that would have been better) Ultimately I think Wagatsuma-san wa Ore no Yome is worth reading. It kept me entertained right up until the homestretch, just don't expect the ending to be as good as the rest of it.

Ever thought that there are too many harem romcom cliché mangas out there? You're not alone. The way Wagatsuma san handles the plot and the story is a pretty commendable feat. Story: 7/10 I usually love reading the overly crowded Harem RomCom manga tropes. But there is always the feeling of trying something different and Wagatsuma san is one of the few correct answers to that. The story is pretty predictable through most of the time but later on really revves you up leaving you to ask for more. This is a spoiler free review so I won't go so much into details. There were manysuch predictable situations but the author excellently sprinkled them a bit with many original ideas (along with the many hilarious celebrity references). All in all this is a manga that although doesn't concentrate so much on one aspect it keeps you entertained and refreshed. Art: 7/10 I'm all for regular art types and Wagatsuma san exactly imitates that. The way comical situations are conveyed through art is really amazing and hilarious. It's almost as if the art contributes to half the joke which should happen in most mangas (but doesn't). At first, the art was a bit sloppy (?) but it changed significantly at around the 10-20 chapter mark and consistently kept up with it. Characters: 6/10 There wasn't much character development and so is one of the few lacking points of Wagatsuma san. Ai Wagatsuma is mainly shown as a golden personality who is unapproachable in a sense at first but has another side which is shown to Aoshima later on. Aoshima Hitoshi is not like the usual dense MC tropes but more like one of those useless-but-reliable types who drop everything and rush to save the people they care about. Shimotsuma Sylvia is a tsundere in the basic sense and develops feelings quite quickly for Aoshima than I expected and she was pretty relatable in her Japanophilia (is that a word?). Itou Ran is a shy person who also developed feelings for Aoshima and was a manga artist who usually spoke through art than her words. Itou Shirou is basically comic relief. He was used a lot mainly for the jokes and was hilarious but didn't develop his personality that much during the course of the manga. Enjoyment: 7/10 I really enjoyed reading Wagatsuma san. Either because I was tired of reading the usual tropes, or because Wagatsuma san totally enveloped me in its amazing story or maybe both. I haven't seen a manga that portrays comedy as well as Wagatsuma san and so it ranks pretty high in my enjoyment score Overall: 7/10 A story with a lot of clichéd moments but with a secret layer of heartwarming originality and slapstick comedy. I really loved every aspect of the manga and hope you did too (or do so if you haven't read this hidden gem). I know many people won't see eye to eye with me on this manga but it is worth a good read. Trust me. P.S: Sylvia is best girl <3

One of the perfect mangas that get you addicted to it. You are always craving for more and more chapters as you are reading it. Characters are all great even if they are cliche stereotypes. They all do their job which is bringing a smile to your face or making you burst into laughter. If I remember right they even make you cry. I wish there were even more chapters but I won't force my luck. I am grateful to the mangaka for this masterpiece. Its existence really made me happy :) I recommend this for people who wish to have a fun time. Don't waste timeand start reading it now.