Sachi Hanaoka has just lost her parents to a traffic accident and her fear of living alone becomes reality. To add on to her troubles, Kouichi Saonji, the young landlord of her apartment, approaches her and requests that she prepare to vacate since she is now be unable to pay rent. Alternatively, Kouichi proposes a solution: he and Sachi will get married and she will act as his caretaker. Not only will her expenses be covered, but it would also serve as a method to quell his family's nagging for him to find a wife.
Despite the lack of genuine feelings between them, Sachi finds herself drawn to Kouichi and accepts his offer. But will the newly wed couple be able to fall in love, or will they remain strangers forever?
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
Included one-shot:
Volume 2: Sayonarakakushi
“Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Now, that is a solid advice and one that applies 100% on this case. Stumbling upon this work, I did not expect much especially because the premise of a teenage girl getting married is always silly, but the art seemed cute on the cover, the score was positive and there was happy feedback. So, I thought that it being 3 volumes long, how wrong could it go? Oh, woe is me! OH, WOE IS ME! We all know that we must give up some part of our common sense sometimes when it comes to fictional stories like these, such asliving alone when underage or how conveniently everything happens when the story demands it, etc., but it comes to a point that you have to ask yourself: “How much is enough?” This manga just has a bottomless pit of illogical stories and even though you might think the cuteness will save it, it just gets exasperating from the first few chapters.
First of all, the story starts with our 16yo main heroine becoming an orphan and her friends somehow assume that she will live alone now even though she is underage and the main girl agrees. And then, she actually gets shocked when she is told that she would have to leave, because she has no money to pay the rent. I mean, how on earth is that possible? So, she does the next logical thing and decides to live with her 18yo landlord as a trial period to see if she would marry him, which in the end she agrees to no one’s surprise. Normal teenage things, amirite? How did she do anything when she had no legal guardian? Oh yeah, somehow he becomes her guardian even though they have no relation.
The story continues with a multitude of stupid stories like that (with only a few actual cute scenes) trying to force cute elements with her coping in her unrequited love and him apparently being devoid of any social experience and missing all his cues. Her parents died weeks ago and there was no mourning even, she only thinks of how she will make her husband happy. Which is hard, I agree, because for the 2.5 months that they had been living together (~1 month trial period and 1.5 being married), she had not even realized she was using his only futon and he was sleeping on a chair all this while. 2.5 months! But oh no, it is cute because now they will have to share the only and only futon! /rolling eyes
There is not much else to say about the characters, because the story does them no justice. They are both as cliché as it gets and actually they are even worse than cookie-cutter characters, because their interactions sometimes are so randomly cringe-y and unnatural and they totally do not behave as teenagers. There are some secondary characters who are as interesting as watching wet paint dry, so there is not much need to mention them. There is not any remote relatability.
The art which seemed cute at first, was indeed cute for the most part of the manga. It was not really detailed, but the rounded edges in everything and the often chibi versions and reactions were pleasing to the eye. All that changed in the last 2 chapters when it felt as if I was reading an old gag manga, with some deformed expressions and such. Thankfully, it was not like that throughout the entire 2 chapters, but it was enough to just let me down even more.
There is really nothing else to say about it. I am mostly just shocked I got tricked that it would be a pleasant enough experience and I got this! I do not even know anymore who the target demographic was or how old the mangaka was to write this seemingly fanfiction for kids. I can at least say that this was an easy read.
