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Jan. 21st, 2020 06:44 pmI've been in a reading funk so decided to check out Mangkakalots and Manganelo, to sample the range of manga out there. (Also was looking for a manga I saw on Instagram a while back intriguingly titled "The Villainess is Adored by the Crown Prince of the Neighbouring Kingdom.")
Came across "This Time I Was Definitely Be Happy!" which, again, intrguing title! And the premise is about a young woman whose childhood love has gone off to save the world. Except she has memories of her last three lives, and in all of them, her childhood love goes off to save the world, promising to return to her, and never does! So this time she vows to forget about him first, sells off her house, and moves to the capital to start a job making ornaments and meeting new people.
Which, good for her, right? And like she really was trying and it was this cute domestic thing for a while, then in Chapter 8 the Hero rolls home and into her life again because THIS TIME!!! He has not forgotten her!!! And there are other memories she starts having, and I was like "wait who is THAT?"
Sometime much later it turns out that this high fantasy with reincarnation is actually a portal fantasy.
Miraculously, it is FINISHED, both the manga AND the translation. I happened to read it on the very day the very last chapter was uploaded, which is pretty amazing.
I really did enjoy the protagonist a lot. She's determined, and trying to learn from her previous lives. She gets to have conversations with the other female characters about different things, and they're supportive of her. Even the two female characters who are initially antagonists end up backing her. The princess of the kingdom is pretty great - initially it looks set up to be a rivalry but as soon as the princess finds out the protagonist is the hero's love, she gives her wholehearted support. There are moments of danger, of course, and some morally complex moments. The romance didn't feel that shoehorned in (although it is DREADFULLY heteronormative, and there are a couple of panels which made me yell "THIS IS COUPLEDOM PROPAGANDA" out loud). The last quarter deals with consequences and responsibility, and for something that starts out super lighthearted there is a lot of Very Tragic Backstory in the second half, but I felt really eased into that. Lots of info-dumping on some pages, but it can't be helped.
The whole thing moves at a quick clip, even with those slow moments that shoujo is so good at. I'm really impressed at how the mangaka managed to fit in so much drama and escalation in just 25 chapters!
Came across "This Time I Was Definitely Be Happy!" which, again, intrguing title! And the premise is about a young woman whose childhood love has gone off to save the world. Except she has memories of her last three lives, and in all of them, her childhood love goes off to save the world, promising to return to her, and never does! So this time she vows to forget about him first, sells off her house, and moves to the capital to start a job making ornaments and meeting new people.
Which, good for her, right? And like she really was trying and it was this cute domestic thing for a while, then in Chapter 8 the Hero rolls home and into her life again because THIS TIME!!! He has not forgotten her!!! And there are other memories she starts having, and I was like "wait who is THAT?"
Sometime much later it turns out that this high fantasy with reincarnation is actually a portal fantasy.
Miraculously, it is FINISHED, both the manga AND the translation. I happened to read it on the very day the very last chapter was uploaded, which is pretty amazing.
I really did enjoy the protagonist a lot. She's determined, and trying to learn from her previous lives. She gets to have conversations with the other female characters about different things, and they're supportive of her. Even the two female characters who are initially antagonists end up backing her. The princess of the kingdom is pretty great - initially it looks set up to be a rivalry but as soon as the princess finds out the protagonist is the hero's love, she gives her wholehearted support. There are moments of danger, of course, and some morally complex moments. The romance didn't feel that shoehorned in (although it is DREADFULLY heteronormative, and there are a couple of panels which made me yell "THIS IS COUPLEDOM PROPAGANDA" out loud). The last quarter deals with consequences and responsibility, and for something that starts out super lighthearted there is a lot of Very Tragic Backstory in the second half, but I felt really eased into that. Lots of info-dumping on some pages, but it can't be helped.
The whole thing moves at a quick clip, even with those slow moments that shoujo is so good at. I'm really impressed at how the mangaka managed to fit in so much drama and escalation in just 25 chapters!