My Wife is Wagatsuma-san (我妻さんは俺のヨメ ) is a shonen romantic comedy by Kuraishi Yuu and Nishikida Keishi. It was initially published in Japan between 2011 and 2014 in Weekly Shonen Magazine.
Aoshima Hitoshi is a pathetic second year high school student. He and his equally pathetic friends are otaku outcasts in school. Aoshima himself isn't much of an otaku but due to his lack of abilities and the people he associates with, he is lumped in as a loser by his peers. Like all the other boys in school he lusts after Wagatsuma Ai, the most admired girl in his grade. Aoshima's lusts become something else entirely when he begins to have episodes that place him in his life 10 years in the future. He discovers that his future self is amazingly married to Wagatsuma. Unsure what this means for him and what it will take to accomplish this monumental feat he enlists the help of his friends.
Aoshima Hitoshi is a pathetic second year high school student. He and his equally pathetic friends are otaku outcasts in school. Aoshima himself isn't much of an otaku but due to his lack of abilities and the people he associates with, he is lumped in as a loser by his peers. Like all the other boys in school he lusts after Wagatsuma Ai, the most admired girl in his grade. Aoshima's lusts become something else entirely when he begins to have episodes that place him in his life 10 years in the future. He discovers that his future self is amazingly married to Wagatsuma. Unsure what this means for him and what it will take to accomplish this monumental feat he enlists the help of his friends.
His skeptical friends disregard his confessions as delusions of grandeur and instead force him to join their secret cabal of losers, the DX Club. The group consists of other people who suffer from not having lives in the school. They secretly plot to bring down anyone they consider as popular and successful. As he has more episodes of time slipping, Aoshima is more convinced that he will win the heart of his dream girl. When he begins to alter the outcome though his time slips show him variations of the future that unsettle him. He struggles with the information he is able to gain to correct his path and meet the ending he desires, playing his life like a galge while reading pieces of the walk-through. He desperately searches for his happy ending and questions his ability to actually succeed. The more he tries to make his future come true, the more he has to correct it, further complicating his chances. All the while external roadblocks continue to interfere; from the members of the DX Club to alternate love interests springing up. Can Aoshima truly grasp the future he desires?
This was a grueling manga to get through, especially at 108 issues, some of which were quite long and pointless. The artwork was lacking in quality and consistency. Too much of the story was filled with worthless plot lines that detracted from the main story. At times it seemed like the writer didn't know what type of manga he wanted to tell. There was some amount of fanservice, but honestly not as much as would be expected. Instead the antics of the DX Club severely detracted the actual main plot and offered little in the way of story progression...they didn't even offer much in the way of obstacles for the main character to over come. The series is jam packed with countless Japanese pop culture personality references, many of which I was unfamiliar with. The parts that did deal with Aoshima and his efforts to win the heart and mind of Wagatsuma were enjoyable but sometimes very sparse. Even the author recognized that from time to time and would break the 4th wall and apologize for getting off track. The series was abruptly ended by the creators in a Twitter announcement. Instead of continuing down the path of a manga-ka, the story was wrapped up so the author could focus on his career at a restaurant. Strange. That said, the ending was rushed and came out of left field. Some elements were added that had no prior precedent in the story that took it to another direction entirely. A rather somber direction at some points too. But honestly, it is probably better that it ended instead of being dragged out for another hundred issues that really didn't progress the story very much.
Honestly, I did enjoy many of the arcs that actually dealt with Aoshima trying to deal with how to court Wagatsuma. Even some of the side women added decent elements to the story. Too much time was focuses on Aoshima's friends and their idiotic exploits. This series would have been much more enjoyable if it would have focused on the main point and cut out all the worthless bullshit. The worthless bullshit was also half halfheartedly incorporated into the end segment in clunky fashion. All these efforts by Aoshima to save not only his future but his friends futures were used rather pointlessly to convince a drop in character of our MC's personality strengths.
In the end the series had too much wasted space and it was a struggle to get through a lot of it. Its hard to determine if the price was worth it to get to the honestly well done parts. I'm sure this series has a fanbase elsewhere but I was severely underwhelmed by it and don't see the authors choice to retire from the world of manga-ka a good one.
The entire series is available on Crunchyroll but there is no word on it being printed in North America.
This was a grueling manga to get through, especially at 108 issues, some of which were quite long and pointless. The artwork was lacking in quality and consistency. Too much of the story was filled with worthless plot lines that detracted from the main story. At times it seemed like the writer didn't know what type of manga he wanted to tell. There was some amount of fanservice, but honestly not as much as would be expected. Instead the antics of the DX Club severely detracted the actual main plot and offered little in the way of story progression...they didn't even offer much in the way of obstacles for the main character to over come. The series is jam packed with countless Japanese pop culture personality references, many of which I was unfamiliar with. The parts that did deal with Aoshima and his efforts to win the heart and mind of Wagatsuma were enjoyable but sometimes very sparse. Even the author recognized that from time to time and would break the 4th wall and apologize for getting off track. The series was abruptly ended by the creators in a Twitter announcement. Instead of continuing down the path of a manga-ka, the story was wrapped up so the author could focus on his career at a restaurant. Strange. That said, the ending was rushed and came out of left field. Some elements were added that had no prior precedent in the story that took it to another direction entirely. A rather somber direction at some points too. But honestly, it is probably better that it ended instead of being dragged out for another hundred issues that really didn't progress the story very much.
Honestly, I did enjoy many of the arcs that actually dealt with Aoshima trying to deal with how to court Wagatsuma. Even some of the side women added decent elements to the story. Too much time was focuses on Aoshima's friends and their idiotic exploits. This series would have been much more enjoyable if it would have focused on the main point and cut out all the worthless bullshit. The worthless bullshit was also half halfheartedly incorporated into the end segment in clunky fashion. All these efforts by Aoshima to save not only his future but his friends futures were used rather pointlessly to convince a drop in character of our MC's personality strengths.
In the end the series had too much wasted space and it was a struggle to get through a lot of it. Its hard to determine if the price was worth it to get to the honestly well done parts. I'm sure this series has a fanbase elsewhere but I was severely underwhelmed by it and don't see the authors choice to retire from the world of manga-ka a good one.
The entire series is available on Crunchyroll but there is no word on it being printed in North America.
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