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Questions are good things. They are there to get to know others and to find the common ground with each other, with the people we want to love. Well, I would think that the biggest thing I need to learn is to love myself. I think at least. I like lists, I make lists, mainly about anime and manga that I want to read and watch. And sometimes about American books too. My life does revolve around things that I consume. And I do not know if I am fine with that. I would like to fancy myself that I like philosophy, but in truth, I like the idea of philosophy. In the sense, philosophy means the love of knowledge, because we cannot know everything. So we need to start with things that we do not know, even though there are many famous figures in philosophy, I do not want to read from them. Because the biggest thing that I do not know if myself. And, as I am right now, I am more interested in filling the emptiness in me, if that makes sense. But I like questions. So, I went out and looked for que...

Chichi to Hige Gorira to Watashi - manga review "Happily crying"

Score: 10/10


This story is not really for everyone, mainly because it is a slice of life story, full of funny little moments and it is not that dramatic. The drama is well balanced out with the comedy element making the characters sympathetic and nice.



The story is not without its flaws, there are some things that I can't stand in it, however, these things are something that is never like in anything so I rarely take away points from a story for including these things. These are the implication that your happily ever after comes with marriage, however, this is how the characters are set up from day one, so I kind of saw it coming. Here, I can imagine that marriage is these characters happy ever after, and not something that is made into a universal truth. The characters are strongly written in that sense.

"After losing her mother to a traffic accident, 5-year old tomboy Michiru finds a "suspicious person" moving into her home: her father's younger brother Kouji, whom she quickly nicknames “Beard Gorilla.” While awkward at first, it doesn’t take long for them to develop a relationship that's closer to one between a brother and sister than an uncle and niece." - mangaupdates.com


It is a light read with all of its 7 volumes and 98 chapters a good read, but best consumed in small bursts. Let the story develop in you.




This series was made by Koike Sadaji in 2011 and it was published by Takeshobo in their Manga Kubaru.

❃.✮:▹ What are didn't like, is more cultural, but you can find it everywhere, the idea that the man needs to support and protect the woman he is marrying. Don't take me wrong, it is a nice gesture if it comes out of genuinely carrying for someone, but if it comes out of some sort of obligation then it is a huge put off for me. This is something that I would like to know beforehand if I would marry someone. This is extremely personal, and I know I am in the minority here, but what I would want is a love where you don't need to play roles. A love without roles is much purer than one with one. Both of you should support and protect each other, this cannot be a one-way street.

Another thing that I didn't like, even though it leads to some interesting and funny scenes in this manga, is the old fashioned asking the girl's father to let them marry. Here in the story, it comes down more like thinking about the in-laws and such, I know that you are connected to your family, and not liking the boyfriend is an age of gag in family dramas, however, it is not healthy, and in the end, it needs to be their decision, even if it is a mistake. You need to make mistakes to learn from them or to know that they are mistakes at all, even if it means marrying the wrong guy.

The other thing that I didn't like is the daycare teacher applying adult logic to children and trying to decide who is dating who. I know that things are different when you are a child, I remember when I was Michiru's age and who I had a crush on, but it always throws me off when adults do things like that.

With all the grievances aside let's see what was really good about this manga.



❃.✮:▹ The art is interesting and unique, more on the cute side than anything. The simplicity is charming and the characters are memorable in their designs. Also, the backgrounds, while they are not really that detailed, I can make peace with them, since the simplistic background matches the simplistic character design. All in all, a good choice. Michiru is cute, however, I ended up liking Kouji, the uncle's character design the most. I could see that drawing him was the most fun, next to Souichi.

❃.✮:▹ The characters are strongly written. I was worried that once the human drama had kicked in, I would lose interest in the characters, but these are all well-intentioned people who want good and do good in their life. They are quirky and fun, but also quite trouble. We can see Souichi having trouble getting over Miyuki's death and can't forget her that easily. I was satisfied with who got together with who, even though I don't always like the idea that everyone needs to get married, but I talked about that already. 

Out of the side characters I liked Hino the most. The guy's humor and enthusiasm with his hobby of studying Souichi is great.

The kids were kids and seeing Michiru grow up is something nice. [Spoiler: One one point she graduates from daycare and goes into elementary and that is almost a point where you can feel things changing.]

It was promised to us that the characters: Michiru and Kouji will go from hate to love relationship and that is certainly a premiss. It happens seamlessly and that is the strong point of the manga. That is also the hardest part of the manga. From the beginning, we are told that Kouji will move out and that this is temporary, and we know that, but the ending still doesn't make it easier.

❃.✮:▹ In the end, I enjoyed this manga. It is short, it is fun and it is cute, in every way I need it. I was glad that I had found it, and I can recommend it to everyone. It had brought tears in my eyes with its last chapters. I did feel like I need to say goodbye to these people, and that is hard. Those are the trappings of slice of life mangas I think, and that's why they are so good. It is well written.

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