Manga: Yukarism Review

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Yukari Kobayakawa, an accomplished author at the age of 17, writes with amazingly accurate details about historical Japan. It turns out he has the ability to travel back in time…to his past life as a renowned courtesan in the Edo period! As he goes back and forth between the past and present, he unravels the karmic relationship he has with his beautiful classmate Mahoro Tachibana…

Satomi Katsuhiko enters Yukari’s life when he needs a new housekeeper, but Yukari’s devoted fan Mahoro Tachibana instantly hates him! The three’s karmic relationship with each other begins to unravel, and things take an unexpected turn when the past seeps into the present!

 

Yukarism is a short 4 volume manga by Chika Shiomi.

I absolutely adored the back and forth between modern times and the Edo period. I also liked how their past selves were genderswapped rather than being the same as the future.

The art is lovely and clear. I especially love the scenes set in the past. They’re lively and full of little details. The magic scroll parts were awesome as well, as were the magic circles. I loooove looking at things like that!

The romance between Yukari and Mahoro and their past selves is well-paced. It’s a little odd. The present day romance takes a back seat to the plot, but the plot is the romance set in the past (and discovering what — or who — killed Yukari’s past self) so… it’s not really? Hahaha. IDK. But it is satisfying and has a satisfying ending.

And really? Time travel, past lives, past sins catching up to you, love that spans all time? What is there not to like?

The only real complaint I have about this is how rushed the ending is. I feel like if it had at least one, preferably two, more chapters, we could have had a properly fleshed out ending. As is, it feels like it ruins the mysteries and good juju by rushing through the finale.

I feel bad it’s taken me so long to write this up. >>;; I actually started collecting this from volume 1 on. It was paiiiiiinful waiting for the last volume, let me tell you. nervous

If you can get a deal on the 4 volume set, I don’t see why it wouldn’t be a good way to pass an afternoon reading. It’s a solid story that isn’t going down as a greatest of all time, but it’s not going to leave you feeling like you wasted your time or read a bad story. Not everything can be a classic, sometimes you just need a good story done well.

heart1heart1heart1
holllywhatMy heart scale is defined as follows – 5 hearts = a story everyone will fall in love with, regardless of preferences; 4 hearts = a well-done story that people who love the concept will adore, and people who don’t may end up liking it; 3 hearts = if you like this type of story or this type of hero, then you will enjoy this, but those who do not like either of those things will probably not; 2 hearts = it had potential, it squandered it; 1 heart = just a waste of time from the get-go; 0 hearts = why was this made?

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