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4.25 AVERAGE
4.25 AVERAGE
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
tl;dr
All the tasty drama of a high school shoujo manga, but with college-aged protagonists instead.
Thoughts
Cotton candy-style shoujo manga is my guilty pleasure. It's sweet, it's pretty, and it's not too heavy. It is also almost always about high schoolers. And while I do enjoy a good high school drama, I wouldn't mind this kind of sugary romance for an older audience either. "How I Met My Soulmate" hits that spot extremely well, with our MC Yuuki already in her second year in college. It's really fun to see all the familiar old tropes among characters juggling part-time jobs and hangovers. And the mixer even felt like a fun college get together, instead of an extremely sketchy bad idea! Iori is (by design, I think) my preferred guy, but Seno's storyline is fascinating, and I genuinely don't know which way the story's going to go with him. What I do know is that I will definitely be reading it.
Thanks to NetGalley and Kodansha comics for an advance copy. All thoughts in this review are my own!
All the tasty drama of a high school shoujo manga, but with college-aged protagonists instead.
Thoughts
Cotton candy-style shoujo manga is my guilty pleasure. It's sweet, it's pretty, and it's not too heavy. It is also almost always about high schoolers. And while I do enjoy a good high school drama, I wouldn't mind this kind of sugary romance for an older audience either. "How I Met My Soulmate" hits that spot extremely well, with our MC Yuuki already in her second year in college. It's really fun to see all the familiar old tropes among characters juggling part-time jobs and hangovers. And the mixer even felt like a fun college get together, instead of an extremely sketchy bad idea! Iori is (by design, I think) my preferred guy, but Seno's storyline is fascinating, and I genuinely don't know which way the story's going to go with him. What I do know is that I will definitely be reading it.
Thanks to NetGalley and Kodansha comics for an advance copy. All thoughts in this review are my own!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I'm not really into love web stories overall but this was cute so far! Yuuki Honda, a good girl, is finally taking a chance to try to find a boyfriend... not any boyfriend, her soulmate! Circumstantially she meets a hot guy at a club who's softer than he seems which leads into meeting/reconnecting with two more guys that have interest in her. Volume 1 ends in a cliffhanger (sort of as expected) but the art is good, and the Potential Boyfriend/Soulmate #1 is the sort of character I like (a gap moe kind - someone who looks one way but is actually a different way, in this case sort of soft and enjoying being taken care of instead of being Just Hot). Even when something sad comes up from the past, it's actually dealt with in a good way rather than cruel actions just for cruel actions' sake or character development or whatnot.
Anyway, I'll probably keep up with this series! Thank you to Kodansha and Netgalley for the eARC!
Anyway, I'll probably keep up with this series! Thank you to Kodansha and Netgalley for the eARC!
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
ARC provided by NetGalley.
This was such a sweet manga! It’s pretty basic cranky boy meets sunshine girl, she wants true love and he’s helping her. But I haven’t read one in awhile and this just hit the spot! My only complaint is they took away is dyed blonde hair 😭. Truly want to read the rest of the series ASAP :D
This was such a sweet manga! It’s pretty basic cranky boy meets sunshine girl, she wants true love and he’s helping her. But I haven’t read one in awhile and this just hit the spot! My only complaint is they took away is dyed blonde hair 😭. Truly want to read the rest of the series ASAP :D
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was such a cute and enjoyable read! Although there was some unnecessary drama, it was resolved pretty quickly and I get that it’s just part of the genre so it didn’t really bother me. The characters are really sweet and I’m excited to see where the story takes them. Now I’m kinda wishing for my own Iori.
I also loved the art style! It’s something I’m rather picky with but it was right up my alley. All in all this is a manga series I’ll definitely follow!
I also loved the art style! It’s something I’m rather picky with but it was right up my alley. All in all this is a manga series I’ll definitely follow!
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
**Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for providing me with a free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review**
4,5 ⭐
What more is there to say apart from the fact that I loved this book? I have always been a huge fan of shoujos but I haven't read one in a while so this felt like a breath of fresh air.
The main characters were 20 and 23 and it was so nice to read a shoujo with people older than high school (I'm sure it's common but I don't know them :( ), and how relatable is it to read about a girl in her 20s suffereing from loneliness and desperation? very for me at least.
Every character was sweet, even the ones I thought wouldn't be were in the end, and they had cute dynamics as well (not just the mains). Also the men didn't seem toxic from what we've seen which is pretty nice (I know the bar is on hell but what can you do). I'm really looking forward to reading the sequel, and sad it probably won't be out in English for some time. I'm really excited also about getting to know the other works from the author!
4,5 ⭐
What more is there to say apart from the fact that I loved this book? I have always been a huge fan of shoujos but I haven't read one in a while so this felt like a breath of fresh air.
The main characters were 20 and 23 and it was so nice to read a shoujo with people older than high school (I'm sure it's common but I don't know them :( ), and how relatable is it to read about a girl in her 20s suffereing from loneliness and desperation? very for me at least.
Every character was sweet, even the ones I thought wouldn't be were in the end, and they had cute dynamics as well (not just the mains). Also the men didn't seem toxic from what we've seen which is pretty nice (I know the bar is on hell but what can you do). I'm really looking forward to reading the sequel, and sad it probably won't be out in English for some time. I'm really excited also about getting to know the other works from the author!
I received an e-galley of How I Met My Soulmate by Anashin from Kodansha Comics via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Yuuki is 20 years old and she really wants to meet her soulmate. But a chance encounter brings a surprise new friendship into her life with that of hardworking and charming Iori-kun, who seems to want to help her. As Yuuki meets new people and also re-encounters people from her past, she begins to feel conflicted about past crushes and feelings with feelings that are beginning to develop now. It appears that one of the two men in her life are the hinted soulmate from the title - and while I do have one that I prefer over the other, I'm very curious as to how this story is going to develop.
Yuuki is 20 years old and she really wants to meet her soulmate. But a chance encounter brings a surprise new friendship into her life with that of hardworking and charming Iori-kun, who seems to want to help her. As Yuuki meets new people and also re-encounters people from her past, she begins to feel conflicted about past crushes and feelings with feelings that are beginning to develop now. It appears that one of the two men in her life are the hinted soulmate from the title - and while I do have one that I prefer over the other, I'm very curious as to how this story is going to develop.
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
How I Met My Soulmate sells itself as a college age Shojo manga and that is exactly what it is. We see similar tropes that we would find in a regular highschool Shojo and even some of the aftereffects of some of those tropes, but with college age young adults.
Nothing really surprised me about the plot, the beats were very on par for classic Shojo, but the one character that stood out was Seno because he was the most complex. Seno was our MC’s, Yuuki’s, first crush. He took the bento boxes she made for him in high school and gave them to others in his class, calling the boxes disgusting. But there were layers - is it a condition of his that he finds he couldn’t stomach the food? Or is he lying to Yuuki because he’s attracted to her now and wants to win her over? We just don’t know and that always makes me intrigued for more.
Still, while the story was solid and I really enjoyed the goal of this story, I’m not sure if Soulmate intrigued me enough to continue with the series. However, I know a lot of Shojo fans are going to enjoy this fun college student take on highschool Shojo, especially since Soulmate does that so well.
*I received an eARC from Kodansha Comics & NetGalley. All opinions are my own*
lighthearted
fast-paced
This was such a cute and quick romance read. The art is so pretty, and the story was very fast paced. If you’re in a reading slump and just want something quick and cozy to help you get out of that slump, then this is really the manga for that in my opinion. I enjoyed, it was the perfect little palate cleanser, super cute and fun.
Thank you to NetGalley for this e-arc
Thank you to NetGalley for this e-arc