- Mangaka : Hato Hachiya
- Publisher : Seven Seas Entertainment
- Genre : Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
- Published : September 2020
If you give us a penny every time the line “Let’s meet again in our next life,” across all media, you’ll probably be greatly indebted to us by now. The sadder part of it is that nearly all of those who’ve heard this line probably didn’t really meet in their next lives. Heck, some even have zero memories of their past life. Obviously, that’s normal. It’s just that it’s kind of sad. But hey, we at least know of a story wherein the couple actually did meet after reincarnating. There’s a twist, though.
Contains Spoilers
Discussion Time
Princess Yuko fell in love with her knight, Harold. The feeling’s mutual, but they were born at the wrong time. During their era, a knight and a princess couldn’t be together. Other than stealing a few seconds of romance, all they could do was promise each other to meet each other in their next lives, hoping that romance would no longer be bound by status then, and they did! However, at the moment of their meeting, Yuko is already 39 while Harold was still a high school student.
1. Realistic Problems Concerning Age Gap
From the synopsis alone, the series already laid out the big problem that needed to be tackled. The huge gap between Yuko and Harold’s ages isn’t something to be scoffed at. So even though there really isn’t any law prohibiting them from being together, the judging eyes of society pressure Yuko to push Harold away. That is despite it being consensual on both parties and their feelings being mutual. In reality, this is something most couples in similar circumstances face. No matter how the couple feels about each other, other people just have something to say about it.
2. Cute Middle-Aged Woman
Yeah, we like cute high school heroines like Haikyuu!!’s Shimizu or Assault Lily’s Yuyu, but our knees completely melted after seeing Yuko, Her mature, yet childish antics hit a few soft spots in our hearts. Better yet, she’s aware how embarrassing she acts. Our cutie meter skyrocketed just by seeing her act like that, but our favorite aspect is how she understands relationships with a mature mind. It’s not just diving straight in, following hormones and all that. She thinks and considers the consequences of her actions first.
1. A Short Story
The first volume of this series is quite,,, short. No, literally. We know that it all started with the manga being posted on Twitter and all, but it left us hanging just when the story has only started to pick up. True, the story and premise are both interesting, but not having that much material to read kills it just a little bit. If you’re looking for long reads, maybe wait until the second volume has come out first before starting this series.
Final Thoughts
We Swore to Meet in the Next Life and That’s When Things Got Weird! feels like it’s been written while the mangaka is having a blast. The story is not constipated or forced. We can see glimpses of the mangaka trying to play with the premise and poking it here and there. If not for it’s length, we would’ve enjoyed it for days!
Author: Christian Markle