Sore wa Totsuzen, Unmei no Aite ga

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One of the biggest nuisances when it comes to the romance genre in manga (and anime even more so in general) is the lack of actual progress relationship-wise. I've lost count of just how many series that just never get going anywhere due to slow pacing, dense protagonists and ridiculously convenient interruptions every time any real steps are about to be taken. Furthermore in the case that any real progress is made (like a confession or a kiss etc), suddenly the story is over. "They lived happily ever after, the end!" and nothing more.

How wonderful is it then when you happen to randomly come across ... a little manga merely four volumes long that manages to squeeze in so much goodness in such a short time span, because unlike what you’d normally find, in this series something actually HAPPENS essentially all the time.

Sore wa Totsuzen Unmei no Aite ga (roughly translated to "Suddenly, the marriage partner showed up") is a compilation of four separate short stories, each focusing on its own coupling. The common factor is that these couples are selected not by themselves, but rather via a genetic test performed by the government in order to help people find their absolute perfect matches when it comes to producing offspring, and the results are delivered to both partners once the younger of the two has had his/her 14th birthday.

Because of this, every story is already starting out with the characters as potential fiancés which cuts away a lot of the boring initial phase, but more importantly the actual stories themselves are SUPER cute! Instead of the ordinary cliché and generic male and female leads you’d normally see, each and every one of the characters in this manga are extremely likable and also feel very realistic. Every story has a ton of variation and theme, but they all succeed with their respective settings and purposes absolutely flawlessly. And the art style is beautiful as well to boot.


To make a quick rundown of the various stories in order, we have:

1) Yuuichi x Manami
Starting out with what is by far the shortest story of the bunch, we have a mostly lighthearted incest coupling between a quite ordinary, average boy and his younger sister who is more of a perfect girl envied by all. There isn’t really very much to say about this one; it serves more as a longer pilot chapter to the other stories but it’s still cute and funny in its simplicity.

2) Jun x Mai
A coupling between the school idol and the friend of her younger brother. This story was probably the most ecchi one out of the four, but it was done in a tasteful and realistic way that was very nice to see. It also showcased the process of the girl using her real life experiences over the course of the relationship development as basis for writing her own romantic novel, which brought with it some quite humorous and interesting consequences.

3) Nobuyuki x Miyuki
This… was not what I expected at all but it was AWESOME. Definitely the best one out of the stories in my opinion; it’s the story of two MMORPG gamers who get coupled together (thanks to the government that is) and their quite unusual romantic development both in the real world as well as in the in-game one. What surprised me the most about this one wasn’t just the romance aspect but rather how much detail was actually put into the in-game world, and I think on its own it had some real potential of being one of those shounen romance series taking place inside a game world (like Sword Art Online etc) if that had been the direction the author had somehow wanted to take it, but despite merely aiming for an extremely cute and original romantic comedy story, that aspect was sure as hell executed as good as it possibly could have been.

4) Takuya x Shiori
Lastly we have a coupling between two cousins who initially aren’t very interested in each other due to family circumstances, but then decide to take advantage of the situation by using their enforced coupling as a way for their respective parents to get on friendly terms as they’ve been fighting each other for a longer period of time. Of course this indirectly results on the cousins getting closer to one another whether they intend to or not which before long ended up showcasing some very charming sides of both of them, and it just felt all-round satisfactory.


And in all honesty, ‘satisfactory’ is probably the best word to summarize the entirety of this manga, because when it all comes down to it that is exactly what it does best. It’s not a masterpiece per se, but in its simplicity and for the concept it’s going for, it gives you everything you could ever ask for from a romance manga, hell it gives you a lot more than what you’d normally find in famous long-running titles in that regard.

I really don’t think it’s possible to be disappointed by this if you’re a fan of romantic comedy manga.

******* NO SPOILERS *******



Little do we know in romance manga that there is not much further development in romance between couples. However asking myself the question we were to be paired up with our other half. It would be great right? Well this review is will be just looking at that one statement.

Knowing this manga was short I wasn't not going to be surprised by the romantic development however as soon I finished the first arc. I knew this was something different, The need for more was always itching at the back of my neck. Even though I finished with the first partners and was ... very happy with the outcome.

Sore wa Totsuzen Unmei no Aite ga describes the daily of 4 couples bounded by their 'Destiny' thought the coupling system, The writer really knew how to engage in every individual couple by setting a unique story focusing on each one differently. However they are not your average couple situation meetings with comedy and randomness but with a gene assesment that is carried out by a company when you are 14 years old which implements you in the coupling system which help people find their 'perfect' matches that when in love would offspring of great capabilities due to the compatibility of the couples genes.

So every couple you will see in the manga will have a different story to the one before thus making it a fun and intresting way of different types of characterisations and situations you will see between them giving you a sense of accomplishment in every arc. This due to the characters being very funny and audience engaging in their own way. Although each couple have their own way of engaging in the manga but it still boils down to the same setting and place.

From the art style I think is very creative and makes each scenes with the characters more engaging with the audience giving us a feeling we are actually there watching the story between the couples unfold.

Here is a brief summary of the story being unfolded thought the different couples

Yuuchi and Manami
This is an insect coupling that was displayed by the system and to me it was a start of a very funny relationship. It includes an older brother and his younger sister. It is very funny and cute. Their progress in their relationship which makes me laugh so much.

Jun and Mai
A coupling between the school idol a normal teenager (With some background). This arc was more funny and a lot of scenes were classed as being ecchi. The girl (Mai) writes novel which are adult based but she is known as among the best writers which is paired with a odd but very nice guy (Jun)

Nobukui and Muki
This one really was interesting but that might be due to with my intrestes. it includes the daily life of 2 gamers who are coupled which sparks a romantic development between them in the real and virtual world.

Takuya and Shiori
Finally we have a coupling wait for it............. Between 2 cousins both being suprised due to their differences regarding family issues, However they thought by using opportunity they might be able to bring a hault a family issue regarding their parents. In doing so they are getting more attracted to each other by the solving their situation.


Overall this manga is very good in bringing diffrent storys through the same setting but giving us a completly different view of characters who are thrown in these sitituations. This gives the reader a pleasure of enjoying the characters grow and develop in many different ways. I would highly recommend it if you are into Comedy and 'fast' romance (Due to the amount of chapters)

I read this one and thought it was a great romance-comedy story. It has a few stories and jumped around a bit between the few that were there but ended up greatly in the end. It made me laugh at the characters with a little bit of dramatic irony. I read it twice and would easily read it again a few times. Good manga to add to your list.