Wagatsuma-san wa Ore no Yome

I was quite skeptical but the genuine comedy and slice of life feel it now has after all those "side-stories" and further chapters ,I feel this is a much much better read than most people will think .

Edit : What started as a very good manga and continued to perhaps the first 50% of the series suddenly started to go downhill on all story, art , characters and humour .

I cannot understand why did the art and the story change so much , perhaps the same managaka did not continue the story . It was shifted to someone else and later Axed as people lost interest .

It went from bad to worse

Story :
The story very cliched when we first read the synopsis , a guy who can skip time and the class's idol who is his future wife but this manga has lesser to do with Romance and ecchi and much more to do with comedy and a general "slice of life" aspect as you will find out as you read further .
In the beginning ,I thought the MC and his friends were just another bunch of losers but the impressions changed very much as i read more and more about the DX brigade ,they in fact seemed like a pretty coool bunch to hang out with .
But the good stuff did not last long
May contain spoilers ahead:
The story started to get worse after after 50-60% of the manga and the consistency drops .; It was till Itou introductions and a bit development but as Aoshima and Wagatsuma come together the first time , that's the part where things start crumbling and they crumble more and more as the story just gets worse and more of a drag with every passing chapter . It feels like a pushover and a slow poison . that's how bad it gets .
With the introduction of the new sensei, the same cliched scenes and the repetition of same humour and concepts made it worse ,the time skipping sensei was also too stupid of an addition . They completely ran out of ideas and the Ending was too rushed and a complete disaster .

Art:
The art was good for most part in the beginning and was consistent as well . The girls were designed nicely and look cute and sexy , Also the other character were fine till the mid of the series where the Art changes .
That's where it got worse and rather unbearable to watch . The old art was much better . The girls looked bad, the guys started to look cartoonish and deformed with long chins .
It was standard in the beginning but got worse later .

Character :
The strongest part of this story was the characters which also got ruined later, This was a character driven story more than being a plot driven . The MC seems like a loser at first but overtime we see the potential he has ,more of his points and the same the case with all the other friends of his . The MC always tries to help others and his personality was good which was turned into a loser later on . He is also just bound to one girl and won't think of any other , quite different from the typical ecchi heroes but the more you read , the worst his personality got .
The story used to dovery well at depicting the life and personality of the members of the DX brigade and their inter personal relationship in the present as well as in the future . This also did not last as what seemed like good characters from the DX brigade became the most obnoxious characters later on . The worse character types and were only there for comic relief .
They could have been so much more and could have shown their development and growth but the manga did not show any character development for any side or main character whatsoever .
The manga used to slowly and steadily builds up a relationship among the MC and the main heroine to the point that i actually used to think of her as his "wife" whenever i see her and it did not feel weird . Their relationship , especially in the future looked very casual and that one did till the end . But the author Screwed this "Relationship development" up as well .
And their relationship became a drag later on , there was no development shown from Wagatsuma's side , no story about her . There was just an overused cliched that she liked dramas and it was used to the point of extremity . It got really annoying . The relationship which could have progressed slowly between Wagatsuma and MC was also thrown in the dustbin and there was hardly much in the way of progress , just some comin relief which did not even seem funny anymore .

All side characters got ignored later on, there was no development in them ,They looked like cardboard pieces . Very very plain . Good characters like Itou and Sylvia who had so much potential were also reduced to being nothing but side character who weren't even shown much later on .

Strongest point here is the comedy that is depicted through various characters and in various situations . It's also worth mentioning how people are influenced by the MC ,like the popular guy who joins the DX brigade . It also uses a great mix of satire and parody to enhance humor .
It also failed a lot in the humour department at the end to the point that I thought i was reading a completely different Manga . This had so much potential

I feel the manga used to b a great read , It is more to do with comedy than with slice of life or romance . at the beginning as i read as, it just got better and better , especially after reading about their pasts and clearing everything with those "side stories" but The manga was just worse towards the second half . It became like a toture to read .

Overall :

Story : 4/10 ( It had so much more potential , was reduced to scrap and the ending was a disaster , that's why im reducing this by a lot )

Art : 4/10 ( Was good at the beginning and through the middle , was good enough for a 7 but was horrible later on which ruined it )

Character 5/10 : ( Was the strongest point in the story before but also got uversed and had no development later , just got worse and worse

Enjoyment 6/10 : (Only because of the first half or 60% of the manga,It was extremely enjoyable before and i would rate that 8 but judging the whole manga , it has reduced too )

If you good comedies with some romance , you can read this but stop at 50% or 60% , or you will regret it . Just consider the story to be over by then . read more

This is great. It is about a person who supposedly has visions of the future and gets out of the visions suddenly, as quickly as he gets in. He does not have power over when to have those visions nor when to leave it. Thus, it results in hilarious situations and he tries to "change his future". Also, he is a really big loser, along with other friends which also benefits the humor. Though this may not be for those who seek a deep story or a badasses MC, it is quite a humoress romantic comedy and definately will get you your worth of laughtor. I was reading this at a public library and I laughed so hard I almost got kicked out. Oh man, this is great. Try it read more

(Tl;dr at the very bottom of this review)

Wagatsuma-san wa Ore no Yome , or My Wife is Wagatsuma-san is a fairly straightforward series. Our lead, Aoshima Hitoshi, has for whatever reason acquired the ability to "jump" back and forth between time. The only problem is that he is not exactly in control of when this happens. During his first ever leap, he finds that he is several years in the future and is now apparently married to the most popular girl at school. When he returns to the past, he seeks to make this future a reality. This premise, though uninspired, actually had some potential in its earliest chapters. However, it fizzled out almost completely by the end and leaves us with an underwhelming ending that is almost insulting to its readers.

Wagatsuma-san is first and foremost a comedic slice of life, following our lead as he attends school. As such, chapters are connected, but tend to mostly be episodic in nature, barring some arcs. The comedy is very peculiar; one moment it's referencing Japanese pop culture, and the next, our characters are dancing Michael Jackson-inspired choreography. Since it's such a wide range of comedic elements, there are bound to be times when one is left laughing out loud but even more times when the reader is left puzzled as to why that gag or joke means. The Japanese references in particular went flying above my head for the most part, but luckily the translation group always included a short description towards the end of the chapter. However, about midway or thereabouts through the series, it takes a turn for the dramatic, and this is perhaps where one begins to notice a drop in quality not only in comedy but also in story.

The art was, for the most part, passable. The girls looked attractive and had memorable designs, and the men were drawn cleanly. When there was a sight gag, the art style changed to accommodate this, and I found most of these to be well-timed and funny. However, the art did change towards the end, and the art style went from passable to mediocre.

Our lead Aoshima is your average high school student, nothing at all remarkable or special about him, save perhaps for how much of a loser he is. Of course, since he is such a nice guy, all the women (including a teacher!) fall for him, even as he is blissfully unaware that there are other women in the world besides Wagatsuma. Wagatsuma stayed completely static throughout the series, which is par for the course, I suppose. Some attempt at characterization is attempted by making her a bit of a drama fanatic, and this ties into a later arc. Though I enjoyed the way that he initially got her attention and the subsequent relationship they had, in addition to the inevitable break-up, by the end of the series, when the story has become more melodramatic and less comedic, I cared little about either character, since they are both completely dense and flat characters.

Surrounding Aoshima is a strange cast of characters, including an aspiring mangaka, a half-Dutch exchange student, and his supportive if somewhat precocious sister. Unfortunately, few of these characters get much development and what we are left with are, for the most part, flat, one-dimensional characters. This becomes especially apparent with the DX Brigade, Aoshima's "lovable" band of losers. They start out as good comedic relief, but by the end they are little more than perverts, idiots, and obnoxious unfunny. It's a shame, because these characters had potential to be more than what they were, and would have made the series much more pleasant to read.

Really, I wanted to like this manga. Though the concept is cliche and has been done before, at least the comedy was strong enough to carry it for a very long time, and the characters were appealing visually, and quite frankly when our leads finally get together, it's cute. However, the story dragged on for too long and left too many ideas unexplored to be considered anything above just an average shonen at best and completely forgettable at worst.

Tl;dr: I would recommend you skip this manga and find something else to read, such as The World God Only Knows (harem, similar comedic situations, and even time travel as a plot device).

Story: Started out strong, ended on a completely underwhelming note.
Characters: Started out with the possibility of being interesting, ended as pancakes.
Art: Started out passable, ended up mediocre.
Enjoyment: I enjoyed about half of it. The rest was a slog to get through.

I apologize for the wall of text, and thank you for reading through it all.


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Overall Synopsis: "My Wife Is Wagatsuma-san" is a pretty cliched series with some flaws (lack of characterization being one of them), but the laughs and unpredictable moments in the time slips makes it enjoyable.

Assuming you've already read a summary of what the story's about, I'll just cut to the chase.

The various sight gags, accompanied with the series unique art style, make for some very enjoyable reading. The flash forward style time skips (think Family Guy combined with Butterfly Effect.... yeah that sounded awkward), which you would think are predictable, are surprisingly not in some cases. Because as the protagonist Aoshima learns, the future isn't set in stone and is prone to various changes based on his present action or inaction.

As for the characters themselves, there needed to be some more love spread around in their development. The most developed character actually turns out to be Ran Itou, who goes through quite a roller coaster ride of changes. However, the titular character herself, Ai Wagatsuma, is that typical Mary Sue trophy wife trope that we've come to see in many other series (think Belldandy from "Ah! My Goddess"). Other than a few moments that humbly characterize her - the swim meet, a weakness for certain TV shows, and even a string of jealousy - she ultimately has no true character growth. The same goes most, if not all, of the cast of characters. As much as I like some of them (Masao Komatsu is my personal favorite and an awesome scene stealer), they seemingly remain static throughout the series.

That's not to say our lovable loser Aoshima isn't without his merits. Although he fills in that cliched useless main character with no redeeming qualities, I find that to be ultimately false as the story progresses. As one of his benefactors later point out, he rises beyond himself to face certain occasions, and he carries his companions with him as he does. He is also quite a compassionate person and would go out of his way for people, even total strangers. And after seeing his various time slips just to secure his future with Wagatsuma, you start to notice that he overlooks his own desire for the sake of his own friends to save them from trouble, and even for a stranger to save his life. These are all observable qualities that, in my opinion, make him rise above the typical character trope of a useless guy everyone loves for really no reason than for the sake of the story - I'm calling you out, Tenchi.

The story wraps up a little fast at the end and leaves some unanswered questions. I think if it had at least one more chapter as an epilogue, it would have left a more satisfying ending. In spite of that, I'm glad to have read Wagatsuma and I've enjoyed my time with the series. read more