Taishou Otome Otogibanashi

tl;dr: A story with really solid character development built upon really solid, and adorable, relationship development built upon a surprisingly solid plot. 

This was much more interesting than I thought. Based on the description, I expected it to be mostly lighthearted fluff without that much intensity, focused primarily on just being cute and sweet. While the core relationship certainly does produce a very strong stream of cute and sweet moments, there's a lot more to than just that though. The characters have a really good amount of depth, with backgrounds that greatly impact them and personalities with flaws, both of which play a major part in the character development they go through. The two main characters are great in this regard, with Tamahiko especially showing a lot of growth slowly and steadily from someone selfish, without ability, and without hope to someone looking optimistically towards the future, working his hardest, and caring about others. This development is largely the result of the relationship development between him and Yuzuki, which is also done really well, also being slow and steady, but constantly growing in a way that makes it feel really well paced. Part of what helps is that contrary to my expectations, there is a good amount of plot that drives this relationship development, and though it never gets really intense, there are a good amount of parts with suspense and some darker aspects to balance out the more lighthearted fluff and add more layers to the relationship between the two. Furthermore, it wasn't just the two core characters, but a number of side characters were well developed as well, with Tamako and Ryo especially having solid development and good stories in their own right, though their interactions and relationships with the main characters was what truly makes them such great characters. And on top of that, it ends quite well, having solid conclusions to the various character arcs, with the part contrasting Tamahiko with his father working especially well, and also having a very solid ending overall for their relationship arc, where everything ends in a truly happy way that feels fully believable and something that the characters deserve to obtain and you feel happy for them doing so. The art is also pretty good and quite adorable at times. 

I don't really have a plan on writing any reviews. But after seeing this one being almost unnoticed and not getting the attention it deserves I decided to write one. I wanted everyone to know that this manga is one of the greatest hidden gems that was serialized in Jump SQ. This is going to be my very first review, and probably my last so please let me have some of your time and read this.

If you like simple, cute, and pure romance, you'll definitely like this one. No love rivals, ship already sailing at the first few chapters, cute moments between the MC and the main heroine that will make you grin like an idiot. I tell you this is not your typical shounen romance. This one will bring out your inner fangirl.

The story is simply one of the best stories I've seen and it's not an exaggeration. It's simple yet it really draws you in that you can't stop reading once you've read it. The main focus of the story is, of course, the love story of the MC and the main heroine, as well as the MC's character development. The setting is in Taisho Era Japan, around few years after the World War I. If you're not really familiar with the japanese history, there are explanations along the way so you'll be familiarized about the culture and laws during that time.

The art is good. I can't say anything bad about it. The environment, the scenes, and the characters are well drawn. I admit that the reason why I decided to read this one is because the main heroine at the cover was cute.

Almost all of the characters are likeable. At first you would kinda hate Tamahiko, the main protagonist, because of his gloomy and pessimistic character but as the story progresses, you would understand as to why he's like that and eventually you would come to like him because of his great character development. As for Yuzu, the main heroine, I can say that she's the most likeable character here. I can also say that she's the shining star of this manga. Very cute, cheerful and full of positivity. She's also the reason for the character developments of Tamahiko and the other people around them. For the other characters, as I said, almost all of them are likeable.

Overall, I really enjoyed it. As a fan of romance genre, this one is an instant favorite. I would definitely recommend it for people who loves simple romantic stories. Though sometimes it may caught you off guard with the sudden drama and feels, don't worry cause we all know that there's always a rainbow after the rain.

Now, before I end this review, here are the scores I gave for this manga.
Story: 9/10
Art: 8/10
Characters: 8/10
Enjoyment: 9/10
Overall: 9/10

And that's it. I do hope that my review would be found helpful to some. Also, I apologize if there are grammatical errors, for english is not really one of my strongest points. Okay that's all, folks.

i just can't stand the fact that this manga is not getting what it deserves! i started reading this manga bcs i saw someone recommend this in a forum post. and ohh boy i didn't regret it at all.
this is truly a heartwarming pure romance that has been developed with care. me as a fan of pure romance feels blessed after reading this manga. it's just a manga that you can read while you relax and all without worrying about anything.
before i started reading this, i felt insecure due to some personal reasons and watching anime and reading manga has been my escape. by reading this, it makes me feel warm inside, all of the main characters interaction and all of their lovey-dovey moments has truly given me some cheerful vibes and thus really makes my insecurities gone, well for now at least.
but enough of that, the story is great. as expected for a slice of life manga. art is some kind of cute, its my first time seeing this kind of art so it wasn't pleasant in my eyes at first but as time passes, i can appreciate the artwork that the manga has given. truly fits with the story and all.
the characters are adorable, everyone has their own problem and their own way to solve them. the character development is a bit too fast i think, or maybe it's just that i read too fast, but it's not a bad thing and it doesn't really have a hard impact in anything.
overall, it was a blessing tbh. this manga has made me happy and words cant really describe what im feeling right now. now with my insecurities all gone, let's move on to the real world.

tl dr; I am sooo glad that I decided to start reading this.

AHHHHHH I JUST finished this not short, yet not too long manga, and I am so so so happy that this even exists.

The story is set in the 1920s, but there isn't any problem getting used how things went at the time at all. The characters are so pure, and as a reader, you can't help but hope they don't go through too much hardship and live a happy life. It is very clear that the author went for a deep dive into researching even the smallest details we wouldn't normally even take special notice of, such as where phones used to be stored in the house during the early 20th century.

[If you don't like war themes, this manga is FREE of any mentions about war. It solely focuses on the life events of the two main characters and the people they become friends with/get close to.]

Everything is just so gOD DAMN CUTE and I haven't been watching/reading anything like that for the last few years, so I'm truly happy and satisfied.

Loved it! The characters were awesome and the whole manga had such a warmth to it. All in all it was a wholesome feel good manga with an amazingly executed romance. The character arcs of each character where well done and nothing really felt cliche.

This manga has pretty much ruined all other romance mangas for me, because all these other mangas seem to tease the couple getting together forever and none of them ever seem to really be in love. However in Taishou Otome Otogibanashi I can really feel the love radiating through the main characters.

The only negative I have about the manga is that it ended too aprupt. I'd have loved for it to have at least another 3-5 chapters. Still, this is a must-read manga for anyone who wants to read a romance manga, your soul will feel cleansed afterwards, trust me.

This is the first time I'll be writing a review here on MAL so please forgive me if it's unappealing. I'll try to keep this review as spoiler-free as possible.

Story: 9/10
Taishou Otome revolves around a pre-modern Japan setting in the Taishou era estimated during 1912 to 1926. The story follows Shima Tamahiko and how he deals with his depression of being thrown away by his family with the appearance of Yuzuki, whom is his bride to-be purchased by his father. Although it's nothing special, it's a nice change of pace from the modern setting of romance stories so definitely check out if you're a historical maniac.

Art: 9/10
I don't dwell too much on this as I think each artist have their respective unique artstyle, but the art for Taishou Otome for it's characters were okay. Nothing too phenomenal. What caught my interest was the background of places and setting as it's set in pre-modern Japan.

Character: 9/10
I'll just say this. The MC Tamahiko is nothing new. He's basically a son of a very rich family back in the days. He might come as unlikable during the early chapters but there is plenty of good reasons as to why.
Our heroine, Yuzuki on the other hand is a cheerful and bubbly girl whom is the complete opposite of him. The synergy between these two really shows and it's a complete treat to see how they've grown and matured by the end of the story. The supporting cast are also very likable. Even the 'antagonist' have something reasonable to their actions.

Enjoyment: 10/10
For each chapter, I just have this mixed feelings of turning the pages quickly to get to know what happens next and slowly try to imagine myself in place of the characters if I were to live in the Taishou period myself. I never find myself bored (even after binging more than 2 hours)
Also, this manga is free of unnecessary ecchi scenes, third wheelers, illogical, love rivals, harems, and all of that toxic.

In the end, I highly recommend checking this out just for a change of pace for all of the modern settings manga that are so many nowadays. It's a great and fluffy love story and quite logical with just the amount of drama that makes you care about the characters. A great read!

This is such a gem, i just happen to find this manga by change while looking for another manga, was the BEST mistake i ever made !!!

This is a sugar Rush but with a credible story behing It.

Story 10/10

While i truly enjoy reading this wholesomeness the story turn into a bit of drama to spice things Up, and It was done so well that i was even more invested than before, the story didnt stay as a pure wholesome manga and went beyond that with historical settings and disfuntional family dinamics.

I have never seen a manga treat narcissist parents so well done, withouth the redemtion factor.
The drama in the manga was also take seriously withouth being over the top with "crazy people " more like product of enviroment ... So good !

Character 10/10

While i normally hate Girls that live for the boy and are sweet and pretty much like saints this wasnt the case, she was sweet but not naive, the opposite a strong woman , also remember that this take place long before world war 2 which mean a very mysogynistic (even more) Japan , where woman were taught only to be good wifes and they went to school to learn cooking and sweing skills. I can not judge a manga for being REAL. So in this case woman being so House driven was the norm (even more than today Japan standars) so taking that into account, our female lead was just doing her society impose role + she was sassy and most fodwars that normal maidens , WAS SO CUTE .

THE MALE lead while was being taken Care of he actually work so hard to becoming a perfect match for her sweet gf, thats the whole point of him actually not being an Alpha japanese men and take for granted the woman work but actuallly being gratefull of being loved, he decide to change and love her too. Isnt that the best way to show love ??? Best that overly cringe shoujo tropue, this felt real, real falling in love and becoming the best vertion of yourself

This manga was ALMOST perfect, art was cute 10/10 and plot was very well detail and realistic and the enjoyment i have was 10/10

*Warning: spoilers for Taishou Otome Otogibanashi in story, plot and character arcs*

Taishou Otome Otogibanashi is one of the sweetest manga I’ve read. The story, while dealing with darker than expected tones about pre-war Japanese society and living with disability just ends up being so cute and sweet that I couldn’t help but have a big dumb grin on my face. The story itself is very engaging, and the plot progression makes it a very easy manga to read through in one day. The resolution of the problem our main characters face in the manga is very satisfying, and the ending just gives you diabetes.

Our main characters are the highlight of the cast, Yuzuki Tachibana and Tamahiko Shima just share the sweetest relationship and interact in ways that can make anyone smile.

This is the type of manga you read to feel happy and fulfilled. You don’t feel like you’ve wasted your time, and your happiness levels go off the charts. Until you realize you’ll never be them.

Then we have Tamako Shima, which is the easiest character to hate in the history of media. Joffrey Baratheon doesn’t have anything on her. Yet her motives are understandable; she is essentially just a daddy's girl seeking the attention she wouldn't normally get because of traditional Japanese society.

The rest of the cast just adds to the sweetness. In that sense, it’s a bit of shame that it doesn’t go much further than that, but in the end they made my grin incessantly so I don’t personally care.

Then we have the source of the diabetes, the art style. Everything is just so clean, cute and detailed. None of that Moe blob garbage; everyone just looks nice, the lines are very fine and the colour pages are to die for. The design of Yuzuki, and her quirks about her hairstyle also leads to some of the sweetest stuff you’ve ever seen. Even better is the quality of the simplified/comic versions of the characters, and also the detail they are still drawn with despite being really far from the frame. It’s all very impressive. Then we also have the screen tones and the flowery backgrounds that are just the cherry on top of the diabetes.

I grinned like an idiot all the way through. I can’t say enough about how much fun I had reading this manga. It makes me genuinely smile, everything is just so sweet and pure. And then that ending just makes you overdose on sugar. The bicycle chapter is the best thing to happen to shoujo and romance.

I loved it and it made my days just that much brighter. 10/10

Taishou Otome Otogibanashi, or Taisho maiden fairy tale is a wonderful, heart warming bitter sweet (mostly sweet as hell, sometimes bitter) tale about the cold, pessimistic Tamahiko and his bubbly, out right literally pure sugar wife Yuzuru that will slowly melts and thaw out his ice cold heart. This this manga, you will follow our main characters through their sweet and adorable daily life. Witness how they expresses their love in cute little ways. Their fateful encounters of many amazing people, including: Tamako (the little sister of Tamahiko), and Ryo (the neighbor girl).

In this little manga, with every chapters, the author masterfully crafts the dialogues and the art to blend in and support every emotions the manga is experiencing. This create many wonderful atmospheres in the manga which I really love.

This manga successfully crafts the warm and homely feeling, almost nostalgia (similar to listening to a ghibli song). This is also widely supported by the ever growing character introductions and development we can see. Watching many characters' altitude change throughout the manga is very heart-warming to say the least.

Finally, I have to extremely commend the author with her choice of setting, which can be overlooked by most people. The setting of the Taishou Era certainly brings out a different set of feelings and atmosphere; archaic in a nostalgic way (Not that I have experienced that era) but beautiful, nonetheless. It also allow the author to explore many cultural aspects that might have been overlooked or non an issue in today's society: like the Japanese's perspective of women, arranged marriages and many historical events, (the pretty dresses and Kimonos are certainly a plus XD ).

I cannot stresses enough how underrated this manga is. I hope it receives the attention it deserved soon. I also recommend checking out: "Showa maiden fairy tale" which is a sequel to this book with some recurring casts and pretty similar themes explored in completely different ways, albeit still masterfully.

Tl;dr It is very very heart warming and sweet manga which also explore many cultural aspects of Taisho era Japan where ALL casts are likeable (minus a few). PLEASE GO READ.

Taishou Otome Otogibanashi is more of a wholesome wish fulfillment for men than a wholesome series for all. There’s nothing wrong with it, if anything this manga is about a very good relationship, but the complete, total, endless kindness and devotion of the female lead, certain points of her personality, and harem-like bath scenes later in the series make the targeted audience of this manga a bit smaller than you'd expect initially. That’s the reason I am writing a contrarian review for it, because I didn’t know it when I started. I also don’t think it’s 10/10 evenly along its course. (Don’t attack me, guys, pls.)

But, boy, is it sugary. You may want to cut other sweets when you read it, and be wary if you’re diabetic. Everyone is cute, everything is round, so much moe, such pleasant art. Doki-doki moments abound as tiny Yuzu tiptoes around on her dot-like feet being the bestest girl of the best.

And it is historical. "Taisho" doesn’t stand in the title for no reason – you’ll see the way people lived then to a degree, there are optional pages full of explanatory data about the way people sew clothes, schooled, cooked, etc. The great Kanto earthquake of 1923 plays a big part, leading to what's likely the best arc of this work. Though I think there were things that looked a bit too modern-like, like, for example, an idol girl.

It’s a healing story about healing, about finding your way and following the right values. An arranged marriage goes right for once. Tamahiko, the protagonist, has grown in a loveless rich home, then gets discarded when he loses the mobility of his right arm. Betrayed and alone, he falls in a deep depressive state, sent off to rot away in a rural home far from the eyes of humans who "matter". Luckily for him, he receives a bride, Yuzu, as his last cut-off-forever gift, and she revives him through her kindness and cheerfulness.

The initial chapters when they get acquaintanced and learn to appreciate each other, while living in an old home on a mountain together, are truly amazing. For me these slow slice-of-life chapters when you see Yuzu open Tamahiko’s darkened heart to the natural beauty of rural Japan to the people around him bit by bit are the best in the story. But they bond very quickly and easily, and the manga decides to expand.

There are other strong moments, like the events of the great earthquake, both nerve wrecking and historically informative, and the ending when Tamahiko makes his big choice. You see, another big part of the plot is his messed up family, the way they have failed as people so much that many of Tamahiko’s siblings try to run away and find their happiness elsewhere. The elders will get their due, and what’s especially beautiful is that it’s not a matter of revenge, it’s a matter of leaving the evil behind to stew in its own vitriol without future, as it should, as it’s the best in this situation.

The problem is that the road to the cathartic aftermath in the second half is very rocky because of unneeded side characters, many of whom are also cute girls, and they all bathe together showing off their "goods". At some points there were so much fanservice, so many people suddenly flocked to our main couple and made celebratory rounds, that my attention simply trailed off despite my best efforts. It was totally a "flower garden" to ogle. I think it hurt the ending a lot, there were whole chapters of empty fluff, while fates of major characters were moved to additional half chapters.

But the main issue of this work, if there is any, is that Yuzu is just too saintly, too sacrificial and accepting. The manga never manages to empathize with her humanity fully. It may be fine in the beginning when Tamahiko has not yet healed and is not yet accustomed to caring, but later it doesn’t change, isn’t addressed, and it starts to grate. Yuzu is kind and understanding towards Tamahiko, but it’s her who has been sold like property, has had to travel to an unknown home, works there, and doesn’t have her own property or money. Yuzu constantly blames herself for everything, and it stays that way until the very end of the work, it’s seen as cute and as a natural feature of her personality, while honestly it’s depressing. They don’t address her pain at all in any form when they have their first time, for example. And, like, Yuzuki is "healing" (which is already a meh concept) though immediate blind acceptance, body and soul, through total devotion, endless trust, infinite selflessness. She is very small, legally bound to the MC, she has cute sexually attractive features she hides thinking that they are "troublesome", she has high libido, but is shy about it, and wants a lot of kids. She is a saintly bride, not a human being. She is the titular Taisho fairytale you are supposed to want.

The evilest character of this work is in fact also female, and falls on the "whore" side of the dichotomy, because she prattles around menacingly naked in front of her male family members for some reason, in Taisho era, yeah. Actually, about the epoch, it is kinda uncomfortable to see the difference in rights and possibilities between the genders in that time, even though it is accurate. More uncomfortable than it happening in earlier periods, in fact, cause Taisho is in the past, but also close, relatable enough. Yuzu herself doesn't exactly have any options besides doing her best to please her husband, and she is explicitly happy he doesn't do bad things he legally could have done, it's hard to ignore this. The manga doesn’t want to touch it tho, which is valid, cause it's not like it can change it, and it is heavy, and it's not its goal to be heavy, so ok. …Though the author also chose the period herself.

I like the main pair of characters and what this manga wants to show between them. It’s deeply pleasant to see a quality couple building their life in commendable ways. There’re powerful moments of development, characters elevate themselves by denouncing cruelty, by learning to help others through love and loving themselves though others – it’s a good much needed message, which rings all the more true when set in a not so far past with its harsher rules, harder lives. But I also don’t think that for me this manga was a smooth ride I had hoped it would be – the pacing in the second half was jambled, some of the side characters read like clutter, female characters felt more like ideas or pictures rather than full people occasionally.

Taishou Otome Otogibanashi is a good love story for romantic guys, I think. I felt alienated sometimes, but I can appreciate the cuteness and the lessons. I’d prefer if Yuzu had been more human with her own struggles and failings acknowledged in ways that made sense, but I still enjoyed greatly my time with her. Yuzu compares her tall, delicate, and noble husband-to-be to kikyo, a type of bellflower, which denotes eternal devotion – and it’s poetic, precious, and quite bold. And for Tamahiko tiny Yuzu is a powerful spring storm that clears the winter of his soul away, renews the earth, and carries him ahead eternally in her warm embrace. It’s such a special image. Being together for them is ultimate happiness, and I can understand why. This is enough to see Taishou Otome Otogibanashi in good light despite certain narrative issues.