Is this love a dream come true? Or is it the beginning of a nightmare? From cheating, to gold-digging, to dangerous cults, Satoru is a man so unlucky in love that every woman he's ever fallen for has betrayed him. He decides that if he's only capable of falling in love with wicked women, he might as well go with the marriage match his parents have picked out for him. But one look at Michiru, the woman they've set him up with, and Satoru is head-over-heels. And that can only mean one thing...
How reliable would you say your memory is? As humans, our minds can omit memories. Memories can become idealized. Sometimes, they can even be entirely fabricated. There are various ways by which one's recollection of past events can become distorted. One could even say that it is a type of mental defense mechanism meant to protect us. But what if you had the chance to see your memories in their original state, unblemished and untouched...? Would you take it?
Meet Hakucho, the hippocampus and their assistant, Rohen, two mysterious individuals that live and work at an old-fashioned cafe that's more than meets the eye. Their shop comes to those plagued by their past, offering a chance to see the truth behind their memories. When restoring a client's memories, Hakucho summons a mystical creature from their ancient pipe. The creature enters the client's mind, scouring its depths to reveal that which has become obscured. However... sometimes, the truth is perhaps best left forgotten.
Mami has tried marriage once and failed, so now she's looking for something else. Even if her peers won't get it, she wants what she wants: not marriage, not romance, just a man to spend time with when she needs some company! Sure enough, when she brings this up at her junior high class reunion, her friends all gang up against her. However, a handsome former classmate she'd almost never spoken to before--Nakamura--does empathize with her! When Mami learns that Nakamura is also once-divorced and, just like her, is looking not for a wife or a girlfriend but just a woman to spend time with, she makes a life-changing decision. She's given up on living her life according to what's "normal." After spending thirty-some years toiling under the crushing weight of societal expectations, one woman finds herself a partner in crime and a new lease on life in this modern-day survival story.
"Why do I have to be the one to 'put it in'?"Shun Mizuo has always got a smile on his face. He's popular amongst his coworkers and he's good at his job... but he's useless in the bedroom. One day, heartbroken after discovering his girlfriend cheating on him, he drinks himself into a stupor and reveals his "situation down there" to Amachi, his beautiful-yet-frosty coworker. What happens when, suddenly, Amachi says that she feels that this moment with Mizuo must be fate?! An office romance between two people both hopeless in the bedroom!
Sayaka Shimada, 36 and single, loves three things: her job, her favorite singer, and her mother, who lives with her. Even with her junior coworker Sugaya tossing thoughtless comments her way, she'd poured herself into her work, and when she paused to look up she found herself on the cusp of her late 30s. Partly at her mother's suggestion, Sayaka visits a matchmaking service. The man she's introduced to is sweet and earnest, and things start moving smoothly toward marriage. Though it hasn't all sunk in yet, she is well on her way to a happy future--and that's when a sudden injury leaves her mother hospitalized. The injury is nothing too serious and Sayaka is settling her nerves, until she notices something off about her mother... A poignant and much-acclaimed depiction of the struggles of caretaking and building a future, issues faced by countless people every day!
Set on becoming a clothing designer, she got herself a job at a leading apparel company - only to end up assigned to the reception desk. Yet Mio Adachi didn't give up there. She spent her days practicing design, on top of performing her receptionist duties, in hopes of one day moving to a department where she could actually work in fashion design. That fateful day comes, though with an unfortunate twist, when a higher-up in the design department sees a sketch by handsome top-class designer Miyabi Shito and mistakenly thinks it's one of Mio's...! Caught between the pull of her lifelong dream and the weight of starting it off with a lie, what path will Mio take next...?
What would you do if the perfect marriage candidate came along and said he wanted to be a "househusband"?
Having been focused on her career until now, Michika has finally begun looking for a marriage partner at the age of 35 when she meets Sho Unomori, a department manager at a major company who is kind, thoughtful, handsome, and one year older than her. "There's got to be something!" Michika throws question and after question at him, seemingly unable to find anything that even remotely resembles a flaw in this perfect man. That is... apart from the confession that he reservedly shares at the end of their date of his dream to be a househusband. Shocked, Michika thinks to herself, "Absolutely not," and kicks all hope aside. But as she spends more time with Unomori, she starts to want to get to know him better...?!
Shuu is a girl going to university who's very popular with other girls due to her boyish manners and slender, handsome appearance. One day, she helps a beautiful looking man who got caught up in a fight... and then out of nowhere is told "You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen." Suddenly he kisses her! While she would normally hate this, the kiss feels too good. She can't resist. Would you believe, this man is a mythical being that seduces humans and feeds on their life-force, their vim. He's a Succulent! His name is Shitou, and after being saved by Shuu he can't help but keep chasing after her. At first, Shuu sees Shitou as an annoyance, but slowly begins to accept the woozy hot kisses from the first man to treat her like a woman. The start of a love story that begins with a handsome, boyish college girl and a mesmerising demon!
Aya (29) and Shota Shinozaki (31) have been married for two years. Recently, they've hit a rough patch due to a disagreement on when to have children. Aya wants to give it more time to prepare for their child financially. Shota on the other hand, is getting impatient, telling Aya she's just overthinking the situation. Needless to say, she's shocked by his unfounded and irresponsible optimism. And as he continues to pressure her, she only grows more disheartened, and a rift forms between her and Shota...
"Stop talking and sit down. Then, I'll teach you how to have them falling head over heels for you." Dumped after turning thirty and left on read by the guy she met at a mixer, Miho has fallen into despair as she struggles with her love life. One day she stops by a bar and meets a mysterious woman named Beniko who is surrounded by handsome men, even though she doesn't have what society would normally consider "good" looks. From that day forth, Beniko takes the clumsy in love Miho under her wing, and begins teaching her "how to be a loved woman." Every chapter includes a "Make Your Love Come True Q&A" by popular relationship columnist, and author of this manga, Yusuke Asada. Check them out for tips & tricks on how to gain confidence in yourself & improve your love life!
"I got myself fired in the fall of my 33rd year." Six years into marriage, Mai Murata is now raising two young children while both she and her husband work full-time. Her colleagues often say she's "living the dream," but in reality she's struggling to handle work on top of doing all the childcare on her own, and it feels like she's constantly apologizing: to her boss, to the daycare center, and on and on. Amidst all this, she happens to try out a virtual flea market app and finds an amazing deal that makes her day... and leaves her chasing that same high again and again until it's all she can think about. Addiction can happen to anyone, even you. This tale explores one person's struggle to escape that insatiable, unstoppable need and find genuine fulfillment.
I want to be married... And someone like Tomizawa would be perfect!
Mariko, 29, wants to seal the deal by 30. However, marriage requires affection and Mariko's affection is reserved to a man she can respect! She's single at age 29, also aware that she can't let go of her pride. One day, a chance to date THE ideal-candidate, Tomizawa, falls right into her lap!! Delusional or not, she can't let anything jeopardize her opportunity to hear those wedding bells ring. A chaotic private life and dramatic sequence of events keeps her on her toes. Is marriage even on the table?!
"I got my happy ending after marriage! Or so I thought..." Three ladies who went to the same school together admit they have dated nothing but losers. Miraculously, they have all gotten married, but marriage was not the goal. A controlling husband, an overbearing husband, and a mama's boy... with these marital problems, where will they go from here?!
She's finally got her shot at a nice job at one of the biggest companies around... working as the CEO's girlfriend?! Asahi hasn't been able to find work but has been getting by on a delivery job while looking for a more permanent arrangement. When she gets into her next interview, she realizes that she's just walked into a less-than-favorable reunion. Taiga Kagura, managing director of the company, is heading the interview. Just a day ago Asahi accidentally ruined his suit while chasing down a taxi, and now he wants compensation... for her to be his girlfriend in an elaborate contract. 3 Months. Asahi doesn't like the sound of it, but what other opportunity will she have for her resume...?
Lisary falls in love with Marquis Orion's only son, Hugo, while working as a servant in the Orion manor. Many protest the idea of a nobleman marrying a servant, but through the power of their love, Lisary and Hugo convince the marquis to allow their marriage on the condition that she go away to finishing school to learn how to be a proper aristocratic bride. Though both their hearts ache to be separated, she departs for the school... Six months later, she returns from her studies and rushes straight to Hugo's side. However, her excitement at finally seeing him again is cut short when he looks at her and blearily asks, "Who... are you...?" Thus begins a fantasy romance about this former count's daughter, raised as a commoner, and her second chance at love with the amnesiac nobleman her heart desires!
Pregnant and stuck at home with her emotionally abusive husband and self-serving in-laws, Sekka tried to grin and bear it by holding onto the hope that he would change once the baby came. Then she finds out he's been cheating...and while she's still reeling from that news, he deliberately sets her beloved pet cockatiel loose, which finally pushes her past the breaking point. Unable to stand by and watch her suffer anymore, her twin sister Rikka makes an offer: "I'll take your place and get revenge on your husband!"
Minaho and Yuichi have been married for five years, and in this time, she has been putting up with her husband's verbal harassment. One day Minaho falls ill. Despite this, Yuichi continues to berate her, and instead of worrying about her when she collapses and is rushed to the hospital in an ambulance, he swears at her. At this point, Minaho's patience has run thin, and she consults her male friend, Nanao, for advice. He tells her that she is too kind, and if she doesn't fight back, she'll be treated like a slave for the rest of her life. He then teaches her the secret to fighting in a marriage. Will Minaho be able to get out of the messy doldrums and be happy?
After marrying the person she met in the office, it's been 5 years... and he never comes home. Yuka's been juggling housework and her full-time job. She's treated at a housewife by her husband and pressured for children by her mother-in-law (typical). Everyone's got to be like this, right? It just means that more needs to be done... or at least that's what Yuka's thought. One day, after some harsh words from her husband, Yuka darts out to try and find some peace. But suddenly the headlights are coming at her when-... As she found herself dying in a hospital bed, one thing burned into her retinas... her husband embracing Riko, her childhood friend. They can never be forgiven. They need to pay. As Yuka swears this onto herself while her life begins to fade, she suddenly finds herself at the moment she was proposed to... five years ago. Now it's time to devise a plan for revenge.
A rose desperate to hide her thorns finally blooms in this office romance. Suzu Takamine, the office's unattainable beauty who turns down anyone that asks her to date, is carrying a painful secret. Whenever she tries to be intimate with a man, they faint for some reason. Suzu wants to get married someday, but with her condition ruining her dating life, she's losing hope for any happily ever after. When the office playboy, Kinase, learns of her unbelievable secret, Suzu is shocked to hear him offer his "expert assistance" in resolving her problem. Now she has to decide: Will she give him a try?
On a moonless night... I hear your voice for the first time. Ume was abandoned by the family she married into because she was unable to bear children. She returns to the village where she was born but finds herself alone as her parents die from a spreading disease. As told in tales of sacrifice to the gods, the village also begins to experience a shortage in the crops of their farms that will only continue until someone is offered. Ume is not able to bear a child but as she does not have any children, she is able to lie her way into being offered to the gods. Waiting for her at a shrine deep in the mountains is a wolf god with silver hair and beautiful nails that shine in five different colors... what will come from this encounter between a despised god and an unhappy girl?!
*This volume compiles ch. 1-5 of "The Lying Moon Princess's Marriage: I Will Gain the Wolf God's Favor"