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tanenigiri · 2 years

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Review #24 - Cherry Magic (Volumes 4 and 5)

Japanese title: 30歳まで童貞だと魔法使いになれるらしい (30-sai made Dotei Da to Mahotsukai ni Nareru rashii)

Story and art: Yuu Toyota

English publisher: Square Enix

Number of volumes: 5 in English, 10 in Japanese (ongoing)

A lesson in honesty.

(This review contains story spoilers.)

With Volume 3 of Cherry Magic ending with its two leads getting together, it opens up a lot more possibilities for the story to evolve. Not only has Kurosawa been dreaming of this moment for quite some time, but this is also Adachi’s first-ever relationship, and a nervous wreck like him means that it’ll only lead to some funny scenes. But more importantly, Adachi also has to deal with the fact that he’s keeping a huge secret from his now-boyfriend, and it doesn’t help that he’s used this power to his advantage in getting together with Kurosawa.

Thankfully, Volumes 4 and 5 address both of these points, with Volume 4 focusing on Adachi and Kurosawa’s first date and Volume 5 featuring the former's big reveal to the latter. As much as I want to go straight to talking about Volume 5 as there is a lot that happens in those chapters, I think the character development that Volume 4 gives is also pretty noteworthy. And if nothing else, it provides a proper build up to what happens in the volume after it.

Volume 4 sees Adachi and Kurosawa go on their first date as a couple, and for Adachi, it’s his first date ever. This makes him quite nervous with how to act and, more notably, how to deal with being seen in public with his now-boyfriend. I didn’t expect the series to tackle this, but it’s definitely a realistic issue to have, as Adachi is not only unfamiliar with dating in general, but he’s also very new to the concept of dating another man.

The fact that this is Adachi’s first-ever date isn’t lost on Kurosawa either, so he strives to make it as unforgettable as possible. This apparently involves a helicopter ride - and by then I had to stop reading for a second and think, is Kurosawa’s role high-paying? I guess since he’s the ace in sales he gets a lot of perks. Unfortunately, this proves to be too much for Adachi, who begs for the helicopter to land early.

Adachi is seen to blame himself a lot for the date turning sour, and he even goes as far as saying that guys like him aren’t “cut out for dating.” But thanks to his power, he finds out on the ride home that Kurosawa is also blaming himself for the first date being a dud, saying that he overdid it and failed to recognize Adachi’s feelings. I found it interesting that Adachi’s first reaction to this is how he finds this cute, but it also gives him the resolve to make things right for both of them. So the day after, they go on their second date with Adachi planning it this time, which is less extravagant and flashy but manages to get the job done.

I really like where Adachi’s character development goes in these chapters, with him vocalizing all of his issues to Kurosawa and promising that he’ll work his way up slowly to get to the level where he’s confident in dating him. I think it’s a great direction for his character, as it would be unrealistic for Adachi to be fully comfortable with dating and relationships in general when he has not only never been exposed to them, but he also admits to being repulsed by those ideas before. So for Adachi to commit in saying that he does want to understand dating really shows that he wants his relationship with Kurosawa to work - which of course makes Kurosawa feel mushy.

To prove his point, Adachi holds hands with Kurosawa for their walk back to the train station after their second date, which leads to one of the most hilarious panels in the whole series so far. But it also gives Adachi access to Kurosawa’s thoughts, and a slip-up sees him acknowledging something verbally in response to something that Kurosawa didn’t actually say. He’s able to blame it on the alcohol, but this puts Adachi in another state of panic - how can he keep on dating Kurosawa if he’s still keeping this massive secret?

Volume 5 gives us the answer to this question, and it revolves around an event in their company that requires them to bring guests. This finally brings Tsuge and Minato's to in the main story, and the former ends up doing quite a lot, too. Adachi finds out that Tsuge also has mind-reading powers, and the two are able to communicate telepathically. This is also where Adachi finds out that Tsuge’s fallen in love with Minato, and Tsuge’s hesitance to admit his feelings to Minato for fear of breaking their friendship reminds Adachi of his own hesitance to tell Kurosawa the truth for fear of breaking their relationship.

As for Kurosawa, his jealousy from the earlier volumes comes back in full force here, as he notices how differently Adachi acts around Tsuge compared to him. He also overhears pieces of Adachi’s and Tsuge’s telepathic conversation that gives him pretty much the wrong idea about everything, but there’s something here that I thought was really interesting - Kurosawa had already noticed that Adachi was keeping something from him. Of course, part of that can be attributed to Kurosawa’s possessiveness and jealousy, but I found it a neat parallel that while Adachi’s only able to find out what Kurosawa’s thinking about because of his powers, Kurosawa can do the same for Adachi even without them.

Seeing the opportunity, Kurosawa confronts Adachi about this, and while the latter is able to clear the air about Tsuge, he’s at a loss for words when Kurosawa asks him if he’s keeping a secret from him. We get a really great sequence of panels here, where Adachi is seen mulling over his reasons to tell and not to tell Kurosawa about his power. While he’s very much afraid of the consequences, he also knows that he can’t keep dating Kurosawa without telling him about something as massive as this, especially since it also inadvertently affects him. And right before Adachi goes back to his self-doubt again, he interrupts his own thoughts and makes the big decision of coming clean to Kurosawa about his power.

I thought Adachi’s reveal was done really well, with him covering all the bases and sounding the most confident he's been in all of the five volumes, even if it’s something that he’s incredibly nervous about. But what I found the most interesting in this whole exchange is Kurosawa’s reaction. At first, he’s obviously embarrassed that his wild fantasies were actually all seen by Adachi, but he then brings up their first-ever meeting back in Volume 1 - in the park bench where Adachi was consoling Kurosawa after a disastrous work event. Adachi tells him that he didn’t have his power back then, and this seems to put Kurosawa at ease, as if there’s a switch inside him that was turned on.

I’ve been thinking about this particular reaction ever since I first read this volume, and I’m still not too sure if I got the full picture as I write this. What I’m pretty confident in saying is that Kurosawa was afraid that this first interaction with Adachi was turning out to not be genuine at all if he could read his mind back then, which would’ve been a huge blow since the way Adachi acted in that encounter was pretty much the foundation of Kurosawa’s attraction for him. But when he finds out that Adachi wasn’t able to read his mind back then, Kurosawa’s put at ease because this encounter was still as genuine as he thought it was.

But I feel like there’s more to it than that, since Kurosawa’s reaction to the news shifted quite starkly after Adachi told him this information. I have a feeling that it has something to do with how confused he was about his emotions back then. Kurosawa didn’t immediately recognize back then that he was falling in love despite his body giving him all the signals for it, and he might have been embarrassed that Adachi would’ve already been privy to this information if he had read his mind. I’m not sure if that’s a solid-enough reason, or if I’m overthinking it and it’s really just what I mentioned in the previous paragraph, but I figured I’d bring this up anyway.

In any case, this exchange does lead to their first kiss, and I quite like how the story dedicated a full page spread for it - such a milestone definitely deserves it. I also found it interesting that Adachi wasn’t able to read Kurosawa’s mind in the heat of the moment, saying that his heartbeat was too loud. There was a part of me that was thinking that as Adachi gets more of these experiences, his power would become weaker, but he seems to be able to read Kurosawa’s mind normally after that so probably not.

There’s one other thing I want to mention about this volume - Kurosawa makes his biggest efforts here in trying to squash Adachi’s self-deprecation. This is turning out to be one of the best parts of their relationship for me, and Volume 5 features my favorite instance of it, as it sees Kurosawa using Adachi’s power against him to drive this point home. I am very much a sucker for this kind of dynamic, so to see it play out here is such a treat, as it’s also a good reminder that a huge part of this series is about Adachi’s journey of self-discovery.

It’s what makes Cherry Magic such a fun read, as on top of its humorous scenes and unique plot, you can’t help but root for its two leads. Volume 5 ends with the seeds of yet another conflict that the couple has to face, but I look forward to seeing how it evolves Adachi and Kurosawa’s relationship, especially now that the biggest secret is out in the open.

Random thoughts that I couldn’t fit elsewhere:

I mentioned him in passing above, but Tsuge gets a lot to do in this volume beyond being the reason for Kurosawa’s jealousy. Of course, much of it has to do with Minato, who also has his mini-arc in this volume as his reunion with Rokkaku isn’t as warm as Tsuge expected. The novelist later finds out through his powers that Minato and Rokkaku stopped talking to each other due to a misunderstanding, and he has an interesting train of thought here where he muses if he should be telling all of this to Minato, as he sees Rokkaku as a rival for his affection. It’s not lost on me that Rokkaku is once again getting in the way of a couple without him actually knowing about it, but I’m also a bit surprised that Tsuge brings this up at all - his experience writing romance novels must have something to do with it, I guess.

Despite his reservations, Tsuge ends up giving advice to Minato to help clear up the air, and the way he does so is quite interesting - he relates what Minato’s experiencing with Rokkaku to what Tsuge experienced with Adachi when he was starting out his writing career. Tsuge ends up giving genuinely great advice, and thanks to a heart-to-heart, both Minato and Rokkaku end the day on good terms. This unfortunately makes Minato see Tsuge as a fatherly figure, much to the novelist’s disdain.

Both volumes feature an extra chapter in the middle of the main story focused on Kurosawa. The Volume 4 extra sees his reaction after his phone call with Adachi - which happens shortly after Adachi’s response to his confession in Volume 3 - and it expectedly sees him with his over-the-top thought process. Meanwhile, the Volume 5 extra gives us our first scene with Kurosawa’s friends outside of work, where he’s given the chance to gush about Adachi before inviting them to the company event.

Thanks for reading! You can read my review of the first three volumes of Cherry Magic here. I’ve really grown to appreciate the story more after reading the first five five volumes, as it has a pretty good mix of comedic and emotional beats throughout its scenes. I haven’t gotten around to finding the scanlations of the future chapters yet, but I probably won’t be able to resist reading them once I do.

#Cherry Magic #30-sai made Dotei Da to Mahotsukai ni Nareru rashii #Yuu Toyota #Kiyoshi Adachi #Kurosawa Yuichi #Masato Tsuge #Minato Wataya #BL manga #manga review #manga

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ecargmura · 1 month

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Cherry Magic Episode 11 Review - Good Progression For Both Couples

Good progression for both couples! I love how each of them revolve around the mind-reading magic, but use it differently. Adachi is reliant on it and eventually makes a positive change in his life because of it, but still has some ups and downs when it comes to himself and his relationship with Kurosawa. Tsuge, on the other hand, doesn’t really use the magic all that much—only in a few occasions—but it did help him develop feelings for Minato and eventually experiencing a world he never dreamed of until now.

With Kurodachi (or KuroAda in the Eastern fandom), they are dating, but are experiencing some issues. Fortunately, Kurosawa is reflecting on his behavior from the previous episode. I like how Adachi takes Tsuge’s advice and writes his heartfelt feelings in a letter. I think that letters are super underrated and I’m glad that he did so. Sometimes, words and text messages can’t convey feelings as well as a letter. The letter left such a huge impact on Kurosawa that he legit went to Nagasaki to meet up with Adachi. Talk about down bad. I do like that they did apologize. Adachi realizes that he really likes Kurosawa as he states some of the things he likes about him in order for his partner to not feel too regretful. The way they kissed afterwards was super sensual. I legit had to cover my face while still peeking because it was hot. If you’re wondering, yes, they did bang. That means Adachi’s magic is no more. Please don’t be upset over the censored sex scene, it’s mainly due to television regulations in Japan, I believe. The moaning, though… there is a reason why the BL genre is so popular because some voice actors know how to moan…Kobayashi is one of them…

Speaking of which, I learned from someone in the Cherry Magic discord that Adachi has a palmaris longus muscle on his wrist. It’s the little nerve/muscle thing that pops out on the front of the wrist. Only 14% of the population have it, apparently; I have it too! Apparently, the muscle can be a bit sensitive, when touched, so…think of that what you will.

On the Tsugemina side, Tsuge wanted to get over Minato, but couldn’t. He tried writing, but nothing came out. His feelings for Minato are just too strong. He eventually attended Minato’s concert where he gifted him a new pair of shoes, which caused Minato to rush out and find him. They eventually confess their mutual feelings for each other and it seems that they finally are getting together! Congrats! I really like how Tsuge’s so poetic, befitting an author. I loved his quote, “No story compares to the real you.” Man, that was SMOOTH. While Tsuge did have ulterior motives and it did bother Minato, Minato didn’t mind it too much as he likes Tsuge a lot more than he realized and even told the older man to not give up—words that Tsuge told him before. What I like about the Tsugemina pair is that Tsuge isn’t too reliant on the magic. While he did fall for Minato’s inner voice, he made his own effort to get closer to him as best as he can and it worked. The only time he used the magic significantly was to help Minato patch things up with Rokkaku. That’s about it.

This was the most romantic of the episodes by far, but the wonky animation does take some romantic value away from it, but it’s only noticeable in the non-romantic scenes. I wonder if next week is the finale. I do wonder how everything is going to end. There’s a lot of content for Cherry Magic, so I do wonder if there will be a second season planned. The day the episode aired was the day before Adachi’s birthday, which is March 21, today’s date. Happy birthday Adachi! What are your thoughts on this rather romantic episode?

#cherry magic #30 sai made doutei dato mahoutsukai ni nareru rashii #Adachi kiyoshi #Kurosawa yuichi #Tsuge masato #Wataya minato #review #anime #anime review #bl anime #ecargmura #arum journal

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