You Like Me, Not My Daughter?! Vol. 1 (Manga)

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The final few volumes introduce a love triangle that adds some much needed drama to the work. While i wont spoil it here, what starts out feeling forced or shoehorned in and out of character eventually culminates into one of the most satisfying “confession” chapters i’ve read in quite some time, which retroactively reveals all of the players here were actually following their hearts and true to their characterizations. Its quite cathartic, and elevates the entire work from the genericness it had been suffering from. I was pretty off put by the fact that he has liked her since he was 10… and that this love at first sight happened because they bathed together. It was a totally innocent bath. Takumi was cold and soaked to the bone by the rain and Ayako, who has a kid, didn’t think too much of it to just also dive into the bath as she was also cold. But apparently how Ayako looked and what she said stayed with him and he fell in love. Yep. I was happy that Ayako was pretty put off about that as well. Like, WHAT? NO ><. From moment to moment, Ayako is pretty fun as the busty, easily-flustered type and is struggling with the realization that Takumi likes her, since she had all but married him off to Miu. Despite her niece only being 15, which sure is a position to take when she won’t entertain the reverse.

tl;dr - All potential material has been written over giving you only a shallow rendition of what could but shouldn't be.We follow thirty-something single Ayako Katsuragi who’s been raising her teenage niece Miu as her own daughter after she became on orphan as a child. The two couldn’t been that different as Ayako is sweet, bubbly and beautifully busty and Miu is serious, teasing and occasionally expressionless. They also share a friendship with college age tutor Takumi since he was a child. However, an evening of drinking changes everything when Takumi confesses his romantic feelings to Ayako . Flattered at first, she worries that being a couple with a big age gap would be uncomfortable and attempts to make him understand that. Age is a funny thing. We've all read manga that equates being over thirty with being middle-aged, and that really drives home the idea that along with being a simple set of numbers that delineates how long you've been alive, age is also very much a social construct and just what that construct is depends on the culture in question. Plenty of manga dance around this idea, either playing it for laughs or titillation and in the case of age-gap shoujo manga, it's often a sign that the heroine is perhaps more mature than her peer group. In the case of You Like Me, Not My Daughter?!, pretty much all of these things are true in one way or another. You ever wanted to read a manga about consenting adults falling for each other (over time)? You ever wanted one of the consenting adults to be a Mama type? Do you like a dash of stupid flustered comedy with that? You came to the right place.

You Like Me, Not My Daughter?! is about 30 something-year-old Ayako. After her sister and brother-in-law pass, Ayako (who was in her twenties at the time) decides to take care of her five year old niece Miu when no one else would. Ten years later Ayako and Miu are living next door to twenty year old Takumi, a childhood friend of Miu, who helps Miu with her school work etc. On Takumi's birthday Ayako finds out that her suspicions of Takumi and Miu liking each other are wrong: Takumi is in love with Ayako and has been for years. Changing Yourself For Love: Takkun fell in love with Ayako when he was ten, and resolved to better himself to become a person worthy of her love, who could protect her and help her raise Miu. He spent the next decade eating a balanced diet, becoming fit (he started swimming because Ayako mentioned "guys who swim are cool"), studying hard, and tutoring Miu, only confessing once he was in college. But it is repeatedly explained why she is like that, even if it may strain somewhat the suspension of disbelief, and eventually she gets over her denial. At the start of the series, Ayako had fully expected and supported the idea that Takkun would get together with Miu. This is a big part of why Takkun's confession blindsides her so much. It's also the reason for the series' title.Very interesting story, there are comic relief elements, standard teens smarter than grownups situations (like I said, standard romantic TV movie :)) and lots of sexual tension with touch of erotica.

Buxom Beauty Standard: It has been stated by many characters, and shown many times, that Ayako has a very impressive bust size. Rivalled only by her own Hartman Hips, if she had a smaller waist she would have an Impossible Hour Glass Figure. It's very funny and heartwarming, and I found myself squealing like a little girl (in my head at least) more than once. You Like Me, Not My Daughter?! note Also You Like Me (Mama), Not My Daughter?! (娘じゃなくて私が好きなの!?, Musume Janakute Mama ga Sukinano!?) is a Romantic Comedy Light Novel series written by Kota Nozomi and illustrated by Giugiu, which was published from 2019 to 2022 for seven volumes. It was also adapted as a manga illustrated by Tesshin Azuma, which began serialization in Manga Park in 2020. Seven Seas Entertainment announced that they would begin publishing the manga in English in November 2022. Things get turned on their head when said young man professes love to her not to her nephew/foster-daughter. And here is where all of the problems start - her view of too great age difference and insecurities when it comes to her own looks (and since this is manga, heh, lets say she has nothing to worry about, but for the story sake she does). Miu is fully supportive of Takkun and her mom getting together, more so than Ayako herself. Takkun's parents are also supportive, as Takkun's feelings for Ayako prompted him to better himself throughout his life.

Childhood Marriage Promise: Subverted. While in kindergarten, Miu made one with Takkun. By the time she is a teenager, having grown up together, she says that she simply cannot see him in a romantic way. Majutsu no Hate wo Motomeru Daimajutsushi: Madou wo Kiwameta Ore ga Sanbyakunengo no Gijutsu Kakushin wo Kitai shite Tensei shitara, Kanashiku Naruhodo Taika shiteita...... AutoRec I myself, enjoy a good MILF from time to time, but as soon as it went to like Chapter 15 or something, that is when I fell out of love with the series, as it shares the same problems I had with Fetiple. I don't mind the age gap. There are many great stories with the age gap trope. I did like how Ayako was trying to deter Takumi and how they bonded over anime. Her reactions are logical and felt realistic for the situation. I do hope there are more mother/daughter moments between Miu and Ayako, and more development between Takumi and his friend. Those scenes were great additions and hopefully they'll be expanded on. while talking about unrealistic support structures... how is every character ok with this?! Literally, there is no opposition in this story. Only your basic romcom silliness of the 2 leads bumbling around each other but again, glossing over the unique challenges this relationship could potentially create. At best the characters are only faced with 1 challenge which makes this story very linear and extremely shallow. Depth could be shown by how they created this support structure for this relationship but instead... we gloss over all of that and just sprinkle some glitter on it.

Takumi doesn’t mind the age gap; Ayako doesn’t either. But she’s referring to Takumi, who’s 20, dating her adopted 15-year-old daughter. Takumi has his sights set in the other direction and that’s a big hill to climb. Possibly two, if you’re watching the art carefully (or in the slightest, if I’m being honest). Ayako is just the cutest and I love how much of an airhead she is. She seems really put together, but when one thing tip the balance to another point she is just lost and becomes confuzzled. I can imagine her reactions towards Takumi. I mean, she has always thought he would get married to Miu, that he would be the one for her. That he would join the family like that. She had these big imaginations about it. And then she finds out he wants her, I can imagine she is all frazzled. And so I had a laugh at all the things she tried to show him the reality of being with an older woman. And yes, these plans are hilarious. Especially the last one. XD And bet this'll be some weird School Days situation that's gonna happen, and I'm really tired of these love triangle bs in these types of stories to create some artificial drama, and call it a "romantic comedy". Nothing romantic about seeing people happy then someone ruins their relationship, then after that one of them is crying getting rejected, and making us feel bad for the one who wins the other person's heart. And god, if I was craving oyakadon, I know where I can get that, and I'm not in the mood for that now. Now here comes the bad stuff, I do like Ayako, the female lead, however, she keeps lying to herself when time and time again, her worries are proven wrong, and she manages to drag out their relationship. Like girl, make up your mind already. You don't like him like you, but then you don't like it when he stops? Like I get that you love your "daughter" but I doubt she even gives an F. would arise from such a disparity and instead tries to turn this into your average romcom while finding every unrealistic support structure to force this to happen.

Provides examples of:

Show Within a Show: Ayako is obsessed with Love Kaiser, a Magical Girl anime series that she originally watched with Miu, but got more into it than her daughter, who lost interest as she got older. She wears a cosplay of her favorite character, Love Kaiser Solitaire, to try and convince Takkun that she's lame and he won't have fun with her, but he turns out to be a fan of the show too. If you don't have patience for a slow romance, with a heroine that is constantly doubting herself (and this is something everyone in-story, including herself is aware of) then don't read this. Motivational Lie: Near the end of volume three, Miu apparently changes her mind and does start pursuing Takkun...but it's just to get Ayako to go after him herself. First of all, we have both an adult main character and an adult heroine, and to top it off there is no harem. And I mean that seriously, there are a total of zero love rivals or anything like that. VISITOR - Seikon no Joka - The Dishes of Darkness - Hundred Harvester - Gakuen Bugei-cho - Called Gahenna - Nanohazard - EAT-MAN (LN) - Gekkou Majutsu-dan - Dokkoida?! - Devilman THE NOVEL - Happy Salvage - Dark Eyes - Train Raider - Tsuki to Anata ni Hanataba wo - COOLDOWN - TRAIN + TRAIN - Anabel Crescent Moon -Jukon no Biki- - D4 Princess - Masoukishin Psybuster - Chivas 1-2-3 Birth of Outlaw - Remove Curse