Tsubaki-chou Lonely Planet – Manga Review

About

Fumi Oono, second-year high-school student. Stuck with the debts of her father, she needs a job—fast. While she did indeed manage to find one as a housekeeper for THE Akatsuki Kibikino, it leaves much to be desired. After all, the novelist has a mean glare and an even worse attitude…And on top of that, she has to live with him?!  —Goodreads

Thoughts

So far I’ve read the first two volumes of this series, and I’ve really enjoyed it. Mika Yamamori is a fantastic storyteller, and artist! I would recommend this series to readers 16 and up as that is the official age rating for the series, but also because of the relationship currently building. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but if this ends up like their last work, Daytime Shooting Star–which I’ll add is a great series, I just hated the main relationship (so many red flags)–then I wouldn’t personally want to recommend it to anyone younger than that.

Age gap relationships in manga are very common, especially in shojo, however as I’ve become an adult myself, I see what’s wrong with it. When I was in high school, I honestly didn’t think twice about series like Me and My Brother’s, or Dengeki Daisy. And although I still enjoyed these stories, the relationships in them and how they’re handled gives me major creep vibes. Especially in Me and My Brother’s…that’s a whole mess of things, that I don’t think I even want to unpack right now. Maybe I’ll reread it for a future blog post?

That aside, I’d rather readers were aware of this with my reviews before going into a series. Often times, especially in older series these types of relationships like a high school student and teacher (Daytime Shooting Star), are glamourized. Thankfully, I can say Daytime Shooting Star kind of flipped that trope on us partway through the series, but if you want to know more, and aren’t worried about spoilers I’ll leave a link to my review here: Daytime Shooting Star Series Review

Now, Tsubaki-chou Lonely Planet…it is so cute! The artwork, the unreliable dad trope, the grumpy rival and hyped up best friend. I love that. I’m curious to see where the relationships go in this series, mainly because of how Daytime Shooting Star ended. Our leading lady, slowly starts crushing on her employer in this series by volume two, and I think it will be interesting to watch how this develops. I also just feel sorry for her. Her dad owes so much money, and she’s working to pay it off. It shouldn’t be a kids responsibility. I’d like to see her eventually having time to spend with friends outside of school. She’s a really funny, and engaging character to follow. I love the facial expressions she makes in certain panels!

Rating

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Both volumes one and two were rated five stars after I finished reading them! I’m excited to see where this series is headed, and can’t wait until volume three releases over here.

Check out my other manga reviews and recs!

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2 thoughts on “Tsubaki-chou Lonely Planet – Manga Review

  1. Thanks for the review! I started reading this series, and really liked it, and then for some reason I got distracted and stopped following it. Thank you for reminding me how cute this manga was! I totally need to pick this one up again.

    Liked by 2 people

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