Everyone's Getting Married, Vol. 1

Everyone's Getting Married #1

by Izumi Miyazono

Successful career woman Asuka Takanashi has an old-fashioned dream of getting married and becoming a housewife. After her long-term boyfriend breaks up with her to pursue his own career goals, she encounters popular newscaster Ryu Nanami. Asuka and Ryu get along well, but the last thing he wants is to ever get married. This levelheaded pair who want the opposite things in life should never get involved, except…

Genres: Manga, Romance, Josei, Contemporary, Comics Manga, Graphic Novels, Comics

192 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 10, 2014

About the author

Japanese name: 宮園いづみ

Associated Names:
Idumi Miyazono
Idzumi Miyazono
宫园和泉
宫园泉

Reviews

[Tamara · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Read up to chapter 15

Original name (because the English name SUCKS!!): Totsuzen desu ga, Ashita Kekkon Shimasu (Synonyms: LOVE is no Where, LOVE is noW here. Japanese: 突然ですが、明日結婚します)

Status: On-going

Genres: Josei, Romance, Slice of Life, Drama.

Recommended?: YES. The art, plot and pacing are great. The feels gosh.

Premise & My Thoughts: Asuka and Ryu are two people who have different opinions on marriage. One dreams of marriage so that she can become a full time housewife and someone who can create a warm home where in her husband would always be fond of returning, while the other one thinks marriage is nothing but a hindrance. What happens when these two people end up in a relationship? Who's going to change whose opinion? Can a relationship really survive when one wants to get married and one doesnt?

When you get past Asuka's obssession on marriage (ugh, the biggest reason why this manga gets only 3.5 stars from me) which is unfortunately a major theme, this manga is really sweet. I love the couple because they are both honest to each other and talk about things like normal people instead of feeding off the dysfunction of misunderstandings. This is such a rarity among mangas!! *sigh*

Artwork:

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

A romance of opposites. She wants to give up her thriving career in real estate to become a housewife. He is a complex fellow, one who's unlikely to take a wife.

They know they are wrong for each other, but there are sparks there . . .

It's actually a bit generic, but I'm just so happy that it is a romance between a couple of twenty-something professionals without an outrageous age gap or a lurking supernatural menace. What a nice change of pace.


FOR REFERENCE:

Contents:
• Battle 1. Where there's marriage without love, there will be love without marriage. - Benjamin Franklin
• Battle 2. A lover without indiscretion is no lover at all. - Thomas Hardy
• Battle 3. It is impossible to love and to be wise. - Sir Francis Bacon
• Battle 4. Only experience or example can rationally determine which way the heart should incline. - Abbé Prévost
• Battle 5. It is better to be hated for what you are than loved for what you are not. - André Gide
• Bonus Story. The Melancholy of Nanaryu

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

"There's no one right way to live. Everyone has to choose their own path."


Asuka has the old fashioned dream of being the traditional Japanese woman. She wants nothing more than to settle down and raise a family. However, Japanese women are now refusing to marry because they don't want to stay at home all day. They love their jobs and want to succeed. And despite Asuka seeing this, she doesn't budge in her dream.

Now for most of us, reading a manga with such a MC seems really hard to do. I wondered if this was some declaration that women are only good for procreation because of how damn often Asuka preaches her desire to marry. But really she just wants to make sure her family looks forward to coming home like how her own mother did.


Then we have Nanami, the standard Tall Dark Handsome newscaster/voice over. He abhors the idea of marriage, constantly challenges Asuka's ideals, and wonders "Is the label more important than the emotion?"

Thankfully, Nanami isn't an asshat. He's kind and considerate and a compassionate man who sees how hardworking women are and challenges traditional Japanese patriarchal views on sexism and women's role in society.

He's gotten involved in an affair that made him question what marriage really stands for and is the driving force of his morals. Because of this, these two are always questioning each other's ideals, trying to understand each other, and making sense of the world.

I enjoyed how these two didn't ignore any issues that arose between them. They talked it out like normal people and didn't try to soften the blows. I liked how respectful they were toward one another.

Like I said earlier, I just can't understand the desire to give up your career and become a housewife. But that doesn't mean I'll write someone off if that's their dream. As such, I had a difficult time understanding Asuka's desire for marriage when she's one of the best at her job. Several characters even point out the waste it would be for her to just remain at home after all her hard work. Some were angry at women who "sat at home" all day and waited for the $ to roll in and Asuka clearly wasn't that woman. This is even brought up in dramas a lot.


I liked how conflicting the views on society was even though I couldn't completely back up Asuka. Another thing that made me go "What?" was how damn fast these two got together. I'd been expecting a drawn out, tension filled love hate rom com. And then they got together at the end.

I'm interested to see where this goes. It has a refreshing hero, a snarky protagonist with admittedly cringey aspirations, and charm.



*I buy all the manga I read/review and don't support scans.

[giulia ✿ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best plot, but it's quick and entertaining. I plan to continue, I'm curious to see what happens in the other volumes but not really a priority.

[Online Eccentric Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

Everyone's Getting Married is a wonderfully mature josei (intended for women) title featuring a strong lead character and a slice of life story. The tone is gentle and similar to another Viz title: Happy Marriage?! by Maki Enjoji. What we have is a subtle battle of wills between two people uniquely suited for each other despite having very different goals in life.

Story: Takanashi is a real estate investment adviser and very good at her job. Like everything she does, she works hard and does it well. But Takanashi has a distinct ambition: to one day be able to quit her job and be the best homemaker possible. The problem is that her boyfriend doesn't want that kind of life and her coworkers ridicule her for such old fashioned values. At a coworkers wedding, she encounters broadcaster Nanami - a nice guy, good looking, and someone she gets along with well. But Nanami isn't interested in every being tied down through marriage - and has bad experiences in his past with the institution. When Takanashi's boyfriend breaks up with her, her hopes of becoming a wife and homemaker are crushed. Worse, she begins to realize that she has strong feelings for Nanami.

With this first volume, we get the set up of the story. Takanashi, as a character, could have come across as naive or unrealistic to modern readers. Certainly, the description of her is not one I'd tend to respect. And yet Miyazono does a great job of showing that Takanashi is intelligent, hard working, and with a good understanding of what it entails to be a homemaker. In no way is she a failure at working and looking for a free ride off a husband.

Nanami is also a very interesting character. Very nuanced and full of conflicts that confound the very straightforward Takanashi. Each has to navigate the politics of their offices while also hoping to reach their own life goals. This includes Takanishi going on dating meet ups and accepting offers from coworkers to date while also trying to come up with the best way to tell potential suitors about her unusual life goals. Nanami, also, has to be concerned with image - especially since he fled Japan a few years ago after an affair with a married woman became public.

I like how Miyazono interweaves a bit of office reality and doesn't make Takanashi weak or Nanami overidealized. As well, crazy romances among the coworkers create some amusing situations but never overshadow the main story. In all, I am greatly looking forward to seeing where this goes from here. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Either I'm starting to like romance or this is just a well-written manga. I'll go with the latter. This is a grown-up book; the audience is josei and the rating is "M". Nothing mature happened yet but this is the first josei I've read that I've liked. It is pure romance and has the typical hating each other to start off with but by the end of vol. 1 they are dating, so that is not the issue. The issue is that she is looking for marriage and wants to be a homemaker, while he would "rather die than get married" and has been used to having affairs only. But they fall in love and they decide to love the person instead of their ideals and see what happens. I have to admit I liked the interaction. The guy acts like a jerk but isn't one and I really like the pro-woman and -femaleness of the topic. Being a homemaker is defended and while she meets resistance all the time, so far, the book is portraying those types of womanly yearnings as positive. I really liked that. I'd definitely read the next volume!

[Fei · Rating 1 out of 5]

So rushed, It makes no sense to me despite the fact that the subject was quite interesting (an intelligent and ambitious woman who wants to marry and become a stay-at-home mother contrary to what is "encouraged" nowadays) but this manga was messy.

In addition, the male character who is highlighted as heroe just because he says things like being a stay-at-home mother is hard... duh. Never mind the heroine is going to fall into your arms because of that without even really knowing you anyway! Urgh.

Ps: Can we stop starting every romantic manga with the girl slipping on something and the guy catching her in slow motion, please?

[Garden of Eden · Rating 3 out of 5]

That girl is too obsessed with getting married whilst that guy is traumatized with the idea of getting married. Hrmm what I say is, if you really love someone, of course you want to tie a knot. Unless you can handle seeing someone else trying to get your love one. Oh yeah. I don't think I want to quit working after marriage. Yeah... It's a great thing when you're home, there's always someone waiting. But in reality, our economy is..... Errr... Not that great. Hahaha.. Overall I still want to know how they'll overcome this. It is a good manga nevertheless.

[Alexa (Alexa Loves Books) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This manga has a fun premise, and I did get swept up in the ups and downs and turns that the first volume had. I do think I’m eventually going to try to continue on with the series just to see what happens, but I’m in no rush to do so.

[Ishtar Thornvale ࣪ ִֶָ☾ ⋆ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read the first volume and I expected promising adulthood characters but disappointingly they weren’t well executed. The idea was a bit rushed, forced, MC is much more a teenager than an adult. And she really lacks the appeal of an office lady and a woman with ambitions, whether it was intended I don’t know but she wasn’t engaging.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure why I pick this up because this isn't necessarily my type of content, but now that I've started it I kind of want to see how their relationship plays out.

[Curious Madra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Art is wonderful but the character development and story is rather flat for me personally....

[Jacqueline's Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

I randomly grabbed this series because I liked the title and I usually check for reviews, but I didn't with this one. As much as I like typical gender roles, this one was a little hard to swallow.

Asuka dreams of becoming a stay-at home housewife. She's successful in her career to prove that she has capability of taking care of herself (financially) but she longs to support her husband. Now, you must understand Japanese culture (my cousin lived in Japan for 5 years), it's traditional for the women to obtain a successful career and the moment women get married, they quit their careers and start raising a family. As an American, it's hard to fathom this kind of idea (for most typical American women, that is).

Like I said, usually I try to get into the mindset of Japanese culture when I read mangas, but this one REALLY pushes the typical gender roles. At least the ML, Ryu is a little more open minded and believes Asuka has pure aspirations, although he doesn't believe in marriage because he had an affair with a married woman! I know, crazy plot and I'm not happy about that.

I did check out the second volume of the series and as much as I want to give up on this comic, I do like the graphics and I'm curious to see if the FL will get a back bone. I'm rooting this series to go in a better direction.

[Dani(elle) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just the pallette cleanse I was looking for. It makes me happy to see a lady unashamed of her desire to be a home maker and to see a guy who appreciates the work that goes into being a housewife even if he doesn't care for marriage as an institution. You do you, boo. My kinda feminism.

Here's to hoping the subsequent volumes get spicy.

EDIT: I also really dig the quotes/epigraphs. They are basically long form chapter titles but they thematically work and it is my kinda pretentious trash.

[Morgan Le Fay ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know, my favorite thing about slice of life-y manga is how the entire concept can be so simple but so interestingly executed.

This manga is simply about a career woman who dreams of starting a family and a business man who has some past experience that convinces him that marriage is not something he want. Two opposites who find themselves drawn together anyhow, and it’s just so sweet of a start.

[⭒Christie ☽✯➳✯☾ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

[Chi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shame the pacing is a bit off (things took off with a flying start and didn't let up), but otherwise, this josei manga (manga targeting women past high school) is beautiful! The drawings took a bit getting used to, but the story, the main characters' concerns - they were all pretty much solid... with maybe the exception of the third person in the love triangle. He should've read the room a loooooooot better than he actually did. :|

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the most exciting or romantic story line ever. The characters are okay and the art is fine. I don’t understand why the characters on the cover look different than inside the manga. The author tried to make tension between Asuka and Nanami, but it was forced. He’s a super nice guy and a cranky guy every other chapter it seems. It’s confusing if the intention was the hate-to-love trope.

[S.Q. Eries · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Summary

Everyone’s Getting Married is a romance with an oft-used theme. Our heroine wants commitment; the guy she’s fallen for doesn’t believe in marriage. Aside from Asuka’s old-fashioned dream of becoming a housewife and mother, the story doesn’t have much originality, although that may change as we learn more about Ryu’s past relationships.

The Review

Everyone’s Getting Married is a bit different than most Shojo Beat titles because it’s more josei than shojo. The character designs would suit a high school group, but the cast members are in their mid-20s, have well-established careers, and have had prior romantic relationships. And while shojo manga occasionally ends with a wedding, the heroine rarely thinks of marriage at the start. Here, however, marriage is the goal from the get-go.

It even opens with a wedding. Main character Asuka Takanashi is at that stage of life where her peers are getting married, and she thinks her own wedding is fast approaching–until her 30-year-old live-in boyfriend abruptly ends their five year relationship. As such, she’s thrust back into the world of couples mixers and matchmaking events.

Being back on the dating market isn’t horrible, but it is frustrating. Asuka wants not only a husband but one who will let her be a full-time housewife, and most of her prospects want a working wife. As such, her coworker’s roommate Ryu Nanami doesn’t even make the list. While the handsome newscaster respects Asuka’s reasons for wanting to be a homemaker, he declares in no uncertain terms that he’d “rather die than get married.”

The story reads like a contemporary Harlequin romance. The cast is small, and the plot focuses almost exclusively on Asuka and Ryu’s developing relationship. When the story does diverge from them, it usually shifts to their mutual friends Ono and Rio who are in the opposite situation (he wants to get married, she doesn’t). Other than being very good at her real estate career, Asuka’s a rather ordinary person. Ryu, on the other hand, has near celebrity status and a sexual reputation to go with it. But even though they are polar opposites in their views on marriage, they, of course, fall in love. The things that draw them together are kind of weak, but Miyazono’s illustrations do a fine job conveying their conflicting emotions and depicting the sparks that ultimately fly.

By the way, the series rating is “Mature,” but even though Ryu sleeps around and has a habit of kissing people when he’s waking up, there’s nothing graphic in the bedroom scenes (at least for now).

For more manga and book reviews, drop by my blog Keeping It In Canon!

[Selena Pigoni · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh, it didn't do much for me. I was suckered in by yet another pretty cover.

Everyone's Getting Married is the story of a woman who wants to get married and become a homemaker/housewife. Her 5 year boyfriend breaks up with her, and now she's on the market again.

The romance between Takanashi and Nanami feels rushed, and both characters don't have a whole lot of depth to them. Nanami is a handsome playboy with a sweet side, and Takanashi is a nice woman who enjoys cooking and works hard. They're both kind of generic, and I don't find myself connecting with either of them. I know this is just one volume, but neither character did or said anything that makes them stand out in my mind from the multitude of other shoujo/josei pairings I've read.

Occasionally Takanashi showed a spark of something interesting (dumping a drink on someone spreading stories about Nanami's love life, covering for a coworker who needs to leave to get married and using her failed relationship as the "reason" for taking the work so the coworker doesn't look like she's slacking). These were so brief, though, that they just didn't add much to the whole story or her character, and I'll probably forget about them once I hit submit for this review.

The art is nice, but not particularly memorable. The cover drew me in with the bold red and blue color choices and it stands out on a bookshelf, but the art itself is nice at best. Sometimes faces look a bit strange or backgrounds don't match up with the characters on them (there's at least one instance of characters floating on stairs rather than looking like they're actually walking down them). Not great, not bad, serviceable and unmemorable.

I don't see myself continuing this series without encouragement. It's an easy read without much drama so far, but other than that I can't say much for it.

[Sean O'Hara · Rating 3 out of 5]

The good news: It's a josei series about office ladies. All the characters are adults. Not a school uniform in sight!

The bad news: The main character is an office lady who wants to get married so she can quit her job and become a hausfrau who supports her husband by keeping a tidy house and preparing delicious meals. After just finishing Andi Zeisler's We Were Feminists Once where she excoriates choice-feminism, which holds that all decisions women make are equally valid, even if they involve conforming to patriarchal expectations, this leaves a bad taste in my mouth. The secondary female characters in the story do express distaste at the idea of a woman giving up her career to support a man, but they're portrayed as mean and belittling toward the work that housewives do. (The one positive aspect of this is that the main love interest does acknowledge that keeping house is work, but he's sadly chill with the idea that women should be the ones doing this work.)

The story's well written, the art is good and the main couple has an interesting dynamic, but I have a hard time rooting for a woman who has everything that feminists spent decades fighting for and wants to give it all up to become Donna Reed.

[Leah Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was cute, but I found it mediocre. Maybe it will improve as it goes on, and I have faith. Kind of.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this on the airplane and it was the tropiest trope that ever troped in manga. I'm pretty sure I know some tropier ones----BUT THAT'S NOT THE POINT. It's so cliche it hurts my soul.

We have successful hardworker SINGLE female who just wants to get married. It's her dream. EVEN THOUGH She's A HARD WORKER. Enter SINGLE male who [insert terrible past relationship here] IS VETOING EVER GETTING MARRIED.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

Ya'll i'm in for the long haul. Is it terrible that I really want to read how terrible this could get?

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. It's a tad boring. And the guys a womanizer. Barf.

[Jillian -always aspiring- · Rating 3 out of 5]

2020 Read #68

Not exactly my cup of tea, but it’s enjoyable enough. The heroine Asuka is level-headed, and the male lead Nanami isn’t a jerk. We’ll see what happens from here.

[bow down to our ace king victor vale · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Can’t really root for their relationship since there wasn’t much buildup + development to get there. I don’t care for the ML at all, or most of the characters.

[Laura✧˚ · . · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5
Eh, not bad but not great either. We are following our two main characters who meet each other at this wedding. Their first encounter goes well and they are friendly, and he even helps her with her hair which was nice. They think they would never see each other again but of course that it’s not the case. Asuka’s coworker lives with these famous new broadcaster,Nanami, and they get to see each other again. Asukas works as a real estate agent but her dream is to get married and stay at home. She’s been in a relationship with her boyfriend for 5 years, and after the wedding she’s sure the proposal is coming but in the end she breaks up with her. She’s devastated because now, she has to find someone else to get married. She goes to these matchmaker event and Nanami asks her for permission to go. She agrees and in the end they spend the night meeting other people. Asuka decides to go to another event and she starts running and meets this guy but he’s not into marriage and she’s getting desperate. In the meantime she still sees Asuka from time to time. Asuka is working at the news station and he’s a star. Everyone loves him and he’s really popular since he came back from Ny, however there’s a gossip around him. Apparently he slept with a married woman and had an affair with her. Asuka is not sure about her feelings, but the more time she spends with him the more confused she is. Nanami doesn’t want to get married, and his producers don’t want him to do it at least for a while. However, he’s intrigued by Asuka and he likes how little judgamental she is. Asuka knows that she can’t date Nanami because they would end up breaking up and there’s another guy that’s into her and wants to enter the relationship with an open mind and with marriage in mind. In the end, Nanami asks her what matters the most to her: the label or the feelings, and what she would do if she falls for someone who doesn’t want to get married?. Nanami realizes he’s in love with her and tells her about his feelings and she thinks he needs to change some of his views regarding certain stuff. He wants to move out and now that they are a couple they need to think about other stuff as well but they are both trying to convince the other about the marriage stuff.
Honestly I don’t remember much of the plot and the scenes between the characters. They saw the other a couple of times, and they talked about stuff but that’s it. There weren’t any cute moments between them and there’s a lot to unpack between the two of them. I feel like the I love you was really quick and I was not expecting it because he never seemed that much into her?. And she was having feelings and she invited him over to have dinner to sort them out but she ended up being more confused than ever due to him kissing her while he was asleep and not being sure if he’s aware of who he’s kissing. I think the dynamic and the concept is great but the execution was poorly done.
I like how we get to see Nanami working and doing the voiceovers for the podcast that Asuka listens to and record and how much he enjoys his work.

[Keiko, the manga enthusiast ♒︎ · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like a 3.5

I’m in love with this! It’s about time I pick up some josei manga series because it’s been a while—and this one is pure perfection! Just a four-some (two couples) polar opposites exploring marriage and relationships. So far this is healthy without cringey scenes, the banters are fun, green flag characters, no love triangle (so far!), main couple always defending each other against other people’s bias, AND, most importantly, no irritating horny heroes! Praise! I can’t wait for their relationships to grow!! And the art style is just gorgeous! I’m obsessed!

[☽｡⋆ Naidah ₊˚ෆ · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️

Sweet, funny, more realistic than any romance manga I’ve read 🤣
I loved how the romance blossomed slowly and got to where they are now. It had me in awe at how sweet Nanami’s words are in some panels. Not to mention again, the art style for this manga is so beautiful. I wanna know what happens next

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another standard romance - I do like the slow development of the main relationship. No instalove but lots of simmering sexual tension. So far it is low on the cliches - they aren't co-workers, he's not her boss and they've not had any easily resolved misunderstandings yet so I see this as quite promising!