Itadakimasu Series
Tagged under Yuki Yoshihara, Series.
Naeko works at the worst possible place for a divorced woman — a marriage agency; not only that, but her boss is none
other than her cheating, womanizing ex-husband Souichi, who still keeps making passes at her. One day, while out for
work, Naeko comes across a tea room, where the very handsome young man who serves her tea and massages her feet seems to
already know her. Later, an argument between Souichi and Naeko ends in an ultimatum: either she marries someone or gets
fired! Just as Naeko is about to quit, the young man from before enters the room; grasping at straws, she loudly
introduces him as the man she will be marrying. There's a problem, though: the young man is none other than Souichi's
younger brother, Ouji, and still a high school student! While Souichi doesn't take Naeko's proposal seriously, Ouji
agrees to the marriage. Their relationship starts off as a way to get Souichi off their backs, but soon evolves into
something more when Naeko realizes she is actually in love with Ouji...but the serious Ouji is surprisingly oblivious to
her displays of love!
The manga explores the theme of couple dynamics on several levels: older
woman/younger man, divorced woman/non-divorced man, childish older person/mature younger person etc.
Synopsis: pandemonium91
Itadakimasu Scans
Member Opinions
A common shoujo plot is "older guy falls in love with younger girl", but what about stories where the girl is older than the guy? Much older, in fact. You're not going to find many of those around. In this story, working woman Naoko falls in love with high school student Ouji. Troublesome circumstances ensue, dealing mostly with the two learning to accept each other and make peace with their differences; Naoko isn't always mature, just like Ouji isn't necessarily naive. And that's the beauty of it: they are both flawed people, yet somehow make it work after a lot of screaming, arguing and low blows both verbal and physical (mostly delivered by Naoko). It's a series I enjoy re-reading from time to time; the beautiful art and Yoshihara's humor never lose their charm.