Chapters: 42
Status: Completed
Genres: Comedy, Historical, Romance, Shounen, Slice of Life
Serialization: Jump SQ
Synopsis
It is the Taishou Era. Shima Tamahiko, the son of a massively influential family in Japan has his right arm crippled in an accident. His father then sent him to a rural house in the Chiba prefecture so that he could be hidden from society. As he accepts that his existence was going to amount to nothing more than disappointment and regret, a girl purchased to be Tamhiko's wife begins to give him a reason to live.
Here's a manga I read and caught up to near the end of last year. As the story reached a climactic peak, I was thinking that this was going to continue into several more arcs after that. I didn't think that arc was actually the end of the manga. It seems like I've been shocked by short manga/light novels a lot recently, but I can't help it. This ending is so abrupt and rushed, it's as if the manga got axed, but I can't find any evidence of that having happened.
The Pain of Shattered Dreams
Shima Tamahiko was one of the four siblings of the Shima family. One of which would later inherit the family's name and business. But in a swift instant, Tamahiko became an outcast and a burden for his family instead. That shame is a difficult thing to live down, not that the car accident was his fault or anything.
The problem is that Tamahiko lived his entire life under the assumption that he would become like his father. Powerful, ruthless, and successful. Now that he's lost the use of his right arm, that simply can't happen anymore. It's a difficult thing to recover from, becoming lost and directionless. You lose sight of desires and pleasures when you lack the end-goal of your life.
Tachibana Yuzuki is bought by the Shima family to become Tamahiko's bride and take care of his everyday needs since taking care of himself with only a single arm could prove challenging. But Yuzuki's constant determination to be useful to Tamahiko eventually breaks through his pessimistic attitude.
Depressed Again
You might have noticed some similarities in the premise to that of "Depression With Succubus", a story of an overworked salaryman learning how to accept support by people around you when you're suffering. And while this manga features a similar cast of a depressed man and a housewife with a heart of gold, There are some very distinct differences in the message that the two are trying to express.
Where "Depression With Succubus" was a story of Yuuutsu-kun trying to find anything in life to grasp onto, "Taishou Otome Otogibanashi" is the story of Tamahiko accepting that just because life hasn't gone how he expected, that doesn't mean that he isn't worth anything. Over time, he learns that being a part of the Shima family isn't even anything worth aspiring for in the first place, and that smaller-scale dreams can be just as, if not more, valuable.
I Waited For Literally Nothing
So I mentioned at the start that the manga ended unexpectedly quickly. The last chapter that I read half a year ago was chapter 36, and the main story ended on chapter 38. I couldn't believe how disgustingly paced the last bit of the story was.
Basically, there was this big convoluted, devious scheme by the Shima family that eventually led to one of the siblings having complete control over the family company and guaranteed inheritance. It's played off like that person is going to be a huge antagonist later down the road, but no, that's it. It's over. The manga is done.
The thing is, every single plot thread gets instantly tied up within 1-2 chapters one after another. Some characters get married, some of them are having children, all of them have great jobs now. I mean, I'm not opposed to happy endings, but I thought it felt a little undeserved. It seriously feels like the manga just got axed halfway through, but I can't find any evidence to support that claim, so I don't know.
Conclusion
I thought "Taishou Otome Otogibanashi" was a splendid drama depicting life in early-1900s Japan. The romance between the central couple is adorable and heartfelt, the light comedic relief was spot-on, and the side characters feel very impactful and important.
I'll treasure what I believed this manga could have been, but it seriously just drops every single ball in the universe with an ending as slapdashed and disappointing as this.