I LOVED the Cherry Magic show, but what about the manga?

 

In my post talking generally about graphic novels and manga I mentioned that there was a manga that I was either buying, or waiting to arrive, I don’t remember which. Either way, the one I was talking about was, like you can tell from the title, Cherry Magic. Although the whole title is wild. It’s Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! by Yuu Toyota.

So, I knew about this because of the show, also called Cherry Magic (I know its Japanese name isn’t this, but its translated name is), that I’ve watched three times through. Honestly, it’s probably my favourite Japanese BL show, I can confidently say that. But because of that, I already knew the concept and basic storyline. Adachi is a virgin when he turns thirty and ends up getting the ability to read people’s minds when he touches them, and because of that, he finds out that the hotshot guy at his office, Kurosawa, has feelings for him. That’s what it was in the show, and reading the blurb on myanimelist.net for the manga, it read very similarly. The only difference is that Adachi gets called unremarkable and an office drone, so it better hammers in the social standing difference between the two of them.

And like I said, since I’d watched the show, I vaguely knew what to expect from the manga. However, I am-slash-was well aware that BL manga often has full on sex scenes in them. So, while I was expecting the manga to be broadly the same as the show, I was expecting for there to maybe end up being a sex scene towards the end. Even saying that, the thought crossed my mind that the two leads couldn’t have sex, because then Adachi would lose his powers and then the whole concept of the manga would be done. Then again, Adachi and Kurosawa don’t sleep together by the end of the TV series, so I guess I didn’t really know what to expect in that respect. Unrelated, I also didn’t even know that there was an English version of the manga, which is maybe why I bought all five volumes at once. But in lieu of the sex thing, the word “kinky” is on the first page, and it’s pixelated, so I didn’t know if that was basically a suggestion of how the whole thing was going to go or not.

So you find out that Adachi and Kurosawa actually got hired at the same time, but while poor Adachi is very much the king flop of the office, Kurosawa is good looking, good at his job and gets on with everyone. Because of that, Adachi then obviously wants to find out whether he secretly has a horrible personality, and that’s when he touches him in a crowded elevator and he finds out Kurosawa likes him. He also mentions to the reader that he wonders what there is to like about someone like him because he has such a negative outlook on romance.

I know it’s normal for TV adaptations to make changes that weren’t in the source material, and reading this manga, that’s the case for this as well. There are things that Adachi and Kurosawa do together that happen in the show that don’t happen in the manga, and vice versa. I will say, the first date the two go on is very different between the show and manga. However, both dates result in the same ending, so if you’ve watched the show or read the mange, but not consumed the other, you get the same outcome, just in a different location. I realise I’m not saying much, but I don’t want to give away any spoilers. But it was very much the case of a different route was taken to get to the same destination for both the show and manga. One thing I will say, the difference between manga and show Kurosawa? Gag. In the manga, he comes across more intense than he does on the show. And even though I say intense, I never thought he was ever like creepy intense, it was just like they dialled him down for the show and made him a lot nicer.

You also get little extra bits, usually at the end of the main story of each volume that’s just… well, extras. There are side stories that give a bit of background on some of the characters. In the first volume, there are a couple from before the events of the volume and one for one of the side characters, Tsuge, who is basically part of the side couple in the show. He and Minato make up the side couple, they were cute. They never really did as much in the manga as they did in the show. To be honest, I think I liked Tsuge more in the show than the here in the manga. In the show, he actually had the chance to be properly fleshed out and had a full plot, whereas he didn’t so much in the manga, but I understand that that’s down to the fact the manga is literally about Adachi and Kurosawa. I feel like this is the case for the other side characters, Rokkaku and Fujisaki, as well. Even though they weren’t in the show that much, they still got little bits of character given to them which, sadly, they didn’t really get in the manga. And I was a little disappointed, because for Fujisaki especially, she’s one of two named female characters (granted, the active named cast of this manga is really small), but homegirl straight up had nothing going on for her in the manga that didn’t involve shipping Adachi and Kurosawa. That is one thing that did disappoint me, I won’t lie, especially knowing what she’s like in the show.

I feel like since I watched the drama of this manga first, all I can do is compare, especially with how much I enjoy the drama. And did I enjoy the manga as much? No, but I still did enjoy it.

One other thing I’ll mention is that there is very little conflict in the manga. Granted, the whole concept isn’t conflict city, but even then, to repeat myself, there’s very little, even towards the end. I do, however, feel like that is just down to the concept itself. And I suppose since a lot of the manga is driven by Adachi’s ability to read minds, it makes sense that a lot of the conflict comes from introspection, overthinking and things like that. Like, Adachi gets to hear Kurosawa’s thoughts and gets to act in accordance to how Kurosawa is feeling, so there are points where Adachi kind of feels like he’s cheating his way through the relationship.

I feel like if you want a good, safe, first foray into manga, or BL manga, this is a pretty good one to start with. I’d say the whole thing is relatively harmless, and maybe I did read the five volumes I have in one sitting. Overall, while I did enjoy the manga, I definitely prefer the show over the manga. And to close out this post, I’ll leave you with my favourite line from the manga:

“Adachi puts on the emotionally-loaded pajamas.”

Okay, bye!