Manga: Tokyo Tarareba Girls

Tokyo Tarareba Girls Vol 1
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Rinko has done everything right. She hustled her way through her 20s to make it as a screenwriter, renting her own office in a trendy Tokyo neighborhood. Everything should have gone according to plan... So at 33, she can't help but lament the fact that her career's plateaued, she's still painfully single, and she spends most of her nights drinking with her two best friends in their favorite pub. One night, drunk and delusional, Rinko swears to get married by the time the Tokyo Olympics roll around in 2020. But finding a man--and love--may be a cutthroat, dirty job for a romantic at heart. 

To be one hundred percent honest, this isn't the usual art style I like when it comes to manga, but the synopsis sounded like it was going to be fun and entertaining and I did enjoy this volume! 

Rinko is relatable in many aspects, even if you aren't the same ages as her or in the same position. I really felt for her, and I could sympathise with her and see her point of view quite easily. I just felt my heart drop for her more than once throughout the volume. Yes she makes some questionable choices, but I can't entirely blame her. Despite the fact I'm not the same age as Rinko, some of the things she struggled with hit a bit close to home for me too. Friends being married and having kids and that sort of thing. 

I loved her friends, Koyuki and Kaori, and I loved their banter and how realistic they where. The codes they had to meet up, and the conversations and the drinking. Yes, they do drink a biiiiit too much because I don't know anyone who goes out and drinks as much as these girls do! And it's actually to the extent Rinko see's talking food which was a chuckle, but at the same time I was like "slow down girl!". 

Another of the supporting cast that I liked was Mami! She was totally adorable, she seems to genuinely care for Rinko, and she really has Rinko's back with the other writer, and I'm really hoping to see more of the friendship between the pair grow as Rinko seems kind of...lowkey resentful of her a little bit. 

My rather large issue with this volume...is Key. If I was Rinko, I'd have punched him, I'm not going to lie. He's incredibly rude, he judges Rinko and her friends instantly and spouts his opinions completely unasked for. As if that wasn't enough of an a-hole thing to do, he then ends up working with Rinko and keeps banging on about how bad her writing is, and how boring it is and she ends up losing the job. I don't get what his angle is? Yeah he kinda shows he cares a bit towards the end, but I just don't get him and I'm not sure how I feel about a romance between the two of them because he actually made me angry! 

Tokyo Tarareba Girls is comedic, and entertaining, with some brilliant strong female friendships and it does kind of hit you in the feels as you see the struggles Rinko has to face and how she's feeling. But I'm fully rooting for Rinko, although I personally think she can do better than Key -_-