TSUMA, SHOUGAKUSEI NI NARU.

DESCRIPTION

CAST

MANGA ComedyTsuma, Shougakusei ni Naru.

REVIEWS

• 

  passingwitness

  90/100
  Don't let its title fool you, It's a trap but one that leads to treasures.

  ...we will meet gain, when that time comes tell me everything, what you've seen in life, what you've experienced, and what you've felt, as a thank-you, I'll make you another delicious meal. - Takae Niijima

  

  Never did I expect that this 2024 fall season has in store a wonderful gift hidden under a seemingly 'generic' title. If not the best of the season (in its category) It is probably one of the best we had for many years. If you're looking for a heartwarming show look no further, this is the one. Did I exaggerate? rest assured, as I have prepared some critiques for it, but small compared to what they got right.

  Somehow this show has close resemblance to "Sweetness And Lightning", a similar story where a father and daughter had to lost a mother figure early in their life. (you might want to check that as well)

  What is this show about? As you probably have read it's about how far an idea of a family bond could be, a familial love in its purest ideals. Takae is like the sun, the warmth and the life of the Niijima's family, her sudden passing devastated Keisuke and Mai which further drifts apart the family's bond. Fast forward 10 yrs, a 'miracle' knocked upon the family's residence: It's Takae in a child body. Niijima's family soon takes turns for the better, they once again could live as a perfect family. Bentos every morning, weekend's travel, or simply chatting around the living room, all things that Keisuke could've asked for and traded for his life were granted. Takae's wish is only to see her family to move on with life, but turns out she had to stay longer until they could finally stand on their own, a Godsend reunification and a beautiful start.

  See that this starts to be very sentimental, as the story brought up a significant real life emotional experience of losing a loved one. The story signals strongly that this happiness will be a momentary event, however rest assured as the writer somehow can afford to balance out during the course of the episodes. So it's still sad right ? yes it is still kind of sad but to a certain standard, and considering all factors: it is a sad end, not a bad end, hence It still counts as a satisfactory end.

  Moral of the story? (yes it has) to me it's about a long lost virtue of love revisited; especially the word devotion appeared many times in the show as if it's a keyword for the show. However I'll encourage each of you to decide what is the story itself means to you, because my interpretation might not be satisfactory (it's already rich with substance). TsumaSho is an outstanding story about true love, and you'll discover even more chunks of wisdom along the way. -

  

  Seems like a generic sad show, where is the catch? you're right, under an unskilled inexperienced author, this show might drift towards something else, it could lack of substance or something. Fortunately the author is quite a masterful storyteller, such that each plot served a reason. Even the plot twist wasn't just for show, or even worse intentionally for NTR-ing audiences. For example- there was an event where Keisuke decided to remarry which devastated Mai (she is super cute and pure hearted girl), she rejected the idea of any replacement to her mother, but in the end the reason was quite wholesome, as Kei explained the intricate plot only to 'trick' Takae to pass on (and so he didn't remarry for real). -

  The key take is: it didn't try to act like a jerk towards its audience just for the sake of being different, it didn't assume we are dumb or social outcasts that can be fed any subpar reasoning or with fetish content while thinking we would still beg for it. It simply wishes to tell us, teaches us, guides us, where the end is something the story guaranteed to be worth the while. It's generous. It's simple.

  Characters any good? you'll find them all are decent characters with realistic flaws, like most people are rarely too evil or too good, they are just flawed. Keisuke is an idealist hero type, Mai is an innocent introvert and Takae is the extroverted pragmatic. Isn't it adorable? Moreover, they are reasonable, and you won't dislike any of them for long. The supporting characters also played significant contributions to the story progression, as a matter of fact they were written like a living person (the good ones) it scared me,

  How's the animation? animation is fine you wouldn't scratch your eyes of bad drawings or broken proportions, not as good as Mappa like animation but overall it's something good enough to get you focused on the story.

  random fact: TsumaSho first debuted as a film (you can find it on Netflix) years before this anime adaptation.

  The sound and music? it is done in minimal fashion and always plays at the right moment to elevate the mood, squeeze your heart or induce tears. The ending also without doubt the best that we can get. MS.OOJA - Hidamari herself, one of the JPOP Diva has graced us with her soulful music.

  My critic:

  • There should be an emotional break like an episode or two, just for a comedic routine, constantly pushing the gas pedal could feel suffocating to constantly squeeze your heart while watching this emotional coaster. (12 ep might not enough)
  • The comedy seems to be lacking in contribution which was unfortunate, it could make the show more balanced.
  • The title should be more confident in its quality, although without doubt it might sell better. (TsumaSho has a nice wording, whereas the translation 'If My Wife Becomes an Elementary School Student.' can repel some folks :D)

  For you guys who had watched it and actually touched by it, by moving on just like the narrative; we ought as well... move on.

  Continue on AniList
• 

  YTPizzer

  83/100
  If My Wife Became a Dead Wife and I Had to Deal with the Grief that it Entails.

  Before I start, I need to address the elephant in the room. The show's English title is really ragebait-y, which I'm pretty sure literally everyone has said already, but the actual show doesn't do anything egregious, and the fact that she's an elementary schooler means they're talking entirely about wholesome love and nothing physical, so you can kinda give it a pass. There's definitely freaks in the audience that took it further than that, you just have to ignore them, and let the writer cook, because morally I don't believe they do anything wrong in the end. Okay, now onto my actual thoughts.

  As a reviewer, I tend to value the story itself more than anything else in a show. The narrative here is about moving on after the loss of someone really important to you. It's quite possibly one of the worst things a human being in most developed countries can go through, and it's something a lot of people can relate to. I've personally yet to experience a rough loss, but my infinite sympathy goes out to those who have been through this before. I'm not really one to talk, but the story feels as though it was written with sincerity from someone who has experience with this. Characters in narratives are all about trauma and how they learn to overcome it (not necessarily always trauma in the therapy-needing sense), and this story tackles a really difficult one.

  This is probably the #2 anime I've cried to most. I cried a lot for Your Lie in April, I reckon this is 2nd place. I always find the topic of loss really tearjerking and this anime is a rough exploration of what it means, and how it can affect your life.

  I really appreciated how it handled the concept while still taking interesting turns and doing novel, but still thematically appropriate, things with it. (Continued with spoilers on Takae's new family, covered relatively early in the anime, in the next spoiler)
  Your wife is dead and returns possessing the body of an elementary schooler, but that kid lives in an abusive household, with a mother that has been dealt a really rough hand in life. Now her own kid has been possessed by another, more experienced mother, that raised a child in a stable household. That's a strong enough concept to be it's own standalone narrative, honestly. The way the pieces interlock is well-planned out, and the pacing ensured it remained consistently gripping. Beyond loss, the explorations of what it means to be a parent and Takae's regrets were quite engaging.

  I only really found one thing sorta clunky about this, the end of the final episode. (Continued in the next spoiler)
  I understood where Keisuke was coming from by having lied to his wife about getting remarried so that she could move on like she wanted, but it's just a little strange that she would come back to him in a dream kinda implying she knows he lied. They didn't say it directly, but I don't really see why she came back in the dream in that case. The only issue is that if she knows, it technically leaves her with unfinished business again. You could just put that up to him having been able to accept that his love is dead, and finding a way to mentally overcome the loneliness hurdle, and tbh I was too emotional to let it ruin the moment for me.

  It's not like perfect, (Spoilers for stuff throughout the entire show in the next spoiler)
  ... the dialogue writing was just fine (there isn't a tonne of "active listening" required), the pacing on Mai's relationship was a little breakneck and we only got a little bit of chemistry building between the two, Moriya as a character was just a tiny bit underexplored, and I really wasn't a fan of what I thought the show was implying with Moriya's age gap with Keisuke until the final episode where you learn the true nature of their relationship. I'm glad they took it in that direction. Fundamentally, not only is there a huge age gap between the two, Moriya didn't really have a terrific reason to be in love with Keisuke, and Keisuke didn't have much of any reason to love Moriya.

  By the end of the final episode, Keisuke chooses... (Continued in the next spoiler)
  ... not to move on from his late wife and carries the baggage with a positive outlook. Throughout the series he's very hard on himself, and it's hard not to sympathise with him. It's unfair, it's so sad, and the fact he choses this proves he loves his wife that much more, which only makes her loss sadder. It must really hurt! I'm gonna make myself cry again! Fuck!

  This show shines for its narrative, in terms of the other stuff (art, animation, music, voice acting) nothing really stood out as a weak link, nor particularly remarkable, at any point. I do recall that the music was doing a good job enhancing the emotions of the scenes toward the end. Again, as a reviewer, I tend to care most about the narrative, so these reviews aren't usually the most balanced.

  Anyways, rare well-paced single-season anime, rare anime that actually ends, rare complete absence of degenerate bullshit beyond the title, we cannot take these things for granted. It makes me wonder if these stupid anime titles are just the meta for creating media in Japan. But yeah, if you're looking for a bit of a cry (if you're the sorta person that does cry) and a story that actually earns it, or want to watch a good exploration of loss, give it a shot.

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