You are My Pet/Tramps Like Us

Sumire and Momo

Konnichiwa

Today I’ll be reviewing the josei  Kimi wa Pet by Ogawa Yayoi. The series is actually a spin-off of another one of her series, Candy Life, which I plan on reading later. The series is 14 volumes in total and is completely scanlated. Lets begin:

Sumire Iwaya is an intelligent, successful, and beautiful woman who works for a big newspaper, though not in the department she wants. She has big dreams and hopes to one day transfer to a more serious department, such as the English news section. She’s a determined woman with big dreams who wants to maintain her image and apparently too intimidating for her fiancée. He tells her she is too perfect, and that being around her is uncomfortable. Heartbroken, frustrated, and depressed, she returns home, where she finds an unconscious young man lying in a box in front of her home. She takes the young man inside, who quickly becomes comfortable, acting happy-go-lucky and appearing rather simple-minded. He’s personality and curly hair reminds her of her childhood dog “Momo”. She comments how she could keep him as pet, and he tells her he’d be perfectly fine with that. Thus, he is named Momo and “officially” becomes her pet. Though a rather unusual relationship, the two of them easily accept it and begin their life together. While she attempts to keep him a secret from her co-workers and later her conventionally perfect boyfriend, the two of them grow closer and closer, developing a strong bond.

And since this is a romance, this bond steadily becomes love.

Well, steadily on Sumire’s part. Momo falls in love very early in the series, and he does a great job of hiding it. Though he appears carefree and simple-minded, Momo, or Takashi, is actually very clever and complex, he can also be very serious at times: when he does show his seriousness, Sumire is always shaken and unsure

what to do. He loves dancing, but unsure about his future. You really see him mature and grow as the series goes on. And even though Sumire is more settled into her life as an adult, you also see her grow as a person. In the beginning, she isn’t very honest with herself or those around her: in front of everyone beside Momo, she tries to act like the perfect woman, always confident, calm, and collective. Her family is extremely strict, judging, and prestigious, so it makes sense that she would put up this front. With Momo, she lets herself be the lazy, emotional, and insecure. She can be a crybaby, a smoker, and a excited pro-wrestling fan. Even with the man she planned on marrying, who she planned on spending the rest of her life with, she put on this act. But the same way she helps Momo mature, he helps her grow and get rid of this façade. Gradually, her co-workers realize she isn’t cold and always serious, they see her slightly dorky personality.

Main Characters: Momo, Sumire, Sumire's hilarious best
friend, Sumire's boring perfect boyfriend(and first love),
and annoying (and pitiful) Shiori

I rarely enjoy slow romance, usually because the ones I find have ridiculously slow pace, but I liked the pace of this one. I liked seeing their love grow, I think because seeing their master-pet friendship was entertaining and the other characters they interacted with were compelling. Their past also played a big part in the story, so when a new aspect of their past was revealed, there was always a ripple in their relationship. A change

preceded by a little bit of drama. There was something to hold your attention besides the slow building romance. I feel in many slow romances, there isn’t much there, so gets boring. Something that does bother me though is her boyfriend Hasumi. They met in college and is Sumire's first love. He is kind, loving, and appears to be nearly perfect, but he got on my nerves quite a bit. He claims he wants to see the real Sumire, but not the "real" Sumire. I felt he had his own illusion of her true self and didn't understand her very well. He does really care about her though, so I can't really dislike him too much. I got impatient with Sumire at times too: every time they were together she had to act, she even states numerous times that its exhausting being with him too long. So why be with him? But in her mind, since she loves him so much its only natural to try so hard to keep him. I kind of understand it and I kind of don't, sometimes I was annoyed and sometimes I was sympathetic.
Anyway, this manga manages to be a realistic slice of life while also being an unrealistic comedy; and I love that when things do start getting unrealistic, the characters’ sort of point it out. Though there were parts in the manga that confused me, they're usually insignificant dreams that you can move past.

Overall, a really great josei. I know it’s also been adapted to a drama and a live-action movie. I think I’ll check one of them out since I really enjoyed the odd story based around a pet and master relationship, the characters, and watching their love grow.

Bye-Bye

~Nadeshiko-chan