My Wife is Wagatsuma san

Plot

Hitoshi Aoshima is an unpopular high schooler with average grades. He longs to have a girlfriend, especially the beautiful and smart Ai Wagatsuma. One day he discovers he has time slipped 10 years in the future, where he is married to Ai. However, the time spent in the future is short-lived as he returns to regular time. Hitoshi is able to use some of his future knowledge to gain insights into what Ai likes, but soon discovers that some of his present actions can affect his future, including scenarios where he is not married to Ai. He also hangs out with a group of unpopular and quirky classmates called the DX Corps, and makes other friends including a female foreign exchange student and a fairly popular guy that the DX Corps disliked.

Characters

Hitoshi Aoshima (青島等, Aoshima Hitoshi)

A second-year high school student who dreams of having a girlfriend. He has the ability to time slip ten years into the future, where he is married to Ai Wagatsuma, although he cannot control when he slips or returns. He is unpopular and gets average grades, and is a member of Zaishou High's volleyball team where he and his friends are benchwarmers.^{Ch. 1} He ends up associating with the DX Corps, a secret society in his high school whose members are jealous of popular male students.^{Ch. 7} His DX Corps codename is Laputa: Castle in the Sky.^{Vol. 6 profiles}

Ai Wagatsuma (我妻亜衣, Wagatsuma Ai)

The title character is the hottest girl in school. She is known for her beauty, high grades and distinction in athletics.^{Vol. 2 profiles} She is happily married to Hitoshi in the latter's time-slipped future. She is fond of animals and aspires to be a veterinarian. She is a star member of the swim club but injures her leg at a major swim competition.^{Ch. 2}

Hikari Aoshima (青島ひかり)

Hitoshi's little sister who is in fifth grade in elementary school. ^{Ch. 1} She turns into a hot fashionable gyaru in the future.^{Vol. 3 profiles}

DX Corps (DX団, DX-dan)

The DX Corps are a secret society of unpopular high school guys. They despise "life-havers who glorify romance". In addition to Hitoshi, there are the following members:^{Ch. 2}

Masao Komatsu (小松正男) – Hitoshi's friend with a flat top hairstyle.^{Ch. 1} He is the leader of the DX Corps. In the future he goes bald. His DX Corps codename is Unbreakable.^{Vol. 6 profiles}

Shirou Itou (伊東志郎) – Hitoshi's portly friend with the glasses and a mushroom bowl cut. He adores Japanese idol groups such as AKB48.^{Ch. 1} Hitoshi saves him from becoming a sex offender in the future.^{Vol. 3 profiles} His DX corps codename is Holey Underwear^{Vol. 6 profiles}

Kyuuji Fujikawa (富士川久次) – codenamed Gate of Flesh (肉体の門, Nikutai to Mon) and "Fuji Q" (富士Q)^{Ch. 2}

Yasushi Ono (小野靖史) – codenamed Matrix 2 (マトリックス2, Matorikkusu 2)^{Ch. 2} He likes little girls.

Kouji Nakamoto (中本高次) – codenamed Electric Medusa (でんきくらげ, Denki Kurage, lit. "Electric Jellyfish")^{Ch. 2} He likes hacking into phones.

Silvia Shimotsuma (下妻シルヴィア)

A foreign exchange student from the Netherlands who becomes friends with Hitoshi and Ai. She is half-Japanese and half-Dutch, and is fairly buxom.^{Vol. 6 profiles} In some of the future scenarios she becomes Hitoshi's wife. She has a brother named Kenjiro Shimotsuma (下妻ケンジロウ) who does not approve of Silvia staying in Japan.

Yuuki Dobashi (土橋勇樹)

A schoolmate who is popular with the girls, which led to the formation of the DX Corps. In one of the future scenarios, his life is ruined, so Hitoshi changes it for the better so that Dobashi becomes friends with Hitoshi and even becomes friendly with the DX Corps.

Hagakure (葉隠)

The Hagakure are a trio of nerdy girls who enjoy boys love comics. They get upset that the DX Corps have become popular despite being nerdy. They include the following:

Yoshiko Tanaka (田中良子) She is proud of her F-cup breasts.^{Vol. 8 profiles}

Miki Fujimura (藤村美紀) A "history nerd" who likes Masamune Date.^{Vol. 8 profiles}

Ran Itou (伊富蘭) – A shy girl who hardly ever talks. She aspires to become a manga artist, and is actually quite good looking.^{Vol. 8 profiles} She develops a crush on Hitoshi, and later becomes his wife in a potential scenario.

Itsuko Kaji (梶五月子)

A substitute teacher whose everyday clumsiness and actions tend to be erotic.

Fumio Seki (関文夫)

A new math teacher at Hitoshi's school. He becomes the advisor of the volleyball team.^{Vol. 13 profiles} He is later revealed to be a time slipper who has watched over Hitoshi's activities.^{Vol. 13 profiles}

Release

Written by Yuu Kuraishi and illustrated by Keishi Nishikida, the manga was serialised by the magazine Weekly Shōnen Magazine and published by Kodansha in Japan and has been licensed to stream in Crunchyroll Manga for its international audience. 111 chapters were published with the final chapter on September 24, 2014. Kuraishi said that it was impossible for him to be a manga creator and work at a restrauant chain at the same time. 13 volumes have been published by Kodansha.

Volume list

With a few exceptions, the chapter titles in the Japanese editions were printed in English. The first eleven chapters are numbered with a hash mark as in "#1", "#2", etc. They are numbered with a "N" in this list. The chapters after that are numbered as parts as in "PART1", "PART2", etc. They are numbered plainly on this list. The English version as published on Kindle/Comixology also uses these translations.

Reception

My Wife is Wagatsuma-san was listed among the first 12 Kodansha titles that were launched for Crunchyroll Manga.

Jason Thompson, in his review on Anime News Network, gave the manga 2 1/2 out of 4 stars. He described the manga series as "a pleasant surprise by getting funnier and funnier" and that "it's a cute premise handled in clever and silly ways." Deb Aoki wrote in Publishers Weekly that the series sounds similar to How I Met Your Mother.

Works cited

^ "Ch." is shortened form for chapter and refers to a chapter number of the My Wife is Wagatsuma-san manga. "Ch. N(number)" refers to the first set of chapters before it was reformatted.