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Friday, March 1, 2019

Manga Review: Idol Dreams, Volume 5, by Arina Tanemura


Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5
Publisher: Shojo Beat (VIZ Media)
Release Date: November 2018
Volumes: 6+
Spoilers?: No.
Volume: 1. 4. 6.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Chikage Deguchi, age 31, reverts her appearance back to age 15 to pursue love and success as an idol!

At age 31, office worker Chikage Deguchi feels she missed her chances at love and success. When word gets out that she’s a virgin, Chikage is humiliated and wishes she could turn back time to when she was still young and popular. She takes an experimental drug that changes her appearance back to when she was 15. Now Chikage is determined to pursue everything she missed out on all those years ago—including becoming a star!

To pursue missed chances at love and success, 31-year-old Chikage Deguchi takes an experimental drug that changes her appearance back to how she looked at age 15. Chikage meets Tokita’s girlfriend for the first time and is shocked to discover that she knows her! Even worse, she knows his girlfriend has been cheating on him…


Review:

Chikage faces a real challenge as her teen idol self as the volume starts. Someone has sabotaged her costume right before she's to go on stage, and so she has to think quick to fix things and put on a good performance, if she really wants to do this thing. As she continues to work hard, and her relationship with Hibiki grows, the plot strays away from her and to Tokita for most of the volume.
We discover who Tokita has been dating this whole time, a surprise connection with Chikage, and there's some drama as they fight. It's a surprising plot line to me, though the connection makes a little sense. It's also surprising to me how it wraps up, since it definitely narrows down Chikage's pool of boys.
Despite how this series started, it's matured a bit, I think. Or, at least, Chikage seems to have grown up at least a little. It's also wrapping up in ways that make me suspect the series might not go on for too much longer. It's definitely gotten better, though, which is good. And I look forward to the next release more than the previous ones, whether it'll be a while or not.


 A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!

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