Listen, there was no way I wasn't going to order this when I saw it in the catalog, and I regret nothing. And not only was it a satisfying payoff for the title, it was actually pretty dang good.
The story follows 17 year old Kamigome Mito who is a daughter of a proud farming family and fed up with the lack of viable options for boyfriends at school. I immediately liked her after her rant about spiders within the first few pages, where she claims they are, "The dark avengers of rice crops."
Side note, I would hope you've been single for the majority of those 17 years, but perhaps that's just something lost in translation?
Anywho, we're introduced to five different guys who all crush for her, but none pique her interest as they aren't manly enough considering her upbringing. One night while tending her farm and declaring she should just marry farming, the goddess of the harvest decides to help her out.
Quick note, the creator Yoshineko Kitafuku will sometimes insert these cute side panels where she just randomly thanks you for supporting her, or shares something she learned, or just says hi. It's not the first time I've seen stuff like that in manga but I love it every time.
Spica decides that in order to find a strong enough soulmate for Mito, they shouldn't allow space and time to limit the search. So Spica shunts Mito into the past by about 2.5 million years and she meets an australopithecus garhi. Garhi for short.
While they can't communicate, he saves her a number of times and they start to form a bond.
At some point she's shunted back into the present and the more she has to hang out with the cast of other characters she starts to feel a void in her heart. This sets us up for her attempting to find her way back to Garhi with the aid of Spica and offers some nice sub-plots for the next volume.
Now in addition to the main book we also get Yoshineko Kitafuku's first one-shot story as a back up feature. It's a short story about a girl who dreams of becoming a great ballet dancer, and while it's a pretty basic story about following your dreams it's very sweet and well done. I especially enjoyed that Giselle's best friend dreams of becoming a great cook and he finds his motivation through Giselle's spirit.
I absolutely love manga that just offers a bizarre concept and leaps right into it and just has fun. Kitafuku's style and sense of humor shine as she's exploring these ideas and I think it will be an enjoyable ride. If you're in the mood for an odd romance comedy give this a shot, it's well worth your time.
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