Tsugi Manga (in Japanese). Archived from the original on August 20, 2020 . Retrieved July 11, 2023. Unable to pay the three months’ rent she owes, she (perhaps unwisely) says that she will “do anything” for the landlady. And the landlady, without missing a beat, indicates that if Chiyo was willing to have sex with her, they could probably come to some sort of arrangement. The series is licensed for an English release in North America by Seven Seas Entertainment. [6] No.

Koduka is a disaster - she is clearly grappling with depression after her job went sideways and everything about her life has fallen down in the meantime. So when Landlady offers her this extensive favour system to provide ongoing debt relief for services of any kind, not just sexual, Koduka says yes and gets a roomie in the bargain (which may not make sense on paper, but I assure you this might be the only manga where this actually makes a modicum of sense to occur). Review: I Can't Believe I Slept With You! GN 1". Anime News Network. March 30, 2022 . Retrieved July 10, 2023. Twenty-four-year-old Koduka Chiyo quits her job and is three months behind on her. Her landlady will reduce the costs and help her, if she has sex with her. Which happens, but Koduka doesn't have much memories about it, because she was drunk, though she has flashes of memory later on. Each time Koduka does something for the Landlady she will cross off a number on the calendar.This seems to be a week where books are pulling a fast one on me based on the expectations they’re setting with their descriptions. Make no mistake, Koduka is over a barrel here and she does indeed take Landlady (I will be referring to her as such for the review because of reasons) up on her offer. From a personal perspective, I found this side of I Can’t Believe I Slept With You! to be exceedingly relatable. Having lived through one failed marriage (my present one is just fine, thanks very much) whose complete breakdown coincided with a period of unemployment, I’ve been almost exactly where Chiyo is at the outset of I Can’t Believe I Slept With You! — broke, feeling utterly worthless and terrified of the prospect of doing even the most simple necessities alone. Nov 25 i☆Ris the Movie - Full Energy!! - Anime Film Teaser Visual Revealed at i☆Ris Live Stage in Anime NYC & i☆Ris First Performance in New York Successfully Completed Hazra, Adriana (July 3, 2021). "Seven Seas Entertainment Adds 7 New Manga, 2 Light Novels". Anime News Network . Retrieved July 10, 2023.

Written and illustrated by Miyako Miyahara, I Can't Believe I Slept With You!, was serialized in ASCII Media Works' shōnen manga magazine Dengeki Daioh from June 27, 2019, to February 26, 2021. [2] [3] The series was collected in three tankōbon volumes from January 2020 to March 2021. [4] [5] So this is clearly about to be some smutty book where an older woman is forced into trading sex for rent as she struggles to figure out her life… or is it?

For most of I Can’t Believe I Slept With You! the landlady comes across as a likeable but deadpan sort of character; she’s open about her preferences and bluntly honest to a fault, but we see occasional hints of her vulnerability when she’s alone, such as the conclusion of a chapter where she’s crouching on the floor muttering the unfinished thought “straight people are so…” After Koduka Chiyo quits her job and spends her time wallowing in self-pity she becomes three months behind on her rent. Her landlady proposes an unusual solution: perform favors for her in exchange for the owed money – with the first being that the two sleep together. After a one-night stand, the two women decide to keep the arrangement, slowly growing closer over the coming months. I've decided to try and see how risque a few "usually in sealed bags at Barnes and Noble" manga are, but under the stipulation I can get them through the public library. I Can't Believe I Slept With You was a title I saw on the shelf at a local bookstore. Paging through it briefly, I realized it was yuri (manga focusing on romantic/sexual relationships between women) and thought I'd add it to my test. This is the third title I tested. After a workplace incident forced her to quit her job, Koduka ended up in a deep depression and three months behind on her rent. Her landlady comes calling and offers to exchange sex for her assistance with Koduka’s problems. Except her problems might just be beginning… Friedman, Erica (February 21, 2022). "I Can't Believe I Slept With You, Volume 1". Okazu . Retrieved July 10, 2023.

This is brought to a head in a chapter where the landlady requests a date with Chiyo as one of her “favours” for the day. Chiyo, believing this to be a light-hearted, silly thing, initially doesn’t take it all that seriously — but realises that she’s made a mistake when the landlady shows up clearly having made an effort. From hereon, it’s clear that Chiyo is starting to look at the landlady a little differently — and the climax of this comes where a former acquaintance of the landlady stumbles across her and Chiyo sitting together at a mall food court. Consent matters in all relationships, and is something we could talk about with regards to many romantic drama manga, but it’s especially important in LGBT+ content where queer people are often vilified as being ‘dominant’ or ‘pushy’ with their sexuality. We really appreciated that the mangaka took the time and thought carefully about making consent such an important part of the plot. As we continue in the manga, is it hinted that the Landlady has feelings for Koduka, which could be the reason as to why she is doing what she. The Landlady also seems more put together than Koduka, such as cleaning and cooking, which one wouldn't expected mostly because Koduka is older. The following morning, it becomes clear that they did indeed follow through on this, since the landlady sets up a “rent reduction agreement” for Chiyo, indicating that if Chiyo will do her 21 “favours”— one for every 10,000 yen she owes — she will write off the debt completely. And, since a now-sober Chiyo is exhibiting a certain amount of regret for her actions the previous evening, those favours don’t even need to be sexual in nature. It’s always great to see a yuri book that doesn’t shy away from lesbian issues and Landlady has an absolutely awkward encounter at the mall that features some nasty prejudice (beware the well-meaning, yet ignorant high school acquaintance) and features Koduka both standing up for a friend, yet also being forced to confront some truths about herself.There’s a power imbalance in I Can’t Believe I Slept With You. It’s notably reversed from the usual societal structure, since Chiyo is five years older than her landlady, but Hara maintains the power over her thanks to her position. The original (and direct) translation of Ichido Dake Demo, Koukai Shitemasu’s title is Even If It Was Just Once, I Regret It. That’s a much more accurate title for the characters and their relationship in this yuri rom-com drama. Still, with its smooth combination of slice-of-life cuteness and the introspective consideration of sexuality, I Can’t Believe I Slept With You! (to use the current title) is a fun and thoughtful delight.