Ousama ni Sasagu Kusuriyubi

Ayaka is a beauty with a terrible personality, hated by all her co-workers, and it seems like she's doomed to getting fired yet again for causing yet more work drama. But then the owner of the company she works for makes her an offer of marriage out of the blue. She's perfect for him because she's a beauty with a terrible personality, so they can make their sham marriage look like a fairy tale in public, and in private they'll hate each other so much they'll never actually fall for each other.

I really like the initial concept of this manga, but I'm disappointed by the execution. It's an extremely common trope that the male lead is dominant and kind of a jerk, but normally he's paired with a submissive woman that he's constantly pushing around. So it's extremely refreshing and entertaining to me to have both the protagonists be of that type, both being jerks and pushing each other around. The part I find disappointing is that Ayaka falls for Tougo extremely early on, and in a way that I feel is rushed. I wanted the focus of the manga for them to be at odds in a humorous, bickering battle between domineering personality types. As it is, it's still reasonably enjoyable, but I feel like the manga author really missed a great opportunity with what could have been a really humorous premise.

Ayaka and Tougou, a pair of hot-headed tsun~tsun~deres~, enter a fake marriage they believe will be mutually beneficial, and become a living commercial for the marriage planning establishment they work at. To the public, they are the ideal couple but in private, they constantly bicker and remain at odds. And yet, not all is as it seems.

Too lazy to read the whole review? I’ve got your back:
Story-4
Characters-7
Art-6
Enjoyment-7
Overall-6
Recommended? Maybe if you are into the fake marriage trope.

Ousama ni Sasagu Kasuriyubi has the one of the simplest, most basic romance plots of all time.
The manga is what it advertises, and expecting something different would be erroneous. The story may touch slightly important themes every now and then, but make no mistake that this is a lighthearted rom-com and not much more. There are these two people who get married for some or the other reason. Let us follow their journey as love blossoms and hardships arise. Will their new-found feelings persevere, or will they fizzle out and leave them more miserable than before? And most importantly, will there be a baby at the end?

There aren’t all that many character in the manga. Other than our two protagonists and the sorta-antagonist, no one is given a stage to dazzle us on. There are some meh recurring background characters and characters that pop up when the series is in the mood of becoming an episodic welcome-to-our-bridal-consultancy-and-let-us-solve-your-love-problems kinda thing. The latter can be interesting, but Ayaka and Tougou are definitely the stars on this stage. I personally thought Tougou was quite well-written, and Ayaka was great too. The mangaka wasn’t afraid to show us their faults, so they felt realistic and you got to know them very well by the end.

The art is difficult to judge. People important to the story were drawn nicely enough, but all the background characters, and the backgrounds themselves, were breezed over. Detailed backgrounds are not a thing in this manga. It looked less fluffy than the average shoujo but also not as realistic as most josei, a comfortable in-between that looked just good enough.

I enjoyed the series quite a lot, considering it didn’t really have much to offer. Ayaka and Tougou were fun characters to follow and the manga hit me with unexpected cold-cut reality once or twice, too. I wasn’t sitting at the edge of my seat, waiting to find out what would happen next, but it was a nice little escape at the end of the day. I looked forward to each chapter even if I turned my brain half-off when reading it. This is not a manga for everyone, but expect nothing like I did and you might find yourself having a decent time.