So Im paying for the MangaPlus monthly subscription. What can I say? I love supporting the industry 5 bucks at a time. And if Im doing that I better make my moneys worth by reading some of the completed series in their backlog. Thats how I found Yumeochi: Dreaming of Falling for You snuck in the back end of the library. This short title caught my attention due to its beautifully drawn and colored volume covers and the color pages that adorn every single chapter. With only 30 chapters to boot this was a nobrainer and so I jumped into Yumeochi Yumeochi is a manga by Ryouma Kitada better known for Dokyuu Hentai HxEros. He also seems to have written a couple of hentai or at least very suggestive manga and often collaborates as an illustrator with other mangaka. So yes you should probably expect this to be an ecchi filled harem romcom. And it is Now normally I wouldnt mind that a look at my Anilist page is enough to tell you that I do enjoy a good ecchi harem once in a while but the problem with Yumeochi is that it delivers something far better first before taking it away in favour of it but Im getting ahead of myself Lets start from the beginning. 500https://i.ur.com/X1fuThN.jpg This manga is the story of Chono a 21 year old man who lacks proper social skills and cant get women even when they are the ones flirting with him. Hes been like this for a long time and has a lot of regrets over his quiet days back in Highschool. That is until one day he finds himself dreaming of those early days. After some experimentation he finds out that theres a specific manga called Dreaming of Falling For You that when put under the pillow before sleeping transports him to another time or maybe even another reality where hes back to his first year of school I love time traveling stories and so Ive consumed a lot of them. The plot of having someone return to their highschool days to be a better version of themselves is not at all original. The first example that comes to mind is Again a manga following very similar plots. But what I think makes Yumeochi so interesting is how unique it is in its details. This for all intents and purposes is a dream world. Our character still wakes up from them and has to go to his own life in his own time hes not stuck in the past. And his actions in the dream world do not at all affect the time in his own reality. In this sense this isnt a redemption arc where he changes his life in the past so that his life is better in the present. All hes able to do here is spiritually experience his life differently and then grab that experience and use it to better himself in the real world. But alas this is a romance story and so we need a romantic interest Cue Ageha. Ageha was your traditional nerdy class representative in Chonos real timeline one that he barely interacted with however fate will have it with one single different choice Chono and Ageha end up interacting and he ends up finding her secret Shes not a nerdy shy girl at all Shes a judogrown extrovert who can throw Chono all over the place But because she was too selfconscious she decides to pretend to be someone who shes not for the duration of her highschool years At the end of chapter one we have the incredible reveal that Ageha too is visiting this world through her sleep. Both characters have deep regrets about the way that they lived their highschool years and so they both jump into their sleeps to relive them together not realizing at least at first that both of them are the same. The manga here is AMAZING The chemistry these two have is immense its really fun to see them interact and fall in love with each other. Its weirdly natural the way it happens. They start talking in school help each other with their problems go on dates tease each other learn more about each other and just have fun together. Legitimately this is one of the few romcoms that actually seems to have a realistic progression of romance And then as they slowly realize that they both are sharing a dream and meet in real life and create a connection there the manga progresses more and more to establish their relationship and then Then the manga blows it. 500https://i.ur.com/S4YKMDW.png The first six chapters are a great story of two lost souls finding solace and learning to enjoy living through one another. Chapter seven onwards is harem romcom 142554534. Yes it should be noted that its clear that this manga was always going to be an harem romcom the first page of the first chapter clearly shows the Main character surrounded by two Agehas the original and who she becomes after his interaction with her but also the other two girls that will make up the harem of the manga. They were planned to be part of the story from the get go However the problem is that the author set up a relationship thats too good to not follow through at all with it after the first volume. Its honestly drastic how much the story changes with the introduction of the second girl. Suddenly these two characters that were calling each other by their first name and were close to kissing are normal friends. Their romantic plot comes to a halt and never EVER returns. Instead now we have to go through another girls story as she slowly falls in love with Chono and after that we go through ANOTHER girls story as she does the same. Because now this is a harem romcom however Chono never really has the same kind of relationship with them that he did with Ageha. Hes stuck to just finding them hot and growing as friends. Shifting between being more attracted to Omura in Omura focused chapters and more attracted to Tateha in more Tateha focused ones. And Ageha is there too in the sidelines having had her character arc more or less fulfilled at this point. But well that begs the question as an harem romcom itself how does it do? I mean it does well enough. I think the two other girls are decent characters dont get me wrong and the fact that we keep shifting between them in their adult lives and their younger ones is still an interesting twist as we learn who they are and who they became. Both girls clearly have big regrets in their highschool years as well and their characters arcs through the manga are somewhat compelling. This is hardly the best harem romcom but its enjoyable for what it is. If you can get past the frustration of what they did to the main couples romantic plot of course. 500https://i.ur.com/WUYHHjf.png Also since were talking about an ecchi harem from a mangaka known for their ecchi manga how does it hold up? Well normally I evaluate ecchi Yes I am the ecchi connoisseur in two ways: 1 How does it affect the people that want to read the story? 2 How is it for people looking for ecchi filled manga? Judging it in these two ways it kinda sucks honestly. The ecchi for the most part is reserved for weird angles that force pantyshots where it would be physically impossible to see. Or the classic ass first panels. And never forgetting the good ol We really need the female character at home to be naked or in underwear. I struggle to think of more than one example where the ecchi actually made sense in the story other than the one time that Ageha put Chono in an armbar and they got flustered because he saw up her skirt and Agehas diet arc. In that sense you can tune it out for the most part since the story would be the exact same without ecchi and enjoy it regardless. But the author does try to include it in pretty much every page so if you dont like ecchi well you may still be annoyed. On the other hand if you love ecchi honestly is this what you want? Small weird upskirts in random panels? Does it really do anything for anyone? The ecchi seems to be relocated to being as small as possible but still somewhat visible. the author shows that he can pull off the good stuff in the color pages and special illustrations but most of the ecchi in the manga is honestly just there. Its more annoying to people who dont want it than it is fulfilling to people who do. Tho Ill at least say that the author clearly spends a lot of time working on the style of the girls underwear. Theres all these various intricate patterns and styles to them and stuff. Its I dunno.. Its interesting that they choose to spend time on that. But anyways ecchi aside theres one final thing I want to talk about the final thing we should talk about the finale. The ending. 500https://i.ur.com/MnCXeFK.png This is a canceled manga. I didnt confirm it but it has to be. And the story as a whole greatly suffers from it. The last three chapters come completely out of nowhere stopping a story arc right in the middle in favour of its final plot one that sees Chono not being able to go back to the dream world finally changing who he is due to his time there and having some final moments with girls before they all choose to stay in the real world completely changed Except kinda not? Omura and Tateha never really got their character arcs completed and the MC only did in a very forced way. The romantic plot never gets a chance to return the final chapters of the previous arc could lead them to it as it had Ageha realizing that she should act but the mangaka chooses not to pursue that. Instead we dont get a proper final girl or resolution to any of that. We get to know that they will continue to be friends as adults and the manga ends. As someone who has read tons of cancelled manga there were still better ways to deal with the ending as it is very very anticlimatic. So Yumeochi While I was reading the first six chapters I really thought this was going to be one of my favourite romcoms but thats six out of thirty. And the manga for the most part while enjoyable for what it is will always live in the shadow of its start. Plus with a rushed ending it just leads to a disappointing and quite incomplete package.