Quick Answer
Yes, if you want a quiet, complete romance drama that trades courtship-and-confession beats for the full arc of a marriage, from meeting to old age.
Quick Verdict
“Starting from the end of a marriage and reminiscing backward gives this romance a shape most of the genre never attempts.”
Best for: Readers who want a mature, complete romance drama about the full span of a marriage rather than just its beginning.
Not for: Readers who want plot tension or forward momentum rather than a quiet, reflective pace.
| Quick facts | |
|---|---|
| Format | Manga, 25 chapters, 4 volumes |
| Run | 2017–2019 · completed |
| Community score | AniList 8.4 · MangaUpdates 8.3 |
Umarekawattemo Mata, Watashi to Kekkon Shitekuremasu ka (roughly, 'Even If I'm Reborn, Will You Marry Me Again?') is a completed Japanese manga by Miku Morinaga, running 4 volumes and 25 chapters between 2017 and 2019. It grew out of a pixiv one-shot that won the Grand Prize at the Gene Pixiv Legend Manga Award III before being expanded into a full series. Toranosuke Ibuki lies bedridden in a hospital decades into his marriage to Kaoru, and together the two look back over the whole arc of their relationship: how they met, his proposal, the ordinary and difficult stretches of married life. By the end, they've affirmed they'd choose each other again, even in the next one.
Most romance manga build toward a wedding or a confession; this one starts near the end of a marriage and works backward, which gives it a shape the genre rarely attempts. Knowing from the first chapter that Toranosuke and Kaoru's bond lasted decades changes how every flashback reads -- there's no suspense about whether they end up together, so the story can focus entirely on how they got there and what it cost and gave them along the way.
Because the manga covers the couple's entire relationship rather than just the courtship, small domestic details -- an argument over something minor, a quiet evening, the specific ways they irritated and comforted each other over the years -- get as much space as the big romantic milestones. That balance gives the relationship a lived-in, specific quality that's hard to fake.
It's also fully complete at a compact 4 volumes, which means the reflective pace never has room to overstay its welcome the way a similar concept might if stretched across a much longer run.
The reminiscence structure that makes the series distinctive also means it has very little forward momentum or plot tension. Readers looking for stakes, obstacles, or conflict beyond the couple's own personalities and circumstances will find the pacing deliberately quiet, and that quietness won't be for everyone.
There's also no official English license as of this review, so readers outside Japan are relying on fan translation and aggregator sites rather than an official platform.
Umarekawattemo Mata, Watashi to Kekkon Shitekuremasu ka takes the least common structural choice in romance manga -- starting near the end and working backward -- and uses it to build a quieter, more mature story about the full span of a marriage. It won't suit readers chasing plot tension, but as a compact, complete portrait of long-term love, it's a strong, easy-to-overlook pick.
Strengths
Weaknesses
A Story About A Grampa And Grandma Who Returned Back To Their Youth
shares the focus on a long-married couple's history and devotion
similar quiet, domestic-life emotional register outside the usual romance-genre beats
Ojou to Banken-kun
another slower slice-of-life romance built on small daily gestures rather than plot conflict
Yes, it finished in 2019 at 4 volumes and 25 chapters.
No, it's a slower, more grounded drama about a married couple looking back on their whole relationship, closer to slice-of-life than a conventional genre romance.
Not officially as of this review.
The original one-shot it grew out of won the Grand Prize at the Gene Pixiv Legend Manga Award III before being serialized into the full 4-volume series.
