YMC #77: A Divine Love Alone (By Your Average Joe)

4th Manga Review: A Divine Love Alone

Genres: Supernatural, Lots of Hugging (why is this its own tag?), Deity (Same goes for this one), Yuri

Length: 10 chapters + 7 ‘intermission’/special chapters

By: Ichika Hana
Status: Completed

(Couldn’t find a better picture, sorry!)

Story: Satoka is the daughter of a local shrine and lives together with Kotori, who may look like a normal and energetic girl, but is actually a matchmaker god in training. This series is about them, Satoka’s chilhood friend Shiori and the mysterious Hiwa dealing with their everyday lives and the relationships around them.

Yet another light-hearted Manga about a the life of a Deity who lives with an ordinary girl. I’m unsure if the Manga is trying to convey a serious message about trying to form relationships with others and the jealousy people may feel. The Manga certainly doesn’t make it a joke worthy matter but at the same time I feel the message of serious relationships is not conveyed enough to it to be labelled as one of those Anime/Mange that bring a thoughtful message, if you understand where I’m coming from.

Manga Technically has 5 main characters as they are all essential to the plot, but their screen time varies aside from Kotori (the pink haired girl above) who is always at the centre of it all. The romance as nice for what it’s worth. Don’t expect anything amazing as the romance can be subtle between certain characters. It is very pure love, not something you’d expect from your typical subtext Anime you would see on this site. However characters to admit they ‘love’ one another so calling it subtle might be unfair.

The genres are accurate. I personally would add a tag of mild drama as well but others may disagree. I almost feel as the love in this Manga does not evolve. Sure at the beginning, they establish the relationship characters have with each other and in the middle Kotori develops another love/friendship but beyond that not much changes I believe. Of course others may think the exact opposite.

Characters that do have motives have clear ones. The ending honestly was disappointing as it felt to me inconclusive. The story could have easily continued but it just stopped. Also, none of the characters officially hook up at the end, and if you have read the ‘Renai Manga’ review, I’m slightly bothered by that.

Characters are lovable and nice. It is nice to see Kotori attempting to fix/create love and believe it or not I like it when they get jealous of each other as it shows they care for other. I really liked that student council president; she’s petite, cute and has a crush on Kotori. Unfortunately, she was showcased for a very little amount of time and she didn’t hook up with Kotori.

Yuri Goodness: 6/10

Story: 5/10

Characters: 6/10

Overall enjoyment: 7/10

Overall Score: 24/40

I recommend it, but do not expect much.

Thank you all for reading!