Unmei Nado Sonzai Shinainode - Vol. 1 Ch. 7 - 38 years old is an Auntie (Old Lady)

[MangaDex]

 

[yun1que]

Well I don't pay too much attention to the redraw, and such as long as it's readable so in this case, the translation can be done better. Thankfully I can still understand and roughly proofread it automatically in my brain but idk about anyone else. That's what I got to say, thx for the chapter man!

 

[outinthegardener]

Not sure how to feel about this one. On one hand, they're correct that people will view marriage like a commodity exchange. On the other, this is a reflection of how everything has become a commodity, and people aren't expected to just enjoy stuff for stuff. It's a generalization based on the culture they're currently in that flattens the multiple expressions of romantic partnership. Marriage has transactional elements, but it's also about passion, or leaving your family, or sharing hobbies, or sharing fetishes, or about local availability, or being arranged by your parents, and so on. The type of marriage this manga presents is only true within the material conditions that make it possible.

All these rules Kashiwagi is laying down about age gaps, body types, income- they're culturally, materially, and historically dependent. I agree that they make sense for the culture and time he's currently in. But only to the extent that people choose to buy into them. All rules have exceptions, all cultures have subcultures. Kashiwagi's 'rules' are more like trends or suggestions. For example I had two different friends, one in HS and one in College, who were attracted to overweight women. I had another friend in post grad who was a short thin woman, but her type was fatter guys with body hair.

Part of me wonders if the author is being self-aware, or if they're sincere about how they present marriage. If sincere I think my biggest criticism of this manga is that it's shallow. I think there are hints they're aware about the broader context of marriage. Like when they talked about being too exhausted from work to even enjoy hobbies. People wouldn't need marriage agencies if they worked less and had more time for community interaction where they would meet people organically. If at some point the story takes a broader look I'd be impressed.

 

[Supcolors]

Not sure how to feel about this one. On one hand, they're correct that people will view marriage like a commodity exchange. On the other, this is a reflection of how everything has become a commodity, and people aren't expected to just enjoy stuff for stuff. It's a generalization based on the culture they're currently in that flattens the multiple expressions of romantic partnership. Marriage has transactional elements, but it's also about passion, or leaving your family, or sharing hobbies, or sharing fetishes, or about local availability, or being arranged by your parents, and so on. The type of marriage this manga presents is only true within the material conditions that make it possible.

All these rules Kashiwagi is laying down about age gaps, body types, income- they're culturally, materially, and historically dependent. I agree that they make sense for the culture and time he's currently in. But only to the extent that people choose to buy into them. All rules have exceptions, all cultures have subcultures. Kashiwagi's 'rules' are more like trends or suggestions. For example I had two different friends, one in HS and one in College, who were attracted to overweight women. I had another friend in post grad who was a short thin woman, but her type was fatter guys with body hair.

Part of me wonders if the author is being self-aware, or if they're sincere about how they present marriage. If sincere I think my biggest criticism of this manga is that it's shallow. I think there are hints they're aware about the broader context of marriage. Like when they talked about being too exhausted from work to even enjoy hobbies. People wouldn't need marriage agencies if they worked less and had more time for community interaction where they would meet people organically. If at some point the story takes a broader look I'd be impressed.

I think the author presented marriage through an agency very good. the first woman showed how a normal marriage happens, even the old dudes classmate did. The author displayed how a marriage agency works very realistically, when you are faced with a picture of a person(hundreds in this case) and data about them you will be materialistic,look at age gaps and body types more.

And you just said, an exception is just that, an exception, a 1%, an insignificant number. You described 3 people but were the other hundreds or thousand of people from your hs,college and post grade the same as them? Most likely no.

And the logic of his advice was extremely sound. First woman spent 5 years at an agency and was not married. Why was she not chosen? Age? seems not. Income? Seems not. Personality? Seems not. Face? Seems not. That left her body. Also he didn't say you need to be thin, he said to be under 70kg, average jp woman is 158cm tall(she was 84kg, a lot for such a height and she seemed even shorter) so such a weight is perfectly reasonable to expect if you are to compete with other people to select a husband.

Old dude was delusional. If he was some very rich man he could expect it but he was poor. This woman was also delusional, you can't expect a rich young man to choose someone 10-15 years older especially if she isn't doing anything with her life, when he can choose someone his age and with her same life success.

You need to remember that a marriage agency is exactly like a dating app but with different goals(marriage vs dating). You enter a database where you compete with other people to get the best match you can get. So of course if the agent had a rich young man that said i want a former flight attendant that is 38yo and is an office worker or a young woman that said I want a 50yo poor man and have 3 kids with him, he would work with that but that just doesn't happen.

 

[outinthegardener]

I think the author presented marriage through an agency very good. the first woman showed how a normal marriage happens, even the old dudes classmate did. The author displayed how a marriage agency works very realistically, when you are faced with a picture of a person(hundreds in this case) and data about them you will be materialistic,look at age gaps and body types more.

And you just said, an exception is just that, an exception, a 1%, an insignificant number. You described 3 people but were the other hundreds or thousand of people from your hs,college and post grade the same as them? Most likely no.

And the logic of his advice was extremely sound. First woman spent 5 years at an agency and was not married. Why was she not chosen? Age? seems not. Income? Seems not. Personality? Seems not. Face? Seems not. That left her body. Also he didn't say you need to be thin, he said to be under 70kg, average jp woman is 158cm tall(she was 84kg, a lot for such a height and she seemed even shorter) so such a weight is perfectly reasonable to expect if you are to compete with other people to select a husband.

Old dude was delusional. If he was some very rich man he could expect it but he was poor. This woman was also delusional, you can't expect a rich young man to choose someone 10-15 years older especially if she isn't doing anything with her life, when he can choose someone his age and with her same life success.

You need to remember that a marriage agency is exactly like a dating app but with different goals(marriage vs dating). You enter a database where you compete with other people to get the best match you can get. So of course if the agent had a rich young man that said i want a former flight attendant that is 38yo and is an office worker or a young woman that said I want a 50yo poor man and have 3 kids with him, he would work with that but that just doesn't happen.

I agree that this presents marriage through an agency well. That's a hyper-specific cultural and material condition through which to view marriage. If everyone got married through an agency, it would look like this. Pure transaction and algorithmic data sorting. I find this commodified and data-driven form of marriage to be flawed because it flattens out the complexity of human interaction.

I'll stand by my point about exceptions. I only provided three examples because listing more would be too long. Of all the married people I've known, a lot of them were fat, a lot of them were poor, some were confident with good personalities and some were depressed wrecks. Human experience is broad and varied. My point about "exceptions to the rule" is not to say that a few people I've known don't match the rule. It's that no one matches the rule exactly, and thus everyone has some unique tastes, aka "Exceptions to the rule".

 

[Brewers90]

She put out too quickly and got punted straight into the Sleeper Zone. Now she has to compromise on her unrealistic expectations and find a guy from the Not People zone.

seriously though, this manga does a good job at showing that marriage should be based on complementary factors. People at similar stages of their life, with similar goals and values and of course being looksmatched make for the best pairs. Only the very upper echelon of society (people who have great looks or money and power etc) can basically pick and choose based on looks alone. Your Chads and Chadettes. the rest of us need to 1) understand our own value and what we can reasonably offer in a committed relationship and 2) choose someone willing to do the same for you. There has to be mutual agreement in what both people are bringing to the table