Ah yes, tights. Who does not like them? The way they help accentuate the legs and conceal the toes is such a delightful thing! Luckily for us, there is a whole manga about them. From the author of Arigatights! comes Tights de Iyashite Kureru Yome, or as its title in English, “My Wife’s Tights Soothe My Soul,” is a cute manga about, well, a man whose wife’s tights soothe his soul.
This manga does not have a story. Rather than a story, it takes an episodic approach. Each chapter is a different scenario where the wife is wearing tights and turns on the main character. While this may seem like something that would get bland quickly, the author tackles this issue rather effectively using a combination of three-ish parts.
The first method used is making each chapter feature a new situation that the main characters find themselves in, which helps keep things fresh.
Secondly, each chapter is only two pages. By keeping the size of each chapter to such a small number of pages, the manga can keep you invested by getting to the action right away, instead of beating around the bush. While effective, shorting chapter length comes with a cost; There is no character development. For a manga of its style, that does not matter as that is not the point of this manga or why you are even reading it in the first place. Now that you know each chapter is two pages, you may think: “then would it not be rushed?” or “then is it just empty fanservice?” And while those are reasonable assumptions, they are incorrect. Because this manga is episodic and the simplicity of its idea, while being in the ecchi genre creates an atmosphere where all you want is the action. The faster you get to the action, the better it is. Furthermore, it effectively uses those two pages to help set the scene. The first page is a panel that prepares the scene; Anywhere from two to four panels that boost the effectiveness of the second page, which is the ecchi work that shows off the hot anime waifu in tights. The setup works well because it, going back to the objective of this argument, keeps things simple and gets to the point without being baseless fanservice.
Finally, this manga avoids an issue that a solid amount of works run into, trying to be more than what it is. Whenever any work of any medium does this, it tends to become garbage. This manga avoids that. While it does create a lot of different scenarios leading to some risky experimentation, each one lands consistently. It does not try to develop a complex relationship with the husband and the wife, or have an affair, or have anything like that. It is pure, simple, fun.
Tights de Iyashite Kureru Yome is probably one of the few manga I have read that pulls off not having a story by using this very effective method. And what about the characters you may ask? Well, they are okay.
The main character, Taito Sumeragi, is built to be a self-insert: black hair, averagely built, and he has a tights fetish. He works at a black company and is constantly overworked. His sanctuary in life is what every guy dreams of: a hot anime waifu who has a tights fetish. Even though he is a self-insert character, he is not the blandest character I have seen. His openness with his wife and earnestness as a character is a feature that helps define his personality and also helps his ability to become a self-insert. Alongside the only love interest in this story is his wife, Sumeragi becomes a nice character that is enjoyable to watch.
The wife, Hakua Mayazumi, is also quite an endearing character. Of course, she is designed to be cute and has thick thighs for the plot of this manga, but it is fun to watch her instead of just being a moe fanservice character. Her interactions with her husband are always fun to watch and feel genuine. You can tell how much they love each other and tights.
These are generally the only two characters in the story, but there is one more: Mayazumi’s sister. I guess she is there? As of right now, she is only in two chapters and honestly, while it is nice to know that she exists, she does not need to. She feels like an extra character that is sometimes in Sumeragi and Mayazumi’s life.
The art of this manga helps reinforce the mood and overall joy of reading this manga. Albeit a bit standard, it is still pleasing to view. The outlines are thin, mainly helping to emphasize the thighs. The colours are pretty and bright, carrying the lighthearted and wholesome mood of the manga.
I think that most people that have a fetish for tights (Who does not honestly?) would appreciate this manga for what it is. It is drawn well and Grande’s best work to date. It is fun to watch this young couple interact and enjoy each other's company. Overall, I would recommend you to give this manga a read just because of how much fun it was to read.
32.5 out of 34 users liked this review
