I had a relatively short train trip, and wanted something short, cute and refreshing to read. I stumbled upon Small Nozomi and Big Yume and wanted to share my thoughts about it to the world.

Plot

Nozomi, a sixteen year old high-schooler, has been turned into a smaller version of herself in mysterious circumstances, for unknown reasons. In that process, she also happened to lose her memories. Fueled by her confusion and will to figure out what happened to her, she meets hikkikomori Yume, a twenty-two year old woman living in the nastiest conditions (though she somehow manages to look cute and put together despite the lack of hygiene and sustainable lifestyle). Nozomi will basically, aside with her initial objective, decide to try and drag Yume out of her own mess.

Thoughts

Positive :

The art style fits the classic criteria of the cute bubbly art style, it excels in it, even. Cute girls, cute animals, cute chibis : it's all really pretty and agreeable to read.

Negative :

What pleases some will disappoint others. That's right, I'm not a fan of the lowkey fetish content and soft sexualization in this manga. I found it rather unnecessary to have the girls shown ass-up half of the time. Poor Yume might be exhausted and jump on her bed, or just trip somewhere and fall, she will always end up with her ass pointed up, thighs showing. Obviously, if you're into that kid of stuff, that might be a plus for you. It wasn't for me. In my humble opinion, this manga shouldn't have relied on either Yume or Nozomi showing their feet close-up either. But once again, that might just be my taste.

Mixed :

First thing I have mixed opinions about is the humour. The jokes, the setting, the characters and the dumb situations made me smile quite a few times. The clashing personalities of the protagonists made the comedy in this manga very wholesome and light-hearted. It's cute. But what disappointed me a bit was the fact that the jokes kind of always revolve around the same things (Yume having trouble breaking her unhealthy habits or leaving her comfort zone), making the comedy rather repetitive. It's fun, it's nice, but in the end, it's a bit overdone.

Then, the overall plot and narrative also had me kind of hesitating. The trope is a classic one, done nicely. It doesn't tackle really deep or serious subjects (maybe except for the little friendship appreciation near the end) which in itself isn't an issue, since it can serve a purpose of a cute little story, usually a child-friendly one, that is light-hearted and that you would read to take your mind off things. What bugged me is the contrast between this aspect, and the whole lowkey fetish-content. Made me wonder about what the target audience that this manga was originally aimed at is.

Finally, the end of the story, mainly the final chapter, kind of clashed with the rest in my humble opinion.

One last thing that let me kind of down is that the girl x girl romance potential has not been fulfilled, sadly.

TL;DR

It's overall a cute manga, not a life-changing, philosophical one, but it's pretty and funny, a nice read. Suited to be read in one sit if you want to have your moment of escapism conditioned by cute manga girls and occasional zooms on their feet.