So, I’m paying for the MangaPlus monthly subscription. What can I say? I love supporting the industry, 5 bucks at a time. And, if I’m doing that, I better make my money’s worth by reading some of the completed series in their backlog.

That’s how I found “Yumeochi: Dreaming of Falling for You”, snuck in the back end of the library. This short title caught my attention due to its beautifully drawn and colored volume covers and the color pages that adorn every single chapter. With only 30 chapters to boot, this was a no-brainer, and so I jumped into Yumeochi!

Yumeochi is a manga by Ryouma Kitada, better known for Dokyuu Hentai HxEros. He also seems to have written a couple of hentai, or at least, very suggestive manga, and often collaborates as an illustrator with other mangaka. So, yes, you should probably expect this to be an ecchi filled harem rom-com. And it is!

Now, normally I wouldn’t mind that, a look at my Anilist page is enough to tell you that I do enjoy a good ecchi harem once in a while, but the problem with Yumeochi is that it delivers something far better first, before taking it away in favour of it, but I’m getting ahead of myself! Let's start from the beginning.

This manga is the story of Chono, a 21 year old man who lacks proper social skills and can’t get women even when they are the ones flirting with him. He’s been like this for a long time, and has a lot of regrets over his quiet days back in Highschool. That is until one day he finds himself dreaming of those early days.
After some experimentation he finds out that there’s a specific manga, called “Dreaming of Falling For You” that, when put under the pillow before sleeping, transports him to another time, or maybe even another reality, where he’s back to his first year of school!

I love time traveling stories, and so I’ve consumed a lot of them. The plot of having someone return to their highschool days to be a better version of themselves is not at all original. The first example that comes to mind is Again!!, a manga following very similar plots.
But what I think makes Yumeochi so interesting is how unique it is in its details.

This, for all intents and purposes, is a dream world. Our character still wakes up from them and has to go to his own life in his own time, he’s not stuck in the past. And his actions in the dream world do not at all affect the time in his own reality. In this sense, this isn’t a redemption arc where he changes his life in the past so that his life is better in the present. All he’s able to do here is spiritually experience his life differently, and then grab that experience and use it to better himself in the real world.

But alas, this is a romance story, and so we need a romantic interest! Cue Ageha.
Ageha was your traditional nerdy class representative in Chono’s real timeline, one that he barely interacted with, however, fate will have it, with one single different choice, Chono and Ageha end up interacting and he ends up finding her secret…
She’s not a nerdy, shy girl at all! She’s a judo-grown extrovert who can throw Chono all over the place! But, because she was too self-conscious she decides to pretend to be someone who she’s not for the duration of her highschool years!
At the end of chapter one we have the incredible reveal that Ageha too is visiting this world through her sleep.
Both characters have deep regrets about the way that they lived their highschool years and so, they both jump into their sleeps to relive them together, not realizing, at least at first, that both of them are the same.

The manga here is AMAZING!
The chemistry these two have is immense, it’s really fun to see them interact, and fall in love with each other. It’s weirdly natural the way it happens.
They start talking in school, help each other with their problems, go on dates, tease each other, learn more about each other, and just have fun together. Legitimately, this is one of the few rom-coms that actually seems to have a realistic progression of romance!

And then, as they slowly realize that they both are sharing a dream, and meet in real life and create a connection there, the manga progresses more and more to establish their relationship and then…
Then the manga blows it.

The first six chapters are a great story of two lost souls finding solace and learning to enjoy living through one another.
Chapter seven onwards… is harem romcom #142554534. Yes, it should be noted that it’s clear that this manga was always going to be an harem romcom, the first page of the first chapter clearly shows the Main character surrounded by two Agehas (the original and who she becomes after his interaction with her), but also the other two girls that will make up the harem of the manga. They were planned to be part of the story from the get go…
However, the problem is that the author set up a relationship that’s too good, to not follow through at all with it after the first volume.

It’s honestly drastic how much the story changes with the introduction of the second girl. Suddenly, these two characters that were calling each other by their first name, and were close to kissing are… normal friends. Their romantic plot comes to a halt, and never, EVER returns.
Instead now we have to go through another girl’s story, as she slowly falls in love with Chono, and after that we go through ANOTHER girl’s story as she does the same.

Because now this is a harem romcom however, Chono never really has the same kind of relationship with them that he did with Ageha. He’s stuck to just finding them hot and growing as friends. Shifting between being more attracted to Omura in Omura focused chapters, and more attracted to Tateha in more Tateha focused ones. And Ageha is there too, in the sidelines, having had her character arc more or less fulfilled at this point.

But, well, that begs the question… as an harem romcom itself, how does it do?
I mean, it does well enough. I think the two other girls are decent characters, don’t get me wrong, and the fact that we keep shifting between them in their adult lives and their younger ones is still an interesting twist, as we learn who they are and who they became.

Both girls clearly have big regrets in their highschool years as well, and their characters arcs through the manga are somewhat compelling. This is hardly the best harem romcom, but it’s enjoyable for what it is. If you can get past the frustration of what they did to the main couple’s romantic plot… of course.

Also, since we’re talking about an ecchi harem, from a mangaka known for their ecchi manga… how does it hold up?
Well, normally I evaluate ecchi (Yes, I am the ecchi connoisseur) in two ways: 1) How does it affect the people that want to read the story?
2) How is it for people looking for ecchi filled manga?

Judging it in these two ways… it kinda sucks, honestly.
The ecchi, for the most part, is reserved for weird angles that force panty-shots where it would be physically impossible to see. Or the classic “ass first” panels. And never forgetting the good ol “We really need the female character at home to be naked or in underwear”.
I struggle to think of more than one example where the ecchi actually made sense in the story, other than the one time that Ageha put Chono in an armbar and they got flustered because he saw up her skirt, and Ageha’s diet arc.
In that sense, you can tune it out for the most part, since the story would be the exact same without ecchi, and enjoy it regardless. But the author does try to include it in pretty much every page, so if you don’t like ecchi… well, you may still be annoyed.

On the other hand, if you love ecchi… honestly, is this what you want?
Small, weird upskirts in random panels? Does it really do anything for anyone?
The ecchi seems to be relocated to being as small as possible, but still somewhat visible. the author shows that he can pull off “the good stuff” in the color pages and special illustrations, but most of the ecchi in the manga is honestly just… there. It’s more annoying to people who don’t want it, than it is fulfilling to people who do. Tho, I’ll at least say that the author clearly spends a lot of time working on the style of the girl’s underwear. There’s all these various intricate patterns and styles to them, and stuff. It’s… I dunno.. It’s interesting that they choose to spend time on that.

But anyways, ecchi aside, there’s one final thing I want to talk about, the final thing we should talk about… the finale. The ending.

This is a canceled manga. I didn’t confirm it, but it has to be. And the story as a whole greatly suffers from it.
The last three chapters come completely out of nowhere, stopping a story arc right in the middle in favour of it’s final plot, one that sees Chono not being able to go back to the dream world, finally changing who he is due to his time there and having some final moments with girls, before they all choose to stay in the real world, completely changed…
Except, kinda not?

Omura and Tateha never really got their character arcs completed, and the MC only did in a very forced way. The romantic plot never gets a chance to return, the final chapters of the previous arc could lead them to it, as it had Ageha realizing that she should act… but the mangaka chooses not to pursue that.
Instead we don’t get a proper final girl, or resolution to any of that. We get to know that they will continue to be friends as adults and the manga ends.
As someone who has read tons of cancelled manga, there were still better ways to deal with the ending, as it is very, very anti-climatic.

So, Yumeochi… While I was reading the first six chapters I really thought this was going to be one of my favourite romcoms, but that’s six out of thirty. And the manga for the most part, while enjoyable for what it is, will always live in the shadow of its start. Plus, with a rushed ending, it just leads to a disappointing, and quite incomplete package.