When Arisa loses her memories from the last three years, her girlfriend Mari worries this means the end of their two years relationship. Turns out Arisa falls in love all over again upon meeting Mari at the hospital, and is excited for the chance to re-live all their firsts a second time!
Relationship Context
💥 Couple Dynamic
Arisa & Mari – Gap Couple
Arisa falls in love at first sight, again. Mari re-experiences Arisa’s zealousness. 95% comedy, 5% loss.
🩷 Arisa Suzuki – Overeager Disaster
- Goofy and happy-go-lucky amnesiac
- Used to take the lead but forgotten it all
- Excited to re-learn about Mari
- Envious of her old self
🖤 Mari Satou – Steady Soul
- Reliable provider of the two
- Unsure on how to take the lead but trying to initiate intimacy
- Force of habit behaviours delightfully trouble them both
- Pulled along by Arisa’s antics as always
| Title | Cheerful Amnesia/ Akarui Kioku Soushitsu |
| Author | Tamamushi Oku |
| Status | Completed, 2020 |
| Genre | Modern Yuri |
| Tags | Comedy, Memory Loss, Slice-of-life, Romance, Age gap |
Review
| Category | Rating (0-3) |
|---|---|
| Romance | 🌸🌸🌸 Flirting in your face |
| Intimacy | 🔥🔥 🔥 Ramps up near the end |
| Story | 📝📝 Light and super funny |
| Pacing | 🚶🏻♀️🚶🏻♀️ Easy paced |
| Emotional damage | 🥺 A little here and there |
| Fluff | ☁️☁️☁️ It’s so fluffy I wanna… |
Story Overview
Cheerful Amnesia is a comical romance story about:
– An adorable ‘fall in love again’ situation after a memory loss
– Hilarious attempts at reversing/re-learning passive and active relationship roles
– Occasional deep moments of losing a past loved one
Key Themes
Open emotions and affection: Arisa the amnesiac has once again reverted to her loud and expressive younger self. She’s very eager to learn about her past self and how she came to be in a relationship with Mari. To her, their relationship is a dream come true!
Losing a person/oneself to amnesia: Mari sometimes mourns the loss of her girlfriend, the past Arisa, but is comforted to know that the Arisa now is still as in love with her as she always was. Arisa herself funnily struggles with spicy intimate moments, and expresses her envy at her own past self for being able to make the first move.
Passive and active dynamic reversal troubles: Arisa used to be the initiator in the relationship, but she has lost all that knowledge. She eagerly asks her friends for tips, but struggles to take the step for deeper intimacy. Mari on the other hand tries her best to overcome her passiveness and teaches Arisa. But she still struggles with her shyness to take the lead even though she misses the intimacy.
Personal Review
I am a sucker for a bright personality who somehow pulls everyone along to her pace, with things working out her way. That’s Arisa in this story! Mari is happy to have Arisa back, and at times forgot that she’s not the same Arisa. They both really want to be intimate in all ways but are clueless how to!
While Arisa was very excited to re-learn her relationship with her dream girlfriend/wife Mari, Mari felt that this is a new relationship dynamic and had to build up courage to be the initiator. It’s cute that she fails at times, even though she is older and has more experience in this very relationship.
The forgotten years included the first year they met before they started dating, the two years of being together, and up till Mari proposing to Arisa. That’s quite a time gap with many moments lost, basically as if this relationship never happened.
Mari definitely has a fair bit to deal with emotionally, with her girlfriend not remembering all those times. While most of the time she seems happy to guide and teach Arisa, there were also moments where she mourns who she lost.
Through flashbacks we see how Mari was never interested in a relationship, and how Arisa wormed her way into Mari’s life and heart. It was an emotional moment when Mari finally got a response from her proposal to pre-memory loss Arisa, a person she loves whom she has now lost.
Final Thought
The focus on a slice-of-life romcom where the couple repeatedly tries to be intimate again is super sweet and fun to read. The story is kept light most of the time, eliciting laughter and giggles more than anything else.
Tricky and at times sad moments happen, but Mari and Arisa are bound to overcome those together and form new memories in the future! Cheerful Amnesia definitely tops my happy reads list!
My Rating: 10/10 highly recommended!
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