Romance Roundtable #48: Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?!

Welcome back to Romance Roundtable: a feature where the editorial POME Crones gather together to discuss Romance Manga. Today we’re covering volume 1 of Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! by Yuu Toyota (translated by Taylor Engel). Join us for improbable magical powers, matchmaking bosses, and, most importantly, two cute hunks having big feelings.


Jenny: ok i will start by saying that this was very cute and fun!
the premise:

Caption: Since I reached the ripe old age of thirty with my virginity intact, I now seem to have the dubious ability to use magic.
Caption: Kiyoshi Adachi, Wizard, Level 30, Skill: Contact Mind Reader

CC: always appreciate when it’s all right there in the title
30 year old virgin becomes a wizard

Rachel: i really enjoyed how there was absolutely no preamble to this
who cares why it is this way!! it just is!!!

Jenny: just jumped right in!
cut anything that does not spark joy!

Ashley: LOL yes
at first it caught me off guard but i came around immediately like, ok let’s go!

CC: no time to waste
every moment spent building lore is a moment without sexual tension

Rachel: exaCTLY
the older i get, the less i care about worldbuilding

Ashley: LMAO

Jenny: yes!!

Panel 1: Kurosawa's thoughts: "He's got a mole on his neck behind his hear.
Kurosawa: "Hey..."

Panel 2: Kurosawa: "Do these figures look off to you?"
Kurosawa's thoughts: "It couldn't be in a sexier place. I want to lick — "

Adachi: "WAUGH!!!"

CC: look: i love worldbuilding, i truly do, but did not need it here & appreciated just cutting to the chase
also LOL jenny I was about to post this same screenshot
great minds

Jenny: huge brains that’s us

CC: i love that both of these boys have like one shared brain cell and it’s just thinking about smooching

Jenny: truly
and also who doesn’t love a classique ‘popular boy loves awkward nerd’?

Panel 1: Kurosawa: "Well, how about we take the stairs? All the way to 17... It'll be a great workout."

Panel 2: Adachi, blinking against the shine coming off of Kurosawa. Caption: "This is Kurosawa. We got hired at the same time."

Panel 3: Caption: "He's handsome, good at his job, and even gets along with gloomy, average guys like me. He's nice to everybody and criminally popular."

Panel 4: Caption: "I bet he parted ways with his virginity as a teen."

Rachel: the classic “he’s blinding”
☀️🌑

CC: literally so hot that they have to send him away on valentine’s day to get anything in the office done
L M A

Caption from Adachi: "No work would get done today if Kurosawa, the company's hottest guy, was around, so... they sent him on a business trip."

Adachi, thinking: "Being popular is pretty rough too, huh...?"

Rachel: LOL yes i did love that

Rachel: LOL yes i did love that

Ashley: he is truly the perfect hot boy
humble, a little lonesome

CC: a great cook

Adachi's mental image of Kurosawa, pouring vinaigrette into a salad.

Ashley: literal chef kiss

CC: whatta hunkasaurus

Jenny: and also! he’s so nice!
PURE!

Adachi, thinking after Kurosawa let him borrow a scarf: "He's such a nice guy... I'm sorry for thinking you might jump me."

Rachel: so cute!!!
love to lend your crush your scarf!!

Ashley: the shojo sparkles, restrained, really hits

CC: ok, the one thing that really felt like a bit much
even though honestly: fantastically played
was him having a pair of PJs perfectly in his crush’s size just on the off chance that he had to crash there someday

Kurosawa hands Adachi a pair of pajamas.

Kurosawa's thoughts: "Oh! I'm so glad! I never imagined the pajamas I bought while fantasizing about how cute they'd look on Adachi would actually come in handy..."

Jenny: oh agreed — that was Too Much

Ashley: I ATE IT UP
lolllll
let me have this!!!!

Jenny: lolololololol

Rachel: yeah honestly i am here for it hahahaha
love to indulge in innocent ways!!
let him have his little fantasy!!

CC: like, well played, in the same way that the girl from our prev book long conned her crush into marrying and then falling in love with her
genious brain

Jenny: love to have both wolves represented here

Ashley: LOL

Jenny: but i DID really like:

Kurosawa's mental projection of Adachi in pajamas. Caption: "Fantasies over a certain character limit are displayed as visuals."

CC: LMAO YES

Jenny: the pj’s feature prominently!

Rachel: hahaha the character limit comment

Jenny: yes! “fantasies over a certain character limit are displayed as visuals” — v funny. i love comics

CC: rachel i knew u would appreciate that
comics are great
love comics

Ashley: the thing that I thought was much was the third person 30 yr old male captions???
who is in the quotation marks????????????? who is saying this?

Rachel: oh yes i struggled with that as well!

CC: it reminded me of like, online advice forum posts?

Jenny: oh yeah i didn’t totally get that. thought maybe it was like someone writing in to an advice column?
lol +1 cc

Rachel: my spouse told me that apparently turning into a wizard when you are a 30 year old virgin is like a 4chan meme or something
so maybe it’s a reference to that?

Jenny: ohhhhh that would make some sense, i think

Ashley: ohhhhhh yeah okay

CC: i [30m] can read my hot coworker’s [??m] mind & he gives me soft pajamas and delicious breakfast, i want to kiss him, what do i do??

Rachel: LOL

Ashley: AITA: i (30m) paid for my crush’s (30m) thank you lunch so he would have to take me out again

Rachel: ahahahahaah love it though
ok so, i thought this book was overall very sweet and cute and fun, but there was a thing that kept happening that i have conflicting feelings about
which was how Adachi, our virgin wizard, was always bracing Kurosawa to assault him??
like the idea that oh, this man is gay, i must be in danger

Jenny: ah yeah — it felt like it was played off as a joke a lot of the time, like:

Kurosawa in a fantasy knight outfit, and Adachi in a low level fantasy peasant's outfit. Video game text, saying: "Kurosawa, the Go-Getter" and "Adachi, Values his Life"

Jenny: but agree that it came off a little paranoid in a homophobic way

Rachel: yeah!!

CC: also every time kurosawa is just like “cool, goodnight!” adachi is like
wow, amazing, what a great guy, did not assault me
maybe it’s just that he read too many harlequin mangas

Adachi trying to picture what dating would look like with Kurosawa, and imagining them kissing.

Adachi: "WAUGH!"

Adachi's coworker: "Keep it down."

Adachi: "Sorry.." Internally: "I'm way too short on ideas of what 'dating' looks like. All I do know, I learned from reading my mom's shojo manga ages ago."

Ashley: ACK HAHAHA
he DID canonically read his mom’s shojo manga

Ashley: lol
i mean, i think it could be read generously as internalized homophobia

Rachel: yeah for sure! i also think like, sometimes men ARE scary
hence my conflicting feelings

Jenny: ah yeah that’s a fair point rachel

CC: yeah agreed, the harlequin manga guess is….a very generous interpretation L O L

Jenny: like, i remember adachi would sometimes think like “what if i were a woman in this situation”
and like, yeah if he were it might genuinely be cause for some paranoia

Rachel: yes exactly!!
i think another somewhat generous reading of it could be the fear of falling in love, being seen and known
insert that meme about being seen here
i do get the vibe that it’s a lot of internalized homophobia though, i think ashley is right on the money about that
how he would say things like he was “surprised” that being kissed didn’t “gross” him out
that’s like, classic internalized homophobia i think

Jenny: for sure

Ashley: been there

Jenny: but also a little bit just being a virgin and inexperienced

Ashley: hahah been there too

Jenny: like, bodily fluids, y’know; mouths–they’re not clean

Ashley: i mean let’s be real kurosawa has excellent oral hygiene

Jenny: yes he’s perfect

Ashley: hahaha

Rachel: what did y’all think of Adachi’s romance novelist best friend, and future virgin wizard??

Jenny: I LOVE HIM

Adachi's caption: "This is Masato Tsuge, a college classmate and one of my few friends."

Tsuge, after Adachi tells him he's a wizard: "It's trash. Why tell me about it?"

Adachi: "Well, you write romance novels, and you seem like you've got a lot of experience with this stuff, y'know? You're pretty much the only person I could go to with this stuff..."

CC: i love that he and the hot postal worker have a real yuri manga couple vibe. chaotic blond one, blockheaded dark haired cutie

Ashley: YESSS

Jenny: HUGE paulette bonafonte vibes

The delivery guy, to Tsuge: "...as long as I'm here for a delivery, yeah, sure."

Delivery guy, internally: "... I still think he might be a little sketchy though."

Later: Tsuge, buying cat toys online.

CC: “this old guy”

Delivery guy's thoughts, which Tsuge can hear: "Geez. How many times is this old guy gonna make me stop by? I know you're actually home, you lousy shut-in!"

Ashley: LITTLE YURI FANG

The delivery guy, with his little yuri fang: "The cat... okay if I pet it?"

Jenny: YESSSSS

The delivery guy, petting the cat and thinking: "Lucky you, finding a nice person to take you in..."
Tsuge, with an arrow right through his heart."
Caption: "Masato Tsuge, thirty years old... has apparently fallen under a terrible spell."

Rachel: THUNK

Ashley: thunk

Jenny: THUNK!!

Ashley: direct hit

CC: i like that they reused the panel with the cat in the box with the umbrella like 2 or 3 times
could reuse it on every page honestly, i wouldn’t mind
i love udon the cat
cat
i love cat

The delivery guy, thinking about the cat under an umbrella in an udon box.

Ashley: when you draw something really good don’t be afraid to repost!!!!

Jenny: yes i really respect it

Rachel: i am not trying to draw an umbrella more than once if i can help it
a surprisingly complex geometric shape!!

Ashley: lmao

CC: LOL
fair

Ashley: will keep that in mind for our next fashion post

Jenny: i wish only the best for my romantic idiot son
but i wanted to mention that this whole book is v fun!
like
the meddling boss!

Kurosawa and Adachi's boss giving them a coupon for a dinner he wants them to have together.

Kurosawa and Adachi's thoughts: "Chief, you're seriously..."

Adachi: "... a plague demon!"
Kurosawa: "...cupid..."

CC: oh LOL yall i just realized something
the boss
he’s also there during the kissing game at the afterparty

The boss, sitting at the table!!

Ashley: HAHAHAHA WAIT WHAT

CC: same bowl cut!
dang jenny you really called it!!!!
he was pulling the strings the whole time!!!!!

Rachel: wow dang!!! the real mvp???

Jenny: bullies adachi into taking kurosawa out to dinner bc kurosawa helped adachi out w some paperwork; gives them a coupon for a restaurant and then when they go the coupon is expired!! does not say anything when one coworker bullies adachi and kurosawa into kissing!
meddlesome crone energy

CC: the bossman

A picture of a shiba, with two little shiba hairclips.

Ashley: this whole world’s function is to get these two together

Jenny: but genuinely the expired coupon meat shop date was funny and cute

Adachi, thinking: "This was fun. Nothing weird about it..."
An arrow points at Adachi, labeled "simpleminded"

Jenny: adachi out here again like “wow i can’t believe i had a really nice time with this beautiful man who is super nice and also into me”
simpleminded!
but also it does end so disastrously
see: “AITA: i (30m) paid for my crush’s (30m) thank you lunch so he would have to take me out again”
so when adachi makes them go to an ATM so he can repay the debt immediately
i sad

Rachel: yes 😥

CC: hope these 2 crazy kids can figure it out

Jenny: yes!!

Ashley: final thoughts?????

Rachel: i’m down!

Jenny: sure thing!

CC: yeah!
ok, I have a very simple final thought, mind if I go first yall?

Jenny: go for it

CC: rad: my final thought is
this manga was so cute and fun, but i have it on good authority that there is a drama of this story that is even more cute and fun
and now that we’ve read the book i canNOT wait to check it out!!!

Ashley: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jenny: !!!!!!!!!!!!
yes yes yes yes yes

Ashley: omg wait i think i’ve seen stills of this on twitter

CC: 1 sec
lemme grab a link here

Rachel: DANG
yes would 10000% be down to watch this!!

Ashley: yessssssssssssssssSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Rachel: ok so my final thought is kind of related
i have to say, i was a little disappointed at the low spice level of this book, but the author’s afterward gives me hope for future books

The author, talking to editors at Square Enix: "It's fundamentally a romantic comedy, but I'd like to show the shifts and changes in Kurosawa's and Adachi's hearts in detail. As the story develops, I'd like to have them get sexy too. Will, um... will that be okay at Square Enix?"
Editor 1: "Absolutely!"
Editor 2: "Bring it on!"

CC: LOL

Jenny: lol this was going to be my final thought!

Rachel: hahahah great minds jenny!!

Jenny: i immediately tried to find vol2 and came up w nothing!
i have a backup thought though
which is just that kurosawa really is perfect
so patient
his determination so easily renewed

Kurosawa's thoughts as soon as Adachi accepts his chocolate: "THERE IT IS! AUGH! HE IS SOOO CUTE! AAAAAAH!"

CC: LOL this internal monologue is so relatable

Jenny: i too have been down bad enough that my thoughts go from “i should just give up” to “oh my god fuck fuck fuck”

Ashley: HAHAHAHA

Jenny: whomst among us etc

Ashley: “this will get me through the next month at least”

Jenny: YES

Rachel: lollllll

CC: me_irl

Ashley: we are all simple creatures at heart
my final though is
only a true genious could make hot boy problems so relatable

Kurosawa, confessing to Adachi: "They brought me along as eye candy, and then I went and pissed off the president. Talk about useless."

Rachel: HHAHAHA

CC: L O L

Jenny: this scene was so sweet
really made it all make sense

Ashley: i like it because it’s not “he doesn’t know how beautiful he is” it’s “he doesn’t know he’s beautiful inside toooo”

Rachel: :sob:

CC: ;__;

Jenny: this is what 1 Direction was telling us all along

Ashley: LOL i will never know but i believe u

Jenny: thank

Rachel: jenny, pome youth correspondent

Jenny: always here to relay the trends that were popular 10 years ago

Ashley: * cackles into dust *


Join us next time for even more love story shouting in our next Romance Roundtable! In the meantime, Monthly Ko-Fi members: head on over to Ko-Fi for just a few bonus goofs that didn’t make it into today’s roundtable, as a treat.

CC Calanthe

CC Calanthe

If you prick your finger and write “Cat Fancy” on your mirror during a harvest moon, CC will appear behind you and make you put human clothes on your pets. CC is Head Crone in Charge at POMEgranate Magazine, as well as the co-host of Moon Podcast Power MAKE UP!!
Jenny Mott

Jenny Mott

Jenny is just a Silly Nerd with a lot of Feelings about Comic Books and Friendship and also This Capitalist Yoke We All Share; she enjoys Dogs and Sleeping and Cartoons. Her three favorite words are: Breakfast All Day.
Rachel Weiss

Rachel Weiss

Rachel is a designer and artist from Texas. She is pro-feminism, pro-crones, and pro-dogs. She's also Boss Crone at POMEgranate Magazine, and one day hopes to be able to drink her tea without so much milk and sugar.
Ashley Gallagher

Ashley Gallagher

Ashley writes comics and emails from zir burrow in the Pacific Northwest. Ze is a sentient subtropical swamp fern whose favorite food is old words.
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