And today's romance tip of the day is, "Don't rush into things!" I mean, if you're going to fall in love with someone, you should at least take the time to get to know them before deciding that you want to be with them for the rest of your life. Unfortunately, some people don't even seem to realize this simple fact, as a specific one-shot manga demonstrates. To be perfectly honest, I only read this one-shot in the first place because of how low of a score it has on MAL; it's the second-lowest-rated manga on MAL, as a matter of fact, right above the manga adaptation of "High School Musical"! It felt like the obvious choice was to read it and see how bad it was (also demonstrating how much I tend to make bad decisions)....and holy crud, do I have some things to say about it now that I have!

Ladies and gentlemen, please pay attention as I explain how "Zannen nagara Chigaimasu" teaches us about the pacing of relationships.

One day, while going up an escalator, a girl has a "chance encounter" with a guy who tells her to meet him at the top of the escalator. (I honestly can't remember either of their names, which is actually kind of funny for reasons that I will explain later.) When they do meet up, it turns out that the girl is still in high school while the guy is 29, meaning that they're over a decade apart in age; however, from this encounter alone, the two come to the conclusion that they can't be without each other. Thus, they fill out a marriage application, but get this; they don't even know each other's names before they decide to get married! (Now you know why it's funny that I can't remember their names. Haha.) Then, they kiss, and it's implied that they have sex. The end.

I'm sorry, but it's really hard to take a plot like this seriously. I mean, they literally just met each other and took no time to get to know each other, and then, bada-bing bada-boom, they're getting married? These two skipped so many crucial steps in making a relationship work that it's kind of hard NOT to make fun of it! Because of this, I don't hate the story as much as I could be hating it, but there's no excusing how rushed this one-shot is, whether it's the story or the relationship. I know that the manga artist only had a few pages to tell a one-chapter story, but couldn't a FEW of those pages been used to allow them to get to know each other better instead of the whole "I have to be with you forever even though I literally just met you" crap?

Ironically, not only does the couple not take the time to get to know each other, we, the readers, barely get to know either of the two characters other than their ages and their feelings for each other; heck, we barely get to know their names! As a result of this lack of characterization, I found myself not caring about either character. What's worse, however, is their chemistry; I feel no sparks between them, and they don't look like their "marriage" is going to work out in the long run. Speaking of looks, although the artwork is the best part of the whole manga, it's not by much; although it's mostly just standard shoujo manga artwork, there are some moments, the escalator scene in particular, where the proportions and angles look kind of off. Really, Kotomi Aoki? You've worked on plenty of shoujo manga before this one; shouldn't your art have improved from all of that experience?

If Houkago no Shokuinshitsu is the short anime you should watch only if you're in the mood for making fun of something, then Zannen nagara Chigaimasu is the short manga you should read for that same purpose; one may be yaoi while the other is hetero, but both of them are "love stories" you can't take seriously about couples with zero chemistry. With that being said, go ahead and read Zannen nagara Chigaimasu if that's your agenda, but otherwise, stay as far away from it as possible. After all, if you're going to expect a manga about a couple getting married without even knowing each other's names to actually be good, not only will you be disappointed, but you will be questioning everything you have ever known about the pacing of relationships.