You Must Be This Tall to Propose: Manga Review

Synopsis

In You Must Be This Tall to Propose Chitose has had a crush on the girl next door since they were little kids. He made a promise to one day marry her, and she said she’d give him a chance when he grew up, which Chitose took quite literally. Now that they’re both teenagers, there’s one hitch in his plan. She’s much taller than him, and one misunderstanding after another keeps them from seeing eye to eye.

The Story

When little Chitose falls in love with tall girl Tomo, he’ll stop at nothing to make his dreams of marrying her a reality. Cut to ten years later when the two of them are in high school. Chitose has made it his life’s goal to grow big and tall so that he might win the affections of Tomo. But this short king just can’t seem to catch up to her towering heights.

Let’s start with the good:

It’s nice seeing a romance story that shows different body types. So many romance heroines are celebrated for their petite qualities. Almost every romance manga features a girl who is “so smol and so cute” so seeing Tomo be adored even though she’s taller and stronger than most of the boy characters is kind of nice. That being said, she’s still shaped like a super model with a large chest. So what beauty standard are we really challenging here? While it’s certainly not groundbreaking, I do want to see more body types represented in manga, so I’ll take this as a tiny win. 

I also like that even though Chitose deals with feelings of inadequacy and fears that Tomo sees him as a little boy that she has to mother, he never fails to recognize how lovely she is, and makes no attempts to diminish her. In a world plagued by manosphere culture. We like seeing male characters who don’t feel the need to “neg” or belittle the girls they like because of their own issues with not measuring up. Chitose seems stuck in this perspective that he needs to perform a certain brand of masculinity to impress her, and because of this he misses all the obvious signs that Tomo is very much in love with him too.

BUT…

You Must be this Tall to Propose just doesn’t have a lot going for it. I promise you that by reading this review, you’ve basically already engaged with material fully. Overall it has funny moments, but the plot is one-note. Each chapter has a bit of miscommunication and Chitose laments that he isn’t tall enough, and that’s about it. I desperately want this manga to be more thoughtful and deeper than it is because it has potential. Outside of their size disparity, the story doesn’t move and the characters don’t grow. There are humorous moments, but I wish it was more grounded and wanted to discuss body image and masculinity in a more meaningful way. 

It’s also worth noting that there are a few scenes that could be considered fan service (images that focus on Tomo’s chest), that are seen from Chitose’s point of view. He’s a teen boy who’s attracted to her, so it’s not completely unexpected. But given that the story lacks substance in other ways, it’s kind of a lazy and unnecessary attempt at humour. 

The Art

The art in You Must be this Tall to Propose is fine. The characters look charming enough, but I don’t think the artwork is picking up the slack for the storytelling. I can’t imagine anyone being so swept up in the artwork that it leaves a positive impression of the story overall. It’s just okay…it gets the job done which is the best I can say for it. 

The Details:

You Must be this Tall to Propose is a shojo manga by Fumi Mifuyu. It’s a short 3-volume series that’s brought to English readers by Kodansha. The whole series is currently available digitally, and so far 2 volumes have been released as physical editions.

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