I Can’t Believe I Slept With You!

I Can’t Believe I Slept With You!

I Can't Believe I Slept With You! Volume 1 manga cover
I Can’t Believe I Slept With You!

Even If It Was Just Once, I Regret It

I Can’t Believe I Slept With You! (Ichido dake demo, Koukai Shitemasu. / 一度だけでも、後悔してます。) is a yuri manga by Miyako Miyahara. The entire series is only 3 volumes (21 chapters) long, so it’s a pretty quick read.

If you know any Japanese, you may have realized that the English title is pretty different. The more accurate translation is “Even If It Was Just Once, I Regret It.” And this is actually a much better title for the story, so I’m not sure why they changed it.

I guess “I Can’t Believe I Slept With You!” stands out more as a title. It’s almost a bit clickbaity. But, it doesn’t have the same relevance to the story as the original title. The regret the two main girls feel about their one-night stand is kind of important to the story.

Ritsuka asking Chiyo to have sex with her from the manga I Can't Believe I Slept With You!
Ritsuka asking Chiyo to have sex with her

This seems like a good time to point out that this is a wholesome yuri manga. I can understand why someone wouldn’t think that’s the case based on the first chapter. It starts off with Ritsuka (the landlady) blackmailing a drunk Chiyo into having sex with her.

I get it. That’s not exactly the setup for a wholesome series. But, it gets worse. Ritsuka lays out a contract stating she’ll reduce Chiyo’s rent by ¥70,000 every time Chiyo “services” her. Oh, and also Ritsuka is going to start living in Chiyo’s apartment with her.

So, how could this be a wholesome series in any way? Well, Ritsuka has a very broad definition of “servicing.” Any time Chiyo does anything that makes Ritsuka happy, she counts it. A hug? Check. Playing games together? Check. Going on a shopping date? Check.

Chiyo and Ritsuka

Chiyo Kozuka is the protagonist of I Can’t Believe I Slept With You! She’s a 24-year-old NEET who lived alone before Ritsuka showed up looking for the 3 months of rent Chiyo owed. But, while Chiyo’s currently a NEET, this wasn’t always the case.

She used to work at a game company. But, she quit her job after the (male) coworker she had a crush on got married. That’s right, despite this being a yuri manga, Chiyo is straight. Well, she starts off straight, which seems to be a common trope in yuri series.

I don’t particularly mind this trope. But, you do kind of have to look past the whole initial sexual assault thing. People got mad when I said that about Bloom Into You, as well. However, I think you’d have a hard time arguing that’s not the case this time around.

Ritsuka explaining the rent reduction agreement from the manga I Can't Believe I Slept With You!
Ritsuka explaining the rent reduction agreement

Ritsuka Hara is the landlady of the apartment building Chiyo lives in. But, despite her job, she’s actually quite young. Ritsuka is only 19 years old, 5 years younger than Chiyo. But, that age gap doesn’t bother Ritsuka. She tells Chiyo that she’s into older women.

Of the two girls, Ritsuka is definitely more my type. She’s smaller (cuter) and her appearance doesn’t remind me of Tsubasa Hanekawa. I also like that she knows exactly what she wants. She wants Chiyo (in bed, naked). But, that doesn’t mean she’s thinking about sex all the time.

In a lot of instances throughout the series, it’s Ritsuka who pulls back from intimate moments. There were many times when she could have gotten what she wanted, but declined. Why? Because despite how forward she was in Chapter 1, she feels bad about her contract with Chiyo. This conflict makes her a good character.

Yuri Manga > Anime

I’m not going to pretend that I have extensive experience with yuri anime and manga. I’ve watched 5 anime that I’d consider to be pure yuri anime. By pure yuri, I mean it’s about 2 girls who are in a relationship. Yuru Yuri technically counts as yuri. But, I’m not including things like that.

So, I’ve watched 5 yuri anime and I’ve read 2 yuri manga now. And, while I tend to prefer anime over manga, that’s not the case for yuri series. I’m not entirely sure why this is the case. But, yuri manga are better than yuri anime.

Now, it’s possible I’d feel this way about adult romance series in general. Manga as a medium might capture the intimate moments better than anime does. With anime, there’s a lot going on; there’s music, animation, and voice acting. If one of those things isn’t good, it can kill the mood.

Chiyo hugging Ritsuka from the manga I Can't Believe I Slept With You!
Chiyo hugging Ritsuka

I Can’t Believe I Slept With You! could receive an anime adaptation someday. It’s a relatively new manga, so it’s not too surprising it doesn’t have one yet. But, I don’t know if there should be an anime version.

First of all, considering it’s only 21 chapters long, I don’t know if there’s enough content for an anime. Some of the chapters are pretty short and not much happens in them. But, the bigger issue is what an anime adaptation would cut. I could see it cutting out the sex.

The sex scenes in this manga aren’t anything graphic. There are anime that are far more graphic. But, because this is a yuri series, I could see these scenes getting cut. And without those scenes, this would be a pretty bland romance series. It’d be like how nothing happens in the Adachi and Shimamura anime.

Conclusion

I Can’t Believe I Slept With You! (Even If It Was Just Once, I Regret It) is a 7/10. At first, I had it rated a point higher. But, as I thought about it over the course of writing this review, I don’t think it’s good enough to be an 8.

If it ever does get an anime adaptation, I’ll watch and review that too. And in the future, I want to read and review the manga for some of the other yuri anime I’ve seen, as I did for Bloom Into You. So, if you’re a yuri series fan, you have that to look forward to.

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