A Couple of Cuckoos - A couple of cuckoos - the anime and manga series

A Couple of Cuckoos - A couple of cuckoos - the anime and manga series

A Couple of Cuckoos (“A couple of cuckoos” in the Italian translation) (in the Japanese translation: カ ッ コ ウ の 許 嫁, Hepburn: Kakkō no Iinazuke, “Cuckoo's Fiancee”) is a Japanese manga written and drawn by mangaka Miki Yoshikawa.

The Japanese comic was originally released as a one-shot in September 2019, before starting serialization in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine in January 2020. The anime tv series produced by Shin-Ei Animation and SynergySP premiered in April. 2022 on NUMAnimation by TV Asahi.

History

Nagi Umino is a 17-year-old high school student who discovers he is not the biological child of the family that raised him. On the way to his first meeting with his biological family, he meets Erika Amano, a famous Internet celebrity who is trying to escape from an arranged marriage. Later, Nagi and Erika discover that their parents had accidentally swapped the two after their birth and were now aiming to have an arranged marriage. To facilitate this, they are made to live in a house owned by Erika's family.

Sixteen years ago, two babies are accidentally swapped at birth. In the present, Nagi Umino will meet her biological parents for the first time. Nagi sees a girl, Erika Amano, about to jump off a bridge and pulls her back. She explains that she was recording a video for Inusta (sort of Instagram), where she is an Internet celebrity, to antagonize her wealthy parents by getting her out of an arranged marriage. Instead, she blackmails Nagi by pretending to be her girlfriend. Many of Erika's fans attempt to beat Nagi for dating Erika, but Nagi gets the better of her, revealing that her adoptive parents are former delinquents.

Erika simply decides to punch her boyfriend instead of blackmailing Nagi and leaves. Nagi rushes to meet her adoptive and biological parents who explain that because they don't want to lose the children they've raised, they want them to get married instead. Erika enters and is revealed to be the little girl Nagi was exchanged with, who has now become her official boyfriend.

Erika follows his decision and punches him. Nagi goes back to school and sees Hiro Segawa, her rival at school that she has a crush on, but that she will only reveal her love for her when she passes her exam grades. This is because Hiro had once confided to him that she would only go out with a boy smarter than her. Meanwhile, Nagi's sister Sachi realizes that her revelation means they are not blood brothers.

Nagi is surprised when Erika visits her home. Due to her rich upbringing, Erika is completely out of touch with normal life and struggles to believe that Nagi's entire family lives in such a small house. She invites Nagi into her family home, a luxurious mansion, also revealing that they own six similar homes throughout Japan and other countries. Nagi begins to have serious doubts that a marriage between them could work and decides to decline their engagement. 

Erika suddenly rejects him first and asks to see her parents and tell them. At their diner, Nagi's parents adore Erika and Nagi panics, while Erika becomes visibly more upset. When they insist that Erika meet Sachi, her biological sister, she Erika suddenly leaves crying, revealing to Nagi that her parents are such nice people and she couldn't bear to let them down by ending their engagement. 

After reassuring her, Nagi takes her back to the diner and everyone has a family dinner together. Sachi secretly adds Erika's chopsticks to the jug of the family utensils, suggesting that she liked Erika. Returning to Erika's home, Nagi meets her biological father, who is confident that despite their unusual encounter, they will fare well as a married couple, so confident in fact that to prove it she bought them a house and insists that they live there together. for two weeks.

Nagi decides to spend the two weeks studying for his next exam to defeat Hiro. She hears Erika scream and bursts into the bathroom, finding her completely naked, frightened by a harmless lizard. Nagi is forced to borrow Erika's study material in exchange for taking social media photos of her. By chance they take several photos that make them look like a couple. Nagi explains that she is obsessed with studying because she wants to be able to support her parents when they retire. Erika likes social media because she hopes that if she gets famous, someone she was looking for will one day contact her. 

Nagi finds out that he actually defeated Hiro on exam and Hiro asks to meet him alone. Nagi expects her to confess now that he's proven he's smart enough for her, but instead claims he lost just because he missed the exam due to a family funeral, and she'll beat him on the next exam. Her competitiveness makes Nagi admire her even more. Nagi catches a cold and passes out while she still tries to study. Erika takes care of him and admits that her devotion to her study impressed her, surprising Nagi as everyone else keeps telling him that she studies too much. It is shown that Hiro is pushing himself even harder so that he can defeat Nagi.

Hiro asks Nagi why he tried so hard to beat her, then explains how he knew she would only date someone smarter than her. Hiro reminds him that this was only the first exam in which he beat her, while she beat him in ten; she also reveals that she is already engaged. Erika reminds Nagi that it was her last night living with her and they agree to tell their parents they hated the experience. 

However, Nagi discovers that his family moved to a hotel after a pipe burst in their home, forcing him to continue living with Erika. Sachi is upset that Nagi will not return home and decides to visit him. Erika panics because Sachi is technically her real sister. The initial meeting is awkward, so to break the ice, Nagi insists that they cook dinner together. Erika has never cooked and is clueless about the basics, while Sachi is unfamiliar with the expensive gadgets in Erika's kitchen, so Nagi ends up doing most of the cooking.

 During dinner, he points out that Erika and Sachi are actually quite similar in their behaviors. Erika gives Sachi some of her clothes after learning that she only owns her school uniform and Nagi's traditional boys' clothes. She also lets Sachi know that she and Nagi have no plans to go through with the marriage. Before she leaves, Sachi takes a picture with Erika.

Characters

nagi umino (海 野 凪, Umino Nagi)


A sophomore at Megurogawa Academy, who is in second place on his class's grades rankings. He is the biological son of a hotel tycoon, but due to a mess after his birth he is raised by another family. He has a crush on classmate Hiro Segawa and aims to confess his love for her once he beats her on the school grade charts. Following a successful challenge, he starts dating Hiro.

Erika amano (天野 エ リ カ Amano Erika)

A famous Instagram celebrity is the biological daughter of the family who raised Nagi. She meets him for the first time while she shoots videos in a park and she pretends to be her girlfriend to escape an arranged marriage. But she doesn't know that her parents have arranged to get engaged to Nagi and to make her live together in one house. After her school discovers the photos she took with him, she is forced to move to Nagi's school. She decided to open an Instagram account to reach someone she was looking for.

Sachi umino (海 野 幸, Umino Sachi)

Nagi's adoptive sister and Erika's biological sister. She is afraid that Nagi will leave her, and later she runs away from home and moves into the house where Nagi and Erika are staying. Later in the series, she decides to aim to enroll in Nagi and Erika's school after they graduate from middle school. She also has feelings for Nagi, which grew after learning they are not related by blood.

hiro segawa (瀬 川 ひ ろ, Segawa Hiro)

Nagi's classmate who finished first in her class. She lives in a temple and also works as a miko. She subsequently becomes friends with Erika. It is later revealed that she is also engaged to someone else. Later, she realizes how she developed feelings for Nagi.

Ai Mochizuki (望月 あ い, Mochizuki Ai)

Nagi's childhood friend, who moved to China when she was a child due to her father's job, and returns to Japan for Nagi. She is also a popular online singer. She has loved Nagi since childhood, to the point of decorating her room with photos of her.

Yohei Umino (海 野 洋 平, Umino Yōhei)

Nagi's adoptive father. The biological father of Erika and Sachi. He and his wife Namie run a restaurant together.

Namie Umino (海 野 奈 美 恵, Umino Namie)

Nagi's adoptive mother. The biological mother of Erika and Sachi. She and her husband Yōhei run a restaurant together.

Soichiro Amano (天野 宗一郎 Amano Soichiro)

Erika's adoptive father. Nagi's biological father. He is the owner of a hotel chain.

Ritsuko Amano (天野 律 子, Amano Ritsuko)

Erika's adoptive mother. Nagi's biological mother. She works as a television producer.

Shion Asuma (遊 馬 シ オ ン, Asuma Shion)

Technical data

Gender romantic comedy, harem

Manga
Author Miki Yoshikawa
Editor Kodansha
Magazine Weekly Shōnen Magazine
Target shonen
1 edition January 29, 2020 - ongoing
Tankōbon 11 (in progress)

Anime TV series
Regia Hiroaki Akagi, Yoshiyuki Shirahata
Composition series Yasuhiro nakanishi
Char. design Aya takano
Artistic Dir Yoshiyuki Shirahata, Hiroaki Akagi
Music Rei Ishizuka
Studio Shin-Ei Animation, Synergy SP
Network Asahi TV
1st TV April 24, 2022 - ongoing
Episodes 19 (in progress)
1st Italian streaming Crunchyroll

Gianluigi Piludu

Author of articles, illustrator and graphic designer of the website www.cartonionline.com