cherry-magic-thirty-years-of-virginity-can-make-you-a-wizard-manga-2

Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! (Japanese: 30歳まで童貞だと魔法使いになれるらしい, Hepburn: Sanjūsai made Dōtei Da to Mahōtsukai ni Nareru rashii) is a Japanese boys’ love (BL) manga series by Yuu Toyota.

A live-action television drama adaptation began airing on October 9, 2020, as part of TV Tokyo‘s MokuDra 25 programming block, which enjoyed high ratings during its broadcast. A sequel to the television drama was later released as a live-action film on April 8, 2022.

Plot

Having never had sex in his life, after Kiyoshi Adachi reaches his 30th birthday he becomes a “wizard“: he develops an ability to hear the thoughts of other people by touching them. One day, he discovers that his popular co-worker, Yuichi Kurosawa, is in love with him. While dealing with the awkwardness of being able to hear Kurosawa’s rather forthright feelings towards him, Adachi comes to terms with how much Kurosawa values him and starts to develop reciprocal feelings of his own.

Manga

Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! is written and illustrated by Yuu Toyota, who originally posted it on her Twitter and Pixiv accounts. It is serialized digitally on Gangan Pixiv since September 1, 2018.^[1]^[6] The chapters were later released in five bound volumes by Square Enix.

A drama CD adaptation was released on October 23, 2019, starring Atsushi Abe as Adachi, Takuya Satō as Kurosawa, Kazuyuki Okitsu as Tsuge, and Kōhei Amasaki as Minato. The drama CD is narrated by Kentarō Tone.

At Anime Expo 2019, Square Enix announced that they were distributing the series in English in 2020 as their first boys’ love series.

Television drama

A live-action television series adaptation was announced in September 2020 and began airing on October 9, 2020. The series stars Eiji Akaso as Adachi and Keita Machida as Kurosawa. Additional cast members include Kodai Asaka, Yutaro, Takuya Kusakawa, Ryo Sato, and Suzunosuke. It is directed by Hiroki Kazama and written by Erika Yoshida. The television series aired weekly on TV Tokyo at 1 AM as part of their Moku Dra 25 (木ドラ25, lit. “Thursday Drama 25:00”) programming block and is also distributed through Tsutaya‘s online streaming service. The opening theme song is “Ubugoe” by Omoinotake and the ending theme is “Good Love Your Love” by Deep Squad. On December 24, Tsutaya is releasing two exclusive episodes through their streaming service.

In December 2020, Crunchyroll announced that they had licensed the show in English for distribution outside of Asia.

Film

A live-action film adaptation was released in theaters nationwide in Japan on April 8, 2022. The film is a sequel to the live-action television series, with the cast returning to reprise their roles. The film’s theme song is “Shinon” by Omoinotake, with the insert song “Gimme Gimme” performed by Deep Squad.

The film debuted at #6 on its opening weekend. Yuu Toyota, the author of the original manga, donated a portion of the adaptation rights fee to Marriage for All Japan, an organization advocating for same-sex marriage in Japan.

Reception

Rebecca Silverman from Anime News Network complimented the story, humor, and romance, but mentioned that the plot could get too “convoluted” and was too tame for its mature rating. Faye Hopper from Anime News Network stated that while the romance was “cute”, there were some concerns over humor regarding Kurosawa’s explicit fantasies about Adachi. Volume 2 was the 7th best-selling manga on its week of release at Tsutaya.

In a weekly survey for the Drama Satisfaction Ranking, the live-action television drama adaptation received 27/100 points for its first episode, 63/100 points for the second episode, and 79/100 points for the third episode. By the fourth episode, it received 86/100 points, making it the second highest ranked television series for the week. The seventh and eighth episodes both scored 87/100 points while the ninth episode scored 89/100, with all three being the highest ranked in their respective weeks. The tenth episode scored 90/100 points and was the highest ranked in its week. In Taiwan, the television drama was the highest viewed show on KKTV for six consecutive weeks.

30歳まで童貞だと魔法使いになれるらしい *(Sanjūsai made Dōtei Da to Mahōtsukai ni Nareru rashii)*
Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?!
Cover of the Japanese version of vol. 1, first published on September 7, 2018
Genre	Boys’ love
Manga
Written by	Yuu Toyota
Published by	Square Enix
English publisher	^NA Square Enix
Imprint	Gangan Comics Pixiv
Magazine	*Gangan Pixiv*
Demographic	*Josei*
Original run	2018 – present
Volumes	8
Television drama
Directed by	Hiroki Kazama Hiroaki Yuasa Masataka Hayashi
Written by	Erika Yoshida Satoko Okazaki
Licensed by	WeTV (Southeast Asia) Crunchyroll
Original network	TV Tokyo
Original run	October 9, 2020 – December 24, 2020
Episodes	12 (+2 specials) (List of episodes)