💔 My Wife Whom I Love Dearly

Author/Artist: Takeda Toryumon

Genres: Manga, Oneshot, Seinen (M), Drama, Slice of Life

Author’s Twitter: @ToryumonT

This manga is a punch to the gut in the gentlest, most devastating way. *My Wife Whom I Love Dearly* is a short but powerful oneshot that delivers its emotional blow with minimal panels, quiet honesty, and heartbreaking sincerity.

The story follows Takahashi and his wife Chika, who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. With only six months left to live, she spends her days in the hospital while Takahashi works himself to the bone trying to keep her comfortable—despite being over ¥60,000 in debt and drowning in overdue bills. He even gives her spending money to keep her spirits up, trying to hide his own exhaustion, fear, and guilt.

But on her birthday, Takahashi learns something that shatters him in a different way: Chika is intentionally being mean to him while in the hospital. Not out of resentment or anger—but as an act of love. Her twisted plan? To make herself unbearable so that when she dies, Takahashi will feel relief instead of devastation. She wants him to be able to say, “Thank God she’s gone,” so he can move forward without breaking.

It’s a quiet and devastating reflection on love, loss, sacrifice, and the unbearable grief of letting go. And yet, at the center of all that sorrow is something deeply warm—two people still doing everything they can to protect each other, even if it means hurting themselves in the process.

Rating: 10/10. And a full 0/10 to cancer. This one will stick with me.