My Impossible Soulmate ("MIS") is a romantic fantasy isekai webcomic created by Jocelyn Samara.
Chiaki Koizumi is a daydreaming otaku who longs to confess her feelings to her childhood friend, Fumiko. There's one huge problem however, she is extremely shy and awkward around her. This becomes even more difficult when she's suddenly transported to another world.
It is a standalone prequel to Rain. With Chiaki eventually growing up to write the fictional in-universe manga "Black Wings: Kaminari", Rain’s favorite manga.
The comic updates are posted on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. It can be read on Comic Fury
, DeviantArt and Tapas.
My Impossible Soulmate contains examples of:
- Accidental Public Confession: Chiaki has a public meltdown in a part of the Grand Arcane Library where she very loudly confesses that she has a crush on Fumiko. Thankfully, no one in the GA Library knows who Fumiko even is.
- Aerith and Bob: Inhabitants of The Other World have standard Japanese names like Nara, Nagisa, and Eiji; western names like Keegan, Redginald, and Theodore; and then names like Belial, Sonneillion, and Eligos. Justified, as the latter are demonic names formed as a result of corruption and weren't originally their birth names.
- Alpha Bitch:
- Kenta Maeda is a gender-inverted example. He's highly popular at school, being the star player of its baseball team and having high grades, but abusive towards his girlfriend, Fumiko.
- Aika Nakano is a popular girl who bullies Chiaki for her interests.
- Always in Class One: The main cast is in Room P-1.
- Amazing Technicolor Population:
- All Nereids have blue skin, though they all vary in terms of hue.
- Among Room P-1's students, Verity has light blue skin and Belial has pink skin.
- Animesque: It is an isekai and romance comic that heavily uses the tropes of both genres; and much like Jocelyn’s other works, it takes on an art style reminiscent of '90s manga.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Despite being a fantastical world filled with magic, the idea of "Unbounds" (travelers from another world) is seen by some as nothing more than myths. Most notably, by Nara. Part of this is because, in typical isekai fashion, most if not all of these people are unable to explain how they ended up in this new world.
- As You Know: Jude delivers exposition for his gender curse by opening with "as you guys know", though he is doing this in response to Arc suggesting him to take Nagisa's transition meds.
- Bad Liar:
- Keegan often fails at lying due to his very expressive tail and ears giving the truth away.
- Chiaki also isn't that great at lying. With her having to ditch Nara’s suggested "amnesia" excuse by the end of the first chapter.
- Blessed with Suck: It's noted that some people choose to keep their magic sealed, even if they can afford it being unsealed, because their alignment is incompatible with their lifestyle or race. For instance, being a librarian with a Playing with Fire alignment, or being a Nereid with a Light affinity, with Verity having heard tales of Nereids sharing that alignment with her accidentally electrocuting themselves while swimming.
- Brick Joke: Chiaki's tour of the Grand Arcane Library starts with Verity pointing out the bathroom closest to Room P-1. Later on, Keegan enthusiastically mentions said bathroom when his tour group reunites with Chiaki's.
- Carved Mark: Carving a demonic name into somebody is part of the process of corrupting them into a demon - as such, this is a universal feature among them.
- Cast Full of Gay: A staple of Jocelyn's works. The main cast is made up of almost entirely queer people.
- Chiaki and Nagisa are lesbians (with the former also being demiromantic).
- Keegan and Belial are bisexual.
- Redge is gay.
- Micah is pansexual and uses they/them pronouns.
- Verity is questioning.
- Nara is omnisexual.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The Grand Arcane Library's uniforms are colour-coded depending on department - Storage wears red, Chronicling wears blue, Runners wear orange, and Maintenance wears purple.
- Color-Coded Speech: The comic uses different-coloured speech bubbles to differentiate named characters (Chiaki is teal, Fumiko is yellow, etcetera). Unnamed/minor characters are given white speech bubbles instead.
- Color Failure: Chiaki suffers one after seeing her new classmates in Room P-1.
- Contrasting Prequel Setting: Rain took place in a grounded, non-fantastical, midsized town. By contrast, MIS mainly takes place in a fantasy world filled with Winged Humanoids, Fox Folk, Fish People, and magic.
- Cool Old Guy: Redge is kind, respectable, and an all around pleasant old man.
- The Corruption: A human/demi-human is transformed into a demon by being corrupted by another demon. This results in the corrupted human/demi-human gaining a boost in physical strength and a longer lifespan. However, this process also robs them of their ability to perform any sort of magic.
- Custom Uniform: In the Grand Arcane Library, the only strict requirements for your attire is that you wear the proper color that corresponds to your department and that you adhere to the "white top, black bottom" combination. Otherwise, you can wear your uniform in any way you want, be it long sleeves, jackets, skirts, long pants, etc.
- Downer Beginning:
- The prologue starts with Chiaki's crush getting into a relationship before she could confess her love (a relationship which quickly turns toxic) and ends with her being sent to another world when running to break up a screaming match between them.
- The first chapter begins on a similarly downbeat note, with Chiaki having a Heroic BSoD upon finding out where she is.
- Ear Fins: All nereids have fin-like ears.
- Elemental Powers: Every human or demi-human has the ability of wielding magic that corresponds to the one of the 7 magical elements (Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Frost, Light, and Spirit) they are aligned with at birth.
- Eyes Always Shut: Keegan’s eyes are drawn in a way where it seems as though he’s perpetually squinting. This is likely a way to emphasize his fox-like features, as this trope in Japanese is referred to as "kitsune no mo" ("fox eyes").
- Faking Amnesia: Nara recommends that Chiaki feign amnesia rather than claim to be an Unbound. Chiaki obliges when introducing herself to her new classmates.
- Fantastic Slurs: Bastet and skyfolk do not like being referred to as "catgirls" and "winged people".
- Fish People: Nereids are demi-humans with blue skin and fin-like ears.
- Forced Transformation: Jude's cursed necklace means that he changes to a female form at 9 AM and back to male at 9 PM.
- Fox Folk: Kitsune is a race of demi-humans with fox-like ears and a tail. Among the students in Room P-1, Keegan is this.
- Genki Girl: Verity is excited all the time.
- Genre Shift: Rain was a Slice of Life Dramedy while MIS is a Romantic Fantasy.
- Genre Throwback: The comic is a throwback to '90s isekai. Mostly eschewing Power Fantasy and/or Harem tropes common to the genre.
- Has a Type: Belial likes tall guys and short girls. With a greater emphasis on the latter, if only because she's so tall herself that she has trouble finding guys taller than her.
- Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?: Theo insists he's straight.
- Healing Potion: Spirit stamps can be used to heal wounds, such as Chiaki's head injury.
- Height Insult: Theo is often teased for his short stature, especially by Belial.
- Heroic BSoD: Shortly after waking up from a head injury, Chiaki quickly finds out she had been transported to another world whilst unconscious. To say she takes the situation poorly would be putting it very lightly.
- Ice Magic Is Water: Played for Laughs. Nara recalls her old teachers jokingly telling her that “being Frost-aligned still means you can still use Water magic if you’re patient enough to wait for the ice to melt".
- An Ice Person: Nara has the ability to freeze objects and create snow and ice at will.
- If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: Belial will not hesitate to beat someone up if they threaten her friends.
- Little Bit Beastly: Kitsune and Bastet essentially look like humans with fox ears/tails and cat ears/tails respectively.
- Long-Lived: Demons have longer than average lifespans, allowing them to live for roughly 140 years.
- Love at First Sight: Theo appears to instantly have a crush on just about every girl he meets.
- Magically Inept Fighter: Demons are physically powerful and have an extended lifespan, but the transformation into one robs the person of their ability to use magic. Even some of the stamps can't be activated without a non-demon's help.
- Magitek: "Stamps" are used to infuse wood or metal with one or several of the 7 magical elements to create stoves, lamps, fridges, water filtration systems, etc. Light stamps are also used as a form of electricity.
- Meaningful Name: A sad example for Belial, whose post-corruption name is the Hebrew word for "worthless," which is probably indicative of how she feels about herself after her corruption.
- Never Trust a Trailer: When the comic was first announced, the initial preview and premise made it look like a grounded, high school romance with a simple story of unrequited love. Once the comic officially debuted however, the author revealed comic's other genre, an isekai fantasy.
- Otherworldly Technicolour Hair: Inverted in this isekai webcomic. Protagonist Chiaki Koizumi has regular black hair, but the world she gets sent to is one where hair colours like green and purple are quite common.
- Our Demons Are Different: In The Other World, Demons are corrupted humans/demi-humans. How the corruption affects their appearance varies from person to person. Most of these alterations often involve a change in their eyes/hair/skin color or their height. Demon demi-humans also retain animal features they had prior to the corruption. For example, a demon nereid would still have Ear Fins. A person is changed into a demon by having a new demonic name carved into them, after which they can never say their original name again, and even answering to it can kill them. They're physically powerful and can live up to 140 years old, but as a cost of the transformation, they lose all of their magical ability, even some stamps can't be activated without help.
- Otaku: Chiaki is this to a tee, with her love of manga, anime, and video games being very pronounced.
- Painful Transformation: Jude's Forced Transformation is very painful, and he fully expects that the pain of it will kill him one day.
- Saved by Canon: As this comic is a prequel to Rain, we know Chiaki will eventually return to her world and write "Black Wings: Kaminari". So it's not really a question of if she gets back home, it's a question of how and why.
- Tap on the Head: After Chiaki wakes up in the South Rose Hospital after hitting her head on the school gate, she still somewhat feels the pain but quickly gets over it after a few pages. Justified, as her wound is slowly being healed by a "Spirit" stamp applied to her head.
- Translation Convention: Lampshaded when Chiaki, who’s Japanese, wonders how she and Nara/Redge could understand each other despite the fact Chiaki had come from another world."We've been talking this whole time and understanding each other. So are they really speaking Japanese? Or...what if it's the other way around? Is it possible I'm not speaking Japanese anymore? How do I not know!?"
- Trapped in Another World: Chiaki is mysteriously sent to another world, with no apparent way to get home to her family and Fumiko.
- Turn of the Millennium: The story (or at least Chiaki's homeworld) is set in the year 2000.
- Unstable Powered Child: Starseers have to seal away a newborn's magic until they are older due to numerous incidents of young children unknowingly causing house floods or setting their parents on fire.
- The 'Verse: The comic takes place in the same universe as Rain and is written by the same author.
- Water-Triggered Change: If Nereids, like Verity, submerge themselves for an extended period of time, their lower half will transform into a tail that they can use to swim more efficiently.
- Winged Humanoid: Skyfolk, like Nagisa and Eiji, are demi-humans born with wings.
- Wings Do Nothing: Justified with Nagisa, as her wings were broken when she was rescued after being thrown off her homeland as a newborn and are too small to be used in flying, but she still sees views them as a source of pride.
- World of Technicolor Hair: Hair colors like green, purple, etc. seem to be common in the world Chiaki ends up in.
