MANGA: My Childhood Friend Was A God

My Childhood Friend Was A God – Ruru / Menten Watagashi

This is a story of a special boy who becomes a God once he turns 18 and his ordinary childhood friend.

In the story, there’s an event that may be seen as character death. Please be warned.

This is a sweet childhood friends to lovers story with a nice paranormal twist. In this world, gods are born among humans every 30-50 years or so until they turn 18 and return to nature.

Tomoya, a god, was born at the same time as Tarou. They were neighbors, classmates and best friends. Tarou is the only one who treats Tomoya as normal while the rest of humanity treats him with reverence and fear. Their wish was to go together to their school’s cultural festival. They have one last summer vacation together before they turned 18.

So the blurb warns that the ending has ninjas cutting onions but there’s a nice little extra at the end that kinda makes up for it. This one-shot was able cram the world-building, Tomoya’s lifetime as human and the progression of his relationship with Tarou in a single chapter without feeling rushed or missing an important element. Excellent execution all in all. Tomoya and Tarou will still have that dance.