Do you have a lot of stuff? Do you feel stressed by the mess in your home? Do these questions ring a bell within you? Then you might either make a really good use of this review and the manga or you might have watched Tidying up with Marie Kondo on Netflix. Either way you might discover one or two new things in this review which could be very useful to you. Main topics of this manga In short its about tidying up and about Marie Kondos mission to spark joy in the world through cleaning and through the lovable short story of Chiaki who wants to change her life. My perspective My first contact with Marie Kondo or her tidying up cult as Id like to say was indeed through the Netflix series which has in my opinion a more entertaining focus than actually being helpful to people whod like to clean up or to declutter their stuff. For sure you might learn a few things from the Netflix series by watching but most of the parts could easily be skipped to only focus on the useful parts. In contrast the manga which Im reviewing here made actually the impression on me of being more helpful as some techniques were shown more in detail but it also made me laugh at times as it was quite hilarious at looking at the mess of the main character. Dont get me wrong I didnt feel the like I was drowning in stuff or that at our home wasnt tidy enough or anything like that but it indeed helped to declutter a bit and to organize some things in a more useful way. I might have adapted some techniques others not but overall I think this manga might be able to help others to get started. I picked up this manga by chance while visiting a local bookstore after watching the series on Netflix and thought to me: Why not? I could at least look/read into the manga and get some useful information out of it which Im quite glad I did. Reading experience The Konmari method How to tidy up love work and daily life Quite a promising title the manga starts off with lol While reading this manga for the first time I had to laugh quite often at the characters in the manga or about specific scenes as I could either relate to them or because they seemed so extraordinary and unrealistic. Either way I was a fun read for sure. The book is divided into 10 manga chapters which are followed by a little summary of the important points for tidying up according to the Marie Kondo method aka the Konmari Method. The story follows the fictional character Chiaki who lives in a quite messy home and decides that she needs to change something in her life. So she books Marie Kondo to help her with cleaning up. Little did she know Now I just reread the manga in purpose to write this review as I was already thinking during my first read that this might be fun to review. And helpful to others too The story itself is not the best ever made but its for sure enjoyable enough to stick to it and it serves its purpose for sure to help others and possibly to show them how to tidy up their belongings. Sidenote: I read the German translation of the book while reviewing it here in English. As I dont know the Japanese version there might be subtle differences in the language but the overall message/content is the same. Characters Chiaki Suzuki Marie Kondo Chiakis neighbour Relations Illustrated by Yuuko Uramotohttps://anilist.co/staff/125669/YuukoUramoto no other relations found while the story is made by Marie Kondohttps://anilist.co/staff/125670/MarieKondo who has published several books which have been translated and sold worldwide. She is an organising consultant and author. Here is a short list of the books which have been published by her: The LifeChanging Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. aka Jinsei ga Tokimeku Katazuke no Mah / The LifeChanging Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing 2. aka Jinsei ga Tokimeku Katazuke no Mah 2 /2 Mainichi ga Tokimeku Katazuke no Mah Irasuto de Tokimeku Katazuke no Mah = The Illustrated Guide to the LifeChanging Magic of Tidying Up The LifeChanging Manga of Tidying Up: a magical story. aka Manga de Yomu Jinsei ga Tokimeku Katazuke no Mah As of today her books have been translated and published in 42 regions/countries with over 10 million copies sold worldwide. The Netflix series Tidying up with Marie Kondo helped her to get even more popular and helped her success story even furthermore. So much that the wellknown Times magazine listed her in 2015 as one of the 100 most influential people in 2015. Source 1http://www.mariekondobooks.com/ / Source 2https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MarieKondo The Konmari method as far as in the manga explained You want to tidy up your home but youre not sure how or if youre able to make it? Dont worry Marie can help you with that for sure. Well possibly. Step 1: Be determined Step 2: Imagine how your ideal lifestyle would look like Step 3: Declutter the things that dont make you happy Step 4: Declutter in categories The easiest way according to the Konmari method is to declutter in categories the first mentioned is clothing but find here the list of the different categories: Pile all the things of one category up at one place and search your home for everything which belongs to this category. Otherwise you might not be able to know what you actually own or if youve got more than once the same things. Dont clean up room by room as there might be various places for items of the same category. Like that you wouldnt ever be able to finish cleaning as it would be way to easy to shuffle it in another room or from place to place. With piling up all the things of one category its possible that you discover at how much stuff you actually own and to be honest: Do you really need all of that? Dont think that one day you might possibly be able to use this or that. Think about the value it brings right now to your life. Does it spark joy in you? If not you shouldnt keep it. Also in thanking the things which you dont want to keep you can make it easier to let go of it. Step 5: Make the most of your space Step 6: Choose depending on your feeling Step 7 Papers and Komono various little things Step 8 Memorabilia at the end Step 9 Everything at its fixed place Step 10 After tidying up follows your life You can do it Dont give up Target audience As by following these steps or even after already watching the Netflix series you might have encountered that by actually doing it starting to tidy up not everything is explained into the last bit of detail. Its a helpful starter guide for sure but you might have to research a bit more about what she recommends for the specific categories or even to buy her books to completely follow through. After all she also want to make money and does this not only to spark more joy in the world. What is also quite understandable. Nonetheless her teachings can indeed be really helpful and help to spark more joy in daily life. The target audience is for sure people who like manga or casually read it as it does pick up some typical tropes known in anime/manga.