If I See You in my Dreams

Yume de Aetara (夢であえたら) is a Japanese manga series originally penned by Noriyuki Yamahana under the pen name HANAKO, serialized in Shueisha's Business Jump magazine (1994 - 2000).

Plot summary
The story follows a Japanese salaryman in a big city who falls in love with a kindergarten teacher named Nagisa. Masuo (the aforementioned sap) tries repeatedly to get her to consider him potential dating material, but every time he seems to make progress, something inevitably goes wrong. Nagisa, in fact, likes Masuo, but due to a previous heartbreak constantly pushes him away.

As the series progresses, it becomes more thoughtful and mature, with many of the problems evolving out of the character's personalities rather than being imposed artificially by circumstances. Many of the coincidental misunderstandings have to do with Masuo's coworker Miho Hamaoka who has fallen in love with Masuo but Masuo lacks the confidence to believe it to be true.

Initially, Masuo has to face two other comical suitors for Nagisa's love. One being Kaizuka a tall muscular physical education high school teacher and Kujira a short rich real estate agent. Later on he has to face much more serious competition of Nagisa's first love, Minato.

At one point later on in the manga, Masuo takes in a pregnant woman out of compassion. This information makes its way to Nagisa, but in a different form; she is told that the girl is pregnant with his child, but she eventually determines the truth for herself. The series ends with Nagisa having their child named Yuka in her arm smiling happily. Yume de Aetara was made into two anime shows: a TV series and a direct-to-video or OVA series, both of them produced by TBS.

The TV series takes a more comedic tone than the OVA and involves much of the early unlucky coincidences from the manga. In the TV series, Masuo faces no competition from other suitors but merely must face Nagisa's difficulty with men while Kaizuka and Kujira appear in the OVA to try and win Nagisa's love.