Manga Review: My Love Story!!, Volume 1, by Kazune Kawahara and Aruko

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Publisher: Shojo Beat (VIZ Media)

Release Date: July 1, 2014

Volumes: 6+

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells. RightStuf.

Volume: 2.

Wishlist Thursday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Takeo Goda is a giant guy with a giant heart. Too bad the girls don't want him! (They want his good-looking best friend, Sunakawa.) Used to being on the sidelines, Takeo simply stands tall and accepts his fate. But one day when he saves a girl named Yamato from a harasser on the train, his (love!) life suddenly takes an incredible turn!

Review:

I wasn’t too sure what to expect with this volume, how fast it would move, or what the art style would be like. And I must say, that this volume was just plain cute. All around adorable, and very funny.

Takeo, the main character, is a big guy, who can easily intimidate people. But he’s actually the type who wears his heart on his sleeve. He falls for girls easily, and he really just wants to help people when he can. He’s a nice guy. His best friend, Sunakawa, is the good-looking guy that every girl wants to date. But he’s actually rather straight-faced, with little interest in girls and who wants to study.

And then Takeo saves Yamato from a pervert on the train, but when she tries to repay him and bake him goods, he thinks it means she likes Sunakawa, because all the girls he’s liked before have.

I wasn’t sure what the relationship between Takeo and Sunakawa would be, given that all the girls fall for Sunakawa. I was surprised to find that they are seriously just really good friends. Takeo admires Sunakawa; he’s really just his best friend—there are absolutely no hard feelings. And Sunakawa just wants Takeo to be happy as well. I also like how Sunakawa jokes around with Takeo, for instance by setting him up near the beginning of the book.

I was also surprised by Yamato. She is seriously just adorable. The way she runs after Takeo in one scene, and then how she tries to hint and flirt with him. I admire her courage, the way she goes after him, and the adorable way she succeeds. Her and Takeo are just super cute together.

The artwork was not quite as good as I was expecting (although still good, don't get me wrong), but the characters were. This was an adorable volume, and I really can’t wait to read more.

Also, I hadn't realized that there were going to be longer release dates between volumes in this series. I'm not surprised, since there aren't very many out in Japan, but that still kind of sucks. Now I'm just going to have to wait longer than I thought for the next volume.