Manga Review: My Love Story!! Volume 1 written by Kazune Kawahara, art by Aruko
Takeo Goda is a man’s man, for all that he’s only in his first year of high school. He’s tall, rugged, good at sports, and has a gentle heart which makes him a good friend. His male friends all think he’s awesome. Sadly, Takeo has had no luck with girls. Every young lady he’s been attracted to has instead been more interested in Takeo’s handsome best friend Sunakawa. Not that it’s done the girls any good as Sunakawa has rejected them all.
One day, Takeo helps out a girl named Yamato on the train. When she keeps coming around afterwards to spend time with Takeo and Sunakawa, and sharing goodies she’s baked, Takeo falls for Yamato. But having learned from experience, he assumes she’s interested in hooking up with Sunakawa…and this is the first girl Sunakawa actually seems to like. Takeo will help his friend land the girl!
Except that no, Yamato is in fact interested in Takeo, and Sunakawa finally has to trick her into saying that out loud in front of Takeo so that the real love story can begin.
This shoujo (girls’) romance manga goes against the usual formula a bit by centering the story on the male character (the Japanese title specifically uses very masculine language) and having him be not the usual pretty boy. Takeo’s face has, erm, character, and him being taller than most grown men at sixteen, is pretty intimidating-looking. Rinko Yamato, thankfully, happens to like big guys, and is attracted by Takeo’s gentle manner and strong sense of justice.
Both Rinko and Takeo are rather naive and a bit shy around the opposite sex, so they take their relationship slowly and some difficulties arise because they don’t always communicate what they want. It’s a good thing Sunakawa is there as a wingman. He’s the sort of attractive but aloof fellow who would be the love interest in many shoujo manga; but in this case he appears to be somewhere around asexual or aromantic. (Takeo thinks this is odd, but tries not to be too pushy about it.)
Towards the end of the first volume, Sunakawa’s older sister is introduced. She’s a college girl who’s surprised that Takeo’s got himself a girlfriend now–she thought she was the only one who had spotted the big fellow’s true worth. (Because she’s several years older, she had never spoken of her crush, hoping to wait until he was mature enough that the age gap would not be a horrifying issue.)
The art is nice, and the facial expressions are good, but backgrounds are sparse, so there are moments when it feels like the characters are floating in a void.
This is a sweet story, and has proved just as enjoyable by boys as girls. Recommended for romance fans.
