By Kazune Kawahara and Aruko. Released in Japan as “Ore Monogatari!!” by Shueisha, serialized in the magazine Bessatsu Margaret (Betsuma). Released in North America by Viz. Translated by JN Productions. Adapted by Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane.

Like a lot of ongoing Viz titles, I haven’t actually reviewed this series in full since the first volume came out, saving my thoughts for a Bookshelf Brief. This is not to say I have not been loving the series, it’s one of my favorite recent shoujo titles. But it’s not something I really try to analyze deeply or get into the nitty-gritty of, more a manga that I can relax in after a long, hard day. It’s soothing. Even its dramatic tension was soothing. Critics have said that it’s a bit too sweet and sappy, and they are 100% correct. If you tend to gag on too much sugar, we may have lost you around the 10th time Takeo swooned and thought “I love her!” to himself. But now Yamato’s about to go to Spain. What will the long distance relationship become?

Obviously, this is a romance manga, and the thrust of the story is about Takeo and Yamato. It can get a bit ridiculous at times (I screwed up our relationship. I must FLY TO SPAIN to fix it!), but even that is so over the top and glorious that by the end you find yourself grinning like a loon. To no one’s surprise, Yamato’s running away from home did not pan out, so she does end up going to Spain for her senior year. The ‘relationship’ part of this separation goes quite well, but Takeo has a best friend to remind him to study so he can get into college, while Yamato lacks such a friend. And so she starts to fall behind, which leads to a series of brutal misunderstandings. And by brutal I mean “everyone immediately realizes what went wrong and yells at him to fix it”. It’s the final volume, we don’t need extended drama, we just need a montage of every supporting player since the start. And a punch. The punch was really good.

Speaking of the puncher, for all that it’s a romance manga, Sunakawa has been just as much of a major character as Takeo and Yamato. He gets a lot to do here, and I wonder if the authors were aware of all the theorizing about his sexuality that went on, as there’s something for everyone here. He and Takeo go on a vegetable-picking vacation with tons of BL subtext, and the final pages are basically Takeo hoping that Suna finds his own awesome girlfriend someday. As for me, I tended to see Sunakawa as asexual, and the manga does not disabuse me of that notion either – he cares deeply for Takeo, but simply lives at something of a distance from the other hormone-addled teens at his school. He was a terrific friend to the end, and the reason this manga works so well is the strength of his character in among the two lovesick doofuses.

And so we end with college, and with our couple together and (presumably) marrying soon. It’s a good ending to this sweet series, where the reader usually found themselves thinking “oh, that’s adorable!” at least four times a volume. Highly recommended to heart-on-your-sleeve shoujo romantics.

By Kazune Kawahara and Aruko. Released in Japan as “Ore Monogatari!!” by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Bessatsu Margaret (Betsuma). Released in North America by Viz.

There are precious few manga series where one can finish the first volume, set it down, and say “Wow, that was just adorable.” Luckily, we now have a new one with Viz’s release of My Love Story!!. Its unlikely lead does not detract in any way from the fact that this is sweet, heartwarming, and designed to make you smile broadly. Takeo may look and act like he’s from some other, less fluffy genre, but he really is a shoujo character at heart – this isn’t like dropping Onizuka into a shoujo manga. The juxtaposition is the starting point, but by the end of the first volume you’ll wonder why you ever doubted he’d fit in at all.

The fact that this is adorable and heartwarming should not be a surprise given that it’s Kawahara; after all, 3/4 of High school Debut ran on that same fuel. We have a different artist here, who has been working steadily in Japan at the same magazine but who’s being seen in North America for the first time. (Her Yasuko and Kenji series was briefly announced by JManga before they closed.) The art is excellent, though, with every shot of Takeo reminding you that he stands out like a bright primary color. Everything he does is BIG and LOUD and he has no idea how to deal with more subtle emotions. Not that this stops him from being the BEST FRIEND EVER, though. It’s clear from the outset that Yamato fell for Takao on first sight. His best friend, the cool and reserved Sunakawa knows that. The reader knows that. Yet Takao knows that girls like her falls for guys like his friend, and so gets everything wrong.

I get the sense this was written as a one-shot and then picked up for series, like many shoujo manga are. The first chapter could easily be stand-alone, and resolves everything nicely. Luckily, we get more later on, which gives some added depth and adds Sunakawa’s older sister, who it turns out also had feelings for Takeo but hadn’t said anything as he was still too young. It’s amusing seeing her attempt to derail his budding relationship, only to be thrown off by the fact that Yamato is an utter sweetie pie who shares many of Takeo’s traits. (Yamato’s confession that she’s not pure as she’s fantasized about holding hands with Takeo makes you want to say “…”) Luckily, both siblings are basically nice people and more importantly, both get why Takeo is who he is and appreciate him deeply. Sunakawa has not been rejecting girls left and right as he’s a cold male shoujo lead, he did it because they kept calling his friend ugly. It’s touching.

I anticipate that future volumes of this series are going to have to add more conflict and a few characters that don’t make you want to say “aww”. But for the moment, we can enjoy this romantic comedy, whose lead is meant to be incredibly out of place but in actuality fits right in, and is someone that every reader can root for. An absolute delight.

(Also, the entire manga is worth buying just for Vol. 1’s final gag, which is AMAZING.)