I love romance manga. I tend to read the funny ones that are more realistic and serious, but sometimes I love the ones that are goofy and dumb. You know the ones I’m talking about. They’re full of miscommunication and scenarios that are increasingly ridiculous. But sometimes that’s exactly what you’re craving. The first volume of Akira Falling In Love from Viz Media came out earlier this year, and it fits that bill perfectly.
Hajime knew Akira when they were young, and he liked her. When they were in the fourth grade, she moved to another town, but she came back now that they’re in high school. He still likes her, but it turns out she also has a massive crush on him. That should be the end of it, right? If they both like each other, it shouldn’t be hard for them to get together. Right? Wrong, it’s never easy in manga.
Akira is clumsy, awkward, and incredibly shy. She’s the smartest in the whole school, but she has no physical talent and her brain will shut down whenever Hajime talks to her. Her friends write a script for her every day that serves as a step by step guide to get Hajime to fall for her. But she somehow fails each attempt in spectacular fashion. In one chapter, she fails a simple greeting so badly that Hajime thinks he’s being kidnapped.
Throughout the volume, Hajime thinks Akira is out of his league, and he’s completely oblivious to her intentions. Whenever her attempts fail, he usually thinks that she hates him. But everything he does inadvertently makes her like him even more. For instance he might be the dumbest high schooler in the world, but he’s ridiculously athletic. But he doesn’t take advantage of his talent because pain is his mortal enemy.
There’s so many dumb and goofy moments. Many of the reasons for Akira’s failed attempts are asinine, like putting mustard in cookies. There are even a few cringe moments here and there, and a few scenes that are just outrageous. But it’s cringe with a purpose. For the first two or three chapters, I simply didn’t understand where the manga was going. But by the end of the volume, I couldn’t get enough.
No matter how many cringe moments and misunderstandings there are, the scenes are cute and wholesome. The characters themselves are wonderful and I slowly realized that the cringe was hilarious. The humor relies on outrageous events and dialogue, but it works the same way that it works in 100 Girlfriends. The interactions are sweet, and the first volume is both a good romance and a very good comedy. It already has the making of a top 10 romance manga for me. You can read our review of the second volume here.