This was good, but it also wasn't the best. It wasn't very memorable, in my opinion. It's one that I would continue if I found them for cheap, but not one I would necessarily seek out.

The art was done well and the story was fine. It just wasn't anything spectacular.

Thank you to NetGalley, Io Sakisaka, and Viz Media for the opportunity to read Love Me, Love Me Not Volume One in exchange for an honest review.

I loved Strobe Edge by the same author, and Blue Spring Ride has been on my to-read list for ages, so I thought, why not check out another series by the same author?

I love Sakisaka's art style. There's a gorgeous simplicity to the characters. This story features two heroines, Yuna and Akari, who both see the methods of falling in love in very different ways. The two become unlikely friends when Akari moves into Yuna's building, and Yuna sees Akari's brother, Rio, as a prince from her favorite picture book. She is unconfident in herself and unsure about pursuing Rio, while Akari likes to be open to different boys and different forms of falling in love. Akari thinks Yuna should date her childhood friend, but when she starts to get to know him, maybe she finds him appealing herself.

This was an enjoyable manga and I am interested in seeing the loves stories of both girls as they play out.

Shojo Goodness & Shojo Drama: ‘Love Me, Love Me Not

Viz’s imprint Shojo Beat has a new hitter at bat: another series by mangaka Io Sakisaka, who is also responsible for such fan favorites as Strobe Edge and Au Haru Ride. She’s had success in the shoujo manga industry — Au Haru Ride has an anime adaptation and a live-action drama film adaptation along with being translated in English. Io Sakisaka writes stories about youth who are complicated and learning about each other, themselves, and the world. When I heard about Love Me, Love Me Not I knew I wanted to figure out the strange dynamic between our four friends — two girls and two guys. I knew I wanted to read more about seeing the world and love through rose-colored glasses focusing in on the friendship of two teenaged girls and all the drama and goodness that comes out of it. Look, it’s springtime. I can feel the shojo sparkles and flower petals dancing in the wind!

The synopsis introduces “Four friends share the springtime of their youth together” and that is correct. With Yuna and Yukari come the two boys who are mixed up in the topsy turvy complication that is called friendship, attraction even,and obligation. Our main players are the soft-spoken and idealistic Yuna, who is very much the-girl-next-door type of character many will recognize. Yuna becomes fast friends to her total opposite, the fast-talking realist with her heart on her sleeve, Yukari. Joining the girls are Rio and Kazuomi. Rio is the tall, handsome playboy, of course, with surprisingly emotional depth that peeks through the more and more you see of him. He happens to be Yukari’s brother. Kazuomi is not quite Captain Obvious. He’s Yuna’s actual next door neighbor who she’s known her whole life — making him the literal boy-next-door. Together all these personalities build an intriguing web of character studies that keep being developing with each page. Each young person has their own thoughts and strategies of conquering love and maintaining friendships. This is the work Io Sakisaka does well.

The pacing is suited for those who can wait and those who can play the long game — If you can emotionally invest in the first 100 pages, then you’re good. This is no microwave feast to behold. I can imagine this is where some readers will be lost if they want it all within the first two chapters or so. Also of bigger note: The revelation made at the end of volume one is a D-R-A-M-A-B-O-M-B and in the way of Adventure Time’s LSP.

It’s either going to make or break your budding love for this series. With that being said, Io Sakisaka’s introduction of the dynamic of these four characters is done in such a way that I have more than a sliver of interest in how they’ll be as high school students navigating life and love. I was touched by Yuna and Yukari and how they’ve been adapting: Yuna the girl whose ideal first love is princely and Yukari who would rather grab love by the collar. The ever-present notion that when you’re young and you have no idea of what you’re doing and you’re swimming with the current trying to figure out which way to go with your feelings is relatable AF and I’m ready to feel this once more.

Timeline wise, I believe this was a series created after Au Blue Ride so Io Sakisaka had time to think on what worked and what didn’t from that series and apply that here. I’d recommend it if you know and love her work: Love me, Love Me Not, Volume 1 is for those who like character-driven work with a slow burn for romance and development. This may be too slow for you which is a shame as this type of story needs time to stew in the pot before we get to the meat and the potatoes.

Two girls with two different views on how love is and how it works. Neither of them are wrong, it's just how each one perceives it. I really enjoyed watching how both girls handled love and how things were. It was super nice seeing different views from each girl and it left me hanging. I want more and can't wait for Vol. 2 to come out to see how relationships are going to blossom and what happens next!

I love Io Sakisaka's Ao Haru Ride, so I was very excited to read the beginning of a new series.

Love Me, Love Me Not follows two girls with different views on life and love as they become friends and navigate high school. I loved that the main focus of the book was on these girls' friendship. It is still a shojo manga and we do see potential love interests and the will they/won't they of that in this first volume, but I love that we get a chance to have a series with friendship at the forefront.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing the E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Love Me, Love Me Not, Volume 1 by Io Sakisaka is an adorable, romantic manga that should be on everyone's must read list of 2020.

One day, a handsome man who likes like a prince from Yuna's dreams comes into her life! That same day, Yuna's best friend Satchan moves away but she meets a new friend named Akari. Akari and Yuna become quick friends, but it's suddenly obvious they have very different views on love and live. Akari wants Yuna to date her childhood friend, while Yuna believes true love is very different.

Along the way, we watch Akari and Yuna take very different paths towards the love department. Plot twists unfold to reveal some information we would never expect...

Manga like this is always fun. The pictures show a lot of emotion and the story unfolds itself naturally. This manga is far more contemporary romance and drama than the typical fantasy manga I read, but it was still an absolute delight! I found myself glued to this manga and unable to put it down - in fact, I binged the whole thing in one sitting.

My positives:
1. The illustrations are absolutely beautiful, adorable and fantastic!

2. Two opposing points of views on love. The heroines of the story idolize love in very different ways and I truly liked seeing two different perspectives instead of having just one forced on us. Bonus points!

3. The themes shown throughout this book was truly intriguing - the takes on love, friendship and jealousy.

4. The DRAMA in piece 4. My goodness.

My negatives:
1. This volume had multiple "pieces". I kind of wondered if this book was broken up like comic books are and then put into one giant volume. Either way, I was a little confused but it didn't impact my view of the story at all.

Overall, I really enjoyed this manga and I would love to continue it if given the chance. I've missed the fun romantic side of mangas and all of the drama that ensues.

Five out of five stars.

Thank you NetGalley and VIZ Media for giving me this wonderful opportunity to pick up this book early!

This was such a fun and quick read! It follows Yuna and Akari, two girls that are complete opposites who meet in an unexpected way and soon become best friends.

Yuna is a shy quiet girl while Akari is outgoing and not afraid to speak her mind. While they seem to have nothing in common they soon start to realise that maybe they aren't so different after all.

The graphics in this are really beautiful and I hope that it is published in colour as in some cases I couldn't tell which girl was which particularly when it was a close up of Akari's face as you couldn't see the dark ends of her hair.

I think this is a great manga for teens as it explores the topics of friendship and crushes/first loves and that our impressions of people aren't always what they seem and you should get all your facts before jumping to conclusions.

Thanks to NetGalley and VIZ media for providing me an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

One word can sum up this book: adorable! It's sweet and heartfelt, the art is stunning and I loved watching the friendship grow between the two main characters and how they help each other when needed.



Now, while I would still recommend this title, it's not my personal favorite because it's just too wholesome. I like my stories to not be so... clean. I want more grit, darkness, adult content and all that good stuff. But it was nice to read a sweet story that left me smiling.


Will go live on the blog: 3/25/2020

This was pretty good manga. I really enjoy the two perspectives from both of the main girl characters on love. I also enjoyed the story line about friendships. Think this would be good book for libraries to get or teens and tweens to read.

This was pretty good manga. I really enjoyed the two perspectives from both of the main girl characters on love. I also enjoyed the story line about friendships. Think this would be good book for libraries to get to add to their collections and teens and tweens to read.

A slice of life story about 2 unlikely friends and the trials and tribulations of life in high school.

I am having a hard time writing this review, since the steps taken to prevent copyright infringement (large watermark on all the pages and 2 dozen pages that presented as completely blank) made te story hard to follow. There were points in the story where I couldn't tell what was going on because of these blank pages. Scenes would jump from one thing to tne next for no rhyme or reason. I have read other titles by Sakisaka and would recommend Ao Haru Ride before Strobe Edge.

A sweet yet realistic manga about two new friends who learn they have opposite opinions about romance. Art is charming, pretty, and has an original twist to the standard "shojo" (teen girls') manga style. Will get this for my teen manga fans.

Fast paced romance with misleading outward appearances and secret crushes that draw you in. Great [didn't- see-that-one-coming] cliffhanger to volume 2!

For some reason some of the pages of this volume were missing, and I don't know whether thay was a download fault or it was just not in the book, but either way I really enjoyed this volume. Though not a genre I typically am drawn to the artwork mixed with the simple yet intriguing story has left me wishing I could continue reading on. I very mixed enjoyed the contrast between both the female protagonists as they both done an amazing job at balancing each other out, however on the same not the male characters seemed 2 dimensional in comparison. Either way, I'm glad I got to read this and will continue reading further volumes.

This was a fun read. Good artwork and interesting characters. The romance was cute but there are a lot of twists and different dynamics that keep the intrigue alive. Cliff hanger ending that surprised me.

This manga is undeniably wholesome and sweet. Both the art style and storyline were as saccharine as unicorn rainbow cupcakes - but I absolutely adored it. I am an avid fan of shojo manga and have devoured my fair share of their quirky love stories, but <u> Love Me, Love Me Not</u > is a unique exploration of what love means in all of its forms, from friendships to romantic attachments, and how this affects our interactions with one another. I am anxiously awaiting the next volume in the series to see what the protagonists Yuna and Akari discover as they try to navigate societal expectations and uncover family secrets in their quests for true love (or not ;) ) My only regret is that the rest of the series is not already translated and published in English.

A sweet shojo manga, perfect for teen girls that love romance. 2 girls become friends after an unlikely meeting, and each is her new friend's champion as they each handle the concept of love and romance in their own ways.

Nothing new or groundbreaking, but pure pleasure for readers. I do like the idea of 2 positive main characters.

My middle school girls will enjoy this one. Great for fans of Waiting for Spring.

*My thanks to Viz Media & NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance digital copy.

Hooked already, can't wait for the further volumes to come out in English. Love the characters and enjoying the relationship dynamics between the four main characters already.

Such a cute manga about two girls with differing views on love. The art style of the manga is beautiful, and the characters are so enjoyable to read about. Seeing these two girls learn about friendship and love together is refreshing, and it's nice to see two girls helping each other out in life instead of tearing each other down.

The ending of this has me so shocked, and I cannot wait to get to read volume 2 and find out more of what is going on.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a review copy.

Thank you so so much Viz and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this first volume!
As I began reading this manga, I was happy to see that the author leaves notes on the side margins, I love reading little bits and pieces into the creators life. There are many things I liked about this. I think the characters are cute, their personalities are fun and i'm sure they will be more interesting the longer the series gets. However, one thing I didn't like was the lack of detail to the panels. There were hardly any background or setting images behind the characters and if you weren't paying attention, you might not have a clue where the characters are even standing in space. There was a neat little twist at the end of this volume and I am very interested in seeing how that plays out. I love the idea of the story. I want there to be some love going on and possibly some spicy triangles in the future, but for now, with this one volume, I was not dissapointed, but I was a little underwhelmed on the art. Overall, I would recommend this to Shojo lovers. This is an interesting take on a Shojo that i am interested in seeing where this series goes!