I agree with other 2 star reviews that The story is quite repetitive. And though some of it was a bit boring, I think the relationship dynamic is cute and some chapters won me over a little.

There seems to be no real plot to this story, other than Izumi's girlfriend Shikimori is mostly cute, but sometimes acts cool. This story line fell really flat for me very quickly. I won't be reading the next volume.

Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie actually surprised me in a way. When I started reading this, I first thought that this is a mindless romance series, but I'm glad I was wrong! Shikimori and Izumi are in high school and date each other. Izumi is shy and blessed with bad and even catastrophic luck and Shikimori is cute to Izumi. In reality Shikimori is quite cool and has to hide her strong character and that's the base for the humor. The manga consists of small events and it repeats itself, since the pattern is the same. The real plot doesn't move all that much so I kept thinking how long can one keep reading the same thing all over again. I hope Maki changes this setting in the future or at least develops it.

The art looks nice and lively. I especially loved Shikmori's dark side and our pair's facial expressions. Their relationship is very real and awkward even, but we get to see their thoughts, which is wonderful. The dating is very childish though, so I hope it gets more content aside from blushing even from an accidental touch. Even though the manga seems like a repetition, it's not all that and there's this awesome vibe to it, which made me like it. It all depends what will happen in the future. I'd like to read more.

I really loved it! Wow, I wished it could be more longer because the premise of this manga is really wholesome. It's about a high school couple living their life but what makes it more interesting is that the girlfriend actually exudes a cool vibe sometimes and a cute vibe most of the time which makes the boyfriend's heart throbbing at the sight of her. I seriously am falling in love with this manga. Apart from its catchy storyline, the arts are really beautiful too. Dialogues also are adequately assorted which makes us follow the story easily. If you like a charming, funny, and heartwarming story, then I highly recommend this!

I volunteered to read this book through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book is well written and the characters are described well. The pacing of this story is good. The friendships and relationship in this story is great. The characters are so enjoyable. The artwork is absolutely beautiful. This book is in stores now for $12.99. I can't wait to read volume 2 in this series and every book this author has written. I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone.

Sometimes you just want to read a little bit of fluff. No story, no conflict — just a cute little story that you can enjoy at a superficial level.

There’s nothing much outside of the main baseline. It’s about a boy gushing over his adorable girlfriend. It’s sweet to watch them interact and to see how much they love each other, but you have to be patient. If you’re not into slice of life then this is not for you. While you can read this and enjoy the lovely art and relationship, it can get very repetitive and frustrating. Our main character keeps gushing over how cute his girlfriend is, she does something cute, then she shows a side that suggests she’s more ruthless then she lets on, and he gushes over that as well. It can get tiring.

Don’t go into this expecting a grand story, but it’s a nice segment of mini stories to enjoy mindlessly.

2.5 stars if I'm generous

I made it 48 pages (so around chapter 8, I think) before I couldn't take this anymore. It is the most repetitive thing I've ever experienced. <i>Groundhog Day</i> has less repetition than this story. Every chapter includes the guy saying or thinking about his girlfriend "She's so cute" or some variation. It feels copy-pasted from each chapter to the next. The chapters are strung out and it feels like there's no plot. Which would make you think this is a character-focused story, right?

Wrong.

I can't tell you anything about these people other than the guy has bad luck and dark hair and the girl has like superpowers and sometimes a menacing face and also looks cute every time she does stuff.

Huh?

Don't bother unless you're really bored.

This was such a cute, funny manga.
i loved it. the art style was very adorable. can't wait to read the rest.
thank you Netgalley for providing the Arc. <3

A reversal of shoujo tropes, Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie has a practically cursed teen boy, Izumi, who has the coolest seeming girlfriend ever. Izumi, whose daily life has him stumbling and crashing like a shoujo manga's female protagonist, finds himself in situations where his girlfriend, Shikimori, saves him a la shoujo manga tsundere love interest style, making him exclaim about how cool she is. Shikimori seems like a typical cute shy girl, but she is also quite smooth, impressing Izumi whenever she saves him from something falling on him, or protecting him from flying newspapers or something. Izumi, while also being adoring about his cool girlfriend, who his classmates think is out of his league BTW, sometimes feels he needs to be more 'manly' or something. However, he forgets about that whenever she manages to impress him again. The artwork style is cute, and the situations are more 4-koma style in a slice-of-life tone, so as for plot, it doesn't have much. It is typically something happens -> Shikimori does something cool -> cue Izumi's gushing, which can get repetitive after some time. But I can't deny that I love a good protagonist drinking his 'respect girlfriend' juice, so it is quite fun to read, too!

This manga book has been on my TBR list since I found out about it on a manga forum. I couldn't believe my luck when it was availble to request an advanced copy!
I was over the moon when I was accepted to read it!
This was a cute story. I feel like Shikimori has some sort of hidden agenda. Why does she stick around with such liability of a boyfriend? I think that she likes to feel needed. I don't think she has a family of her own, or much of one anyway.
The images were cute and the translation was well done.
Excited to see what the next installment has in for us!

This manga was so adorable! This is definitely heartwarming and humorous as we follow Izumi and his girlfriend Shikimori. To the general populace Shikimori is seen as a very cute girl, but she has a side to her that is more 'cool' as the manga says. Her boyfriend often sees this side of her when she protect him from different things. This was a super fast read that left me both smiling and laughing at their antics. They both want to do things for each other and Izumi is always floored by how Shikimori acts. If you're looking for a cute pick me up that will make you laugh this is a great start.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kodansha Comics, and Keigo Maki for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

With the subtlety of the description and the cover where the girl looks a bit masculine, I thought part of the character's secret would be that she's a crossdressing dude. No dice.

Why am I giving this a 2/5? Because it is just a bunch of VERY short stories (I think 14 different chapters) with no overarching story or conflict, which was also unexpected and a bit disappointing. I couldn't really find myself caring about the characters at all.

Izumi is "jinxed" with bad luck, and his girlfriend protects him through different issues. That's it.

Shikimori is an adorable girl who is actually really cool and strong and protective of her boyfriend, that continuously almost dies due to his terrible luck and things happening around him. There's not much to say beyond this - the volume is very short, with multiple very short chapters with small scenes of their daily lives, from their first meeting to their dates and walks to school together.

It's very light, a nice, short and quick read, to lighten up the heart after so long dealing with real life issues. The art is very cute and Shikimori and Izumi's relationship is very cute too, with them getting flustered so easily around each other.

There's a little hint at some development? or possible plot? but besides that it wasn't anything too special from other cute shoujos, so I hope future volumes go deeper than just the surface of Izumi almost gets hurt -> Shikimori helps him -> he thinks she's super cool -> he calls her cute and they both blush. It's cute, but not for a whole volume.

Thank you to the publisher for giving me a free copy in exchange for an honest review!


I really liked this. This was not like anything I've ever read before! i thought it was very fun and kinda cute at the same time. Even though you're supposed to hate Shikimori, or at least I think you are because she is quite the asshole, I thought she had her charm and she was the one who kept the story as interesting as it was.
The art style is the typical manga art style if you know what I mean and there is nothing significant when it comes to the art, however it's very easy to read through.
The story itself is very good. It's definitely not a deep going story and is more comedy related however I think that it was a very fun story to read through and I was very curious to more at the end of reading this. I think I'll keep my eyes out for the second volume when the time comes and read that too.

I definitely recommend this!

<i>Thank you NetGalley for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review! </i>
<b>Actual rating: 6/10

Plot: ★ ★ ★
Characters: ★ ★ ★ ★
Writing: -
Romance: ★ ★ ★ ★
Diversity/Rep: -

Does it get explicit? </b>
Nope.

OHMYGOSH SUCH A CUTENESS OVERLOAD MANGA IM CRYING??? i loved the clean and clear panels so much and though it is extremely repetitive in storyline and plot, it was a sweet and refreshing read. IZUMI IS SO SOFT I AM SOFT FOR THIS BOY I LOVE IZUMI also shikimori can like,, STEP ON ME

ARC Copy...to be honest it has the rom-com humor but it just felt choppy and messy due to Shikimori's rapid fire mood swings and why is the guy staying with her?

This was adorable!! I had a great time reading this book. It was full of a bunch of short stories about our two main characters, one of which is extremely unlucky and the other is there to keep the other safe. Everything in here was absolutely heartwarming. However, it is all very surface level in just about every aspect. This is fine if you just want some nice sweet reading but be aware that you won't be having any deep thoughts while reading.

This was a really cute read!

Though in the beginning, I honestly didn’t know what my thoughts would be on it. But as I continued reading, I was totally caught off guard by the extremely small chapters. I mean, the first chapter alone was four pages and was shocked by that!

But once I got into a “rhythm” when reading (and ignoring how many times Izunami says “My girlfriend is a real cutie.”), I enjoyed it quite a bit. They are an ADORABLE couple and I found the mix of a boy with insanely bad luck and a cute girl who can turn “the coolest” in a heartbeat was fun!

Despite that the chapters are short and more episodic like (though I found I enjoyed that because it made it a fast read), there is a continuous story and I loved seeing their romance bloom as the story progresses. My favorite chapter was number fifteen because seeing Shikimori drop her guard was so stinking cute! Also, the family scene was really touching.

I might have been uncertain how I would feel about this story in the beginning, but I am already looking forward to book two! It’s a fun story that in my opinion flips some of the “tropes” in manga I’ve read and definitely want to see what happens next!

This was super cute! The art style really drew me into the characters and the story was simple and wholesome. I also love how Shikimori protects Izumi instead of the roles being reversed. I’m super excited for volume 2!

I thought this manga was absolutely adorable and funny. I would definitely recommend it for my teens.