Super adorable! Honestly, this first volume had me smiling nearly the whole time.

Hibi, our female lead, is a muscle maniac... obsessive about ripped guys! The Muscle Prince of the basketball team takes an interest in her and her obsession and signs her up to be the basketball team's manager. A perfect fit for her so she can work the team to complete muscle perfection.

But, Hibi finds herself falling in love with more than Natsume-sempai's muscles.

I recommend this to anyone who is a shojo romance fan of a quirky girl and a hot high school price... with a tiny bit of basketball thrown in!

I'm a huge shojo fan, so I decided to give this manga a try. The main character, Kaho Hibi is a high-school student obsessed with muscles. She looks at players in the sports teams in her school and analyses their muscles until she gets caught by Otaro Natsume, the "muscle prince" of the basketball prince. Natsume sees her "work" on muscles and coerce her into becoming the manager of the basketball team. Hibi doesn't want to, but spending time with Natsume and the other players make her change their mind. From creating a training regime just for them to organise an overnight training camp, Hibi is not focusing on the developing the team's muscles. Natsume, on the other hand, is falling for Hibi and he tries to make her notice him as a person and not just because of his muscles, but it is a long and tortuous quest. It also looks like there will be a love/basketball rival coming into the picture, and I'm curious to see when Hibi will realise her feelings for Natsume.

This was a classical shojo manga story, although a little bit weird because of the muscle obsessions from the main character, but that only made it more cute.

Another day, another let's go into the manga blindly, except I know I'll fall in love with the art style and this manga did not disappoint. There are the basic criteria of visual storytelling in terms of clarity and storyline progression.

Getting Closer to You was quite a fresh story as it serves us with a sports-agnostic, muscle-obsessed heroine. She even watches the practices of her school's sports teams, out of her enjoyment of musculature. So soon after she was caught red-handed by non-other another muscle prince on the basketball team, she was offered to become their manager and employ her muscle knowledge to help the team strive for betterment.

As much as I can see that the mangaka resorts to this theme as means of having a silly premise and to create a light and fun atmosphere, I can't help but be unsure of the whole idea of "muscle obsessed" in general. To an extent, this manga seems to contend with objectifying males as I believe if the role is reversed, the hero would get a lashing for being inappropriate and misconstruing.

On the other side, the romance was kind of adorable. I like that Natsume did not ridicule Hibi's obsession and instead admire her tenacity in making sure the basketball team would be fit for the tournament. Nonetheless, I still find things to escalate a bit faster than they should. The first kiss was so out of the blue and as much as I fancy the surprise, it dissipate the chemistry they had and made it feels forced.

Another thing that fell short for this manga is Natsume's character. He was not given that much foreground as a love interest who's skilled and muscular. I believe we would get to see his character be accentuated better as we go, but he seems to be a bit uninteresting and one-dimensional compared to Hibi.

As a whole, I still find myself enjoying this manga. It was endearing, amusing, and engaging. The cliffhanger and the hint of having a potential love triangle, in the end, make me more excited than I initially was for the next volume! Looking forward till it will be released.

This was adorable. I love that Habi is so muscles obsessed. I can’t wait to see what happens next. She was helping the basketball team get more muscle’s.

After muscle-obsessed Kaho Hibi gets noticed and recruited by the basketball team's star to whip the team into shape, she thinks her dreams of being surrounded by muscles have come true— until said star takes an interest in making her see beyond his pecs and biceps. If you were a fan of Gou and Seijuro in Free! you're going to eat this up.

This shoujo had a very funny, lighthearted premise, which I enjoyed but ultimately fell flat under the pacing. This book starts off strong with chapter 1, which is fine, but the face paced-ness of their relationship doesn't seem to match how Kaho herself actually feels. It's very one-sided towards Natsume, and I didn't feel a strong drive to root for their relationship. It felt both like a lot and nothing at all was happening, which was a little impressive. In the end it wasn't the type of shoujo I really enjoy.

I don't think I'll be continuing, but as stated above, if you enjoyed Gou and Seijuro's relationship in Free!, you may enjoy this a lot more than I did!

Thank you so much to the author, Kodansha Comics, and NetGalley for the complimentary ARC!
This review contains my honest and unbiased thoughts and opinions. 🌸

Oh my gosh, I absolutely loved this!!

I admit, when I first started reading, I wasn't sure I was going to like it. It seemed a bit much for me... just a bit TOO much.

Kaho, our female MC, is obsessed with muscles. Big biceps, muscles galore, she carries a notebook and spies on the guys to make her notes.

Her obsession is a bit much, I mean... If a guy was doing that about boobs people wouldn't think it was cute...

And there's more to Kaho's love of muscles than "looks" the backstory helps us understand a little more and it's more about strength, muscles = strong.

BUT, the way her obsession is suddenly turned into something useful and Kaho starts finding her footing, figuring out what she's good at (besides drooling over all those muscles), the story truly starts to develop and I started loving the characters.

Then there's our main man, Natsume who has the best muscles according to Kaho. And he uses his muscles and her obsession to persuade her at times (some moments are pretty funny).

Really, I don't want to give a lot of details because reading the story, discovering how Kaho puts her muscle notes to use, the cute moments between the MCs, the way their relationship starts to develop, it all pulls the story together and is one you really need to just read and enjoy yourself!

I loved this manga and I absolutely can't wait to read the next volume!

It’s not my first time reading comic novels but it’s one of the only I really enjoyed doing !!!
I liked the fluffiness, the weirdness and the simplicity of the characters and I truly think this story has a huge potential for the future of the series!!!!

Getting Closer to You is a sports shoujo series or at least something like it? Hibi is a muscle maniac girl, who ogles boys' muscles everywhere she goes, but she's not into the guys per se of course. She keeps a muscle diary and the basketball club's muscle prince Natsume notices this and asks the girl to be the manager of the team. Hibi doesn't really want to, but ends up saying yes and actually enjoying the whole thing. Natsume also falls in love with the girl, but Hibi isn't that easy to conquer. I really liked that it's the boy who has feelings first and declares them too. The manga is a show of these two characters, but I kind of hoped we'd get to meet others too instead of them being paper thin side characters to fill the pages. So, in a sense this is like you basic shoujo structure-wise, even though the theme is something else.

The art looks cute and nice, but gladly the characters have facial expressions too. We get to see games and practice too, which is nice, since usually those are almost absent in romantic series. The story moves very fast and I wish Kamino would use more time to establish the relationship, since it's hard to believe this sudden love easily. Otherwise this is OK and the muscle approach is great!

Oh, my goodness. I LOVED this one. I couldn't stop reading it once I started. I adored the hilarious concept, the artwork is breathtaking, and it was just cute!

Kaho is obsessed with muscles. She watches them all day long and has a muscle journal where she keeps track of muscles. Natsume comes across her journal and realizes her fetish - and asks her to manage the basketball team. Kaho is in heaven with everyone's muscles and designing training programs to build more muscles.

This was romance perfection to me. It gave me butterflies and that giddy feeling of new love. I had a dopey smile on my face the whole time I was reading it. Natsume has feelings for Kaho but she's kind of oblivious. He shows it in various ways, teasing her, tempting her, protecting her...It's so sweet. I absolutely loved it. I cannot wait for the next volume. I highly recommend!

A young teen girl who is obsessed with muscles turning into a muscle trainer, sounds interesting? Right!
I loved reading this hilarious and cute manga where our female protagonist who is obsessed with muscles ends up being in love with the muscle price of the baseball team of her school.

Hibi-chan is obsessed with muscles. Natsume is the basketball player in the school with the best muscles. When he finds her journal detailing each of the basketball teams' muscles (rated and analysed in depth!), rather than being upset he recruits her to be the school basketball team manager. Sparks fly instantly when Natsume knows of her ... particular passion, teases her about it and not only doesn't mind, but encourages her to use that passion in a productive way.

This manga has to be the biggest surprise hit for me in terms of a rom-com idea, and it is down to the characters dynamic and the sparks flying around. Despite thinking initially she is only attracted to Natsume's muscles, he declares that he is interested and wishes to make her like him - <i>all of him</i>, more than just his muscles. Her inner conflict at her own feelings, his direct approach and openness about his feelings and the fact they are both adorable together really made this dynamic work (better than I thought after reading chapter 1 and dying of second-hand embarrassment!!).

Though I was blushing (a lot of topless men being ogled over by Hibi), smiling like an idiot, and suffering from second-hand embarrassment at some of the scenes (cringe-laughing is a skill this manga really brought out of me!), the characters are very likeable and the main guy Natsume's approach to her is definitely what makes this not only readable but really fun and enjoyable.

I didn't imagine I would say this, but I am actually really looking forward to continuing this series!

<i>I was provided with an ARC of this manga volume by Kodansha (via NetGalley) in exchange for an honest review</i>

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

2 Stars!

Kaho is obsessed with mens muscles. It is a good day when she gets to see muscles. Her senpai finds her muscle notebook. I had really high hopes for this but I couldn’t finish this. The cover drew me in, but this isn’t my kind of story i guess.

I can't say I was a fan! The main character's obsession with muscles was more off-putting to me than quirky and I did not like how assertive the love interest was, considering how they don't know each other that well yet. The pacing was all over the place, and arcs that might happen after better character development happened early on. Interestingly, this is not the first basketball (manager) shoujo manga I've read. Those who liked Cheeky Brat should give this series a shot.

I'm surprised the title doesn't have something to do with muscles.
Hibi is a girl obsessed with muscles. She loves to spy on all the sports teams. Because of this habit, she gets roped into being the basketball team's manager. From there, the romance begins.

This was a really fun shoujo. I thought for a bit that it might be a standalone, but there's going to be a volume 2. I'm looking forward to seeing how the characters develop. Right now, they're not super developed - Hibi's main trait is being obsessed with muscles, and the romantic lead is obsessed with her. Still, the drawings are good, and it moves quickly without feeling extremely rushed.

Looking forward to the next!

Thank you so much to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for this ARC!

The art was just so beautiful to look at to begin with, and the story was so fun! I was completely immersed in it as it was so funny and adorable! I love Hibi and Natsume!
It felt a little fast paced but I really enjoyed the volume. The romance was so cute and hopefully some friendships will evolve with the basketball players!
The ending had me gripping for more. I can't wait for the next volume!!!!!

A short summary of what this manga is really about: A creepy stalker girl spies on and obsesses about dudes from afar, ogling them and writing notes about them. Then creepy girl meets creepy guy who likes her, and while having absolutely no skills to back it up, she becomes the manager for the basketball team. She body shames people and is very shallow. Creepy girl and creepy guy both assault each other and girl gropes people without their consent. Creepy girl and creepy guy like each other for some reason. Also I DARE you to say the word "muscles" one more time. The word has lost all meaning

This was a cute read, with some great artwork! Kaho's obsession with muscles made for some funny scenes, though it definitely edged towards being slightly creepy. I found that her relationship with Natsume is progressing pretty fast, and with the ending hinting at a potential love triangle, I'm intrigued to see how the rest of the story pans out.

This manga was also a bit different and kind of weird, but not totally in a bad way. Shoujo mangas usually feature quirky heroines and the heroine here surely has her own quirk. Her love for muscles is incredible and I don't think it's possible to be that into muscles? I don't know, but it's a shoujo manga so.. I guess exaggerating things is pretty common. It's entertaining though, and really funny.

I like the hero's flirtiness and his attempts at making the heroine see him over his great muscles. I'm looking forward on how he gets her to really look at him.

The story is pretty simple, some scenes make your heart thump, but it's not exactly phenomenal right now. I also have a feeling that it would turn more cliché at the appearance of the second lead. I hope not because I'm not really into the whole love triangle vibe.

Art is cute. It's got some weird angles, but it's generally pretty.

Big thanks to Netgalley, the mangaka, Ruri Kamino, and the publisher, Kodansha Comics for a copy of this manga!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐💫 (3.5)
Steam Level: FLUFF ONLY!!

In this shoujo, we follow Kaho who is not afraid to say that she is in love with guys’ muscles. That’s her obsession and she spy on all the guys doing sport at her school to admire it. One day, Natsume sees her and suggests that she becomes the basketball club’s manager as she knows well how to build muscles.
This first volume is quite cute but I felt that the romance went a bit fast. Kaho is quite passionate and even though she knows about muscles, she doesn’t know anything about basketball but she makes efforts to change that so it’s quite nice. She is very passionate. I know she sounds very superficial but it’s not that bad as it means that she can only fall in love with a personality and not a body.
I recommend to people looking for a chill shoujo
3/5

This is one is hilariously cute despite the creepy and side eye-worthy premise. Our heroine, Hibi, is a muscle maniac who's a bit innocent and can't take a hint, but it weirdly suits her personality. Our hero, Natsume, is so sweet to her and has a very playful personality that matches well with the Hibi's personality. His teasing remarks to her are both funny and cringe at the same time.