BL wins the day.
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Junko
Translation/Adaptation: David Rhie
What They Say
Hi! it’s Kae here! Recently, I made a new friend. Her name is Shima and she’s the most handsome girl I’ve ever met in my life! … And guess what else? She also happens to be one of my favorite doujin authors ever! I mean, how much cooler can you get?! But it doesn’t stop there—she invited me over to her house and the most unbelievable thing happened!! It looks like the boys have some tough competition. Let’s see if they can keep up …
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Serinuma returns to school after winter break and is confronted by the handsome cosplayer she met at Comiket. Surprise! He is a she and is named Nishina. It turns out that Nishina is a fujoshi just like Serinuma.
Nishina invites Serinuma over to her place, which causes an uproar with the boys. She extends that invitation to them and they tag along. Nishina is not just any fujoshi, she’s a rich young miss with separate rooms for her figure collection, extensive cosplay creations and a library any otaku would envy. Nishina isn’t just rich and good at cosplay. She’s a doujin mangaka too!
The invitation Nishina extended to the boys had a catch and that was they had to agree to be photographed. Nishina states it’s all for reference, but it’s also eye candy for the girls as they place the boys in provocative positions. When they finally say they’ve had enough, the girls demonstrate to proper way to pose with someone in your lap. Nishina gets wrapped up in the scene and kisses Serinuma and the BL poses turn into yuri.
Next it’s Valentine’s Day and Serinuma is only creating chocolates to win an exclusive contest. Nishina and the boys try their best to help her out when she decides to make a chocolate sculpture. Nishina offers her perfect sculpture to Serinuma thinking it might help her win the contest, but in the end, Serinuma decides to submit her own as it contained all her feelings.
With Valentine’s Day over, the story shifts to address how many of the boys like Serinuma only for her appearance. Nishina challenges Igarashi that he’s shallow for this very reason. Little does Igarashi realize it, but his feelings for Serinuma are about to be put to the test. Serinuma comes to school with all her weight gained back, as she ate all the leftover chocolate from her sculpture mishaps.
Nana reacts the most violently among the boys with Shinomiya right behind him. Nishina and Mitsumi like Serinuma whether she is slim or not. Igarashi isn’t sure what to think, because it is true he liked her for her looks, but he starts to see that there’s more to Serinuma than a pretty face. He realizes he’s in love with her personality.
Nana tries like mad to help Serinuma lose weight without any luck. All he seems to be doing is wear her out. Shinomiya takes over as coach and suggests they try otagei, which is an organized fan dance used at events or concerts. It seems like a good idea until Serinuma ends up getting hurt. This begins to divide the group into if they should pressure her to lose weight or not.
In the end Nana and Shinomiya come up with one last plan. It’s a reward system that as Serinuma exercises, they will hug each other and do other BL like things. Serinuma is all over this plan and loses her weight in no time. The final reward? Igarashi has to kiss Nana!
In Summary
As a fujoshi, I appreciate the humor in this story. I am pretty sure though, I’m not nearly obsessed as Serinuma is. The bonds fujoshis and fudanshis have are pretty intense as BL is a bit of a niche genre, so I appreciate that Serinuma has two friends that like BL. It’s also encouraging that the boys like her despite her being a fujoshi. A lot of people keep quiet about their love for BL, so Serinuma’s dedication to her hobby is admirable.
What I continue to not like about the manga and anime is the emphasis on how Serinuma is a better person when she is slim, and that somehow she is a thousand times more beautiful when she is small. However, I am glad that not everyone feels she’s better when she’s slimmer. I think this story tried to convey that, but fell short of its goal.
If you can overlook this portion of the story, the manga is decent. If it’s something you can’t get over even you appreciate BL, it might be a manga that isn’t right for you.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: B
Text/Translation Grade: A (Translation notes included)
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Kodansha Comics
Release Date: February 2nd, 2016
MSRP: $10.99
