When We’re in Love, Vol. 1 by Fuyu Kumaoka
Series Name: When We’re in Love
Genres: Comedy, Romance, Slice of Life
Intended Age Group: Teen
Publisher: Kodansha
Edition: ebook
ISBN: 9781646597048
Rating: 1.5/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble BookWalker ThriftBooks
Description
Nanase Sakashita never looked twice at school delinquent Daiko Hana. At least, not until he rescued her from an awkward conversation and she saw his smile for the first time. What influence will these opposites have on each other, and does Sakashita have a chance if he’s already in love with someone else?
Personal & Info
I’m reading this book on BookWalker. It looks like it’s only available in digital. The Thrift Books link leads to the all editions menu, and it only has the Japanese print. So, if you want to read this series, you’re going to have to do it digitally or track down the Japanese hard copies.
Characters
Daiko Hana is the trouble student. Other students are afraid of him and spread wild rumors about how scary he is, when the truth is that he is probably not scary at all.
Nanase Sakashita is the class rep of class 1-1 at Tohoku High. She is a smart, kind, and well-behaved girl.
Komari is a teacher at the school, possibly a substitute according to some context. She’s also Hana’s childhood neighbor and friend.
Kaoru Kitada is the 40-year-old guidance counselor for the school.
Nishino is a guy Hana apparently beat up for saying something he didn’t like.
Tsutomu Birukawa is a guy who repeatedly confesses his feelings for Sakashita and insists he will wait for her for as long as it takes.
Story & Thoughts
I think this manga is rather dull. This is entirely based on this volume alone, and there could be a chance that it gets better when sampled in multiple volumes. However, I got this digital volume for free, and I don’t plan on spending money to try more of it.
The only thing I knew going into it was that it was a romance set in a school. I see the direction it’s trying to take, but it doesn’t implement it well.
Sakashita is the goody-goody class representative, who has a chance encounter with the school deviant. This somehow leads to her inadvertently crushing on him. She’s never dated or been interested in anyone before, so she doesn’t understand why she feels so interested in being around him and getting to know him. Eventually something clicks, and she realizes she’s crushing.
The volume is too short for the pacing to make it interesting, and the story is easily predictable. The most interesting part is the end of the volume when Hana hears something he wasn’t intended to hear. That’s the cliffhanger.
It’s not necessarily bad, though. I just don’t find it particularly good if the best part of the whole book is the bonus comics in the back. I don’t recommend it, but it’s probably more appealing to teens who have not read a ton of other romance. It’s a chill and kind of cute read. I can’t exactly describe it as okay, which is why it’s not a two, but I can’t say I didn’t like it at all, either.