Title: Anyway, I'm Falling in Love with You Vol. 1Author: Haruka Mitsui
Series: Anyway, I'm Falling in Love with You #1
First Published: November 16, 2021
Publisher: Kodansha
Pages: 172
Genre: Drama, Romance, Shojo
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
Rating:
Synopsis:
Mizuho's 17th birthday is the pits. Her parents totally forgot, and the sempai she likes isn't interested in her. But when her longtime childhood friend asks her out, Mizuho has to sort out what this change in relationship could mean. And her feelings may not be the only ones changing...! A brand-new school love story from the author of I Fell in Love After School!
Buy the Book: AmazonReview
High school romance in the time of COVID-19, a novel concept. Mizuho is the luckiest girl in school surrounded by four gorgeous childhood friends, who she of course doesn’t see as potential love interests (yet). What starts as a standard harem sports romance turns into something more with the shadow of the pandemic creeping in. As club activities are postponed and ultimately canceled, Japan’s idealized vision of the high school experience is nudged slightly off-kilter.
Each of the male characters falls into standard romance archetypes which I don’t necessarily mind, but not enough time is given to any particular character for me to feel invested. The problem ended up becoming my one major critique of this first volume, which is that the pacing was just way too fast. The plot and characters ended up feeling underdeveloped, and there was simply not enough build-up for these characters and their relationships with one another before the declarations of love started getting thrown around. The romantic scenes are heart-pounding for sure, but there was no emotional weight to them, which made these scenes feel like they were not earned.
The promised confession in the synopsis was sweet, but it quickly becomes uncomfortable with a lead that is just too pushy. While it’s not unrealistic (it happened to me as a teen as well) it was pretty overwhelming. Despite my reservations, I’m sufficiently intrigued by the story and characters that I do want to continue the series and see where it goes, and am hopeful that the pacing issues will get worked out over time.
Quote
“Do people really have exciting experiences every day? Like, stuff that gets their hearts racing… Would that happen for an ordinary high schooler like me?”
Content Warnings
View Spoiler »About the Author
About Haruka Mitsui
A popular and prolific shojo manga artist in Japan, Haruka Mitsui’s previous manga, I Fell in Love After School, has been published in English digitally. Anyway, I’m Falling In Love With You is Mitsui’s first work to be published in English in print
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