On the back of the first volume of Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie, it says this manga is perfect for fans of Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro and Komi Can’t Communicate. Well, I was not a fan of Nagatoro. I am, however, three volumes into Komi Can’t Communicate and enjoy it, definitely going to check out more. So what happy medium would this particular manga involving two high-schoolers in a pretty sweet relationship find itself in?
Well, it more or less is in the area where the romance is pure, and that’s almost about what it’s got going for itself.
Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie is basically about how Izumi finds his girlfriend, Shikimori, not just cute but also cool. Whether that’s when she’s up close to him, or when she races after him and stops from getting hurt while skiing, or even when she dresses differently from normal, it’ll end with Izumi remarking about her being cool. The actual relationship does seem quite nice, and there’s even a backstory at the end of the volume that explains how the two met. The art is probably the best part of the manga to me, as the characters are drawn well, the movements look good, and you can see how either embarrassed the two are at times or how much they like each other. That’s a real strength Keigo Maki shows in this first volume.
And yet…that’s about it for what’s good or even ok. Ultimately, the humor for this was lacking. Pretty much every chapter features the same beats (they’re about 6 or 8 pages), and by halfway through the volume the lack of anything to latch onto becomes readily apparent. You’ll either enjoy each chapter where it starts with Izumi saying Shikimori’s cute, a mini event or opportunity occurring in the middle for us to see how much they like each other and Shikimori doing something great, and it ending in a variation of Izumi saying she’s awesome, or you won’t.
Maybe that’ll be great for some people, but it’s not something that worked for me. The art alone is just not enough to continue reading this series. Think sticking to Komi Can’t Communicate will be the better option instead.