“Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie” is a popular rom-com manga soon to receive its awaited anime adaptation in the following season, spring 2022. So how is this manga? To put it simply, it’s sweet and fun.

The story of this manga follows Izumi and his girlfriend, Shikimori, in their day-to-day high school life. And yes, you read that right, they’re already going out. The main characters already dating separates this manga from most of the other romances where the main characters play this everlasting game where neither confesses for hundreds of chapters. This permits the manga to expand upon the relationship between Shikimori and Izumi differently than other romance manga, as their love strengthens rather than builds.

Going to the title of this manga, “Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie,” what does this say about the manga itself? Well, each chapter would showcase Shikimori’s cutesy personality, but then something happens and she acts extremely cool, causing Izumi to swoon a bit. Something like this tends to swiftly become boring from repetitiveness, but Shikimori handles this blockade excellently. After less than 40 chapters (keep in mind these chapters are around 5-8 pages) it starts expanding. By this point, you have a grasp on the concept, so the manga can introduce and develop characters while showing more of Shikimori than her just being cute and cool. “Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie” doesn’t imply she is only a bit more than being a cute girl, but rather she’s significantly more than just cute. She’s intelligent, diligent, hardworking, but most importantly, human.

The characters of Shikimori are flawed. No one’s perfect and this manga understands that. There are things people can’t do, but that’s why there’s a whole cast of them. They help each other and, as corny as this may sound, they teach each other lessons and encourage one another to achieve their goals. For example, one of the characters can’t cook, but they receive aid from some of the other characters and eventually learn. This doesn’t turn them into an expert overnight, but rather just a better chef. Still, this doesn’t ignore that the person learning has to put the effort in. Friendship doesn’t solve everything, but it helps.

Another thing I like about Shikimori is its pacing. The characters in this manga age. They aren’t in their first year for an eternity like other series, but rather age and try to figure out what they want to do in the future, and strive to achieve what they want to do in life. This aging pace also comes alongside seasons. Seasonal events, clothing, and weather in the manga help aid the reader understand when the current events are taking place and help make the manga feel natural.

This naturalism extends to the characters as well. Though they may seem a little too cheery for high schoolers, they tend to be realistic enough to be believable. The characters don’t rely on tropes or odd quirks very much to attempt to feel unique. While it does use some tropes (for example, the main character has extremely poor luck), these quirks and tropes are not slapped onto every single character in the manga. It’s just normal high school life, with a normal relationship.

So what do we have? An enjoyable manga where characters naturally progress through their high school life with some nice character development and a still cute, yet “more than just cute” main girl. I highly recommend this manga to those that like slice of life manga, and or romances.

Thank you for reading!