Valentine's Day is coming up soon, and you know what that means; it's time for the single people of the world to envy the couples of the world as we indulge in candy and love stories! I mean, I'm mostly fine with staying single, but there's nothing wrong with reading a cute little shoujo romance manga, right? As if to fulfill my desire for a love story to read this February, I happened to notice that someone I follow on AniList had just finished a manga with a cute-looking cover called "Hajimete Koibito ga Dekimashita." After reading the synopsis and realizing how short these 22 chapters must be to be contained in a single volume, I decided to follow his lead and read the whole thing for myself. I might have diabetes now, and I'm blaming the guy who read this before me! (I'm kidding, I'm kidding.)
It's hard to really describe the premise of Hajimete Koibito ga Dekimashita in an entire paragraph, as there isn't really a whole lot of story to describe about it. The first 21 chapters, having originally been published on Twitter (I refuse to call it X), are all around 4-8 pages long, and most of them are small vignettes of the all-too-pure relationship between high schooler Ayumi Yoshioka and her upperclassman, Sumito Iizuka. That's all there really is to it. No drama, no real conflict, just fluffy little slice-of-life bits between two blushing teenagers just trying to make their relationship work.
For some, the relationship between Ayumi and Sumito won't be the most engaging to read. As far as character growth goes, there is a little bit for Ayumi toward the end, but that's about it. What the manga does well with their relationship, however, is capture how giddy and excited one might feel with their first romantic partner. Plus, Ayumi and Shinto are nice, considerate people (even if not terribly interesting characters), so it's easy to wish for their happiness together. The final chapter, made for the published volume and clocking in at around 30 pages, showcases how they met and further drives the point of how good they are together home.
When the manga isn't focused on these two lovebirds, however, we get to watch as another romance unfolds between Nao Kisaragi and Shirou Asano. Nao is Ayumi's best friend and has a cool, calm, and collected personality; meanwhile, Shirou is buddies with Sumito and has an energetic and kind of puppy-like personality. Their differing personalities create a dynamic that is nothing less than fun to see, especially with how adorably in love Shirou is with Nao. Honestly, I wish Nao and Shirou had a spin-off manga to themselves just so I could see their dynamic and overall relationship more. Oh, well!
These two love stories were written and drawn by Yuu Kamena, whose artstyle is pretty standard as far as modern shoujo romances go. For some reason, the artstyle particularly kind of reminded me of Honey So Sweet, another wholesome shoujo romance manga that I've reviewed in the past. My feelings for Yuu Kamena's artstyle here are similar to how I felt about Amu Meguro's art back then; it's cute and simplistic in the right ways and in the right places. It's good art! What else can I say?
Overall, Hajimete Koibito ga Dekimashita is a cute manga. You're going to be disappointed if you want some extra spice in your romance manga, but if you want something short, sugary sweet, and wholesome to read on Valentine's Day, this would be a good choice. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to start begging the manga artist for a Nao and Shirou-centric spin-off.
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