So when one day, in one of his usual impulsive heroic actions, Takeo saves a girl named Rinko, he assumes it’s the usual pattern: Takeo falls in love, but the girl has a crush on Makoto. Takeo isn’t the type to bare a grudge, and he knows that Makoto is a nice guy. It would be easy for Takeo to resent Makoto, as every girl he has liked over the years has confessed to his best friend. Even he admits he doesn’t fully understand his friendship with the handsome, smart Makoto. The series opens with Takeo narrating about his relationship with Makoto (nicknamed Suna), his old neighbor and current schoolmate. Which is saying something considering a good portion of the story has more sugar than a candy store. In a genre where other series can go double digits without doing anything unique, My Love Story!! is a breath of fresh air. Well, Takeo is here to shake up the shoujo manga genre, and he does a darn good job of it.Īt best, someone like Takeo would be a side character, but My Love Story!! flips the script on the usual shoujo clichés and has the story told from the guy’s point-of-view, makes the “ugly guy” (not my words - it’s the manga’s tagline in the magazine) the lead, and the bishounen the best friend.

We don’t tend to think of shoujo protagonists as looking like this:

Unfortunately, every girl he likes prefers his best friend! Takeo’s lastest crush is a girl he saved on the train, but Takeo will support his latest love interest no matter who she likes. Takeo is a big guy who looks scary, but he has a heart of gold and a strong sense of justice.

俺物語!! 1 by Kazune Kawahara