REVIEW: ‘And Yet, You Are So Sweet,’ Volume 1

By focusing on a one-sided love but with a twist, And Yet, You Are So Sweet has stolen my heart. A slice-of-life shojo romance taking place in a high school, this series isn’t necessarily reinventing the creative wheel, but it is utilizing tropes in an innovative way. The series is created, written, and illustrated by Kujira Anan. Additionally, And Yet You Are So Sweet Volume 1 is published and localized in English by Kodansha, translated by Jacqueline Fung, with lettering by Nikki Dubois—both from Local Manga.

In And Yet You Are So Sweet, Maaya Kisaragi is 16 years old and has finally worked up the courage to confess to her crush. But while the opening pages look like it may be an adorable confession, her crush doesn’t take it that way and not only flatly rejects her but also ridicules her on social media after. To make matters worse, the most popular guy in her grade, Chigira-kun, overheard her despondent muttering about the whole thing. So instead of piling onto the bullying, he has a proposal for her in hopes of comforting her: rewrite the heartbreak with him. The only catch is that our shojo heroine isn’t jumping into a relationship; nope, she’s taking him up on a proposal to have a crush on him under the certainty that it will be one-sided.

In true shojo fashion, though, of course, it isn’t. There is a sweetness (pun intended) to this manga that lets you feel the warmth building up between Kisaragi and Chigira. They start to spend time together. While it’s originally under the guise of Kisagragi’s crush list—a list she uses to tell him what types of things she’s doing which is borderline-stalking—it slowly develops into friendship and then the “badump” lettering gives it all away. Anan masterfully crafts a story out of a concept I scoffed at when the two characters began talking about it, and they do it by making sure that we see both perspectives.

While the boy-crazy Kisaragi had been glued to her phone, pining over her other crush, Chigira had been riding the same train as her, looking at her, and in an undeniable way past the middle of the volume, crushing on her. While I do take issue with glorifying some stalker elements, I understand that Anan used it to drop Chigira into the classic high school romance trope by letting him be in “the know” of Kisaragi’s behavior. Additionally, The panels are drawn with such a softness that it’s hard to find fault in our awkward shojo heroine.

Overall, And Yet You Are So Sweet Volume 1 is wholesome, and by the end, you can see yourself envisioning the next volume and the moment that the two leads finally confess to each other. For now, though, you’ll have to be satisfied with the two vocalizing that they want to keep spending time together. Which, honestly, for a shojo high school romance, it is moving at a pretty fast pace.

And Yet You Are So Sweet Volume 1 is available now digitally.