Watashi ga Motete Dousunda!

By meronpansuki - Saturday, September 17, 2016 - No Comments

Where to start with this manga…ah…

Firstly, understand one thing… I haven’t read the shoujo genre in a while, so picking up this series was surprising even to myself. Other than the typical reverse-harem feature in most shoujo manga it isn’t anything special in my opinion, but what caught my interest was the feature of a hardcore otaku protagonist and what’s more she’s a fujoshi (a girl that enjoys yaoi/BL) too!

Main Character - Kae (after losing weight)

A quick run of the storyline, Watashi ga motete dousunda (or Kiss Him, Not Me!) is about a high school girl named Serinuma Kae. She’s your typical otaku – attending conventions, in love with 2-D characters, and with the added interest of shipping guys together. At the start of the manga, she’s not any sort of looker at all, in fact she’s fat and somewhat clumsy. However, in a dramatic turn of events where her favourite manga character dies, resulting in her going on an impromptu diet, and TAH-DAH! Kae becomes not only thin but incredibly cute as well. And in usual shoujo manga fashion, Kae gets her entourage of hot guys that pine for her attention after that.

Recipe no Oujisama - by Junko

At this point, I’d like to note that the mangaka, Junko, actually authors more yaoi/BL related manga titles than shoujo (I do read some of her other titles), so I guess an introduction of a fujoshi character would be something close to her heart as well. Haha~

Kae (Before losing the weight) She's so cute ><

Anyway, moving on moving on, I loved the art of the manga, everything is proportioned properly, Kae and her suitors are well drawn and look gorgeous. Kae looks cute in her chubby look and really really pretty in her slim look. The spazzing over hot guys and well paced scene cuts makes the manga a smooth read. With most of the conflicts that rise being solved within the chapter itself. You won’t see much cliffhangers here.

All is fine and dandy, but here’s where I take issue with the manga. Is that the guys! The guys were being extremely superficial at the start. Good art really saved the manga for me, if it weren’t for the well-drawn pages of art I might not have stayed to read on. Initially, all of the guys have had previous interactions with her, but all of them literally fell for Kae’s looks first. And then immediately redeemed themselves for not judging her for being an otaku. And then immediately going back to superficial when Kae suddenly gains back all the weight she’s lost. And then redeeming themselves again by suddenly discovering her inner beauty. Much wow! The insta-love is also a running trope of shoujo for sure, but the insta-declarations of love, and some of the situational setups… felt like something out of a BL manga.

I'll leave it to you to find out who is who~ ;)

More about the men in the manga, well, you have your stereotypical guys, the brooding one, the goofy one, the senpai – the weird one, the kouhai – the one that looks like a girl. Nothing particularly interesting, they all get their chance at character development through interactions with Kae, which is nice. And since this is shoujo, I don’t actually mind the cliché-ness of everything, sometimes a norm in a genre is comforting. And have I mentioned the art? Haha… yes this article is all about the fluffy art. Junko is obviously good when it comes to drawing guys.

Oh, and there’s also an addition of a girl Nishina Shima – a tomboy of sorts who is rich, athletic and a doujin artist, as well as a fellow fujoshi like Kae, needless to say they become best friends of course.

The poor girl...

Story development was fairly good across the chapters until recent chapters, where all of Kae’s suitors confess to her, and she doesn’t give a decisive answer (like every shoujo manga out there)… And man does this situation drag out really long. Any longer, and it would be really selfish on Kae’s part to keep them all hanging actually. I do hope she comes to a conclusion soon. But I guess when you're in love with 2-D... coming to terms with 3-D can be a bit challenging. (Nothing can be as bad as Watashi ni XX shinasai though…)

Cute, fluffy art~

TL;DR:

Watashi ga motete dousunda is a typical shoujo manga with a slightly more interesting premise. The art is to read for, and if you’re a BL fan yourself, the level of how much you’d be able to relate to this manga will go up in spades. (Frankly, if I didn't read BL as well, it might not have been as appealing.) You’d find yourself amused with some familiar BL tropes disguised as shoujo plot points and experience the same kind of slow maddening frustrations you might have had while reading other shoujo manga. Still, I think the manga is worth a try if you're looking for something light-hearted and humorous.

If you’re interested, the manga will have an anime adaptation starting this fall season, and a drama CD, which you can listen to here, has also been released. The seiyuus are stellar in the tracks. The first track of the drama CD follows the first chapter of the manga, while the second track is an original story. I might do a translation of the second track depending on my time, and if there's demand.

Till next time nya~ :3

Written by Neko