I enjoyed this manga. It's a combination of shojo and comedy. The art shows a little bit of gender-bender, but in a cute way. The storyline is very light no drama and no harem. Shikimori becomes very protective of Izumi, whenever Izumi gets into trouble or if he's in danger. It's quite funny when this happens, because Izumi would be like the girl being saved, but he's supposed to be the strong boyfriend (role reversal). So would I read and buy volume 2? Definitely, I'm curious how the story will progress and also how Izumi and Shikimori's relationship will grow. This manga is available for $12.99. I would recommend this to everyone who loves rom-coms. </p>

Told in a series of short stories, the first volume of this manga is very cute. Shojo fans will LOVE this High school famsel in distress because the damsel is THE BOYFRIEND! Follow a jinxed but wholesome HS boy who is in love with the cutest and coolest girl in his high school. She is also his hero.

My only complaint is that the story is told in various cut scenes and sniplets of their lives instead of as a cohesive story working threw as a unit. It feels like a weekly webcomic with a new short story every week.

It is a cute, fun, and easy read, so if you love HS romance please pick this up!!!


***I was provided a free copy of the book through Netgalley for an honest review***

<i>arc provided by the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review</i>

This was super cute and a ton of fun. I love that the Shikimori is the more dominant one in their relationship and that she protects Him. It’s a nice change of pace, especially in manga!!

Plus, the two of them go so well together and are absolutely precious. I love that Izumi adores Shimikori and isn’t offended against her protecting him, he just wants to be able to offer her the same... even if he has superior bad luck.

Overall, this was so enjoyable and I definitely would love to read more about the two of them and how they navigate life together and with Izumi’s bad luck streak!

3.5/5

This is a perfectly cute series of short volumes about Shikimori and her boyfriend Izumi. In this scenario, Izumi is a beta love interest (i.e., submissive and needs to be taken care of/rescued), and Shikimori feels the need to protect him. It's not usually my thing, but their relationship is really sweet. If you're looking for something light and a little fluffy and love reading about strong heroines, this is the manga for you.

This was such a fun manga to read. I love how each chapter always started with a phrase like “Shikimori-san is so cool” or something similar. Her relationship with Izumi was so cute and I love how the roles were flipped so she’s the one who always has to protect him because he’s the clumsy one. I totally ship them! There was a cliffhanger on one of the final chapters and now I really need the next volume so I know what happens! The art style and design was really easy to understand which was great! I also love how manga always has extra manga recommendations at the end because I just found like 5 more stories that I want to read.

2.5/5

Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie by Keigo Maki is a sweet, slice of life manga about Izumi, who is a bad luck charm, and his cute and cool girlfriend, Shikimori, who protects him at every chance (and there’s a lot of chances).

Man this was a cute manga! Like really cute!!! Soooo cute!!!!!!!!.......

and that’s it.

For a slice-of-life it was great. Romance wise it was cute, like I said. Though I wish there was some more real comedy moments (like the shampoo story). I also did really like when Shikimori would become her “serious self” and had murder eyes. Izumi on the other hand was pretty boring in way of personality.

The artwork is beautiful and I would be glad to read different works of Keigo Maki. As far as this series goes though, I think once you’ve read a couple of the chapters, you’ve basically read them all.

Oh gosh this book was was adorable! It felt like a love letter of a guy saying what he loves about his girlfriend and just sweet moments all around. Highly Recommend!

This was a cute read, seeing the woman as the protector - the big and strong one in a way.
Shikimori`s cute, but fierce as well. But Shikimori can be a little asshole sometimes.

I am really unsure what the goal of this manga is. It is a collection of short stories, always starting or saying at some point that Shikimori is very cute while also showing how strong she is. Overall, it is a collection of cute little stories about Shikimori and Izumi’s relationship. It was fun but it didn’t make me laugh. I am not sure what to think about the characters. Izumi is apparently very clumsy and needs to be protected all the time and Shikimori is here for that. I mean it’s not bad, I liked how there was a true love between the two but only one of the short stories (the one where Shikimori talks to Izumi’s mum) made me want to read the next volume. Maybe I’ll try that, just to see if there is a bigger story here or not. I guess I would recommend this book to people who like manga and who want to read something simple and easy.
3/5

10/5 stars

Thank you so so so so much to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this e-arc

Loooved this manga. Everything is perfect. From the over protective girlfriend to the borderline bland but cute and sensible boyfriend. I do hope it won't get repetitive and we get some more nuance in later volumes

I intially asked to review this manga as I thought it was going to be a yuri manga and found that it was actually just a normal boy/girl school romance. However, this was not the age bracket that the illustration on the front makes the girl look, this is more middle school romance. The illutrations in the manga were amazing and the style of drawing really works for manga, but this is where the possitives in this manga stop.

I found that the manga's storys were way too short and I couldnt really get a grip on each story before the next one started. There also wasnt a constant storyline bar the fact that they were boyfriend and girlfriend at school.

I would be interested in reading more from this author and illustrator, however not in this kids at school genre.

Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie, Volume 1, by Keigo Maki is a manga style graphic novel. Shikimori seems like the perfect girlfriend: cute, fun to be around, sweet when she wants to be... but she has a cool dark side that comes out under the right circumstances. And her boyfriend Izumi loves to be around when that happens!

Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie is av graphic novel that is well done, but left me wanting something more. It is a well drawn and written story of high school sweethearts. They are both nice, attractive, and generally well liked by their peers. Izumi is a bit of a klutz, and bad things tend to happen to him, but Shikimori is usually there to save the day with quick reflexes and a steely eyed look. Both think they like the other more, and spend a good deal of time trying to say or do the right thing to make the other happy, without going overboard. However, the description and a few moments in the story had me expecting some great reveal that she is really a spy or superhero, or something and that just did not pan out. So Shikimori is special because she is a girl that can be cute and cool, strong and nice. Hate to tell you, most girls, most people are more than one thing and the fact that a girl is more than cute should not be earth shattering, it should be fairly expected. Had the story just been described as a day in the life, high school sweetheart story, then it would have been a sweet, fun read about two teens trying to find their way together. Hinting that there is more and then failing to deliver or waiting for the second (or later) volume to give more than super subtle hints simply leaves readers frustrated.

I was excited about this manga because honestly, I'm a sucker for overly romantic anime and manga. The kind that even border on cringeworthy.

But I'm also a fluff+story type of person. Which to my disappointment was sorely lacking in this manga. Which is made only worse give that this book is LITTERALLY called "Shikimori's not just a cutie." you'd think that would mean there is a story like something is happening. But no that's not the case.

Instead, it is mostly episodic, and follows the same path of "oh my girlfriend is so cute", *something happens*, "oh wait my girlfriend is also cool".
It quickly felt repetitive and dull.

Read it if:
You're going to slowly consume it, to ensure you don't get sick of the repetitively.
You really need some fluff in your life.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my copy to read and review.

This manga fell flat for me. I dont think I will be reading the next one. I mean I really like romance mangas but this one just didnt seem to have much of a plot other than my girlfriend is really cute and sometimes cool. It just seem very repetitive to me. You dont get much information on the characters either other than the boy being accident prone and the girl may or may not have some super powers or something. The only I liked about this manga was the artwork. I thought the artwork was really good and adorable. I dont think I will read anymore of this one.

Izumi's girlfriend Shikimori is so cool. She is the coolest person he knows. Izumi is extremely unlucky/accident prone, and Shikimori is constantly saving him from injury. They are an adorable couple working our the first year of their relationship.

I agree with other 2 star reviews that The story is quite repetitive. And though some of it was a bit boring, I think the relationship dynamic is cute and some chapters won me over a little.

There seems to be no real plot to this story, other than Izumi's girlfriend Shikimori is mostly cute, but sometimes acts cool. This story line fell really flat for me very quickly. I won't be reading the next volume.

Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie actually surprised me in a way. When I started reading this, I first thought that this is a mindless romance series, but I'm glad I was wrong! Shikimori and Izumi are in high school and date each other. Izumi is shy and blessed with bad and even catastrophic luck and Shikimori is cute to Izumi. In reality Shikimori is quite cool and has to hide her strong character and that's the base for the humor. The manga consists of small events and it repeats itself, since the pattern is the same. The real plot doesn't move all that much so I kept thinking how long can one keep reading the same thing all over again. I hope Maki changes this setting in the future or at least develops it.

The art looks nice and lively. I especially loved Shikmori's dark side and our pair's facial expressions. Their relationship is very real and awkward even, but we get to see their thoughts, which is wonderful. The dating is very childish though, so I hope it gets more content aside from blushing even from an accidental touch. Even though the manga seems like a repetition, it's not all that and there's this awesome vibe to it, which made me like it. It all depends what will happen in the future. I'd like to read more.

I really loved it! Wow, I wished it could be more longer because the premise of this manga is really wholesome. It's about a high school couple living their life but what makes it more interesting is that the girlfriend actually exudes a cool vibe sometimes and a cute vibe most of the time which makes the boyfriend's heart throbbing at the sight of her. I seriously am falling in love with this manga. Apart from its catchy storyline, the arts are really beautiful too. Dialogues also are adequately assorted which makes us follow the story easily. If you like a charming, funny, and heartwarming story, then I highly recommend this!

I volunteered to read this book through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book is well written and the characters are described well. The pacing of this story is good. The friendships and relationship in this story is great. The characters are so enjoyable. The artwork is absolutely beautiful. This book is in stores now for $12.99. I can't wait to read volume 2 in this series and every book this author has written. I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone.