The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn’t a Guy At All Volume 1 Review
Aya is the fashionable girl in school, with a secret interest in Western rock music, from the likes of Blur to The Foo Fighters. But no one else in her school shares the same interest, until she meets the cool, mysterious, stylish employee at her local CD store. As Aya shares her secret male crush to her friends, she’s unaware that right next to her, is a student named Mitsuki, who is the same ‘male’ employee from the CD shop…but she’s actually a girl! As Aya keeps coming to the shop to see her crush, Mitsuki becomes too scared to tell her the truth, especially when the pair share much in common. Can their mutual love for music (and maybe each other) overcome the secret?
This new Yuri manga got a lot of social media attention when it was announced that Yen Press picked up the manga license, and also when it was released in the West officially, and for good reasons. First of all, the manga LOOKS different from anything else on the market; the visual style is very detailed, with tons of expression with a grungy edge to it, so it sells the ‘rock’ vibe of the girls’ interest very well. Also you’ll notice that if you pick up a physical copy of the book, it’s heavier than your typical volume, and that’s because it’s printed on different paper that allows for its unique colour style. It’s not just in black and white, but also green, which is used to highlight the background in a spray paint-like way, almost like graffiti, to bring the space around our heroines to life. It’s incredibly stylish and eye-catching, and apparently the added green was a last minute addition by the mangaka herself, which is a nice creative expression that makes this series stand out, even just for the visuals alone.
But what about the story itself? A Yuri can not rely on art alone to carry itself. It should be noted that the manga was originally released on Twitter/X, where each tweet was limited to four images each, and therefore each story of this manga is the same length. The short length is becoming more common, as manga is increasingly being released on social media that require small image limits, and therefore creators have to get creative in telling their stories, with impact, in the short time they have. For the most part, I would say that Sumiko Arai goes a great job, especially in the beginning stages of the relationship, with lots of cute moments between the two girls, and intrigue as the situation drama increases in tension and romance starts to bloom. I would say, however, than when more characters and set pieces come up, it becomes more restricting. For example: the book introduces a male classmate, Narita, who becomes an important friend to the girls’ lives, but his introduction is so sudden. He just starts talking to the girl’s like he’s always been there (I mean he probably has been, IN the story, but to the audience he’s just some random dude that suddenly takes up a story’s worth of panels) so he doesn’t make the best first impression. This also happens later on when the mangaka tries to cram a lot of actions into one panel, to help get a cute or romantic moment out there for the final panels of each story. I get what she was going for, but I wished she didn’t have to work in such tight page/image numbers, and maybe could have revised it for the print edition so it would be clearer for the audience to follow through the actions.
As for the romance, it’s very early days at the moment, as the first half of the volume deals with the comedy situation of Aya thinking Mitsuki is a guy, and the second half dealing with the fallout when the truth unravels. But what we do get is cute: Mitsuki is the awkward introvert of the pair, but when she flirts, comes off naturally and is drawn very well. It doesn’t feel out of character, it feels more like a girl who’s comfortable in her own skin and able to flirt in her own environment (when she’s in the CD shop, and able to express herself via her clothes, jewellery, etc). Aya is more outspoken and girlish, so is often left speechless by Mitsuki, but when Aya gets closer to her, she becomes more outspoken and assertive in their relationship, which is nice to see. It’s also really cool to see them bond over something that’s not always portrayed in manga/anime. There’s pop anime and rock anime, but usually for Japanese music (obviously) or they compose their own songs, but their shared interest is specifically Western rock, something that I grew up with, so it’s really epic to see them sharing playlists with actual songs from actual bands I know showing up on the page. Although when Mitsuki’s uncle says that a playlist containing Beck and Bon Jovi is giving ‘middle age man’ vibe, as a currently 36-year-old woman, I was not expecting that gut punch!
Translation is provided by Ajani Oloye who provides a great, easy read, with nice translation notes at the back to help with more Japanese culture-based stories, such as why they wear masks for festivals and such.
The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn’t a Guy At All is a great first read, with its unique, eye-catching style, and really niche but relatable love for Western music. The pacing sometimes gets in the way of the storytelling, but overall I’m looking forward to see how this romance develops more in Volume 2, due out February 2025.
Our review copy from Yen Press was supplied by Diamond Book Distributors UK.
