Fall in Love, You False Angels Volume 1 Review

Thanks to Kodansha, the much-anticipated shojo series Fall in Love, You False Angels has finally made it to print. Having ranked highly in Kono Manga ga Sugoi! two years running and made it onto several other prestigious recommendation lists throughout 2024, this one has been generating plenty of buzz in the fandom, despite only having four volumes out in Japan so far. Does the first volume impress? Let’s find out!

The story follows first-year high school student Otogi Katsura, who serves as the class president and is renowned for her good looks and perfect personality at school. The vice president Toki Ninomae (nicknamed Ikkoku after Otogi misread his name) is also known for his handsome features, so together the two are often referred to as angels of the school.

However, Otogi has always been sensitive to the exceptions of those around her and her entire public-facing personality is nothing but a façade. Underneath it all, Otogi is calculating and quite sharp-tongued. Still, she feels Toki would make a fantastic first boyfriend, given his reputation and charming personality, so our heroine begins making plans to make him fall in love with her. Little does she know that Toki is secretly just like her…

Unfortunately for Otogi, it’s not long before her plans come crashing down around her. While being harassed by some boys trying to pick her up, Otogi lets her real personality come out which Toki happens to be witness to. In the end, Toki also lets his mask drop so that he can help chase away the troublemakers. Now he declares the two are partners in crime and Otogi realises that she finds this dark side of him highly attractive; she may have even fallen in love with him.

On Kodansha’s website, this series is being recommended for fans of Kare Kano: His and Her Circumstances (Tokyopop) and Kaguya-sama: Love is War (VIZ Media), which I think is appropriate. There are certainly a lot of similarities when it comes to the two leads and how they’re trying to get the other party to confess first. Clearly, there’s chemistry between Otogi and Toki and now they have a shared secret, they’re closer than ever, but neither wants to admit their feelings. Otogi, in particular, is hellbent on getting Toki to fall head over heels for her and has no intention of making the first move.

But unlike Kaguya-sama, this is less about their contest of romance and more about two people finally learning to be themselves around each other. They’ve spent their lives hiding what they perceive to be the less acceptable aspects of their personalities and that is understandably tiring. But now since they know one another’s secret, there’s no reason to put so much effort in when they’re alone. Certainly, I think their feelings will be relatable to anyone who’s tried to reinvent themselves to fit the group they’re with or the situation they find themselves in.

I think the character dynamics are one of the reasons this has attracted so much attention. It’s less of a comedy than you’d expect from the premise and more of a heartfelt romance. And it’s impressive stuff from mangaka Coco Uzuki, especially as this is her very first series. Although fans may recognise the name from the short story collection Hoteri Hotette First Kiss, which Seven Seas recently brought to the West (which I highly recommend if you enjoy this or vice versa).

Uzuki’s art reminds me of Mika Yamamori, which perhaps comes as no surprise since this and Yamamori’s In the Clear Moonlit Dusk are both currently running in Dessert. Uzuki tends to go light on background detail and instead zoom into the facial expressions of her characters, which I think works out well as there’s a lot of variation to watch out for. Particularly between the ‘angel’ and ‘dark’ sides of their personalities. Kodansha has released this in one of their bigger formats, which I think helps the art shine.

As mentioned earlier, Fall in Love, You False Angels comes to the West thanks to Kodansha and has been translated by Susamaji with lettering by Lys Blakeslee (Kyle Ziolko for digital). The release reads well with no issues and there are a couple of pages of translation notes at the back of the book. There are also colour pages at the beginning, which are a real treat.

The series is ongoing in Japan with four volumes currently available. Here in English, Kodansha has #2 scheduled for a release in April with #3 following in June and then #4 in December. So a fairly quick schedule to get us caught up.

Overall, it’s easy to see why this series has taken Japan by storm despite being so relatively new. The cast is charming and the premise is explored in a very genuine manner, which makes for a compelling read. This is certainly one to pick up if you’re looking for a new romance series!

A free preview can be read on Kodansha’s website here.

Our review copy from Kodansha was supplied by Diamond Book Distributors UK.
© Kodansha / Coco Uzuki