Gals Can’t Be Kind to Otaku?! Volume 1 Review

Series like My Dress-Up Darling or The Otaku Love Connection (Square Enix) have taught us that being a gyaru (or a ‘gal’ in this case), doesn’t mean you can’t also be a fan of otaku media. Still, this is a theme that manga and anime are continuing to explore, and today’s new Yen Press debut Gals Can’t Be Kind to Otaku?! is one of those. Does it prove entertaining? Let’s find out!

Our story follows Takuya Seo, a high school student who firmly believes that gals and otaku can’t be friends. He’s a big fan of the monster series Glittermon (this is similar to Pokémon), but he tries to keep his interest hidden so as not to be mocked by the two popular gals in his class: Ijichi and Amane. One day, Ijichi (who sits in front of him) forgets her eraser and asks to borrow Takuya’s, which just so happens to be a piece of Glittermon merch. Now his secret is out, but Ijichi seems surprisingly unbothered and as for her friend Amane… Well, she seems to know a surprising amount about the series for someone who isn’t an otaku.

Amane seems to have such specific knowledge of Glittermon that Takuya begins to suspect she’s actually an otaku too. But when pressed, Amane loudly proclaims that she knows about the series because her little sister is a fan. Still, now that they’ve broken the ice between them, the three become something resembling friends. Ijichi doesn’t know a whole lot about anime, but she’s taken a liking to Takuya and is happy to learn if it means getting to hang out with him and Amane more. Meanwhile, Takuya really wants Amane to admit to being an otaku and, despite his better judgment, ends up spending more and more time getting to know the real her and not the made-up image of her he’d invented, based on misconceptions.

This first volume of Gals Can’t Be Kind to Otaku?! is made up of 7 chapters, which are further divided into 3 or 4 subchapters that are only a few pages long. That means even though this is a story with a continuous through line, there isn’t much room to develop and deliver each joke. That can sometimes leave the chapters feeling hollow, like they’re working through the usual tropes in a setup like this, but without the breathing room to do anything original with it. There’s an underlying feeling that we have seen this all before and that other series have done it better.

This is a series brought to us by author Norishirochan (The Shy Hero and the Assassin Princesses) and artist Sakana Uozumi and it’s their debut manga. There’s an anime adaptation in the works, and the manga is still ongoing with 11 volumes so far. So, it has certainly proven popular in Japan despite my mixed feelings here. In terms of the story, I actually think Norishirochan has done a good job of giving each character a chance in the spotlight early on, even if their personalities are quite generic. And you can certainly feel both the author’s and artist’s passion for the subject matter; they do a good job of depicting the activities and passion of those into anime/manga fandom like this.

In terms of the art, I find this volume quite busy since there’s often a lot crammed into every panel (particularly in the earlier chapters). However, I like Amane and Ijichi’s designs as well as those for the Glittermon series they’re all into. And the art was improving as the volume went on, so I think these could just be early teething issues. All the right pieces are there to make this compelling, they’re just not in the right places currently.

Gals Can’t Be Kind to Otaku?! Volume 1 comes to the West thanks to Yen Press and has been translated by Kashi Kamitoma with lettering by Rachel J. Pierce. The release reads well and comes complete with two pages of translation notes and quite a few bonus pages related to Glittermon. Sadly, no colour pages, which is a shame, but there don’t appear to be any in the Japanese release either.

As mentioned, this one is ongoing with 11 volumes over in Japan. Next up for the West is #2 in April, and then nothing further is scheduled right now, so I imagine it will be a while until we catch up with Japan. The recent anime adaptation has been confirmed for 2026, but doesn’t have a date beyond that yet.

Overall, Gals Can’t Be Kind to Otaku?! feels like it will be overshadowed by other works that do the love letter to otaku fandom better. Still, there is surely a reason this has proven so popular in Japan, and I’m hoping that will become apparent when more volumes are out.

Our review copy was supplied by the publisher Yen Press
A free preview can be read on the publisher’s website
© Norishirochan / Sakana Uozumi / COAMIX