Otaku x Gal Volume 1 Review

Stories about the unpopular boy becoming friends with the most popular girl at school are an increasing trend in the English market lately. There’s Our Dating Story, Gals Can’t Be Kind to Otaku and of course, My Dress-Up Darling. And today I’m here to look at another such title, Otaku x Gal, which comes to us from Square Enix Manga. Does it prove an interesting read compared to so many similar titles? Let’s take a look!

Our story follows high school student Koichi Otakura, who loves all things nerdy like anime and model building and was bullied for his interests in middle school. Now he tries to blend into the background and keep to himself, but unfortunately, his drawing skills have caught the interest of his classmate, Yua Narumi.

Narumi sits in the row behind Otakura and catches him drawing in his notebook during class. She’s a popular girl who tried her hand at painting an intricate design on her nails, only for it to come out looking completely different to what she imagined. So, she turns to Otakura in the hopes he will be willing to paint the design she wants for her. As model painting is one of his interests, Otakura finds himself agreeing, despite worrying about the fact that he’s getting involved with someone so far out of his league!

The nails are a success, and Narumi is soon asking for Otakura’s help with other things, such as hair styling! Our protagonist never thought he’d be putting his otaku hobby skills to work practically like this. And now that the two are becoming friends, he’s starting to realise he can’t remain standing in the shadows. But he’s also going to have to win over Narumi’s bestie, Ruriko Himeno (hereafter referred to by her nickname Riko), who is none too pleased about Narumi hanging out with an otaku.

This ultimately has a lot of similarities with a series like My Dress-Up Darling, not least because Otakura ends up being so hands-on with Narumi’s hair and make-up. It’s not quite to the level of making cosplay, but I wouldn’t necessarily rule that out for future development. But Otaku x Gal comes off as more of a comedy series, and it introduces us to a lot more characters early on, as opposed to just developing things between Otakura and Narumi. It’s not inherently all that different to other series of its ilk, but the cast is charming, which makes it an engaging read for now while it’s still in the set-up phase.

Throwing Riko into things so early works out relatively well, too. She starts off having a negative interpretation of otaku, and Narumi not only pushes back against that, but Otakura himself manages to prove himself to Riko. I won’t go into too much detail since this happens toward the middle/end of the volume, but it was a good exchange, and I finished the book having grown fond of Riko, too.

The other thing that makes Otaku x Gal stand out is that it’s actually based on a web novel (later turned light novel) by author 138neco. But it doesn’t really feel like it’s based on something the way these adaptations often do, perhaps thanks to mangaka Souchu’s (who has several other manga credits but nothing available in English) efforts! The character designs are cute, and the pages are busy, but not overly crowded with text or too much happening. There are a lot of good facial expressions that help add to the comedy, too. It gives off the impression of a cheerful and warm atmosphere, which is easy for the reader to get drawn into.

As mentioned, Otaku x Gal Volume 1 comes to the West thanks to Square Enix Manga and has been translated by Caleb D. Cook with lettering by Finn K. It’s a release that reads well, particularly when it comes to Narumi’s dialogue, which is full of slang typical of a ‘gal’ like her, but that doesn’t feel overly forced. There are also colour pages at the beginning, which are a nice treat.

The series is still ongoing in Japan with six volumes out as of later this month. Here in English, Volume 2 is currently scheduled for June, with #3 following in September. Not the fastest schedule we’ve seen from Square Enix as of late, but certainly not a terrible pace. This is also available on the digital platform MANGA UP!

Overall, Otaku x Gal is debuting in a crowded collection of similar titles. However, so far the cast is proving likable and there’s a lot of charm to Souchu’s art. So, even if it hasn’t done a whole lot to stand out from the crowd so far, it’s more than earned a couple more volumes’ worth of my time to see where it goes.

A free preview can be read on the Square Enix website.

Our review copy from Square Enix Manga was supplied by Turnaround Comics (Turnaround Publisher Services).
©138neco / Souchu / SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD