I Don’t Know How to Love Manga Review (Minor Spoilers)

Synopsis

Aimi is a popular college upperclassman, and will go out with anyone that asks. He’ll date them as long as they agree with his condition that they won’t make a fuss about the other people he’s seeing. Just after breaking up with one of his latest girlfriends, a younger college student at his school introduces himself as Minato Kaede and asks to be his boyfriend. Aimi agrees to date him despite having never been with a man, and Kaede accepts the condition to not interfere with Aimi’s other sexual activities. Aimi gets what he wants, but he’s not satisfied…? This is a story about a cool upperclassman and his overwhelmingly sincere underclassman, as well as their circle of friends.

The Good

I Don’t Know How to Love is a cute story featuring two college students who are both bisexual working through learning to date and grow as people. The art and linework is pretty to look at, and I enjoyed the little aside comments that appear next to text bubbles that give the cast of characters a bit more depth. The one mildly explicit sex scene between Aimi and Kaede is beautifully drawn and emotionally soft, which is very different in feeling from the way Aimi is portrayed with his previous partners. Aimi’s cool exterior and Kaede’s puppy-like behaviour is a great contrast for a couple, and the major height difference is a nice touch.

It’s also an interesting twist on the romance formula to have Aimi warn all his partners about how he will not be controlled over who he sees, and Kaede is a great match for him because Kaede doesn’t even see himself as a love option for Aimi, even while being his boyfriend. It is a complete reversal that Kaede’s earnest outlook and lack of sexual interest in Aimi is what makes Aimi like Kaede, which is a stark contrast to all of the people Aimi has dated before/is currently dating.

If you’re expecting a lot of drama to arise from the synopsis, you needn’t worry, as the main conflict of the story is mainly internal, with Aimi and Kaede learning to grow into a more mature version of love that neither has ever experienced before (both romantic and sexual).

Somewhere In Between

I can’t even complain about the drama this sort of story is supposed to have, as both Aimi and Kaede are completely obtuse when it comes to communication. On one hand, Aimi is seeing more than one person and states this explicitly, but simply because Kaede doesn’t think about “chasing” him sexually, Aimi ends up falling for him. It’s a case of absence making the heart grow fonder, but Kaede’s absence is completely accidental due to not wanting to bother the upperclassman that he asked out.

I found the ending incredibly rushed for two people who just managed to figure out they “like-like” each other to jump straight into words of love immediately. Depending on your tolerance level, this may be a point of frustration.

I mentioned earlier that Aimi learns how to connect with someone outside of sex, but Aimi has only dated and had sex with women before Kaede, so it says a lot about what kinds of friends Aimi keeps. There is growth for both of the romantic leads in the manga, which ties it back to the title, but it’s a little disturbing if you think harder about the types of people that have been in Aimi’s life until this point.

“Coolest guy in the school” is a phrase you might see applied to a student in high school or a very small college campus. Aimi’s (and a little of Kaede’s) view of relationships is incredibly shallow, and this is reflected in the types of friends that Aimi keeps. This story could have taken place in a high school with the maturity and communication level everyone is demonstrating in the story. In a strange way, it’s because Aimi and Kaede are both shallow in different ways that they go great together.

The Verdict

I Don’t Know How to Love is a sweet story about not rocking the boat. It’s a great complete-in-one-volume narrative if you just need a quick hit of sweet romance with two people who are still figuring things out. It’s very chill and manages to broach the topic of dating multiple people without making it too dramatic. It would be interesting to see how Aimi and Kaede get on as a couple after the events of this manga, especially as they pledge to do better for each other.

Credits

Story and Art: Yu Machio
Translator: Jan Cash
Lettering: Amethyst Xuan
Editor: Danielle Niederkorn
Design: Jane Sohn
Published in English by Yen Press

Thank you to Yen Press for providing a review copy. Receiving this copy did not affect the reviewer’s opinions as expressed here. 

Article edited by: Anne Estrada

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