Synopsis

When Ichi finally works up the courage to confess to his childhood friend, Tae, he hopes this will be the start of his own sweet shojo romance. Unfortunately for him, it backfires in the most spectacular way! Tae, a full blown fujoshi, completely misunderstands, and thinks Ichi is actually confessing his love of Boys’ Love manga. But, Ichi isn’t deterred, and he cooks up a plan to pretend to be a fudanshi in hopes of winning her heart.

The Good

I Fell for a Fujoshi is a cute genre-bending rom-com that will have you laughing and cringing with each new misunderstanding. The reader follows Ichi, a shoujo manga addict, as he embarks on his ill-fated quest to woo his BL obsessed childhood friend. The poor boy doesn’t stand a chance at making his romantic dreams come true, especially when all his tips come from shojo manga. To add insult to injury, his crush is more concerned with shipping Ichi with his popular male friend, Nagase (a sentiment I too would love to see become a reality). The idea that Ichi might be interested in her is so far from her mind that you can’t help but pity him.

I love that this story centers itself not on Tae but shojo-loving Ichi. I Fell for a Fujoshi gives us a rare opportunity to follow the rose-colored hijinks from the male lead’s perspective. Believe me when I say that Ichi is as much a young maiden as any shojo heroine out there. Poor kid can’t catch a break!

A lot of the humor is derived from Tae missing Ichi’s romantic advances in favor of her own BL fanaticism. In one scene Tae asks Ichi to strip for her; being the horny, lovesick dork that he is, he happily complies, hoping this is her way of hinting she wants to get frisky. Unfortunately for him, Tae just wanted to use his body as a reference for a smutty BL doujinshi she’s drawing. Culminating in Tae happily yapping about her doujinshi while Ichi sulks in a corner. Now repeat that at least twice a chapter and you have the gist of the comedy in I Fell for a Fujoshi.

Perhaps the most endearing part of the story so far are the non-romantic bits. I am well past my high school days, but there is something nostalgic and sweet about seeing these kiddos just having fun and hanging out. I found myself getting invested in the friendships, especially with how accepting everyone is about each other’s unique hobbies and quirks.

The In Between

Okay, so I know this is a shoujo and I should be rooting for Tae and Ichi. But my poor fujoshi heart yearns for this to become a BL! Between Tae’s fujo headcannons about Ichi and his friend (which I totally ship btw), I found myself hoping Ichi would give up on Tae and smooch his bestie instead. You can’t tease me with a good time and then not deliver! I demand that this series gets the My Love Mix-Up treatment. But alas, my poor fujo heart will have to contend with my own imaginings.

Also, while I enjoyed the comedy, I Fell for a Fujoshi can be one-note at times. This series could have worked as a standalone volume without losing much.

The Verdict

I Fell for a Fujoshi is cute rom-com fluff that’ll give you a few laughs and some secondhand embarrassment at the expense of its unlucky leading man. The first volume is fun and I enjoyed the characters, but it doesn’t elicit the same attachment I had with series with similar trope defying premises, like  My Love Mix Up or Romantic Killer. I am at least invested enough to see where this story takes us in future volumes.

Credits

Story and Art: Toako
Translation: M. Skeels
Lettering: Chana Conley
Proofreader: Jan Mitsuko Cash
Quality Assurance: D.S. Jay
Cover Design: Arbash Mughal
Brand Manager: Evan Minto
Production Manager: Cynthia Kim

Published in English by Omoi

A special thank you to Omoi for providing a copy of this title for this review. Receiving an advance copy had no impact on the opinions expressed in this article.

Article edited by: Adam Wescott