Let the games begin! Since childhood, Yukiya Asagi and Miku Sakura have played the Love Game, where they try to fluster each other with a simple “I love you.” But after falling in love for real and refusing to admit it, neither of them can afford to lose this battle!
After leaving behind his image as a quiet nerd, Yukiya’s ready to break hearts and take names with the ultimate high school glow-up. Well, he’s really just got one girl in his sights—his best friend, Miku! Using her favorite shojo manga as his weapon, he’s prepared to pin her to the wall and gaze at her with the perfect smolder! Will his advances get her heart racing? Or will Yukiya end up making a fool of himself?
I Want to End This Love Game vol. 1 by Yuki Domoto will be released on February 13, 2024. VIZ Media provided an early galley for review.
Two things got my attention with this manga: the colorful cover and the premise itself. The latter is a great springboard for a teen romantic comedy/drama. Take a simple idea like a childhood game that has gone on for years and see where it leads when the kids have now grown up into hormonal teenagers.
The black and white artwork with occasional texturing in grays (on clothes, on walls, etc.) contributes to that classic manga style which I like. The story has good beats with classic tropes (first day of high school, new friends, new opportunities to make one's self into a different type, etc.). While the story takes its time to unfold, it really needs to in order to explore that uncertainty and awkwardness of coming of age and realizing one is in love for the first time.
The collection ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, with Miku discovering the source Yukiya's "new moves". How this will play out in volume 2 will be interesting. It is important, after all, for the story to have progress and for the characters to grow with it.
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