Is His and Her Circumstances Worth Reading? Review & Where to Read
Quick Answer
Yes — it's one of the sharpest shoujo romances about the gap between the person you perform and the person you actually are, and it holds up decades later.
Quick Verdict
“The premise is a rom-com hook, but this is really a character study about two liars slowly telling each other the truth.”
Best for: Readers who want a smart, funny romance about self-image and honesty, not just a will-they-won't-they.
Not for: Readers who want a tightly consistent art style or a plot that never wanders from the central couple.
- Type
- Manga
- Genres
- School Life, Romance
- Status
- Completed
- This review
- Minor Spoilers
- Author
- Masami Tsuda
- Publisher
- Hakusensha (LaLa)
| Quick facts | |
|---|---|
| Format | Manga (shōjo), 1 volumes |
| Run | completed |
Overview
Yukino Miyazawa is the perfect student — top of her class, kind to everyone, admired by the whole school — and privately admits it's an act she keeps up purely for the compliments. Then Soichiro Arima transfers in and beats her at her own game, forcing Yukino into second place for the first time in her life. She hates him for it, right up until she discovers, almost by accident, that Arima's own perfection is just as much of a performance as hers.
His and Her Circumstances (Kare Kano) starts as a comedy about two image-obsessed teenagers slowly dropping the act for each other, and turns into something considerably bigger and more personal as it goes.
What it does well
The opening stretch is genuinely sharp. Yukino's internal monologue about the exhausting work of being universally liked is funny and specific in a way a lot of "perfect girl" shoujo leads never get to be, and pairing her with Soichiro — who turns out to be hiding the exact same insecurity for different reasons — gives the central romance real thematic weight instead of just chemistry. Watching two people who've spent years performing for an audience learn to be unimpressive in front of each other is a genuinely different kind of romantic arc.
The manga is also willing to widen its lens. As the story goes on, it brings in family dysfunction, other students' versions of the same performance-versus-honesty problem, and lets its supporting cast carry real emotional weight rather than staying scenery around the main couple.
Where it falls short
The final third is a rougher read in more than one sense. The art shifts noticeably — looser, more experimental, sometimes visibly rushed — a change widely attributed to creator Masami Tsuda's health during serialization, and it's a real tonal jump from the polish of the early volumes. The story's expansion into extended family drama also dilutes momentum at points; some of those threads are worth the detour and some feel like they're delaying the return to Yukino and Soichiro.
Readers coming in expecting the tight, funny rom-com of the first few volumes all the way through should be ready for the series to become something moodier and less consistent by the end.
Verdict
His and Her Circumstances is a genuinely smart shoujo classic about the cost of performing perfection, with a central couple whose honesty with each other is more compelling than most manga's grand romantic gestures. The later volumes ask more patience than the sharp, funny opening promises, but the character work underneath never stops paying off.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
- Yukino's opening arc — a straight-A, universally admired student who privately admits she does it all for the applause — is one of the more honest depictions of image-management anxiety in any shoujo manga.
- Soichiro turning out to be the same kind of performer, for his own private reasons, gives the central couple actual common ground instead of an opposites-attract gimmick.
- The supporting cast, especially once the story widens past the initial couple, each get their own take on the same theme — who you are versus who you show people — without repeating Yukino and Soichiro's arc beat for beat.
- The humor is genuinely sharp and self-aware, especially in the early chapters, before the story shifts into a longer, more dramatic register.
Weaknesses
- The art becomes noticeably rougher and more experimental in the back third, reportedly tied to the creator's real-life circumstances during serialization, and it's a visible shift from the polish of the early volumes.
- The story widens out from the core couple for long stretches to cover extended family drama, and not all of it lands as well as the central relationship.
Similar Titles
Similar mix of comedy and family dysfunction hiding under a shoujo romance premise.
Another romance built around characters who hide their real selves and have to earn each other's trust.
Shares the interest in the gap between a performed public self and a private, messier one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is His and Her Circumstances the same as Kare Kano?
Yes, Kare Kano is the Japanese shorthand for Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou, which is officially translated as His and Her Circumstances.
Is it finished?
Yes, it ran for 21 volumes and reaches a full conclusion.
Where can I read it in English?
TokyoPop published all 21 volumes in English print, but the release is long out of print with no current official digital source — used physical copies are the way to find it now.
