Is Love Me, Love Me Not Worth Reading? Review & Where to Read
Quick Answer
Yes, if you want a shoujo romance that's more interested in how its characters handle rejection and self-delusion than in getting them together fast. It's a slow, well-observed read, not a fluffy one.
Quick Verdict
“Every character in this gets exactly the crush that embarrasses them most, and Sakisaka never lets any of them off easy for it.”
Best for: Readers who want a shoujo romance that takes unrequited feelings seriously instead of rushing past them.
Not for: Readers who want a fast-moving romance with an early, uncomplicated couple to root for.
- Type
- Manga
- Genres
- Romance, Drama
- Status
- Completed
- This review
- Minor Spoilers
- Author
- Io Sakisaka
- Publisher
- VIZ Media
- Platform
- VIZ Media
| Quick facts | |
|---|---|
| Format | Manga (shōjo), 48 chapters, 12 volumes |
| Run | 2015–2019 · completed |
| Community score | AniList 7.6 · MangaUpdates 6.7 |
| Content | None notable |
| Where to read | VIZ Media — official |
Overview
Yuna Ichihara reads shoujo manga like it's a religion and expects real romance to work the same way — confess, blush, fall in love. Her new friend and neighbor Akari Yamamoto doesn't buy any of it. Naturally, Love Me, Love Me Not puts both of them in the exact situation neither is equipped for: Yuna falls for Akari's stepbrother Rio, and Akari falls for Yuna's childhood friend Inui, and nothing about either crush goes the way either girl expected.
What it does well
The pairing of Yuna and Akari as the emotional core of the book, rather than either of their romances alone, is what makes this work. Io Sakisaka sets them up as near-opposites — one believes in love uncritically, the other won't let herself believe in it at all — and then spends the whole series showing how both approaches get them hurt in different ways. It's a smarter structure than the usual shoujo setup, because it means the book is really about two people learning to be honest with themselves, with the romance as the mechanism rather than the whole point.
Sakisaka is also genuinely willing to let a crush fail, stall, or curdle into something uncomfortable, and to stay with that discomfort instead of rushing to the next beat. A character realizing their feelings are selfish, or watching someone they love choose somebody else, gets real page time here — these aren't speed bumps on the way to a predetermined couple, they're the actual substance of the story. The art reinforces this: Sakisaka draws faces that are doing more emotional work than the dialogue, which matters in a book this interested in what characters won't say out loud.
Where it falls short
This is a slow series, by design, and that won't work for every reader — if you want momentum toward a couple getting together, you'll spend a lot of volumes waiting. Akari's arc in particular tips further into melodrama in its second half than the grounded, quietly observational tone of the early volumes sets you up for, and the shift can feel like a different book taking over for a stretch. A few of the supporting characters, especially on the periphery of the main two relationships, exist mostly to create complications rather than as people with their own interior life.
Verdict
Love Me, Love Me Not is a patient, emotionally honest shoujo romance that trusts unrequited feelings to be worth dwelling on rather than rushing past. It asks for your patience across twelve volumes and a melodramatic later stretch, but the central friendship between Yuna and Akari carries it through.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
- Yuna and Akari are a genuinely well-matched friend pair precisely because they see romance so differently — Yuna's idealism and Akari's guardedness keep bouncing off each other in ways that feel like an actual friendship, not a plot device.
- Sakisaka is unusually willing to let a crush go nowhere, or go wrong, and sit with how that actually feels instead of resolving it in a chapter or two.
- The art carries a lot of the emotional weight — quiet panels of a character's face doing more work than the dialogue around them.
- The two central relationships develop on different timelines and in different registers, so the book never feels like it's running the same beat twice.
Weaknesses
- The pace is genuinely slow — if you want a couple to be official by volume three, this isn't that series.
- Akari's arc leans harder into melodrama in its later stretch than the grounded, observational tone of the earlier volumes earns.
- A couple of the supporting cast exist mainly to generate complications rather than as people in their own right.
Similar Titles
Same author, same gift for drawing quiet emotional beats between a reserved cast.
Similar patient, earnest slow-burn shoujo romance pacing.
A different tone, but the same interest in characters who can't just say what they feel.
Where to Read Officially
| Platform | Format | Pricing | Region notes | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VIZ Media | Print & digital volumes | Paid | Region availability varies | Open |
Prefer to watch? There's an anime
Omoi, Omoware, Furi, Furare: see where to stream it legally, plus episode guides and trailers, on Watchanimee.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Love Me, Love Me Not finished, and is the ending good?
Yes, it's complete at 12 volumes (2015–2019). It resolves both central relationships, and the ending is earned rather than rushed — consistent with how deliberately the whole series is paced.
How long is the series?
12 volumes — a full-length shoujo series, not a short read, but each volume moves the relationships forward rather than padding.
Is there an anime adaptation?
Yes — a feature-length anime film adaptation was released in Japan in 2020, covering the same core story.
Where should I start?
At volume 1 — it's chronological, and the slow-burn structure depends on reading Yuna and Akari's relationship in order.
