Is My Love Story!! Worth Reading? Review & Where to Read

Overview

My Love Story!! — Ore Monogatari!! in Japanese — opens by quietly tearing up the shojo rulebook. Its hero, Takeo Goda, is not the slim, brooding pretty boy these romances usually revolve around. He's enormous, blocky, and goofy-looking, the kind of guy other students find intimidating. He's also brave, honest, and overflowingly kind. When he saves a small, sweet girl named Rinko Yamato from a groper on the train, he assumes — as he always does — that she'll fall for his handsome best friend Suna instead. She doesn't. She falls for Takeo. And from there, the manga does something most romances refuse to: it lets the couple get together fast, then spends its whole run on the relationship itself.

What it does well

Takeo is the heart of it, and he's one of the best romance leads in the genre precisely because he's so unusual. Stories like this run on insecurity and miscommunication; Takeo runs on sincerity. He says what he means, protects the people he loves, and approaches every situation with an earnestness that's genuinely disarming. Watching a hero who's this fundamentally good navigate first love is a delight, and it gives the whole series a warmth that never feels forced. He's funny, too — his sheer size and intensity turn ordinary moments into great comedy.

The decision to skip the chase is the manga's smartest move. By getting Takeo and Rinko together early, the story sidesteps the exhausting will-they-won't-they cycle and instead shows two people learning how to actually be a couple: how to support each other, communicate, and grow. It's refreshingly healthy, and the small, low-stakes obstacles they face land harder because you're invested in the relationship rather than waiting for it to start.

And then there's Suna. Takeo's best friend could have been a rival or a prop; instead, the friendship between the two of them is one of the most touching parts of the book. Suna's quiet loyalty and the boys' easy, unspoken bond give the series an emotional second engine, so it's not running on romance alone. The art by Aruko sells all of it — Takeo's exaggerated bulk, the soft sweetness of the quieter scenes, the comic timing — with charm to spare.

Where it falls short

The flip side of getting the couple together early is that the series occasionally runs low on fuel. Without the engine of romantic tension, it has to keep inventing new situations, and some of the middle and later arcs feel episodic or like gentle filler. The relentless wholesomeness, lovely as it is, can also start to feel repetitive or low-stakes if you read a lot of it at once; nothing here is ever in serious danger. These are mild complaints — the book is doing exactly what it wants — but they do mean it can drift rather than build.

Verdict

My Love Story!! is one of the most charming, big-hearted romances in manga, anchored by a hero who's a genuine original and a relationship that's a pleasure to watch grow. It's light on conflict and unabashedly sweet, so anyone craving drama or tension should look elsewhere. But if you want a romance that's kind, funny, and quietly radical in its sincerity, it's an easy, heartwarming recommendation.