Is Nezumi's First Love Worth Reading? Review & Where to Read

Quick facts
Format	Manga (seinen)
Run	2023–present · ongoing
Community score	AniList 6.9
Content	Graphic violence and murder, attempted sexual assault, brief nudity, organized-crime themes
Where to read	K Manga / Kodansha USA — official

Overview

Nezumi has only ever known one trade. Raised by the yakuza to be a killer, she's never had reason to think love or ordinary happiness applied to her — until a hit brings her to an arcade, where a hapless, ordinary young man named Ao wins her a stuffed prize from a claw machine and, later, confesses that he loves her. What follows is a relationship built on shared dinners, video games, and the kind of quiet domestic bliss Nezumi has never once been allowed to have, all while the people who raised her have no intention of letting her keep it.

It's a premise that could easily tip into either pure schmaltz or pure shock value, and Nezumi's First Love mostly threads that needle by taking both halves of its story seriously.

What it does well

The central hook works because the manga commits to it fully. Nezumi's discovery of love and ordinary human connection isn't played as a cute fish-out-of-water bit — it's treated as something genuinely new and disorienting for a person who has spent her whole life being shaped into a weapon, and that sincerity carries the romance further than the premise alone would.

The biggest reason this sticks with readers, though, is the art. Riku Oseto draws in a soft, rounded, almost storybook-cute style that reads, at a glance, like a gentle slice-of-life comic — and then uses that exact style to depict murder, trauma, and real physical danger. Readers consistently point to how unsettling and effective that mismatch is; the familiar, comforting linework doesn't soften the story's darker turns so much as make them land harder by contrast.

It also helps that this isn't a fan-scanlation-only series you have to feel conflicted about supporting. K Manga carries it digitally as an official Kodansha release, and Kodansha USA is putting out physical volumes, with four out as of this review. And the recognition isn't just reader enthusiasm — it's picked up real nominations for the Kodansha Manga Award in both 2025 and 2026, plus a top-15 finish in the Next Manga Awards, which says something about how the industry itself views the work.

Where it falls short

This is the thing to know going in: it's genuinely rough material. Attempted assault, blood, and murder are threaded through the story alongside the romance, and if the cute art style has you expecting a gentle read, that expectation will get upended fast. It's not gratuitous, but it also doesn't pull punches, and that tonal whiplash is exactly what some readers can't get past.

That divide shows up in the numbers — reader scores land in the middle of the pack with a noticeably polarized spread, which tracks with a story that clearly isn't trying to be comfortable. And because the story only entered its final arc in mid-2026, anyone starting now is reading toward a conclusion the creator hasn't finished delivering yet, so some patience is required.

Verdict

Nezumi's First Love earns its emotional weight by refusing to let its soft art style undersell the danger its characters are actually in. It's not a comfortable read, and it won't be for everyone, but as a romance built on real stakes and genuine craft — with the official backing and industry recognition to prove it — it's worth the discomfort if the premise appeals to you.