Kare First Love

(Viz, 2004-2006)
™ and © 2002 Kaho Kiyasaka/Shogakukan, Inc.
Black and white; right to left reading format.

Love manga doesn’t get much more predictable than Kare First Love, but it’s also proof these genre formulas become formulas because they work.

Smart–girl Karin’s glasses make her nearly invisible to all except her counterfeit friend Yuka who uses her as a supposedly unattractive accessory to make her look even better. Of course Yuka immediately sets her hooks for hunky heartthrob Kiriya and arranges several fake group outings, dragging a reluctant Karin along for cover.

Although she suffers multiple humiliations both physically and verbally, in spite of it all, Kiriya sees the girl behind the glasses which naturally enrages Yuka.

So boy likes girl, girl likes boy, you’d think this would be your happy ending incarnate, but love’s more complicated in manga so the beaten-down Karin has to find the confidence and self-worth to both stand up to Yuka and believe she’s worthy of happiness. The art is attractive, even if all the eyes tend toward the dewy and enormous and, while the story is definitely predictable, it’s also strangely satisfying.

— S.A. Bennett

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