I stumbled across this little gem today pretty much by random. Saw this artwork on my Facebook News Feed and thought it was nice, so I googled it and learned that it was from a short manga series called “Shinonome Yuuko wa Tanpen Shousetsu wo Aishite Iru” ( transl: Shinonome Yuuko Loves Short Stories, whew!). You can read it online HERE.
It is the manga adaptation of the light novel (which you can find HERE). I haven’t started on the novel yet (but definitely will), so I will just write what I think of the manga series.
The series is about Minami Eita, a bored high school student who chose to be a library helper even though he doesn’t read books because “it looked comfortable”. There he met Shinonome Yuuko, another librarian who told him that she’s there for the same reason but in reality, she has another identity of “Nishizono Yuuko”, an amateur writer specialising in short stories. Minami found out her secret identity by accident, while at the same time her editor suggested writing long novels. As Shinonome chose to write about love for her first long story, she asked Minami to go out with her for research purpose.
The series is pretty short, just over 10 chapters. I heard that the manga only cover the first chapter of the light novel, so understandably it wouldn’t be too long. I feel that this worked out pretty well for the series. It’s just like a short story, which only capture a short span of time, but really let the readers to live in the moment. It’s nice to see the awkwardness of the initial fake relationship turned into genuine feelings at the end. Plus we only see the boy’s side, which gives Minami plenty of character development. We see how he first looked at Shinonome as a classmate, then grew more and more fond of her, to the point of admitting his love for her -silently, of course. The pacing is very good, just fast enough and not rushed even though it’s short. Drawing style is clean and simple, focusing mainly on the characters. It’s also fun to see them putting on their “idiot faces” once in a while 🙂
On a personal note, I feel like I can relate to Minami, the male protagonist. I’m insecure; I don’t have much passion towards anything in particular; I have the worst kind of luck when it comes to love. I have the same thoughts like Minami all the time: “Does she like me?” “Nah, she possibly can’t, why should she?” and “Maybe I’m just bugging her, rather than making her happy”. The most recent girl I developed feelings toward used to be with someone else, but even now that she is available, I’m still too afraid to ever confess to her. Our latest “date” was really awkward, we hardly had anything to talk about. Yet I still can shake her out of my head. Well, guess there are no Shinonome Yuuko in real life, right?
Anyway, Shinonome Yuuko wa Tanpen Shousetsu wo Aishite Iru is a recommended series to read, which can instantly brighten up your day, like it did mine 🙂
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