Renai Shimasen Ka?’s author (story and art) is Roku Tachibana. His other works include Netabare Sensou (Spoiler Wars) and Inugami-san to Sarutobi-kun wa Naka ga Warui.
The manga was released in three volumes and sixteen chapters and ended on the 3rd of August 2013.
STORY
The story follows Fuwa Rito, a boy who has had his emotions toyed with as a kid in high school. That has left a deep scar in his heart and now he has trouble trusting women so he spends all of his time playing gal games (also known as “pretty girl games”). His friend Tanaka Ruri, however is concerned about his situation and is willing to help him so she tries to set him up on a group date. Even though it is unsuccessful Fuwa meets a girl who works in a maid café (Fuwari – the girl’s maid name) and there is when the plot starts moving. The girl makes an interesting proposal to Fuwa, which he accepts out of curiosity, even though he is really confused. Little does he know that this is the beginning of his changed life.
The plot continues to resolve around Fuwa, Ruri and Fuwari with a lot of funny accidents, love triangles and situations and the typical things in every ecchi, comedy manga. However, there is something attractive in this series for me and I have to say I fairly enjoyed it till the end. The only negative point I can mention is that the ending was obviously rushed and too straightforward. I would have preferred if it was more organized and well-thought.
The story has a fair amount of twist and turns for a 16 chapters manga and it is not the cliché everyday ecchi-romance thing.
CHARACTERS
I found the character quite enjoyable to observe, with various and interesting personalities.
As mentioned Fuwa Rito has an interesting personality and past, which makes him an intriguing character who promises a lot of development. What makes him unique is that he is that otaku no-life type, but at the same time he is able to socialize just fine and he can easily go out of his otaku shell… If someone pushes him out. Tanaka Ruri’s efforts to change the situation he is in are also worth mentioning. At first she appears to be a character indifferent to everything, but with the development of the plot and moving of the storyline I came to realize she is the tsundere type, who is also hiding a secret and undergoes a serious character development. She is a funny and spontaneous character I really loved in the series. Her willingness to help Fuwa was the reason a lot of events took place and I really appreciated her during the chapters.
Hoshino Shizuki also known as Fuwari (her maid name) is the shy maid type we are used to seeing. But there was something about her that made me appreciate her. Her competitiveness and unexpected behavior (in a good way) were what caught my attention. And of course as every character in this series she has a secret she unveils in the end of the manga. She was quite fun to observe I admit, the development of her relationship with both Fuwa and Ruri were worth seeing and were full of twists and turns. Her personality and actions start setting the foundations of a very interesting relationship with the main character and are also the reason for a lot of events taking place throughout the manga. So in overall she is an enjoyable character to follow (I have to mention oppai as well :3).
Sakuraki Akihiro and Sakagami Tomohiko are the two supporting characters, friends of Fuwa Rito and also his roommates. There is not much to say about them since they make an appearance the first one or two chapters and then show up just to add a little stupidity and humor to the storyline. The typical no-life otakus (unlike Fuwa), who have no knowledge of how to interact with real people and the only think they dream about is … guess what – boobs. But I have to admit they did their job in contributing to the awkward and funny situations in the manga several times.
ART
I have to say the art was really good. It suited my expectations for this kind of light, relaxing type of manga. As mentioned the artist of the manga is Tachibana Roku, not a really famous one, but he deserves some appreciation. He has two more manga he worked on, both of which have a great artwork as well, but Renai Shimasen Ka? definitely stands on top. The art is contemporary with a touch of originality, it is obvious that the artist drew with passion. I sincerely enjoyed the art and storyline of the manga!
Also this is only Roku’s second work ( his last project - Inugami-san to Sarutobi-kun wa Naka ga Warui finalized in 2014) which is quite remarkable and means he can only improve in the future.
So in overall, I have to say Renai Shimasen Ka? is a manga worth reading. Being an ecchi, comedy, romance manga it stays away from clichés, but has anything necessary for the genres and makes the experience of reading it quite enjoyable. There is a fair amount of oppai, nudity, pantsu and everything an ecchi should have. The story is complicated enough for a 16 chapters manga and there is a great deal of character development, the relationship between different character are fun to observe and develop fast. The art is also really good and this makes the manga even better. The only negative point I have to mention is that the ending was too rushed and it deserved more than 16 chapters.
