Kawaii dake ja Nai Shikimori-san (Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie)

Yuu Izumi is a high school student whose life is filled with misfortune. Ever since he was young, he would always return home with injuries. Due to his unlucky disposition, his days are full of nothing but unfortunate events—that is, until he started dating Micchon Shikimori.

One can describe Shikimori as the perfect girlfriend: cute, adorable, and unbelievably in love with Izumi. However, she is occasionally not so charming; instead, she becomes the coolest girlfriend in the scariest way possible! Her demanding presence and earnest concern for Izumi's wellbeing never ceases to take his breath away. With the cute yet cool Shikimori now by Izumi's side, his luckless days are over, bringing a life full of happiness and warmth.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Kawaii dake ja Nai Shikimori-san, originally released under the title Kawaii dake ja Nai Onnanoko Manga, is a web manga released on the author's Twitter account from September 8, 2018 to February 2, 2019. Official serialization began in Magazine pocket on February 2, 2019.

The series has been published in English as Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie by Kodansha Comics USA since October 27, 2020. It has also been published in French as Shikimori n'est pas juste mignonne by Meian since December 22, 2021.

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Related Manga

Other:	"Toutosugite Yomenaaaaaaai!!" 4P Short Stories
Adaptation:	Kawaii dake ja Nai Shikimori-san

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Characters

Shikimori, Miyako

Main

Izumi, Yuuki

Main

Kamiya, Ai

Supporting

Hachimitsu, Yui

Supporting

Izumi, Motoko

Supporting

Inuzuka, Shuu

Supporting

Shikimori, Fuji

Supporting

Nekozaki, Kyou

Supporting

Shikimori, Miyabi

Supporting

Izumi, Akisada

Supporting

Reviews

Apr 9, 2023

bergars

Recommended

Slice of life is like signing a weekly comfort deal. Seven days pass, and eventually, you meet this little cast of characters and intrude in their lives for a little bit.

"Kawaii dake ja Nai Shikimori-san" is a case study in how the beginning is the greatest roadblock it can offer. You see the number over 100 chapters, and if the first ones are that short and repetitive, why would a person watch the rest? Behind the block, there lies a simple story of how people meet, conflict, romance, wonder, intrude, and eventually, part.

The story begins with a repetitive, and fresh couples dynamic that ... people were starved for when it began. Turning into a school life, relatable little tale where everybody just tries to live their lives. Worries about exams, worries about couples. The story isn't worried about the conflicts of love that much, more so in the safe, nice hardships of looking at the future. All about the wholesome existence we expect to live in high school.

The characters began turning complex, with emotions, hobbies, love for certain things that eventually stand out and lead them to search for what they eventually turn to when given the choice to move on with their lives, and it feels inevitable. Everybody in the cast knew, very well, that they weren't destined to always be there for each other. The sad feeling of the inevitable end was present throughout the second half of the story like nothing else. Not in a b-line towards the end, more in a thematic sense that this is what the story is all about. People should enjoy the stressful times of being a teenager, make friends, socialize even if it's hard at the beginning. Some characters are introduced late into the story and given depth, new perspectives and good moments to show this kind of person in a school. People will identify themselves with at least one struggle, or one idea of people. The characters are all that keeps us there to watch their eventual graduation.

In itself, the freshness of this manga is outstanding. We don't need surging romance, we've had enough of 200 chapters of people trying to get closer, and failing every time. This is about people in a healthy relationship getting by, and the friends they have or make along the way. In that sense, all that's left is, comfort. We don't get many conflicts, we don't get many lasting problems or decisions. If a character has something problematic, communication solves it. People aren't stupid in this manga, but of course, reading it for a compelling narrative, well, there isn't one.

You won't find an interesting story out of this. When it ended, I felt a little pit in my heart. It reminded me of old friends of high school, and how uneventful things can be, or if they were eventful, it was pretty easy to solve my problems. The characters are just a reflection of what we know, and that's fine.

Good, interesting art, great character designs, nice dialogue, nice everything, I just feel, good reading it, but I can't tell you what happens through it all.

6.5/10, I followed it from the beginning, what a nice manga man. And of course the anime would be bad, the worst part is the beginning.

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Mar 31, 2024

GoroTusk97

Mixed Feelings

This manga falls flat where it could shine the most.

The story is boring, the characters one dimensioned and the art, although technically good, doesn't stand out much (I like the clothes choices and designs though).

If you want a "story/characters/art" type of review, there you have it.

Now, I want to quickly dive deeper in some bad points where I think could have made this manga a great one:

1 - The events

...

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Mar 28, 2022

devinder

Not Recommended

Preliminary (30/201 eps)

'Kawaii dake ja Nai Shikimori-san' ('Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie') follows Shikimori and Izumi who have been seeing each other for over a year but haven't done anything more than a kiss. Fine, there's no rush because these types of stories operate under the pretense that the main couple is going to be together forever so they have the rest of their lives to visit pound town. But you might assume these characters have one year left to live with how many times they feel compelled to reiterate their undying love for each other and how they will always be together. It's not just what ... is said but how it is said because putting thoughts into words opens up another dimension to be aware of like if you stutter or hear how ridiculously melodramatic you sound but here the teens engage in grandiose dialogue like they're in a play by Shakespeare.

If you thought having an established couple meant comparatively better romantic progress than its peers then you will be disappointed. Izumi kisses Shikimori (Izumi motions towards Shikimori and then their faces are obscured) after a school trip and despite all the time they spend together and how much they wax poetic about how great their lives are and how nice everyone is, Shikimori blushes and the two of them spaz out mildly the next day. Izumi remembering the kiss, says it was a crazy thing to do and he was just caught up in the heat of the moment. This is chapter 100 (ONE HUNDRED - ONE FUCKING HUNDRED). Shikimori while essentially being the man in the relationship turns into a pure maiden when the romance attempts physicality because her character's appeal is a careful balancing act. She's cool and assertive enough to make a move (and have it backfire to score 'gap moe' points) but also innocent and cute enough to melt at the slightest bit of intimacy.

Characters attract with gimmicks before working backwards to show how the gimmick isn't actually their whole personality. Izumi's life is full of bad luck like tree branches falling on him or a baseball ball hitting him. He has scars to prove his misfortune. Shikimori remarks, in a conversation with Izumi's mother, that Izumi has not let the occurrences of such bad luck make him feel sorry for himself. The manga here is patting itself on the back, no shit, everyone in this manga is sickly sweet. It's almost commendable how unabashedly lazy Izumi's bad luck shtick is. It's only purpose is to service how mushy gushy everything is. If Izumi was hit by a car, he would likely apologize for being in the car's way. Shikimori also says 'Izumi knows pain more than anyone else,' coming from a 15 year old that has no knowledge of the world, I can let this slide but damn, it is a ridiculous line.

Characters too good to be true have one hang-up that makes them totally-not-perfect, throw in a personality quirk, follow the schedule for high school and you got yourself another happy-happy-fun-times at anime school story. I'm not asking for drama but if the manga is going to address topics like how past misfortunes may harm your self-esteem or frustration at school regulations, I'd rather it not bring it up at all because all I'm left with is another gold star to reward these dorks comforted by their vapid solipsistic setting. In the latest chapters, there's talk of what to do in the future. I think this is silly because Shikimori and Izumi could just form a business where they tell people 'just be yourself' and watch the money pile up.

Moderation simply does not exist in this universe. There's barely a chapter they have together where they actually just talk about random things or let the moment speak for itself and maybe end off with a simple 'I love you' plus kiss because they're incessantly complimenting each other and saying generic fluffy quotes like 'I'll always protect you,' or 'I'll always be there for you,' etc. One of the corniest lines is 'when I'm with you, even the time waiting in line is super fun!' This is said seriously, I am not kidding. Fluff dialed up to 11.

I could forgive the manga for its masturbatory 'relationship goals' selling point if it actually did something with the relationship. Going back to my earlier point about the repetition I think the reason the characters need to repeatedly vocalize their love and togetherness is that without it Izumi just looks like Shikimori's token gay friend. Rarely the setting becomes aware of the premise and side or background characters say things like 'why won't Shikimori date someone cooler' or 'you have the best kind of youth.' Unfortunately, it doubles down on the premise so Shikimori and Izumi are not are just a perfect couple but perfect friends to others, and two people that selflessly help fellow students. Kindness employed here is so smug and conceited. It's not enough for the well-meaning characters to help others and imply support, the poor fucks that need the unlimited compassion of the main couple have to present themselves as enlightened and forever grateful to be blessed by such robotic benevolence.

I prefer my slice-of-life to have quiet that balances dialogue but that's not here. A calm panel teases peacefulness before Izumi monologues about how great his life is at the moment. Regarding the romance, having Izumi and Shikimori already be a couple at the start precludes will-they-won't-they tension but it's just as put-on and circular as the average romcom duo, whether or not the duo began the story as a couple doesn't matter. Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal is referenced in a panel and that was funny. Nothing else made me laugh in this romcom. The art is great when presenting full bodies and clothing.

'Kawaii dake ja Nai Shikimori-san' is a gross display of fluff. There's zero charm. It's carried hard by the role reversal relationship dynamic that is admittedly a nice change of pace but it also wants to play with real-life problems injecting them when convenient pretending to be anything more than a family-friendly version of a fantasy for guys that want their girlfriend to call them 'good boy' after cumming.

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Kawaii dake ja Nai Shikimori-san
Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie
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Kawaii dake ja Nai Shikimori-san
Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie
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