Hanninmae no Koibito

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Alternative Titles

Japanese: 半人前の恋人

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Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 7

Chapters: Unknown

Status: Finished

Published: May 9, 2023 to Dec 2, 2025

Genre: Romance

Themes: School, Visual Arts

Demographic: Shounen

Serialization: Shounen Jump+

Authors: Kawada, Daichi (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 7.58¹ (scored by 4,302 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #2570²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #1607

Members: 14,432

Favorites: 102

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7.58

Ranked #2570Popularity #1607Members 14,432

MangaShounen Jump+Kawada, Daichi (Story & Art)

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Volumes: /7

Chapters: /?

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Synopsis

As a member of the art club, Shintaro Ibuki is stuck with the arduous task of making a piece of school equipment by hand. While crafting, he notices the intimidating Kyoko Sugisaki glaring at him. Unsatisfied with his clumsy efforts, Kyoko eventually steps in and quickly finishes his work for him. Wishing to return the favor, Shintaro helps with the sketch Kyoko was working on.

Fascinated by each other's different areas of expertise—Shintaro by Kyoko's special talent for handcrafting drums and Kyoko by Shintaro's impressive art skills—they begin working together on various projects. But their shared passion for creating beautiful things may be just the first step for romantic feelings to appear in full bloom.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Hanninmae no Koibito has been simulpub digitally in English as Blooming Love through MANGA Plus.

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Characters

Sugisaki, Kyouko

Main

Ibuki, Shintarou

Main

Himari

Supporting

Gramps

Supporting

Taki

Supporting

Reviews

Dec 4, 2025

bossunhimeswitch

Recommended

When I picked up this manga I wasn't sure what to expect because its summary on Manga Plus was vague. It had its good points and bad points but overall it was an enjoyable story with characters I liked and wanted to root for, so I liked it from beginning to end. The story is a bit sleepy at times, which is both its strength and weakness. It feels very grounded in reality and I like it,b ut sometimes I wanted more for it than it was willing to give. This was true for the ending, but it didn't surprise me that the ending both ...

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Jan 27, 2024

fluffycow17

Recommended

Preliminary (21/? eps)

Let's get through the obvious questions you might have first.
Sexual Fanservice: None that I noticed
Romance Progression: Fast
Art Quality: Solid
Diabetes: Yes

Blooming Love feels like a standard nerdy guy and tsundere girl romance at first, but it blooms into a wholesome story about 2 awkward people falling in love. While I did call Ibuki a nerd and Sugisaki a tsundere at first, they don't really fit into those tropes. They are more real and likable than that. A common trait they have is that they work hard in their passions. This makes them more relatable to us real people, who have to sacrifice and suffer to get ...

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Sep 9, 2024

shutcardboard

Mixed Feelings

Creative

Preliminary (35/? eps)

A 9/10 rating and mixed!?! Yeah, this is a weird one. I absolutely adore and personally love this manga but I honestly can not say "read it!! It is such a good series!!". Why?

This series is pretty much kept alive solely by its characters. The author is going for a hyper realistic approach in how the characters are written and acting but almost every character introduced is a manga level overachiever, just like both main characters.
There is almost no cringy tropes due to the romance coming second. First and foremost are always character development and events to bring forth said development, tons and tons ... of it.

This is where this series will lose most readers and the reason why I can not broadly recommend it- it feels like nothing important happens, ever. There is no urgency and it always ends up with everyone, as mentioned, overachieving when anything happens at all.
The hyper realistic approach works average at best, even if I personally like how this particular manga reads. It gets stale. It is so incredibly normal and mundane at times and, as seldom as it does, whenever something interesting does happen it is brushed aside after 1-2 panels of baiting and we get a skip to immediately after. It is frustrating more often than not. Major relationship progress inbound? 2 panels of blush+handholding and we skip to the next morning of them being pretty much 10 feet apart at all times.
This ties into the romance which also is kept "realistic". Well, I did type that there is almost no annoying tropes but the giga beta MC trope is pushed to the MAX. I personally can deal with it due to there being incredibly satisfying payoff but I can easily see casual readers heavily bashing/hating MC and his relationship with FMC.
As for their dynamic, also in tandem with the overall romance, it is a delight. They are one of the couples I love most in manga at this point in time but, and this is a rather big but, the author is putting on the breaks far too often and in 90% of important bonding and growth moments. They share their most intimate moment yet and what happens? We get a timeskip to the next day where she is standing as far away from him at most times and keeping contact with him to a minimum- no, not because of being bashful or embarrassed. That just is how she is and how they function. Again, I can see this repeating multiple times be insanely frustrating to any reader that is not as invested.
Last thing, timeskips. I just mentioned an example of one but there are dozens throughout only 35 chapters. It is a deliberate choice and most of them are done better than in 90% of other manga but some of them are harsh and unnecessarily long. It feels like some very important moments are missing.
Also, one or two are these "we didn't meet for 5+ months and didn't have any contact at all but it never is really cleared up what happened in that time frame" timeskips that are super popular right now. I hate them and think they are dogshit writing that take away from and insult the main characters every single time. Tbh, I see them as a mistake by any author every single time and just move past it. Happens to the best of us.

But I still love it. There is a different kind of love in this one that is just nowhere to be found nowadays. It sounds stupid and corny but true love in manga hardly ever happens.
But this one scratches that itch. No disgusting love rivals that act borderline criminal, fully devoid of morale. No emotional cheating. No swaying for the sake of it. No need to give agency to tool characters. It just is two people living. Struggling. Overcoming. Fretting. Enjoying. Growing.
I genuinely love them and the author for telling a story that just is told way too rarely these days.

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Poll: Hanninmae no Koibito Chapter 15 Discussion ARK-13 - Oct 9, 2023	15 replies	by tr25a3 »» Dec 9, 5:32 AM
Poll: Hanninmae no Koibito Chapter 58 Discussion ARK-13 - Dec 1	12 replies	by ReaperCreeper »» Dec 8, 1:56 AM
Poll: Hanninmae no Koibito Chapter 57 Discussion ARK-13 - Nov 17	5 replies	by ReaperCreeper »» Nov 19, 11:07 PM
Ending with the next chapter ARK-13 - Nov 17	3 replies	by markxddotmp4 »» Nov 17, 11:29 PM
Poll: Hanninmae no Koibito Chapter 56 Discussion ARK-13 - Oct 20	7 replies	by Skuvan »» Oct 22, 11:48 AM

Hanninmae no Koibito
Blooming Love
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Blooming Love
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