MyAnimeList.net

Nazo no Kanojo X
Mysterious Girlfriend X
Edit

What would you like to edit?

Nazo no Kanojo X

Add to My List

Add to Favorites

Buy on Manga Store

Alternative Titles

Japanese: 謎の彼女Ｘ

Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 12

Chapters: 96

Status: Finished

Published: Aug 25, 2004 to Sep 25, 2014

Genres: Romance, Ecchi

Theme: School

Demographic: Seinen

Serialization: Afternoon

Authors: Ueshiba, Riichi (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 7.76¹ (scored by 20,749 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #1476²

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

Popularity: #377

Members: 44,755

Favorites: 2,059

Resources

Write a Review
Reviews

Filtered Results: 19 / 20

Sort

Suggested
Most voted
Newest
Oldest

Filter Preliminary Spoiler

Oct 2, 2008

Sverting

Recommended

Preliminary (27/96 chp)

After looking at the first sites of manga i thought: "What the bloody..?!", but since I had exactly nothing to do I started to read it, and, obviously, became addicted.

I don't know if author had some serious memories coennected with drooling girls in school or what, but he made a fabulous comic.

Plot:
Not much too tell about it. Two young people in their school years. Anything other can by explained with tags. There should be also an "ecchi" tag, though.

Art:
Oldschool. A bit like "Ranma 1/2".
...

Dec 31, 2014

BudokaZ

Recommended

For me this has been a long time coming, or at least it's felt that way. Like a lot of people, I only began to read the MGX manga after watching the anime; I needed more of the very sweet and honest relationship I'd become obsessed with in the day it took me to marathon the series.

I've never cried before while reading or watching anything until I read MGX. I have never been as emotionally invested as I have in a piece of media before.

I picked it up at a weird time. The second (and final) major arc had just ended, allowing me to steam ... through this and the other arc without the mental and emotional anguish involved in waiting YEARS for plot points to conclude.

Everything that occurs right up to the first major arc is basically perfect. We have the mysterious and fully three-dimensional girlfriend Mikoto Urabe's adventures with main protagonist Akira Tsubaki as they explore their unique relationship, subverting a lot of usual Japanese media tropes. Their relationship advances at a steady pace, confronting their feelings and dealing with them.

This is aided by the special bond they share via drool. She licks her finger, he sucks it. It's a definite hurdle to get over for any reader, but after the first few chapters it's very much downplayed. They can use it to share feelings, a great communication tool as the two are generally unable to open up to each other.

It's all very sweet, lovely and most of all it's honest. The only real mystery is a teenage boy trying to figure out the feelings and desires of his slightly odd teenage girlfriend. She's a human being with her own wants and needs and insecurities, and by the first third of the manga we begin to understand her just that little bit more.

Then the first arc happens and a lot of her character and development is changed or just thrown out the window. A preposterous beginning that suspends all disbelief results in an ill-advised plot which changes the dynamic and nature of the relationship almost irreversibly.

It took a long time for the manga to recover (it seems like the release of the anime kicked the author Riichi into gear), and even the return of the single chapter storys had changed in the process. The relationship felt more like a battle between the two than a shared experience, save for a few genuinely excellent chapters that captured the feel of the pre-arc series.

Pushing through this down period is in some ways worth it though - having re-read the entire run so I could finish it properly, it seems like Riichi had been thinking about wrapping up the story for about two years before it ended. Switching from weird fetish of the week back to actual relationship development began to save it towards the end, with the last six months building up to a fairly monumental moment.

Unfortunately, in a lot of ways the finale doesn't deliver. It seems a little rushed, especially after how much it seemed Riichi had been milking the series at one point. Perhaps there were outside forces beyond his control on the series' cancellation but at the very least he left it in a way that implied their relationship would go on past what the reader was aware of.

It does leave a sense of lack of closure though, wistful and a bit sad, which aren't really the right emotions to have when leaving a wonderful romance story behind.

I've given it a high score but I feel it's... difficult to recommend. First of all there's the whole drool aspect. It does take a bit of getting used to. If you manage to get past that hurdle, there's the problem that it's only up to chapter 36 that I truly recommend reading to. Unfortunately, by that point you'll probably have the urge to read more. The anime does a good job of taking the very best parts of these 36 chapters, changing a couple small things for the better and leaving out some of the less interesting plot points, so watching that may be a better idea, as it also has an 'ending' to stop at as well.

Now I have to go and try and forget about this series so I can go back to living a normal life.

Mar 9, 2008

PinkPantsu

Recommended

Preliminary (12/96 chp)

Well first of all, if you don't like to be bewildered by a transferee student with short hair, long bangs and has a weird hobby of cutting different shapes with scissors, then don't take this!

The story begins with Urabe being introduced to Tsubaki's class. She does not attempt to be sociable with her fellow classmates, choosing to sleep at her desk during lunch, and soon earns a reputation as being strange. One day, Tsubaki wakes Urabe (who was again sleeping at her desk) late after class to tell her the building will be closing soon so she needs to go home. After she has left, ...

Oct 14, 2014

Jcan2

Recommended

My god! I finally got a chance to sit down and read the final chapter of this wonderful manga. I was nearly in tears as I read this I could not believe this was the end. It a nice conclusion to this but I want more, I guess I really fell in love with the characters especially Tsubaki and Urabe. The artwork was great I enjoyed how wonderfully drawn they were the color pages from time time were color just right. I really immersed myself in the story every chapter I was left wanting more and got it in the next. This was the first ...

Sep 3, 2019

Astraea_

Recommended

A few years ago I discovered a small anime titled Mysterious Girlfriend X which apparently wasn't received that well according to MAL. However, despite its low rating, I ended up loving nearly the entirety of its short run. Like most animes that only get 1 or 2 seasons, Mysterious Girlfriend X suffered from never getting an ending due to the manga not being finished at the time of its premiere and because Studio Hoods still hasn't bothered making a second season. Out of interest, I of course read the manga and unsurprisingly still loved it despite some of its flaws.

Story: 8
Mysterious Girlfriend X has ... one of the weirdest plots I've ever seen. High school student Tsubaki tastes the drool of a weird transfer student named Urabe and ends up getting love sick of it. Because of this, Urabe and Tsubaki start dating and every day Tsubaki must taste her drool after school in order from not getting sick anymore. Again, its such an odd yet unique plot that ends up working really damn well.
The series starts off strong and only managed to get better for the most part. There isn't THAT much of an overarching plot, and for the most part these are pretty much episodic chapters that resolve their plot by the end of a single chapter. Despite only having 2 10+ chapter long arcs, I actually did end up loving all of these chapters, and this is coming from someone who usually complains about episodic and non arching plots. The reason for this is probably because every chapter is just really well written. The author somehow manages to take a tiny simple concept and turn it into an interesting 25 page long chapter. Something as simple as Urabe making curry, seeing the fireworks on the school rooftop, and having a mole on your body all turn out to be enjoyable chapters to read.
Although I've been praising it up until now I would like to point out 2 of its flaws. After the Idol Arc, the series steps back for about 10 chapters and goes back to its usual episodic based chapters. Chapters 62-70 is the Mysterious Movie Production Arc but is sadly the second and last major arc in the series. For the remaining 20 or so chapters, it's pretty much just the usual formula. Again, I do love these chapters and all, but I do feel as though the series suffered due to not having a third major arc. This also brings me to my second complaint: the ending. The last 2 chapters are titled, "Mysterious Sunset" and while they are still great chapters, they don't feel like an ending to the series. It just feels like a more satisfying chapter ending if anything. The ending definitely doesn't ruin the series for me, but I was disappointed with it. It's unclear whether or not the author decided to abruptly end the series or if it was cancelled. However the author, Riichi Ueshiba, did write about 20 chapters with not much of a plot progression so the likelihood of it getting cancelled is possible and understandable. Even if this was the case, the ending is still not satisfying, and without spoilers, there was just one change he could have made which would have made the ending be meh to bittersweet.

Art: 8
I really like the look of the manga. Like with most manga, the first few chapters don't like as good as the coming ones but still they're well drawn, nicely detailed, and pleasing to the eye. The style has a unique charm and that mostly comes from the character designs. I just enjoy the unique style of the eyes, hair, faces, etc. Where the art really shines would have to be in its expressions and single paged panels. I have to stop and enjoy some of these expressions longer than I expected to and some of these panels are just really interesting and impressive.
The only negative I have with the art would be in sudden drop in quality for a few chapters. This happened once the author switched form hand drawn to digital and it definitely showed for the first couple chapters around half through the series. The characters still looked good, but there were a lot of panels without backgrounds and this makes it harder to get emerged into the series. Luckily this was fixed so again this isn't really a big problem at all.

Characters: 9
The series' biggest strength would have to be its enjoyable cast of characters. Mikoto Urabe is by far best girl and continues to be in my top 20 favorite anime characters. She's so unique, interesting, and just fun to see interact with Tsubaki and the rest of the cast, although rare. Tsubaki isn't as great as Urabe, but he isn't a generic soulless character. Yes, he's a normal high school student but he's also perverted, has his own perks, and cares deeply for Urabe. There's a good amount of character development mostly with Urabe, but others such as Momoka and Suwano get their fair share of moments too. My only small complaint would be for Ueno and other side characters to get more time and development.

Enjoyment: 9
As mentioned, I love this series. I had a blast reading every chapter, and was hooked on the 2 big arcs. The manga is so fun and enjoyable to read, the chapters may not have flied by during my reading but I'm honestly happy about that. While only being 25 pages long, there's a perfect amount of time needed on a page and scene. None of the chapters dragged on and I was always left with a smile on my face after reading them.

Overall: 8
Mysterious Girlfriend X isn't for everyone. It may not be everyone's forte, maybe you find the story weird, the lack of over arching plot a nuisance, or something else entirely. But for me, I love it. I might be generous with my score but I can't help it. The ending might not be good and the story isn't perfect, but a lot of its upsides make up for it.

Aug 28, 2010

tiggernits

Recommended

Preliminary (47/96 chp)

After reading the first chapter i had to ask myself one question; What in the world am i reading? It was hard for me at first to determine if this mange would be any good. So, giving it the benefit of the doubt, i decided to give this one a chance. And it urns out i made the right decision!

The story starts of like about every school themed manga/anime out there. The protagonist, named Tsubaki, leads an average life, until a strange exchange student (Urabe Mikoto) appears. She's quiet, sleeps during breaks and generally covers her face with her bangs. It doesn't last long until ...

Oct 8, 2011

MGX_asian

Recommended

Preliminary (60/96 chp)

Nazo no Kanojo X (Mysterious Girlfriend X) was an accidental manga for me. It happened to cross the page on my iPad when I accidently touched it's link. I was very annoyed at that time, because I just saw the part when Goku dies in DragonBall Z. However, I just decided to read it anyway.
The first chapter was very weird, because I was felt like critiquing the art. I was like... What is this? But after reading a couple more chapters, I was completely hooked onto Urabe Mikoto and Tsubaki Akira. I loved the drool bondage between the two of them, because it was a ...

Jul 1, 2023

HiiroNotZeroo

Recommended

(First time so deal with it)

I really liked this one...

Plot: 9/10
When you think about it, the plot has nothing crazy and thats why I like it. Its interesting, well written and overall good. Its unique enough and just has quality. It knows what its doing and when a plot just knows what it is its a good plot in my book.

Characters: 10/10
I am gonna keep it real. I liked the characters and they were good but that was kinda where it ended. They are not too complex or anything when you look at it. So why did I gave them a 10? Because I love ...

Aug 15, 2011

Vanillax04

Recommended

Preliminary (58/96 chp)

imagine a transfer student in your school, a loner, not communicating with others, this situation will leave you curious about what is going on her mind, then becasue of some reason you suddenly taste her drool in her desk, what's gonna happen to you?

well, it's my first time to write a review about manga and im a little bit nervous, by the way, lets focus about the manga, mysterious girlfriend x manga is not just your typical school genre manga, it has some interesting and unique plot, and also the fan service is not superb but its great especially the panty-scissors attack! and also the ...

May 10, 2010

patrat

Recommended

Preliminary (15/96 chp)

Wow...

ECHII... ok maybe not echii in that someone walking by would say what u looking at in fact you could probably read it in an elementary school and only thing you would get in-trouble for would be reading manga... well at least as long as they didnt read the whole chapter... the thought process is starts off is where it gets echii, not that it takes a dirty mind to make it echii you could be a nun/saint and still catch on. This is defiantly a work of art in the lines and situations presented.

unfortunately at first it seemed a bit out there... ...

Jun 20, 2022

Jwrry

Recommended

This is one of those mangas that alotta ppl will be put off by within the first few episodes, but its also one of those mangas that if you read past that youll realize its alot more than it lets on.

the biggest misconseption is that its a spit fetish manga which couldnt be farther from the truth.

the creator of this series does alot with unconventional relationships and this is no different, the spit is a showcase of the two main characters bond, and while its an odd way to show it its different, and its meant to be weird. you learn as you go on ...

Jan 14, 2018

goodiesohhi

Recommended

This manga was very enjoyable. The characters are okay. The premise is a little weird. It also kind of just drags on with no progression until the very end. It just ends... It just ends. No No not like this.
It just. It ends. Just like that. Why. Pls. Don't do this to me. I'm too young. Pls. No. Not liek this. 92. It ends. You don't see it coming. There is nothing. It just ends. No. Why. I cry cry cry cry. It just ends. It always just ends. There can be no more. It is always the end. It will always just end. You ...

Jan 30, 2024

KrobCZ

Recommended

After reading the manga, I was happy; I hadn't felt this way for a long time after reading a manga. After some time, however, I was sad because there were no sequels or side stories. I have to commend the drawing style because I really like it. I would like to see this drawing style more often.The music? It was absolutely perfect. I have the opening song downloaded, and I listen to it when I'm commuting to work on public transportation.

I hope that someday I'll find a manga that brings a smile to my face :)

That's why I'm giving this book a 10/10; I believe ...

Jun 6, 2022

DuckSenpai86

Recommended

For me I really enjoyed the ending, you may think how can a romance have enough development without kissing or sex, but with this story Urabe really carries because she is such a gloomy person barely talking, and when you see her so love stuck happy go lucky smiling it really puts a smile on your face as well. The ending also really leaves it up to readers for interpretation in a good way, they don't tell what exactly happens in the future but shows that Urabe wants to be with Tsubaki forever. It turns from a story which your expecting loads of ecchiness and ... sex into a story with lots of ecchiness and a wholesome ending with lots of character development from Urabe which is the character I think everyone cares about the most.

Story:
This story is pretty interesting with such a weird Idea you’d expect it to be, so It keeps you very much intrigued, but at the same time I do think the anime really helps with the engagement because of the music. Music is something that really improves my enjoyment in a show, take Aria for instance there could be nothing happening and when they play that amazing sound track it really makes me pay attention and pick up on all the little details which manga obviously doesn't have, but non the less the story was intriguing maybe a little more if I never watched the anime first.

Art:
I'm a huge fan of art. I love the old style. It's extremely charming and the movement of the characters is drawn really well aswell.His art also gets better and better as the story goes on which you would expect from a series that took 10 years to finish.

Characters: as for characters there's not a ton that I really love that much. First I’ll talk about Tsubaki. He is pretty damn infuriating, and is probably one of the worst mc’s i've yet to see in manga. He is a total simp for every girl and can't help himself from blushing at every girl he sees and cant help himself from almost cheating. He also has that classic good guy gullible attitude that you see in a lot of manga which makes you scratch your head at a lot of his questionable decisions. Urabe on the other hand is a great character with tons of character development, turning from a gloomy girl into one that shows lots of emotions but does not stray too far away from her original character. It really feels like Tsubaki really changed her for the better and improved her life, and vice versa. As for the side characters the one that is set aside from all the other mediocre side characters is Oka she is a great addition to the story with her teasing developing the story and is a good deverse friend for Urabe to have.She also has that weird creepy old grandpa personality which is funny to see.

Enjoyment: I definitely enjoyed this manga and was worth the read but there's a couple reasons I didn't rate it higher mainly because of tsubaki being a total simp for every girl he sees and having a rather unlikable personality. But Urabe definitely carried the story for me and a couple of other things such as the great art from the author and the rather unexpected ending that I rather enjoyed surprisingly. I think this is the one romance manga were the love interested can not kiss or have sex which the story was originally based off of, into a wholesome ending where Urabe really shows how much she cares about Tsubaki.

Overall: There's a couple arks I didn’t really like and a couple I absolutely loved. Having a bad mc can really damage the story but with Urabe being such a good character it always leaves me satisfied with each volume. And I think the author was going for more of a basic guy main character and her being the real point of interest considering the title is “mysterious girlfriend x”. I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoys romance and doesn't mind a little weirdness, and not to expect greatness but definitely a fun ride!

I also wanted to mention that I absolutely loved the dream world and wish it was in the story more but loved seeing it at the end!

Jun 30, 2018

Elliander

Recommended

I started this manga 8 years ago, it was the first manga I ever read. I only just finished it a couple of days ago. Despite all it's flaws I still hold it in high regard next to the decently large amount of manga I have read. I would even say that it's flaws are part of what are keeping that hazy feeling with me days after I have read it it. The strange premise mixed with the real to life characters reminds me of my first love when I was Tsubaki's age. I even had a few moments where I went "Ha! I remember ...

Jun 25, 2018

krstnsr

Recommended

Did I ever expect that I would be emotionally invested over a manga that revolved around people who exchange drools???? NO. WAS I?!?! YES!!!

This was so cute and despite the girl being very shielded in her own emotions she is willing to expose her feelings to the guy (through drool) and I think that is cute and it is what kept me reading really.

Though honestly, I was disappointed that they didn't kiss but kinda happy as well but then I didn't expect it would end there because I was hoping for more because it somehow ended it that emotional way and I want to ...

Jan 20, 2018

SamIHellaAm

Recommended

So I remember reading manga scans of this when it was first getting translated over here back when I was in high school and then just kind of forgot about it for years never thinking to ever finish what I at the time didn't think would ever conclude.

Now here we are today YEARS later and I'm at a book store looking though the graphic novel section and I come across some Omnibus prints of this series and remember reading it so long ago but never seeing if it got finished and upon deciding to do some online research (doing my best to avoid spoilers as ... much as possible) I decided to actually buckle down and give it a proper finish and here I am today after about 3 day's of just marathoning the hell out of this series I'm surprised to learn that I got quite a bit in all those years ago and have finally finished it.

The thing about reading this series was this odd sense of nostalgia I got over what's in essence a fairly simple romance story that drags along one particular aspect of being close with another individual and that's intimacy in this stories case through the exchange of saliva these two kids can seem to recall all the emotions we all go through when we're young and in love and to some capacity I guess taking my time to spend years to finish this series and having gone through these things myself and seeing this story told in a variety of way's this fairly straightforward tale did the job in really giving me something to enjoy.

The story is in all honesty kind of nothing to write home about and each arch is filled with it's fair share of repetitive points in regards to what's going on between these characters as well as considering the fact that I don't remember the characters being 17 in the scans I read all those years ago I couldn't help but feel it's time line to be rather awkward to say the least but that's kind of a topic all on it's own.

In regards to the story as a whole I'll say this story contrary to what I've seen Akira as a male lead was solid over the course of the series if not a bit to passive aggressive at points and at others in desperate need of just standing up to Mikoto when she decides to be exceptionally distant in regards to expressing herself emotionally he's a character that did eventually grow and for the most part is a good slate to leave the reader imagining themselves in those situations, and the female cast was also good overall there wasn't a single OVERLY dis-likable trait in any of the women and personally I think Mikoto in her evolution over the course of the manga was a great Love interest that I grew incredibly fond of not as much as Ayuko (hey she's short, perverted, has big tits, and wears glasses we all are allowed to have certain preferences in regards to what we think are attractive physical qualities of a woman but I digress) She was hands down the best girl of the series as a whole and for the most part everyone in this manga managed to be fleshed out just enough to not steal the spotlight from the obvious stars.

Art wise this series was pretty damn great especially whenever they'd go with a two page spread there's truly some detailed pieces of work to be enjoyed and Mikoto's motions whenever she's using her pantie scissors being some prime stuff.

This series was a great read for me overall and while I'll admit the end for those who really invested the time was a bit of a steal overall I think this was always something that you were suppose to reflect on and I did that a lot as I was going through this story again and I got a certain feeling of familiarity reading through these 96 chapters and while it has it's flaws it was still a series that's score is well in reflection what the overall impact of all the elements coming together and giving me an experience I was glad to revisit after all these years.

Nov 11, 2017

BonteKraai

Recommended

A 80's style ecchi manga, with the same lack of variety, but with a weird psycho-sexual twist. If that's doesn't sound appealing to you, then stay away. But if you like that kind of thing, it ends up fitting it's archetype very well. The art is perfectly nestled in the Rumiko Takahashi school of character design, but also takes on more low-key, shadowy background art. There are only so many ways to draw someone sucking on a finger, but that oft repeated action is usually the visual highlight of each chapter (along with some crazy dreams sequences). If you're expecting a big twist or any ...

Apr 19, 2016

Andrae92

Recommended

Preliminary (65/96 chp)

I wanted to be fair in this review, so I think an 8 was pretty well-deserved.

As much as it pains me to think that my needs in any manga or anime, especially that of the romance variety, are so simple I truly believe this manga ended in a way that I can't really be too upset about.

It wasn't what was done that gave me satisfaction but, instead, what was said.

Those last couple of lines were enough to keep me sated even if only mostly.

Story - 7/10:
There really wasn't much "story" or "plot" per se. Rather, it was more like a bunch of short stories strung ... together by a wonky sense of continuation. It had some arcs that seemed to carry it along, but nothing substantial that could be considered a "plot". Still, it did what it did and it did it well.

Art - 9/10:
Very old school. I liked it a lot. Despite its simplicity, it was very detailed and really made you feel like you were seeing the world through the character's eyes. This was perhaps one of my favorite things about this series. The design of the characters had such an innocent and approachable feel.

Character - 8/10:
I think the characters were likable enough. I liked that Akira was a typical teenager but had his moments of maturity. It reminds me a lot of myself. Angsty and hot tempered at times, calm and collected the rest. Really relatable. Mikoto was also very likable. Despite how standoffish she was, she was very cute and girly. As the story goes on, her personality really opens up and you start to see how adorable she can really be. She finds her comfort in Akira and thus opens up with her honest feelings more and more.

Enjoyment - 7/10:
I likely won't be writing home about this one. Not because I didn't like it. On the contrary, I really enjoyed this series. However, it didn't give me anything to really cheer about. I praise it for its simplicity and honesty but I can't say I'd ever have a discussion about it with a friend.

Overall - 8/10:
While I may not have been totally satisfied with the ending it did end. I had hoped that maybe there would be some short stories to show what life was like after high school or something but it appears this series is over and done with. Riichi could have done a much better job at creating emotion and depth, I think. It seems like the story hit a plateau and never changed from there. I would have definitely worked up the ending a bit more and probably just give the readers what they were after from the start. That being said, I did think about why Riichi might have ended it the way he did. I have theories though I'm not sure any of them will prove valid enough. All in all, it was a good run but, ultimately, it left me wanting more. Which is nice, so long as you have something to look forward. I don't think that will be the case with Nazo no Kanojo X.