Thank you NetGalley and Kodansha for providing me with this E-ARC in exchange for a honest review!

The art style in the manga is absolutely stunning, and that’s basically why this manga is a 2 star for me.

I found this manga to be cute, but very annoying. This manga is literally about a girl who is obsessed with muscles. The main character, Kaho, is obsessed with muscle’s, and she decides to join the boys basketball team as a manager. Natsume is in love with Kaho, and Kaho is in love with his muscles. Natsume is trying to make Kaho fall in love with him.

There were two things that annoyed me in this manga: 1) The amount of times that the word “beefcakes” is mentioned, and 2) The amount of times that the word “muscle’s” is mentioned. First off, who calls a muscled man a beefcake?!?

There's something delightfully charming about ridiculous premises in shoujo manga and Getting Closer to You definitely fits that bill! Besides the art being gorgeous, our heroine Hibi is both quirky in her love of muscles but also the typical teenage girl that finds an interest to hyper focus on. Of course, it wouldn't be a proper shoujo if the Cool Guy of the basketball team wasn't somehow charmed by her.

It's an easy read with a lot of potentiality for typical shoujo tropes but with the premise being muscles, there is also a lot of room for comedy, especially from the peripheral characters on the basket ball team. There's also Hibi's best friend who is an Idol fan in her own right that provides some wit to counter Hibi's obsession but often finds herself facing her own advice. Towards the end of volume one, there's a bit of mystery surrounding a new ikeman classmate that evidently knows Natsume so I'm intrigued about where that storyline is going to go. I'm also a sucker for series that shows the heroine growing and evolving through the course of her high school experience and that of her first love.

Much thanks to Kodansha and NetGalley for providing this copy of Getting Closer to You, Vol. 1 for my reviewing pleasure.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Kodansha for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Yeah, I'm basic. I see handsome looking guy, I like. Okay, jokes aside, this is kind of cute. Understatement, its very cute. With every shojo romance manga I have read, yeah this one does not stray far from the trope of a female lead with weird obsession get caught by the male lead who is oh so charming, have six pack abs and definitely want the female lead to be a part of their basketball team. Though, its the male lead who likes the female lead first. I found this cute and sweet as every shojo out there. For my enjoyment, I would gave this 4 stars.

Hibi-chan's obsession / interest / love with muscles is hilarious! Natsume- Senpai's teasing of it is really cute too.

Something I really like about the obsession is that Hibi-chan isn't judged or ridiculed for it but rather it is seen as a strength and her family and friends accept her for who she is. I think it is always important to show the positives of an obsession / interest as not all are bad and in this case she uses it to her advantage to help the team. Was really happy this didn't go down a bullying road cause that would have made me sad.

Artwork was really pretty and I liked it a lot!

Would have liked to seen more of a progression to the love story line but hopefully we will see that with the next volume :)

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this manga to review! I went into reading this manga blind and it was a quick and an adorable read. The story is funny and has cute romance which was going very well until another beef-cake was introduced at the end of the book. I fell in love with the art work. I can't wait to read volume 2, the story of Hibi-chan and Natsume-senpai I can't get enough of it!

Thank you to Kadansha and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this manga.
This is just so perfect! I really enjoyed this manga! I remembered so much of how I used to fangirl for romantic mangas some years ago, and this manga is perfect to make my heart jump a little bit.
I can't wait to read volume 2, because the story of Hibi-chan and Natsume-senpai has just started!

Arigatou Kamino-sensei!!!

This is one of the sillier manga titles I have read which is saying a lot since I have read many a manga series in over two decades, but the whole time I was reading it I was thinking, "Wow, this would be a great title for autistic kids out there!" Hibi clearly displays the traits and while it is used in a comedic way, it's never in a bad light. Natsume is patient with her (though I do wish he wasn't so aggressively touchy-feely with her). Her special interest is not just something that brings her joy but she's able to help others around her with it. It's really positive representation, even if it was meant to be that way or not.

This series does indeed suffer from the typical shoujo tropes, though, and even Hibi herself mentions how Natsume refuses to respect her personal space. There is also an overuse of undressing of the male teens for fan service because of the "muscle mania" premise, which can be really uncomfortable for literally anyone who is not within a year or two of the characters' ages. It's just a weird (but honestly fun) series.

Thanks to Netgalley for this copy. I loved it.

I love muscles too. I don't know about other readers but it was Kaho's binoculars for me lol. Muscles equals justice is Kaho's motto. She has been obsessed with male muscles ever since a disaster brought her into contact with them as a child. I had to look up the term beef-cake because Kaho used the term so much I wanted to be certain I knew what it meant. For anyone who wants to know it means "attractive muscular male".

Kaho was discovered spying on a basketball team by a star beef-cake and sort of blackmailed into managing the basketball team. The idea is that since she already has all this stalker information on all the muscular players she would be the perfect guide to help the team win.

The story is really funny and has cute romance which was going very well until another beef-cake was introduced as competition. The illustrations were lovely. A really original storyline I recommend it highly.

Thank you Netgalley and Kodansha Comics for the opportunity to read and review this.

This is a very cute and hilarious manga following a girl, Hibi, obsessed with muscles. The story behind this obsession is explained, due to an incident that happened to her as a child.

She is roped into being Team Manager for the school basketball team because of her “skills” and coming up with all these training plans, and here we are introduced to Natsume. who takes a keen interest in her, and quickly falls for her.

This is a cute story, and I look forward to reading more in the series.

The story’s a little ridiculous with a girl obsessed with muscles getting roped into being Team Manager for the basketball team because of her “skills” and coming up with all these training plans, but it was a lighthearted and entertaining volume regardless of the silliness.

The art is pretty and the characters are cute which is to be expected from this genre of manga, particularly given the focus on muscles but the action shots of the team playing basketball were really well done and came across brilliantly so I’m kind of looking forward to seeing more of that.

While she’s adjusting to being team manager and genuinely wants to do a good job at it, her muscle obsession does ebb a little bit or isn’t always the focus though it does pop up now and then. It did make me cringe a few times BUT it’s also being used as a reason for her avoiding her feelings and works quite well at keeping her oblivious to what she’s feeling.

I also really loved the thread of romance that picked up throughout the volume, it got stronger each chapter and had a great pace to it. It’s mostly quite sweet and cute but there were a few heart fluttering moments despite the sometimes silliness brought by her muscle obsession. Towards the end there was even a new mystery character that may spell trouble for the basketball team!

While I did find that the muscle obsession and comments about it became slightly repetitive, I did really enjoy this volume. I’m loving the romance, I liked the art style and there’s a thread of intrigue at the end that has me curious to check out the next volume! That and I kind of want to see how the team does in their first game!

Questo manga ha come tematica i muscoli: una tematica di cui di sicuro non avrei mai letto spontaneamente qualcosa. La copertina di sicuro mi ha spinto a richiedere l'arc, e devo dire che dopo la titubanza delle prime pagine in cui la protagonista parla della sua ossessione per i muscoli, mi son divertita a proseguire la lettura.
Il protagonista maschile è sicuramente il punto di traino della storia e la dolcezza con cui confessa i suoi sentimenti mi ha molto colpita.
E sembra che anche Hibi alla fine stia iniziando a provare qualcosa per lui! Forza cosi! Con più allenamento questa diventerà una bellissima storia d'amore!


--------------------------

This manga has muscles as its theme: a theme I would certainly never have spontaneously read something about. The cover certainly prompted me to request the arc, and I must say that after the hesitation of the first pages in which the protagonist talks about her obsession with muscles, I enjoyed reading it.
The male protagonist is definitely the driving point of the story and the sweetness with which he confesses his feelings struck me a lot.
And it looks like Hibi is finally starting to feel something for him too! Come on! With more training this will become a beautiful love story!

I am not a huge fan with fetish but the main character here has a fetish towards male's muscle
the ML who is the leader of their high school baskeball team figures out her secret and that's when their chemistry begins!
Very cute, funny, and artstyle is beautiful as always!

I am in love with the muscle obsessed female lead. Her friendship with her friend isn't shown too much but shows understanding. And the male lead is so supportive and thoughtful with the female leads obsession. I can see the start of a second male lead entering the scene and I'm hooked.

**ARC provided by NetGalley for honest review**


Getting Closer to You, Volume 1 by Ruri Kamino was kind a goofy and sweet shoujo manga. The main character, Hibi, has a very specific fetish in that she is obsessed with boys' muscles. The lead player on her high school basketball team ends up finding out and recruiting her to be the team's manager, and the story takes off from there.

I was a little unsure about this one at first due to the premise, but it ended up really charming me in a typical shoujo way. Would recommend and look forward to reading more volumes.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for this ARC!

The art was so beautiful, that's one of the main things that drew me to it.
The story itself was so cute and funny, I thoroughly enjoyed myself throughout it. I love Hibi and Natsume, their dynamic is great.
It felt a little fast paced at the beginning but I truly enjoyed it regardless. The romance was adorable and I also hope that more friendships will bloom with the basketball players!
I can't wait for the next volume cause that ending was great!!!

Hibi know what she likes and she likes muscles! Natsume is the “muscle prince” of the the basketball team. He finds Hibi’s muscle journal and convinces her to channel all that passion for muscle into helping the basketball team. She finds a new place to belong and maybe she likes Natsume for more than just his gorgeous muscles? A delightful rom-com. I liked the art and the story was heartwarming, romantic, and very funny.

It was cute and very very funny, my only complain would be that the romance is very fast paced and I prefer slow burns but otherwise is a lovely read.

Thanks netgalley for providing me with this book in exchange for an honest review

Okay, this is utterly ridiculous. But in a weird sweet way.
We follow Kaho who is obsessed with male muscles. Everything about her stalking leads her to meet the star of the basketball team in her school, who has great muscles. Natsume after bumping into Kaho spying on people asks her to join the basketball team as the mangers after glimpsing her muscle notes and thinking them weird but useful.
I don't think this story is quiet for me but it was cute and the story does progress quite fast. The art is wonderful it was the drawing factor to be before reading the synopsis.

Thank you to Netgalley for supplying me with an eARC.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I would give this first volume a 3.5 star rating overall. The artwork is what really bumped up the rating for me since I'm a sucker for some sparkly, soft and pretty shoujo art. The cutesy eyes, delicate lines for hair, and drama-esque lighting using screentones that are present through most high school shoujo romances can be found here, and they're lovely to see. However, the story and characters leave more to be desired, at least for me.

Kaho's muscle obsession is very comedic and refreshing at first, but I was pretty much over it after a few chapters. I wanted a bit more substance. I did appreciate that she worked hard to achieve her goals and realized that what the team wanted was just as important as her own fixation, and that she began to workout alongside them in support. The basketball team themselves were pretty fun, but I wish more of them were developed instead of just Natsume. I understand that he's the male lead, but when a romance manga is a series, I prefer interesting side/supporting characters that add to the story, as well.

As for the general writing, there were some tropes I could've gone without, such as Natsume suddenly kissing Kaho out of nowhere to basically "clue her in" on his feelings, or his whole "I'm going to write my name on you because you belong to me, so you write yours on me as well," shtick. I'm not really about treating someone you're interested in or want as a s/o as an object you own, but, hey, maybe other people enjoy this trope. Everyone's different.

I will also say that some of Natsume's flirty lines were cringe-inducing for me to read at times. Maybe my resistance to this type of sugary-sweet high school romance has lowered over the years, but imagining a high school boy saying some of the things he says is just hilarious.

Overall, this first volume was pretty to look at and funny at times, but nothing stands out enough for me to want to continue the series. Don't let my opinion stop you from trying this out, however!

Local girl really likes muscles and beefy men. Beefy basketball boy is in want of a manager for their team. Ta-da! Premise! What sets this title apart is Hibi's absolute, unabashed love of muscles and her knowledge of how they work., It makes her a good manager! The love story is fun, too, because dang it, she's more in love with his muscles than his pretty face. It's a nice change. It's a surprisingly cute read!