really cute art, and while it does seem intense - honestly, if I hadn't read the series already in Korean, I probably would have been STRESSED. But it's definitely a slow burn series and one you need to keep reading to see how the two develop on their own and as a couple and how they work things out. They're honestly really cute even though the guy does stay pretty intense. The first volume gives us a good amount of insight into the characters and the overall plot I feel, but if you're one who gets easily stressed like I do, I'd probably wait until a good few amount of volumes are out.

Nice plot, but I'm not into fluffy stories. Hananoi is struck by the protagonist and starts pursuing her without even knowing her (I also found exaggerated the fact that he immediately cut his hair to please her etc.). Also, to me, the main character seems to be a bit childish in some aspects...
Basically, I wasn't very convinced by the dynamics and I don't think I will continue with the next volumes. Nothing to say about the drawings, I found them fantastic.

this was a bit too scary for my taste ???? the dude is clearly going through something (HES CRAZZYYYY AND ITS FREAKING ME OUT) :/ but Shoujo MLs are usually all “going through something” in a way …….. [and living alone for some reason !]
But i had fun …. i will be reading the next two volumes and we will see ig !

I think this is the kind of shojo I’m going to have to give grace period given the setup of the romance. The main couple gets into a relationship in the first volume and yet I still get the sense that this is going to be slow burn. It leaves at least some stakes for what feels like kind of an underwhelming setup otherwise.

I personally think Hotaru is an incredibly refreshing shojo protagonist, specifically for her complete lack of interest in romance at that start of the series and obvious emotional trauma that’s only been hinted at in this first installment. Hananoi on the other hand gives me Kazehaya vibes if Kazehaya was super intense and slightly off-putting. As a love interest I think he’s interesting, only because of how strange he is - which I’m sure will be explored later.

I can see why they’d make for a compelling couple later in the series, even if I don’t really get it now. So I’ll stick around.

Thank you to the publisher Kodansha Comics for providing an e-ARC via NetGalley for an honest review.

A Condition Called Love is a shoujo manga written and illustrated by Megumi Morino. I just literally started it and finished this morning. While it won't be considered a favorite series for me, it was still such an interesting read!

Let me first emphasize that you should ALWAYS...ALWAYS please check trigger warnings before going into any book or series. This fair warning applies to this manga as well.

The manga explores themes like individuality, acceptance, growth, and understanding. Most of all, it tells a story about love and what it is to each person experiencing it. For sixteen- year-old Hotaru Hinase, it's something she has heard about and only witnessed from her friends and family. A random act of kindness leads to her suddenly being asked out by a boy who clearly knows what he wants and is all-in.

The main characters are flawed, but not to the point where they can't grow. The illustrations are wonderful, filled with little details from the background down to the facial expressions. In this first volume, the story seemed pretty straightforward, and it is one I am familiar with. However, reading further into each chapter (there are 4 in total), and there is quite a bit of stuff that raised a red flag for me.

Beneath the mix of lighthearted and genuinely thoughtful exploration of love and relationships... there is a bit of darkness intertwined in the narrative, and by that, I mean a sort of warning about toxic relationships. I won't dismiss the entire series based solely on having read the first volume as I am very much curious to see how their relationship grows and if the author will address the reasons behind the male lead yandere personality.

Overall, I do recommend this if you liked Orange by Ichigo Takano, Komi Can't Communicate by Tomohito Oda, and My Dress-Up Darling by Shinichi Fukuda. All three series exhibit similar vibes. They challenge pessimism and questions love and human connections.

Thank you to Netgalley and Kodansha comics for the free ARC. This is my honest review!

Hotaru believes she's not capable of falling in love, so when the popular classmate Hananoi asks her out she is more than surprised, struggling to accept the idea of being in a relationship.

This is a story with a huge potential to talk about relationships. I think there are two ways the story could go: Hotaru being aromantic and digging into how relationships may work in that case or Hotaru only needing to find that first person that will make her fall in love. I felt like it would be something she could question herself, although during this first novel it's not something explicit. If the story will unfold in this direction it would be amazing because there is a lot of underrepresentation on the topic.
Even so, I think that Hotaru was a well writting, very realistic and relatable character.

On the other hand I'm thorned about Hananoi and although I am curious to see how the story unfold he made it difficult to go through this first volume. It was too much to handle and even if it's a fictional character I felt personally overwhelmed. His heart might be in the right place, but his attitude is something that in real life would be a long strike of red flegs. He comes in too pushy, obsessed and almost possessive.
It might be the case that the message of the story would be that we could use a nudge to overcome our boundaries and open ourself to feelings and relationship so that we can become more sentimentally mature, but Hananoi's actions are way more than a nudge and often out of place.

I will pick up the next volumes in the story in order to understand what is the direction and to try clear my thoughts about the MMC, though I don't think I'll be able to ever agree with his depiction because it can set young people on a bad path.

Hotaro doesn't believe she's capable of falling in love, so when the cute, but incredibly weird guy from the class down the hall falls in love with her at first sight all Hotaro wants to do is run away. But she reluctantly agrees to be his girlfriend on a trail basis, because maybe falling in love wouldn't be so bad after all.

This was a cute little high school romance. The art is adorable and even though you couldn't make a more cliche manga if you tried I still enjoyed.

I do have one tiny complaint regarding Hananoi, he's kinda creepy for most of the manga. He's more obsessed in than in love and everything he does borders on stalking. In the end I find I enjoyed his character but I was more than half way through before I decided that it was probably less Stalking and more that he simply lacks social skills.


Overall, it's a super cute high love story with likable characters so I'd definitely recommend it.

As always thanks to Kodansha Comics and NetGalley for the eArc!

Hotaru is a sweet young girl who does something nice for popular classmate Hananoi. When Hananoi shocks her by asking her out, she at first says no. Hotaru has never been interested in dating or love. But after a few more encounters, they decide to trial date, to see if Hotaru can discover the feeling of love.

I loved the artwork. The characters are both very sweet, and the style of the artwork really captured that. Both characters were very drawn very cute!

My biggest gripe with this is that Hananoi seemed very stalker-y/obsessed with Hotaru. I'm just really unclear what the author was going for, because sometimes Hananoi was very sweet and thoughtful, and other times he was over-obsessed, and I can't tell if this is going to turn into a sweet love story or a stalker story. I also feel like Hotaru reads as aromantic and Hananoi is kind of forcing her to try and find love due to his persistence. I couldn't get a good read on where this story is going to go, and I will not pick up the next volumes because of this.

This story is definitely aimed at teens, but I'm not sure I'd suggest it due to the fact that I wouldn't want teens thinking Hananoi's actions are acceptable (too stalker-y and obsessive as previously mentioned).

3/5 stars because the artwork is great, but I can't gauge where the story is going

This was a very cute and sweet start to a manga series which I will definitely be looking to continue with. The art style is very soft and makes the overall story even more cute/sweet due to the way that it is illustrated. I have immediately put the full series onto my Amazon wishlist as this is one I want to collect

This was adorable! I love how sweet and gentle the male lead is with the female lead. He really just adores her and lets her love him at her own pace. It is so charming. I hope in future issues it expands further on how that one character said the male lead is not as nice and sweet with other people in his class. Does he have a dark side? I wanna know after that was dropped!!

This was definitely cute...but also kind of creepy at times. The male love interest seems to teeter between adorably patient and supportive, and a giant red flag- emotionally manipulative at times. I'm not an avid Shojo reader so I'm not entirely sure if this is common behavior in this genre?

I am definitely getting Aromantic vibes from the main character, which is super rad! The art style is adorable and I really did like the story, but I'm feeling a bit conflicted. I would absolutely read the second volume.

A very cute and kind of love at first glance book (which usually means it’s a big no-no for me, but here it worked somehow)
On one side we have Hotaru, a girl who’s never been in love and has a tough time identifying feelings.
On the other, we have Honanoi, that’s a cool guy that feels he’s been chosen by their previous partner just because of his looks.

I’ve got to say: the immediate “I like you, let’s go out” from Hananoi got me by surprise, but somehow the writer made it work? (Mostly by having Hotaru say a string no to him)
The romance we’re getting here is cute and innocent, but it is most focused on Hotaru getting a hang of her feelings and understanding how it affected their relationship. I really loved the manga and was convinced to watch the anime, which is currently being adapted! The first volume covers until episode 2, if I’m not wrong.

Will be looking forward to the next volumes in this series.

This manga is cute and I think I would be interested in seeing what happens next between our two main characters. Very easy and sweet manga to read.

I've read an ecopy of this on Netgalley (thank you for providing a copy!)
This was a rather fun and lighthearted manga with a very soft and endearing art style. The plot and tropes are very usual for high school romances, and in my opinion "real life standards" dont apply much in these instances. I enjoyed myself, even though i am not usually a romance reader.
Hananoi comes off very strong and "weird" with his obsession, but i find it refreshing that it is the MMC that is putting in effort to make the FMC like him, and him looking for "frivolous" things like hair pins, or looking out for her birthday is more endearing to me than weird.
I suspect that Hotaru might be on the Ace spectrum from what i have seen in this first volume, with her being so wholly uninterested in romances. She might also just be too young.
I do hope her journey with Hananoi doesnt end up with her getting hurt.
Total 4 stars from me! No 5 stars because i have a sort of dislike for the trope of the MMC living alone/having absent parents. Small pet peeve of mine.

I am not the biggest shoujo fan but this is so cute! I am pretty sure that Hotaru is aromantic (or demiromantic?) and/or autistic (she’s at least coded as such), but she is so eager to try to understand the hype of being in a relationship when she’s asked out by Hananoi.

Some people seem to think that Hananoi is too possessive but, except when he has a fever, he doesn’t overstep her boundaries even if he wants to, so I disagree. He’s a teenage boy who likes a girl and yes, probably falls in love with her too quickly, and is a bit intense, but he respects Hotaru regardless of whether she returns his affections, and in fact, he doesn’t expect her to.

Read through Netgalley.

This is one of the best shojo manga I've read! It's so original and the characters were relatable but unique 🫶 I loved how the male lead was so self-sacrificing for the girl he likes and how she in turn tried very hard to be a good girlfriend and do nice things for him.
A wonderful story about young love, learning how to care for someone you like and also embracing yourself in the process 🥰
Incredibly heartwarming and so sweet it just gives you warmth and happiness 😊

Recommended: yep!
For a cute book about a girl who doesn't know what love is like or if she's even interested, for a boy who is all-in but maybe to his own detriment

Thoughts:
Aww man, I loved this. It made me smile so much, but also made me reflect on my own relationships and habits I have in them. A good mix of lighthearted and genuinely thoughtful.

First up though, the art is wonderful. It's fully shaded so it's really easy to tell what's going on in each panel -- who is doing what, what they're wearing, where they are. Sometimes with more draft/sketch art I get a bit lost, and I was grateful that didn't happen here. There is also a lot of detail in it, from facial expressions to outfits and it all adds up to feel very lush and immersive.

The story is pretty straightforward and an impressive amount is told in this first volume. I feel like I have a good sense of each of the two main characters. Their faults and their strengths were each highlighted, and enough is still unknown that I'm eagerly anticipating learning more about them. They made me laugh a lot, as well as give me those warm fuzzies when a moment is just genuinely *nice* and the people in it are connecting in a lovely human way.

Some situations felt a little silly, though! I wouldn't necessarily say that's a bad thing, but there are still some tropes of the genre that are used in here (though I can't specify without spoiling some key moments). That added to the charm, honestly, because the rest of it was so mature and honest that having a little fluff balanced it out nicely. Hotaru is very easily thoughtful of others and Hananoi-kun will give everything of himself to those he cares about. It can be easy to get hurt or taken advantage with either of those traits, so their generous tendencies reciprocate nicely and ensure they each take care of each other when they sacrifice to their own detriment.

One thing I'm curious to see further is the discussion in here of give-and-take in a relationship. Keeping score or feeling like you need to refuse a gift or are obligated to do something for the other person to keep things "even" can be a big issue, though in here it seems to be presented in it's nice way where it's done out of affection and not obligation. I hope that doesn't become a burden to them, but it does seem like it could so we'll see!

Overall I definitely recommend this if you're a fan of sweet stories of teens trying something out and learning more about who they are. It's very tenderhearted and I immediately wanted to read the next volume when I finished this one, so job well done! :)

Thanks to NetGalley and Kodansha comics for a free advanced copy. This is my honest review!

This was kind of a weird one. I became interested because I saw there is a new anime of this that is airing right now, but I'm still not sure how to feel about it. So far the main guy seems honestly kind of creepy and not trustworthy. I'm sure his odd behaviour will be explained more later, but for now I am apprehensive about it. I'll probably just watch the anime first and see how it goes

ahhhh I LOVED this manga!

But first! If definitely has some elements that you need to leave to fiction as the reader. The hero is over the top - like way obsessed. And I LOVE that in romance. But in regards to real life red flags, there are a few. If you aren't in the mood for some stalker-ish, obsessed, over the top hero behavior I would pass this one by. Some lean ins to a co-dependent relationship developing. The hero doesn't do anything harmful, but he's very, very over the top.

Anyway, now that content warnings are out of the way - I just want to say how much I totally adored this novel. The art was delightful. I loved the mains so far. I looooove the relationship dynamics. I love how the hero is all about the heroine and pleasing her. There were so many scenes in this one that just made my heart pitter patter in the best way.

The note of the hero's wants in the relationship.

The simple drawing of him placing his hand over hers.

The almost kiss. The almost kiss!!!

Argh I'm totally going to be looking for more from this series. Really loved this!

This was very cute!

Firstly, I love the art style. Hotaru, the female lead, has such a unique design that I adore! As for the plot, it's a simple storyline of two people falling in love: a naive shoujo protagonist who doesn't know love and a very intense, borderline red-flag male lead. At least we know the reasoning behind his behavior—he's very insecure and aware of it. He does become more respectful later on. His intense personality sets him apart from other cold male leads in this kind of manga, making it interesting to read about.

The first volume shows them falling in love quite quickly and has lots of sweet moments. If that's what you like, I highly recommend this manga!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.