Kuroiwa Medaka ni Watashi no Kawaii ga Tsuujinai
Medaka Kuroiwa Is Impervious to My Charms

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The fact that this manga is popular is proof that gender double standards are not going anywhere anytime soon.

Mona, the not-so-slightly narcissistic "queen bee" of her high school cannot stand the fact that the new transfer student, Medaka is not swooning over her like everyone else. So she decides to make him fall for her, no matter what. Obviously, since this is a romance manga, she ends up falling for him first instead, but her motivation (at least as far as she'll admit) remains nothing more than to satisfy her own ego.

Medaka, on the other hand is not immune to her charms because he's dense, ... like so many other male leads. He's not even immune at all, he's just holding himself back - he is training to be a monk, and that means he is forbidden from having romantic relationships. As far as we can tell, he's choosing that lifestyle of his own free will.

Of course Mona does not know this, but it's doubtful that she'd care even if she did. No matter how many times Medaka tells her that he doesn't want to hang out with her, she doesn't back off - and her attempts at seduction can get rather physical at times. But wait, that's not all! Medaka's classmates actually chew him out for being "mean" towards their beloved idol, and force him to at least be on friendly terms with her whether he wants to or not.

While the manga is rather self-conscious about Mona's narcissism and less-than-pure motives, she still gets away with pretty much anything - and the more I read, the more that bothered me, because, let's face it, what she's doing is basically textbook sexual harassment. But she's a girl, so it's apparently okay. Yaaay.

It takes a while for this story to take off. Only after 9-10 chapters one can start to get a grip what this show is all about.

In short: Misunderstandings.

Long read: It's a romcom based on a growing house of cards made of misunderstandings. All the characters involved have a fundamentally flawed understanding of pretty much everything in this story. But that's what creates the humor around the sketchy situations they're in.

The story has also laid down early several plot points that will probably cause more interesting stuff ahead. Like both Mona and Medaka being from Japan's countryside but not being aware of it. Mona sometimes ... blabs out things in her Osaka dialect which she's ashamed of. Nobody took notice so far, but it's one example where the story could take some turns.

That, and Medaka's bizarre cult that he grew up into. I'm sure the author has more ideas in mind as of how to utilize this for the sake of the plot and not just the already well-established misunderstanding that persists over him supposedly not being moved by Mona's charm.

Last but not least, the art in this one is just spectacular! They have very talented mangaka, over there, working on this. I really like it that they draw the girl's figures. Like, they always wear these baggy tops that make them appear slightly chubby. It just makes everything look much more realistic. And Mona's expressions are just priceless - both the positive and negative ones. State of the art!

My Charms Are Wasted on Kuroiwa Medaka... Being completely honest I didn't expect this manga to be great, I mean, popular female protagonist and introvert male protagonist, we have seen that before of course, and what makes the story interesting in the big amount of misunderstandings going around.

Hopefully, they don't take it too far, I won't mention any other series here, but recalling a certain serie where misunderstandings were they key of the story and took it from the very beggining until they very end, it could take a manga from a 9/10 to a 5 or 4/10 because it's the same thing everytime and ... not enjoyable at all anymore.

Both protagonists are not from Tokyo, Mona being from Osaka, and trying her best in order to hide that fact, while Medaka is from... (I don't think that has been mentioned yet, but my guy is a temple guy), but he doesn't really care if people know about it. We can see a really complicated chemistry going between these 2, but at the same time it's just awesome.

I hope this manga doesn't turn out boring as hell like other series did, it has a lot of potential and so far, if you are looking for a GOOD romcom worth to read, this manga is definitely for you.

Overall: 9/10

There has never been a fall off harder than this manga. The beginning of the manga is amazing, building up great characters, a well written mc, and a good plot. All for it to be thrown out the window because it turns into a harem.

The main character in the first 50-60 chapters isn't the main character at all anymore. Throw in some questionable (at best) character development for some side characters, and sprinkle in harem aspects, and you get a steaming pile of garbage. Do not pick this manga up. Don't bother reading it if it ends up on K-manga as well.

The one good thing ... about this manga is the art is incredible. Very well drawn, and good paneling as well. Everything else about this manga is god awful at best.

Typical RomCon with a little bit of twist regarding the MC's and FMC's situation and personality. Well, MC has a reason for rejecting girls' advances but even so, he is dense. But not Ichijou Raku dense. Besides that, just think of all the RomCon tropes you can think of and its bound to be there... well at least most of them. In most school RomCon manga's everything could have been solved in less than 10 chapters, but of course, it needs to be stretched out by adding tons of tropes. And this manga is no exception.

There really isn't much character background. This girl is ... from here and is this character's that. This person is friend A who supports this character. These characters are typical jealous mobs. No further explanation. It might be a bit hasty to say, but it's been 62 chapters (as of this review) yet no further background on either of the characters. There isn't much depth to them. Why is she this, why is he that. There's a bit of it from the synopsis, but answers nothing else.

One saving grace of this manga is the art and flow of the story. I'd give it an 8/10 for the art and 7/10 for the flow.

A LITTLE BIT OF SPOILERS
First starting talking about the manga, i would like to say that im a romantic manga lover, starting from shoujo mangas, to seinen and shounen like this 1, and that's just my personal opinion about this work, but in my small i think i know a lot romantic stories, so if u wanna trust me try this ^^, then i will start talking about this manga.
In my opinion, kuroiwa medaka ni watashi no kawaii ga tsuujinai is the best new gen talking about romance shonen mangas, the story it's really enjoyable, it's something new without nothing or just thne a little ... bit of things copied by others manga, but that's "new",basically a normal high school romantic story, but i like the development it is taking and just the art is insane, it's really "erotic", i like the thing that medaka(boy mc) it's a shy guy but hides it, and i like how mona(girl mc) is a cute tsundere. 1 of the best waifu of all times, i really recommend this manga if u like cute love story with a tsundere girl with literally perfect art, a little bit herotic and with more heroines, when the main it's totally a pure guy who dunno nothing about love. For unlucky the story atm is totally open and for sure at least we need 2/3 years for let's see this manga finished or then some more time.
I'm sorry if i wrote something wrong cause i'm alredy younger and i still need to learn english so i repeat, sry again. I hope that i helped u and u'll start read this masterpiece
Have a good read, shotto

So, when I first read the synopsis I thought "wow, that manga must be a nice, lighthearted romcom".
But I am kinda disappointed. Fist thing that I don't rlly like about the manga is the ecchi. Imo it is just so unnecessary and it turns moments in the plot that could be cute in just a fan service moment.
The harem thing threw me off to. There is three girls that are in love with Medaka at this point.
There is no character development till now, and no progress in the romance whatsoever. It just becomes a dispute between the girls about who can win ... Medaka's love.
Just not my kinda romance, I guess. So I'm dropping it.
If you don't mind the things I commented on, it is a fine manga. It is kinda funny and Medaka's and Mona's personality are funny and good overall.
It is a manga with wasted potential.

I started reading this manga because I was really in the mood for some slop rom-com, but I wasn't expecting this to be so disappointing.

First off I'll point out some of the positives: the art is really good.

Now for the negatives: characters are one dimensional, the development they get is really slow or non-existant, the male MC is flat and has no personality, every girl falls for him for no reason, when the author doesn't know how to keep the story going, they just introduce a new girl... I stopped reading after they introduced the 4th girl, I'm pretty sure it wasn't gonna stop there, ... so I just tuned out.

Even if you lower your standards and try to have some dumb fun, you'll still be dissatisfied with this manga, so I recommend you read something else that's actually worth your time.

So far, this has been a great series to read. The art is absolutely amazing to look at and the characters are also well-written. The story pacing is very good also as of now and in the recent chapters it has surprised many by not just becoming a typical dragged-out series of a stupid dense MC *cough, cough Rent a Girlfriend manga*. It also has quite a few comedic moments and a tiny bit of fanservice which in my opinion is used sparingly and quite well. I highly recommend that you give this manga a read and as of now whilst I am typing this ... review, there is not many chapters out so you can catch up to it fairly quickly.

I am surprised at how much I am enjoying this series. I am not much into romance manga, but this series is very charming and well balanced.

The story is based on a girl who is idolized by her entire school, but one day she stumbles on this student, who is a monk in training, and he completely ignores her. She is determined to make him fall for her, but she quickly falls for him instead. Yeah the story is not ground breaking, but it is entertaining to see how the characters interact with each other. The art is very clean and detailed, and the ... paneling transitions very well, which helps with reading.

There is not much I can say so far, besides this may be a sleeper hit in the future. I can easily see a anime for this one in the next 3 years.

I have been keeping up with this series for many months, always reading despite the sporadic updates.
I remember last year, I randomly saw this title and gave it a shot out of curiosity.
Currently, I am up to Chapter 134, ready to give a good review.

Kuroiwa is an excellent breakaway from the usual tricks and tropes of Japanese School Anime. A majority of people including me are well too familiar with the overused, regurgitated events seen in School-themed shows. Sometimes it's offputting to see a show rely only on the common and not branch outward. Luckily for this series, it's beyond that.

Kuroiwa takes a colorful, personality-full ... dive into a girl who tries to attract the attention of a "stiff" guy. She thinks everyone is into her but not this guy, so she hones in on him. This is the whole story, simple? Sure, but it's brilliant.

This series relies on the basic misunderstanding of how "people don't act like how they look." This story has a superb addition of comedy, romance, depth, story, etc.

Around Chapters 70-80, it gets somewhat more steady since more "heroines" enter the fray. Yet this series can keep its original charm.

My only critique recommends the Author not to rely on tropes for too long. We, the readers are smart, and we can tell if an effort is being dragged on needlessly. Kuroiwa Medaka must end soon, correctly to avoid becoming a dry series.

At first, I was unsure whether to continue the show or not because I found the main female protagonist's actions a bit too annoying. However, as the manga goes by, you can see that she starts changing as her feelings grow bigger. She begins to show her true feelings around her close friends and with Medaka himself, presenting herself without the need to conform to the persona that she created. I enjoyed how in recent chapters, Medaka has also begun to change and be more open with what he wants to do. As of chapter 95, the story has been developing nicely.

Kuroiwa Medaka is another entry into the aloof boy, outgoing girl high school harem romance. While it has teased genuinely interesting introspection for the primary female lead, it often doubles back on these developments in favor of standard faire harem hijinks. This tendency, stacked on top of a milk toast male protagonist, weakens an otherwise pleasant shounen romance series.

PLOT – 3/5
The central gimmick at the beginning is that the main female MC Mona Kawaii (ha) is very cute and has a compulsive need to be adored by everyone, while Kuroiwa Medaka believes himself obliged to follow the precept of celibacy in his training to be ... a monk. When she tries to get his attention, he, with all his willpower, resists showing affection and Mona, infuriated, resorts to more unchaste and aggressive ways to woo him over while unexpectedly falling in love with him. This gimmick does carry for a while but does get stale. The plot has begun to wash this out, however, and replace with a general harem romance dynamic.

CHARACTERS – 3/5
When the story was focused on the gimmick, it briefly moves in an interesting introspective direction regarding Mona in which she becomes aware of and evaluates this need. However, that is eventually replaced by more cute anime girls who mostly talk about (1) their one or two distinguishing interests and (2) how much they like Medaka. There is a charm to the female characters because they do become aware of their failures, do not understand themselves and contemplate insufficiencies in their character, and are aware they are in a competition with each other.

Medaka, on the other hand, in a humorous self-aware meta-statement, is called boring by one of the love interests. Though Medaka’s circumstances are clever and make his reactions to the girls understandable, it becomes difficult to understand why these girls like him so much. This starts to change around 80 - 90 chapters in, but that is more than enough time for audiences to lose interest.

ART – 3.5/5
I personally enjoy the art. It very consciously limits backgrounds and invites the reader to focus on the dynamics of their facial expressions and personal feelings. This decision is probably why the characters are charming despite mostly lacking substance.

CONCLUSION
I am caught up and still enjoying it from week to week. If you are looking for a different variation of Rent-a-Girlfriend, this might be amusing and fun to you. I am a little disappointed with it becoming a harem when I think it should have stayed a love triangle and focused more on the weaknesses of the girls rather than just their lack of courage to confess. It also could take Medaka’s commitment to becoming a monk more seriously to add interesting perspective.

This manga was enjoyable to read and I recommend it to every romcom enjoyer. I'll explain down below the pros and cons, this review is spoiler free.

Before going further into details, it's important to note that this manga is a harem, and it does share the usual good and bad tropes associated with this tag. Along with this harem tag, there is a fair amount of fan service ( especially during the first chapters ) but it remains "light", this is not an ecchi manga.


The good :

One of the best thing this manga has to offer is its art : the characters are ... drawn in a beautiful way and the panels are simply nice to look at, many details, unique enough character design etc... Now it remains a highschool romcom, and there isn't any "landdscapes panels" or insane double pages, but if you check some images online, you'll understand how good the drawings are.

Regarding the story, well to be honest, there's nothing groundbreaking : a dense male MC will captivate the attention of some girls, the plot twist being that his denseness is partially explained by the fact that he's a aspiring to become a monk. Even if it's not trying to reinvent the wheel, the story gets the job done, it's fun to see the evolution of the characters' relationships, and there is enough development for each main character to keep it interesting. Every character is lovable, and the author manages to give more or less the same quantity of scenes to every female MC.


The not so good :

As mentionned above, there might be a slight overuse of fanservice in the beginning, but we can forgive the author since he is quickly trying to develop his story and make it more consistent than that kind of bait. Some readers might stop reading early because they'd be disappointed by the content of the first chapters and that'd be a shame but understandable at the same time.

The story's plausibility could be better. It's usual for harem stories to be far fetched, therefore, it's not a huge shortcoming, but I'm thinking mainly of the male MC Kuroiwa Medaka. While there's enough development for every female MC to explain their reasoning, their anxiety for some situations etc... it's not really the case for Medaka, the end result being that the monk excuse gets old sometimes. There are some chapters where he'll shine and feel like a real person/character, but there are also some chapters that feel a bit too unreal regarding his reactions, and it hurts a bit the overall story's credibility at times.


All in all, I enjoyed a lot reading this manga, and it's a solid take on the romcom/harem genre in highschool setting. While the story has some flaws, such as early chapters filled with fan service or some reactions from the male MC that feel either too repetitive or illogical, it still delivers cute and wholesome moments we all love to see in that kind of story. Furthermore, the art is amazing and is a good enough reason to try reading this manga.

If you usually like the harem/romcom genre, chances are you'll enjoy this story as well.
If you are new to the genre, well, there might be more polished stories out there, but it's still a decent manga to get into those tags.

This a pretty good series, but it does take a bit to hit its stride.

If you were to stop after twenty or so chapters, you'd be left with the impression that this manga is entirely about a self-important chick trying to get a simp-resistant dude to start simping over her on principal, all while she refuses to admit she actually likes him. And while you wouldn't necessarily be wrong, there's quite a bit more to it than that- although it takes a bit longer to establish as much.

By 40 chapters things are a bit more clear. What's interesting about this series is that ... it's a kind-of harem told primarily from the POV of the girls. The guy is very rarely the character we follow, and when it is, he isn't all that exciting. Instead, we primarily follow Mona- the above self-important girl, and it's typically her thoughts that fill the narration boxes. This is kept interesting by her duality- the cutesy pure front she keeps up at school and her actual snarky, cynical self. Her growth is the initial item that moves the plot forward- as she comes to be a bit less self-important and a lot more root-for-able (though tbh I found her pretty relatable even when she was a bit of a b-).

Despite her having a very severe case of "obvious main girl," the highlight imo is her best friend Tomo. It takes a while for the story to get to her development, but when it does, she's easily the most interesting character of the bunch. Her personality and issues are a well-thought out complement to Mona- the exact kind of things you'd expect someone who's spent her life existing relative to someone as self-centered and (ostensibly) "perfect" as Mona is.

Final verdict is that this series isn't anything Earth shattering, but has a bit more than you might think at first glance. Definitely worth a read, and if you can, give it while before you judge it as bland. The chapters go quick if you sit down and read them.

It's pretty good for what it tries to be. A comedy first, and a romance manga second. This manga actually gets better and better as time goes on, as there's noticeable character development. The girls seem a little slutty at the start, but in reality they're nice people who don't understand how they feel, and as the story progresses there's a significant decrease in fan-service which I welcome because when it's used on occasion it ends up being funny, instead of feeling overused like in the beginning.

The only problem is the pacing. At 113 chapters there's no resolution in sight. I feel like this could've ... been a really good manga if it was shorter but the ML is still struggling with his feelings, although he's opening up and being more tolerant as of late. Depending on how long it takes for him to fall in love this manga will sink or swim. Trying to conquer the heart of a monk is a fun premise but eventually it's just going to be the same joke, like during the first 30ish chapters where there was no progress and every chapter felt the same. This was offset by the introduction of a new heroine and character development, but you can only develop the characters so much. Especially the MC. In my opinion, at this point his only choice is really whether to break the rules or not, which he will. The question is when, and hopefully it's sooner rather than later.

I had fun reading it and the art is good. 7.5/10 for now.