Museru kurai no Ai wo Ageru
Choking on Love

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Choking On Love is a rare gem among college romance manga—it’s emotionally layered, refreshingly mature, and unafraid to dive into the complexities of adult relationships. From the very first chapter, it pulls you into Hibari Akashi’s chaotic world, where balancing school, work, and personal struggles feels all too real.

What sets this story apart is its emotionally authentic tone. Hibari’s life isn’t sugarcoated—she’s dealing with a hectic schedule, financial pressures, and the emotional toll of loneliness. Enter Gaku Sudo, a charismatic yet unpredictable music student who turns her world on its head. Their relationship is messy, passionate, and full of nuance—it’s the kind of romance that ... feels lived-in, not polished.

The chemistry between Hibari and Gaku is electric, but what really makes their connection shine is how much they grow as individuals through knowing each other. Gaku isn’t your typical love interest—he’s a little odd, a little reckless, but incredibly sincere. And Hibari’s journey toward self-acceptance and emotional vulnerability is portrayed with care and authenticity.

The art is simple yet expressive, perfectly suited to the raw emotions the story explores. It’s a slice-of-life romance that embraces both the quiet moments and the chaos of figuring things out in early adulthood.

If you love character-driven stories with flawed, lovable leads and relationships that feel deeply real, Choking on Love will absolutely resonate. It’s honest, a little messy, and totally unforgettable.

This is the wholesome romance you've been craving—no love triangles, no BS—just pure, heart-fluttering, adorable goodness from start to finish.

The MC?
A total green flag! 🌿 Like, he's the guy you wish existed in real life. Kind, supportive, and devoted—an absolute gem.

And the FML?
OH. MY. GOD.
She’s a breath of fresh air. Gorgeous, and charming, and she’ll have you screaming internally with how cute she is. Their chemistry is just insanely good!

Every chapter is a treat—you’ll be grinning like an idiot the whole time. No drama, just pure romance.
...
If you’re tired of love triangles, toxic relationships, or overly dramatic plots, this manga is the cure you need. 10/10, would read again.
SERIOUSLY, STOP WASTING YOUR TIME on other reviews and just dive into this masterpiece. Your brain cells will thank you.

In conclusion:

Adorable couple? Check.
Wholesome story? Check.
Green flag MC? Check.
Instant serotonin boost? Check.
Go ahead and devour this manga, you won’t regret it!

I love shojo and this one caters to my taste for out-of-this-world gorgeous men kind of like In the Clear Moonlit Dusk also does. The main love interest, Gaku, is everything I look for in a manga boy, the quick pacing of Gaku and main girl Hibari getting together is very satisfying and fast enough so that the reader won't lose interest. The art style is clear, coherent and funny when needed. The plot is kinda gengeric but personally I enjoy predictable stories for comfort reading, which this manga deafinitely is. Hibari's and Airi's friendship is cute and there are plenty of fluffy cuteness between ... the main couple you can gush over while screaming alone in your room.

However, I'm not convinced of the artist side of this manga. Music coulture and bands are hard to write and there are more manga that fail at this than those that succeed. The writing for Gaku's band has its own problems but they are so minor they don't affect the believability of the main plot. My biggest issue with Gaku is that he uses Hibari as their bands personal designer. Hibari is not a great designer for what I understand to be an alternative rock band. Her style is very generic and dare I say even boring. It caters to very modern, minimalistic design preferences but it just doesn't fit with their band, Pantera Negra. It's understandable that Gaku wants Hibari to design everything for them because he's in looooove but the choice to make Gaku fawn over Hibari's "talent" annoys me to no end. It seems like a cheap wish fulfillment for the reader who wishes for their own love interest to find them special.

The story could very well do without Hibari designing for the band and it would make even more sense for her to be frustrated with her own artistic development if the manga would agnowledge Hibari's designs for what they are: bland. The choice to make Hibari's art simple and cutesy might fit in with the average reader, but it doesn't cater to people interested in art or design. Of course the manga doesn't have to be about art but it centres art in it's plot quite heavily from the beginning so it doesn't make sense that the art style of Hibari lacks any visual interest. It would make sense if her art was even somewhat bad but now all it is is plain.

A perfect example of my confusion about the relationship between Hibari, her art and Gaku is when Hibari sells her T-shirts at their university's art festival. The T-shirts look like something from H&M. They are white and each features one little graphic in the centre front of the shirt. Gaku sets his eyes on a design of a simple heart that has sort of distorted outlines. The design looks like it was drawn in under two minutes. I cannot for the life of me fathom why the oil painting prodigy Gaku, who's own work in the manga looks quite interesting, is over the moon for wearing this joke of a graphic desing.

The manga is great at being a shojo about university students if you don't care that much about music or art. If you have any experience in those fields yourself, be prepared that you might be very annoyed at the portrayal of them. I know that in the story Hibari starts off as insecure about her art and even the teachers comment on her lack of personality but the lack of personality in her designs doesn't improve between the first chapters and the art festival where we see the atrocious T-shirts, so it baffles me that everyone is so ga-ga about the shirts. The plot is about Hibari improving on her art but one does wonder how did she get into art school in the first place. Of course design in manga is simplified for the sole reason of manga being a hand drawn piece of media. Still, with Museru Kurai No Ai Wo Ageru's art style being so clean it would be well possible to make more detailed and inetersting graphic designs. Take Gaku's art for example. The details aren't being spared on them, quite the opposite. Overall, it feels like the author got lazy when deciding on Hibari's art style, which is a great shame if you want your visual media people to be immersed in your story. The laziness with the T-shirt designs is all the more confusing when Hibari's first poster made with Gaku's painting for Pantera Negra is actually quite good. It feels like the author is saying that Hibari can't be interesting without Gaku's influence or help which is sad because it makes it seem like Hibari needs a man's help to make her shine.

Despite all of the complaints this is a great read for when you want a light, no bs, quick to the point shojo story. Only avoid if you are looking for a great manga about being an artist. For that I'd say Blue Period is a good one, although that one is not meant for the fluff-craving romantics. Maybe one day a manga emerges where both fluff and great art-school representation are seamlessly combined.