Cozy "Slice-of-life" Manga: Part Two- for Spring

Welcome to the second installment of “Cozy ‘Slice-of-Life’ Manga”! This article will be focused on romance-themed manga within this genre as we welcome the warm weather of spring. For this list, I tried to stray away from the most common romance slice-of-life manga, but one managed to slip in due to the premise of the story which I absolutely adore. I will feature both sweet and spicy romances for a broad variety of audiences, so feast your eyes on my favorite romantic slice-of-life manga.

Kimi Ni Todoke

By Karuho Shiina

Summary: The Ring can find love so you can too!

As the most mainstream pick for this article, “Kimi Ni Todoke”, or in English, “From Me to You”, the hype is 100% founded in truth. A young girl, Sawako, often misunderstood and feared by her classmates due to her frightening appearance, desperately wants to make friends and to join her class in the daily life of a cheerful student. However, because she resembles Sadako, the character from The Ring when she’s thinking carefully, students think she can curse people and is avoided by her classmates at all costs. Until finally, Kazehaya, Sawako’s idol for his outgoing personality, begins an unforeseen friendship with her and thus, the purest of friendships blooms. Featuring themes of other high school-set slice-of-life manga such as cultural festivals, summer vacation, and hilarious friendships, this story is the perfect recipe for a friends-turned-lovers situation. The blushing, the sweetest kisses, the most tender moments! Ah. My heart.

Tramps Like Us (Also known as “You Are My Pet”)

By Yayoi Ogawa

Summary: A pet boy love story that will keep you enthralled.

Not me accidentally reading this smutty manga when I was in middle school. It was the second manga I ever read and it has such a special place in my heart. It also has possibly had some role in some of the kinks I’ve developed as well. (Sorry, Mom.) Sumire, an absolute killer of a character, balances her professional work life as a journalist with depression, anxiety, and “unbecoming” interest such as pro wrestling and smoking. Interested already, aren’t you? Well, it only gets better. After her fiancé dumps her, she comes across a homeless boy on the street and asks him to live with her as her pet. The conditions? Free room and board on her part, and unconditional love and loyalty from him. The boy, who she names ‘Momo’, agrees and their sexless, but tension-filled relationship begins. We unpack Momo’s mysterious history and how Sumire struggles to find satisfaction with her ‘perfect’ new boyfriend Hasumi in this unique plot with an irrefutable relationship that unfolds.

Aharen-san is Indecipherable

By Asato Mizu

Summary: A dedicated innocent friendship messily making its way toward this slow-burn love.

Although I watched the anime before I read the manga, this story in both mediums was absolutely worth revisiting a second time. This is another high school setting story with the two most awkward main characters you could imagine. Aharen, the tiniest lack-of-personal-space ball of awkwardness, meets Raido who is always too literal and somehow, despite his efforts, cannot seem to make friends. Raido desperately determined to befriend Aharen, who gives him mixed signals of shunned silence to clingy-up-in-your face adoration, but they slowly build his first real friendship together. He also befriends Oshiro who is obsessed with Aharen but can only watch from a distance as Raido gets in the way of her stalking. Despite all this, my favorite character is their teacher Ms. Tobaru who cannot handle couples and literally nearly dies of cuteness every couple of episodes. (Also I’ve decided she’s gay for her coworker, Ms. Miyahira and no one can tell me otherwise.)

If you’re interested in seeing Part One of this series, please check out this link to “Cozy ‘Slice-of-Life’ Manga: Part One - For Winter.” See you in Part Three where we will explore summer themes! You can also check out our fantastic writer, Jasmine, and her favorite romantic comedy manga which features some excellent reads in her article “Manga Tropes, Maids and More”, here.

Edited by Rebeca Edwards.