This manga was the manga-est of all manga volumes I have read in the past year. Not a single thing that happens actually happens, but they all happen here, one after the other, to create a suggestive sit-com of manga situations.

Narumi, who was traumatized for trying to smile as a child, has been holding on to that hurt for 10 years, his affect decreasing as he ages, until he shows almost no emotion to others, and is dismissed as having none, as well. He sits next to the extroverted, popular Koto Mitsuha and cannot stop paying attention to her. She's a self-identified homebody, likes anime, and isn't interested in love, so the class calls her “The Iron Wall.”

Although they live in different worlds, those worlds literally collide when Koto falls butt-first down the stairs and lands on Narumi's face in a 100% manga event. He recognizes the star birthmark on her butt and then the birthmark on her collarbone, putting it together to ID her as Efa, his online idol. He nearly passes out, but in doing so says Efa's name, thus entangling him and Koto in an unlikely situationship.

Koto immediately takes control of the relationship, and Narumi, who can sew, becomes her costume designer. To her credit, Koto does take time to get to know Narumi better, getting him to talk about himself. Then she says something interesting, and I had to stop and think about it for a little while. Koto asks if Narumi doesn't like being called “stone-face,” which he admits he kind of likes. Then Koto says she also likes it, that it's a bit like an alias and makes her feel closer to him. At which my head exploded ever so slightly. Nicknames function a bit the way slang does, creating an in-crowd and an out-crowd. If you know someone's high school nickname, you are a member of a small group of people who were their intimates at that time. It is also true that the nicknames we give ourselves can also function as a kind of in-group identifier. Someone out there might remember your ANN Forum nickname, or in 10 years, someone might recognize you by your TikTok handle. They might even be someone you know well…online. That handle provides context for where and when you knew them. Like Koto's alias Efa, her followers are already very intimate with her, and that nickname means she understands exactly how she knows them. It puts specific time/place/nature of relationship tags on the space between her and that person. I found that really interesting. Koto then goes on to do the thing that one is not supposed to do, when she says that Narumi's alias makes her want to see what I beneath the stone-face surface. Which, if the situation were reversed, would be creepy.

Koto plays dress-up for Narumi, who plays the part of the hapless ecchi comedy lead with perfect lack of clue. “Huh?” “What?” becomes his dialogue while Koto offers to let him know more about her real self behind the alias, if he helps her take pictures. This might all be cute, but she is engaging in a little light blackmail as well, threatening him with a picture she took of him.

In a lot of ways, we can relate to Narumi. Because he's spent most of his time avoiding and being avoided by peers, he's hit his teen years mostly unsocialized, very fragile, and easily manipulated. In one sense, he's a nice kid, and in another, he's just a standard garden creep, for whom social media creeping keeps him off the streets.

Koto is likewise a mixed bag as an object of interest. I am 100% sex work positive. But of course, this does not go there because she's a minor, so her boudoir photos are free for anyone. In the real world, I'd rather her have an OF, only to keep her photos off the public feeds. So I'm okay with her choosing to do this, which she would be safer about it, and why is she blackmailing Narumi into helping? He'd probably be okay if you just asked nicely. He genuinely admires both Koto and her alt-persona Efa, almost in an art appreciation way. (Which leads me to imagine a version of this same manga in which Narumi is asexual and actually does get involved purely for the aesthetic. I might enjoy that.)

This manga could have been really interesting if it included literally any of the above as plot points, but no. Koto and Narumi aren't going to be debating the relative merit of sexy selfies on the Internet in the 2020s. Sadly, this manga is really just a low-rent creepy despite his inner niceness dude gets a harem for no reason story, pretty much exactly as you'd expect.

Even so, it's not unreadable. The art is a bit on the nose of boring views of female anatomy (underwear, ass, tits, yawn), and the situations are purely unrealistic manga-only situations, so no one is reading this with any desire for realism.

It's just that this could have tried like just a teensy bit harder and have been good.