Introducing the noisy neighbor of your nightmares: a YouTuber.

It's been six months since broody auto-mechanic Kumazawa moved in next door to Koichi, a streamer who claims to be an expert on love. After one too many loud recordings, Kumazawa finally snaps and shows up at Koichi's door... only to shut him up with a passionate kiss!

Kumazawa has no interest in pursuing a straight guy, but Koichi stops by night after night and won't leave until he's "satisfied." Coming off the heels of a traumatic breakup in which his partner cheated, Kumazawa is convinced he and Koichi won't work out, but Koichi is determined to persuade him otherwise. Can a physical relationship between two people who are totally NOT "meant to be" turn into something real...?

We’re Not Cut Out to Be Lovers has story and art by Kou Hirokawa. English translation by Dylan Jeckls and lettering by Vibrant Publishing Studios. Published by Tokyopop (April 22, 2025). Rated Mature.

Lauren Orsini
Rating:

What's up, gamers? It was only a matter of time before we got a BL romance starring a YouTube streamer. Naturally, it's an enemies-to-lovers story, because when your next-door neighbor is a super loud YouTuber, how can you begin as anything but enemies? However, the magnetism between these two is undeniable, even from their first furious altercation. Both leads were well personified from the start—the prickly mechanic Kumazawa and the naive streamer Koichi, who is made more endearing by the fact he doesn't realize he's everyone's favorite hatewatch. Delicious chemistry between these leads made me want to like and subscribe.

Kumazawa is a gay mechanic trying to lay low after his most recent breakup. But ever since he moved into his new place six months ago, his neighbor has been streaming around the clock. When Kumazawa has finally had enough, he confronts Koichi on his doorstep… and ends up shutting him up with a kiss. Freed from the confines of any realism (I mean, who does that?), this story is then free to go off the rails and ascribe to the platonic ideal of enemies-to-lovers. It isn't long before Koichi darkens Kumazawa's door, asking to learn how to kiss like that. But all of Koichi's videos are about being suave with the ladies (and unbeknownst to Koichi, his audience adores them for their cringiness and his obvious inexperience with the subject). Even as he is increasingly unable to deny their connection, Kumazawa tells himself he isn't going to waste his time answering the whims of an experimental straight boy. As both parties try and fail to hold themselves back, the sexual tension is exquisite. The gradual nature of their growing intimacy made for great tension and left me guessing who would make the next move.

My favorite part of We’re Not Cut Out to Be Lovers was the way the narrative cut back and forth between both characters' points of view, especially during (censored) love scenes. Since they begin as enemies, getting to check in with each romantic lead's enthusiasm despite his external words and actions made for a sexy form of consent. The way their relationship begins physically had me cheering for their feelings to follow.

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

Odd couple romances are nothing surprising, but this may be the first time I've seen one between a mechanic and a YouTuber. It's not a dynamic I would have expected, but it works well – Kumazawa is a taciturn fellow who works with his hands and is getting over a bad breakup, while Koichi is loud, extroverted, and trying to make it as a streamer, and did I mention he's loud? Because for the first half of the book, that's his defining characteristic in Kumazawa's mind. While I wouldn't quite call this enemies-to-lovers, Kumazawa is certainly prepared for it to be, because it's hard to think when your neighbor is screaming into his computer all night.

One of the things that works best in this story is the fact that we get both men's perspectives on a fairly regular basis. Kumazawa opens the book, and at first it seems like he'll be the point-of-view character. But as things go on, Koichi slips in, much as he slowly integrates himself into Kumazawa's life. It's an interesting way to write; Koichi's perspective grows as he becomes more interested in his taciturn neighbor, mirroring the increasing amount of time they spend together. It's as if he doesn't start off as the love interest but instead grows into it, increasing his time on the page with the development of the romance.

Like many BL titles, this one never explicitly spells out that Koichi is bisexual. We know he puts on an aggressive display of heterosexuality through his videos, and he never actually says that he's into Kumazawa romantically, allowing his increasing lust for the other man to do the talking. That very nearly backfires on him, because coming off of his bad breakup, Kumazawa isn't interested in a fling…although again, he never really says the words. That's a large part of the problem keeping them apart; Kumazawa figures out pretty early on that despite claiming to be straight, Koichi is very into him physically, but he's holding back from going all the way because he wants an emotional connection as well. Impressively, it doesn't read as being as annoying as other stories where the characters are in desperate need of just one conversation, and I think that's because neither of them are as good at hiding their feelings as they think they are.

Not Cut Out to Be Lovers plays with the romance formula just enough to make it work. It's not a major standout in the BL field, but it's more than good enough to merit reading, and it's easy to get behind the main couple, and in this case, that's really all it needs as a story.