It had just been a high school crush... right?

As a quiet, studious high school girl, Riko had always crushed on cool, stoic, and collected Baba. Ten years later, she's looking forward to catching a glimpse of him at their high school reunion when Baba comes right up to her and greets her with a kiss — and then demands that she take him home. What's even more shocking to Riko is that she might want to take him up on it!

A steamy romance about second chances and growing into love.

First Love Reunion: A Decade Later, My High School Crush Is Determined to Make Me His! has story and art by Yuki Nikawa. English translation is done by Katie Kimura with lettering by Vibrant Publishing Studio. Published by Tokyopop (February 10, 2026). Rated M.

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

You know those romances where virtually every interaction between the leads is a big red flag, but somehow you find yourself enjoying the book anyway? This is one of them. For the first two chapters, male lead Baba comes across as unhinged in a very needy way – he basically announces his intention to sleep with Riko whether or not she agrees within the first thirty pages, all because he had a crush on her in high school. Riko liked him, too, and seeing him again is basically why she came to their ten-year class reunion, but it's still a little much for her…especially since “no” doesn't appear to be in his vocabulary.

When it comes to Riko, that largely seems to be because of regret. He never told her how he felt in high school, and when she just up and vanished after graduation (she moved to Tokyo for college and didn't tell anyone because she decided at the last minute), he wasn't happy. That's why he's so aggressively clingy when they reunite, and as the book goes on and he feels more comfortable in the mutuality of their feelings, he becomes much less of a walking problem. And Riko does agree to be with him and is clear when he's pushing a line, as we see early on when she lets him know that he's gone way too far, mutual decade-long crush or not.

This being a TL romance manga, there's a lot of explicit sex, and Yuki Nikawa doesn't shy away from drawing anything. She even stops self-censoring with a light stick penis after a chapter, and I'm always impressed when an artist includes pubic hair. Sex scenes are always about mutual love and pleasure, despite Baba's rocky start as a romance lead. It's a bit more vanilla than many of Seven Seas' Steamship releases, but well done. It's probably more comparable to all of the many digital releases from BisouBisou, but with better translation and editing.

Although it isn't perfect, First Love Reunion is a lot of fun. It has just enough character development to feel like the creator thought about it, pleasant art, and enough plot to hold the sex scenes together. It's good escapism, a fireside read for those fleeting moments when you just need to settle in and forget the outside world for an hour.

Erica Friedman
Rating:

Isolated by her classmates after she stands up for a bullied classmate, Riko has always been introverted, popular, and extroverted. Baba hasn't been approachable. On the night of their class reunion, Baba acts as if their love is a given and aggressively seduces Riko, who isn't opposed, but also not sure how to read Baba's actions. This very rough start gives way to a cute, if conventional, romance in which the tried and true formula of opposites attracting is the main premise.

The primary conflicts are, likewise, standard stuff. Riko and Baba are not great at communication, each for valid reasons. Misunderstanding and miscommunications abound, as they move in together (honestly, as Baba moves himself into Riko's). They negotiate their futures awkwardly, rather than just having the conversation they should have, again, the time-honored method of all romance stories. In the end, they are on the same page, which redeems a relationship that at times felt a bit coercive.

The art is quite good. This is an 18+ manga, and the sex scenes were pleasant, realistic enough to be interesting without bodily fluids all over the place. The lack of consent in the beginning and no discussion of birth control worried me a bit, but whatever, it's a manga, not a treatise, so I let it go and just let Riko and Baba have at it.

Even with the misunderstandings and whathave you, Riko and Baba do grow as characters. They learn to understand themselves and each other. Riko's brother weighs in as an ally, as well, signaling future family support. Despite that initial rough opening, the characters by the end of the book feel as if they have matured, separately and together. One can imagine them making it all work, which was a nice place to end this one-volume story.