Hojou is a good student and tries to get along with the people around him, but his rival in class, Akane, and he cannot help butting heads. Right before their grandparents elope with each other, they extort Hojou and Akane into marrying and living together.

I Got Married to the Girl I Hate Most in Class is written by Seiju Amano and illustrated by Nanami Narumi. Translated by Freya Ohara. Published by Airship. (December 2, 2025)

Erica Friedman
Rating:

There are many bad things about I Got Married to the Girl I Hate Most in Class, Volume 1, but of all those many things, the inevitability is the absolute worst. Hojou has the personality of a rag, Akane is a raging Maenad, constantly shrieking and threatening, and despite that, they will inevitably start to fall in love. Because this is a romantic comedy, you see, so therefore...quod erat demonstrandum.

But that is hardly the end of the many bad things. The two characters are, as I mentioned, mere types, with slight hints at larger backstories. In Volume 1, they barely communicate without a fight, so those hints, while easily deducible, remain undeveloped. Hojou has a cousin who exists in this series as loli-bait and little else. She arrives, does something to appease lolicon, says inexplicable things, which confuse and annoy Houjou and the reader, then leaves.

The art is typical for light novels, telling us that the characters are teens and independent, almost-adults, and then showing us…children.

Akane is trauma-level resistant to being near Hojou, which is so deeply uncomfortable as it clearly is not Hojou that is the problem, that it makes Akane seem manic. The excruciating setup forces them to sleep together in a magically too-small bed, which makes every interaction torture. But don't worry, they will start to fall for each other; it is, after all, a romantic comedy.

How do we know that this is a rom-com? I am glad (not glad) you asked. Because the reason for all of this is that Hojou's grandfather and Akane's grandmother also fought when they were young, and now, after having raised families and acquired wealth as one does, they realize it was love all along. They wondered, as one does not, if things would be different if they had just been together from the beginning, so they are forcing their grandchildren to enact this experiment. Isn't that absolutely hilarious…and so romantic, of course. I assure you, it is neither of those things.