Teased for his nerdy hobbies in middle school, Koichi Otakura has entered high school with every intention of blending into the background. But when Yua Narumi, the popular girl who sits behind him in class, discovers his hidden talents, she begs him to help her keep up with the latest fashion trends! After all, aren't the skills required to draw fan art and paint plastic models totally applicable to designing nails and styling hair? Who says otakus and gals can't get along?!

Otaku x Gal has story by 138neco and art by Souchu. Translated by Caleb D. Cook and lettered by Finn K. Published by Square Enix (February 10, 2026).

Erica Friedman
Rating:

Coming off back-to-back horror novels, I was looking at Otaku x Gal and assuming it was yet another kind of horror—a bog-standard romantic school comedy. I was 100% wrong about that and can assure you that this is a very cute and kind-hearted manga about teen worlds colliding.

Otakura is an otaku, not that he needs or wants other people to think of him that way. Narumi is a popular gal, who (rightly) guesses that his interest in art (and figurines) will translate to doing hair, nails, and makeup. Inadvertently, Narumi discovers a usable skill in Otakura and helps him to expand his repertoire in giving girls a glow-up. In turn, Narumi gives strong protection to the people around her, giving them space to be themselves. There is a little bit of romantic comedy, but mostly this manga is super affirming of people being allowed to thrive exactly as they are and very powerful for doing so.

In a world of manga that focuses on bullying to illustrate trauma, 138neco's Otaku x Gal kicks it aside quickly to allow the characters to breathe. As Otakura says, Narumi's actions somehow retroactively healed him from the stuff he dealt with in middle school. And now, he's part of that healing club. I hope—and expect—that future volumes will expand the healing, and this one school will be filled with kids who actually like their lives. What a really neat plot twist that would be.

Aside from the general cuteness here, if you are interested in fashion, make-up, hair, and a healthy lifestyle, this combo is going to help with all of that, too, so hey, extra benefits to reading this manga.

Extra points to translator Caleb Cook here for not only giving hundo Gal, but also providing Otakura with a perspicacious vocabulary with which he expresses himself formally. It's a terrific bit of gap for you to moe.