Title: My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lvl999 Vol. 1
Author: Mashiro
Publisher: Inklore
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 192
Genre: Slice-of-Life, Romance
Publication Date: May 14, 2024
The Story
Akane ended up getting dumped by her boyfriend for another girl. Because of her Ex, she became invested in a game called Forest of Savior. There, she is in a guild known as Chocolate Rabbit along with another player named Yamada who is very blunt, cold, and uncaring. He only cares about getting the best items, killing bosses, and farming experience. Turns out, Yamada is a pro gamer and gets paid to play FPS games and Forest of Savior is just a game he plays when he needs to unwind and relax.
Akane learns that Forest of Savior is having a live event so she dolls herself up in hopes that she can make her ex-boyfriend jealous; however, when she arrives, she ends up tripping and getting helped up by a very good-looking guy. Turns out the guy is Yamada from her guild. They end up at a café together and Akane gets drunk so he does the right thing and brings her to his place… then kicks her out as soon as she’s awake!
Chocolate Rabbit’s guild master, Ruri, is wanting to do a real-life meet-up at a new café that’s opening just for the game. Akane agrees and is excited that she is going to get to meet Ruri; however, Yamada is also there. When she arrives, there are others who are in the guild that have already arrived but which one is Ruri!?
Characters
Starting with Akane, she’s your typical teenage girl. She was in love with a boy, broke up with him, and now she doesn’t know how to move on. She has a bit of a packrat complex in the fact that she gets too attached to material possessions and can’t let them go. Part of this personality spills over with her ex-boyfriend as she, too, can’t seem to let go but not in a romantic way. Her willingness to try and make him jealous makes it clear that she’s trying to move past this relationship but not before she gets the last word in, so to speak. She figures that if she makes him realize that he’s missing out on something great, it would give her that closure that she needs. I think a lot of people can relate to that as we’ve all been there at some point after a failed relationship but I couldn’t help but draw the connection between her inability to let things go and her post-relationship behavior.
Outside of that, she doesn’t seem like much of a gamer but she continues to play Forest of Savior anyway. Going back to not being able to let things go, this was another subtle nod to that complex as she can’t bring herself to simply cancel her subscription to the game. She became attached to it despite not being much of a gamer and like all of the items in the guild’s inventory, she can’t just toss away the friends she made inside of the game. Whether she likes it or not, it is a part of her now. While all of this makes her sound very possessive, she’s actually quite normal. It’s just a little quirk about her that makes her a bit interesting. Outside of this, she’s just a typical girl going through a rough time.
Yamada, on the other hand, openly admits that he doesn’t know anything about romance or relationships and doesn’t really consider anything like that as something that’s important to him. He is a pro gamer through and through and he has that mentality when going into anything, including Forest of Savior. When I said he was cold and uncaring, I meant it. He questions why you’re bothering him, asks you to leave point blank, and will even go so far as to threaten to call the cops if you interrupt one of his gaming sessions. Sounds like a real winner, right?
Well, maybe he is. Despite that, there are little instances where it shows that he does have a heart. There was a moment when Akane realized that she lost her necklace and despite being very quick to deny that he had it, he just wasn’t aware that he did because he never cared enough to look for it. He stepped on it, causing it to break, and even though he didn’t fix it, you could see the expression on his face that showed worry and concern for what he had done. Even his reaction showed that he made a mistake and was bothered by it. There was also an instance where he lent Akane an umbrella just out of pure kindness… even though he said not to bother returning it. There are some cracks in his armor already albeit subtle ones and that makes him rather interesting, too.
Next up is Momo… the friend of Akane who is… a friend to Akane and that’s about it. Right now, she’s moral support for her while she deals with her break-up and, like Akane, doesn’t know when to stop when it comes to drinking alcohol, so at least the two of them have something in common! Not sure if she will continue to be a side character that’s called upon when needed or if there will be something deeper but for someone to fill a space in the world and make it feel more alive, she’s performing her role perfectly thus far!
Lastly, there is Ruri, the guild master of Chocolate Rabbit. The mystery of who she is in real life has not been solved (I’m sure we’ll see that open the next volume); however, she’s a love-her-or-hate-her type of character. I’m sure if you’ve played any MMORPG, you’ve come across someone like her or maybe have been in one guild where you have that one member that is just overflowing with positivity, thinks that love is always the answer, wants everyone to get along, and doesn’t care how campy things get… as long as everyone has a positive time, it’s a win in their book. That’s Ruri through and through right down to using hearts in all of her chat messages. I don’t mind love and feelings and all that but when it gets turned up to THAT much of an extreme… then I start to question things… Yeah. I’m not sold on Ruri as of yet… I guess I’ll have to see what they are like at the meet-up but as an in-game character, just from a personal standpoint, they would be on my Mute list. (I know… I’m a heartless monster, right?)
Final Thoughts
This was a very strong start to this series. It did a fantastic job of establishing all of the things you look for in a new series. We get introduced to Akane and Yamada, we learn about who they are as people, a little bit about the world the story takes place in, and we have a couple of conflicts to get through in the form of Akane’s break-up, the beginnings of a relationship between Akane and Yamada, the mystery of who is Ruri, and how Chocolate Rabbit will look like after everyone has met each other. As far as first volumes go, I don’t think it missed any notes and feels as complete as an introduction can be.
But does that mean it was good? In this case, I would say so. I found the set-up rather interesting and since I’m a gamer on top of being an anime/manga fan, the story did resonate with me and I think it could be for other readers with similar interests. While the romance aspect hasn’t started yet, I can appreciate the fact that the stage is being set. Coming off of a break-up that felt natural and relatable, Akane needs to find herself and that’s what’s happening here. Right now, Neither Yamada nor Akane know that they are on a collision course with each other but we as readers know that’s the case but it’s not something that’s going to be handed out on a silver platter.
They’re both going to have to work for it. Akane is going to have to find a way to break Yamada’s shell and Yamada is going to have to let her by realizing what romance truly is. Since he’s never experienced it before, it’s going to be a new journey for him. I can see this as a slow burn which is one of my favorite styles of storytelling, especially in romance. With the way the first volume sets everything up, you get the sense that we are in for an incredible journey!
Because of that, I’m truly looking forward to the next volume and can’t wait to check it out. If you’re into geek culture-based romances, then I would suggest picking this one up. If you’d rather speed things up, there is a television anime of this that aired in the Spring of 2023. I haven’t seen it so this story is new to me and after this first volume, it has me wishing I had checked it out.
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This item was provided for review by Inklore
