I Can't Say No to the Lonely Girl, Vol. 1

Thank you to Netgalley and Kodansha Comics for providing me with a free copy of this manga in exchange for an honest review!

Whilst this manga absolutely follows some typical tropes of yuri manga (main character who is majorly in denial despite obviously being attracted to the female love interest, pushy confident love interest, etc) I still had a great time reading this! We don't get a whole lot of character development for the main characters, but considering this is the very first volume, there is definitely potential. Some seeds have already been planted, particularly in the case of Honda, the love interest, and I'm interested in discovering her past and possible interest in Sakurai in the past. 

I do wish the manga didn't put the main character into a position of, at least at first, having Honda kiss her without her consent. Whilst we as the audience know that Sakurai is developing feelings and isn't feeling completely uncomfortable, despite her denial, this wasn't shown to us before the kiss, and Honda definitely wouldn't have known this. I'm of course giving this leniency as, since I mentioned before, this is very much a common trope of yuri manga, and other than the initial kiss, you could make the excuse that, based on some cues the love interest is giving, Honda could maybe tell that her feelings are becoming more reciprocated. That's probably my main gripe with the volume at the moment, and there's a chance there could be a backstory going over this, but that's still something we're yet to see.

The story itself was quite fast-paced, but the relationship between Honda and Sakurai still felt authentic whilst still leaving a lot of room for development in future volumes. It's still early days, and I'm very much looking forward to where this manga goes!