Review of Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun

This romantic comedy opens with school girl Chiyo Sakura trying to confess her love to Umetarō Nozaki; she is nervous though and instead confesses her admiration. This leads to an unexpected response; he gives her his autograph! Later on he invites her back to his place, which she finds a little forward but goes anyway it turns out he has nothing improper in mind; he just thought she might like to help him with his work. It turns out that he writes a popular shoujo manga and had taken her for a fan! Chiyo starts helping him with his work along with other friends of his, this doesn't mean her feelings for him go; she just can't think of the right time to raise the subject and he is completely oblivious despite the situation being a cliché of shoujo manga! Nozaki may be oblivious to Chiyo's feelings but he uses other people's actions as inspiration for his work.

This may be a shoujo series but that doesn't mean it can't be enjoyed by boys too. The situations are comic yet believable with a good cast of characters. Chiyo and Nozaki are good protagonists but they aren't the only good characters; the secondary cast are well fleshed out and likable and varied too. The art work is good with distinctive, well designed characters and decent animation. Overall this is an enjoyable series that grew on me over its twelve episode run; so much so that I was a little sad when it was over; I'd certainly recommend this, especially if you enjoyed series like 'Ouran High School Host Club'.

These comments are based on watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles.