Is striving to be the best at absolutely everything really the best way to protect yourself? What happens when you work your whole life to be the best, only to someone so much more talented than you that you can’t even compare?
- Information About the Manga
- First Impressions and thoughts
- What’s it about?
- My Favourites
- My Least-Favourites
- Art Peek!
Information About the Manga
Who wrote Girl Crush?
This manga was written by Midori Tayama! You can check out their X here.
How many volumes are out?
While there is currently only one volume of this manga released in English, the second volume is scheduled to come out rather soon on August 12th!
In Japanese, 8 volumes have been released.
Where can I buy it?
My Canadian friends can check out volume 1 from Amazon Canada here!
If you want to try out the Japanese version, you can check out the digital version here!
What genre? What are the vibes?
- Idol culture
- Competitive women
- Crushes but no romance
Who is the publisher?
This is published by Viz media in English! Though it’s a shoujo manga, it’s not under the shojo beat imprint.
First Impressions and thoughts
I would like to start this review by saying that I’m really not a fan of idols in general. Outside of manga, be it Kpop or Jpop, I’ve just never been able to get into it. Within manga as well, though I’ve tried, I just have not been able to enjoy manga with idol culture as a big plot point.
That being said, I did really enjoy this volume! I appreciated the focus being more-so on the characters trying to be the best, rather than the entertainment industry. I found Tenka to be a very complex character, and I really enjoyed getting to know her in this volume. Her backstory really made me feel for her, and it helped me to understand where she’s coming from, and I found myself rooting for her the whole volume.
When Erian was introduced, I found myself subconsciously taking Tenka’s side, and though to myself that she was a little bit annoying. I’m really not a fan of the male love interest, especially the triangle aspect of it. Fingers crossed it dies out come the next volume, though it really wasn’t all that prevalent in this volume.
What’s it about?
Tenka, after becoming the centre of attention due to her mother’s actions, found herself withdrawing from the world. It wasn’t until her classmate Harumi reached out to her that she really found herself wanting to try. In order to gain his attention, she decided to do all she could to be the best at literally everything.
While her work does pay off in some ways, it doesn’t work in the one way that she wanted – Harumi only sees Tenka as a friend. To make matters worse, it seems like he’s interested in their classmate Erian.
Erian, who refers to Tenka as her girl crush, aspires to be a Kpop idol one day. Though she’s a bit clumsy, and a little bit eccentric, she’s very genuine. It’s this genuinity that has Tenka seeing her as an opponent.
Tenka decides to join Erian on the journey to become a Kpop idol, and the two travel to Korea in hopes of being scouted. But, Tenka doesn’t even speak Korean. And her decision to become a Kpop idol was more or less made on a whim. Is her “perfection” actually enough to separate her from the crowd?
My Favourites
- Girl power! I really enjoyed the focus being on several different amazingly talented women
- Frenemies – I really enjoyed Tenka and Erian’s relationship. At the start, it was clear that Tenka really wasn’t a fan of Erian, however I think she slowly grows more and more fond of her.
My Least-Favourites
- I didn’t love how motivated by love Tenka was – I do wish she was able to find something to do purely because she wanted to, not because she thought Harumi would like it.
Art Peek!
Maddies Manga 
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