If you thought Expressionless Kashiwada-san and Emotional Oota-kun reminded you of another romcom manga series featuring a tsundere bully having difficulty expressing their feelings for their love interest, then the blame wouldn't be on you. Fans of Nagatoro, read this next! There's more than enough comparisons to be drawn from between both Don't Bully Me, Nagatoro and this manga. Differences lie in how the victim of their tsundere bully reacts to their antics. Kashiwada here, as the title reveals, is expressionless and thus does not react to her bully's onslaught of pranks, traps, and teasing. This is the manga's crutch in delivering the bulk of its humor, although there's some genuinely clever jokes involving the class's sensei. Some of the manga I've read with a bizarre hook as this one has end up totally dropping it after a few chapters, making the cover and title misleading and cheap, but this one holds its ground. You won't get but perhaps a faint smile from the FL. This manga doesn't budge or relent on what it boasts to be.

With 10 volumes of this format relying on the simple premise that one lead character can be read like a book and the other is nothing but deadpan, however, there's plenty of time for the comedy to become totally predictable and repetitive, and herein lies my complaint: The slow pacing makes the story's whole shtick overstay its welcome at times, and really made me wish the two would progress their relationship quicker. There's only so much to be done in a romcom of this nature without potentially losing the reader's interest. Some readers may not have the patience I gave this manga, since I was close on more than one occasion on having my fill and ending the read prematurely, but every time as soon as I did, the relationship between the two leads actually advances to the next step, renewing my interest. As a bonus, there's also two supporting characters that enter into a relationship, so there's that subplot for readers to look forward to in the back of their mind as well.

I very much enjoyed Expressionless Kashiwada-san and Emotional Oota-kun, and I had much of my enjoyment come from the over-the-top Oota-kun who more often than not serves to drive the story forward, whereas Kashiwada-san is typically reserved for climactic payoffs near the end of a chapter. While the story is adorable, heartwarming, and plenty of fun, it gets too predictable and thus loses some of its charm and luster in the process. I can't give it a perfect score.

to see how many different ways that the extremely vulgar and rude male lead can be a complete and total asshole toward the female lead. If you like bullies, this series will be right up your alley.

... Last updated on March 19th, 2022, 12:23pm