Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu

This manga is literally a perfect rom-com. The beginning is a bit weird but after like 2-3 chapters the manga’s plot becomes 10x better. Despite its art try reading it its super good. Damn this website wants be to write a longer review, oh well. Then I might as well describe the protagonist and heroin. So its about a guy who has this urge to kill people, and a girl who is like sporty, tall, and addicted to snacks. You wanna know more about them? Go read the manga.
Tch that was a great ending but this literal website keeps saying longer review.

Recently, there's been an influx in "Reiwa Era Romcoms", rom-coms which are characterized by their fast-pace, progress, and "chad" protagonists. While these faster-paced rom-coms are refreshing, BokuYaba is proof that a classic slow-burn romance is still very much worth reading as well. For those that are into a fluffy, feel-good romance with a slow and steady progression, BokuYaba will surely satisfy you.

Story (6/10):
First off, I need to say, the synopsis on MAL is insanely misleading. This manga is a lighthearted romantic comedy centered around the relationship between an introverted chuuni Ichikawa and a ditzy girl Yamada. The whole "psycho murderer" thing is basically a non-factor which quickly becomes irrelevant. The story itself is a pretty standard school boy-meets-girl romance. It doesn't have any twists, or crazy moments, it's a sweet little backdrop for the characters to really interact.

Art (7/10):
The art is simple but nice. The character designs are appealing, the expressions are cute, and the panels are arranged nicely. It's got a bit of a rough sketchiness to it, but personally I find that to be part of the charm. It's a little weird that Yamada is supposed to be a middle schooler with the way the artist draws her but that's whatever. I like this manga's art overall.

Character (10/10):
Like with any good romance, the characters are the real meat and potatoes of the manga. Ichikawa and Yamada have such an impressively realistic chemistry together. There's a compelling development from their budding friendship to a romantic interest that a lot of manga tend to skip over. Ichikawa learning to better himself for Yamada, and Yamada becoming more sensitive to Ichikawa's feelings is really great stuff, and it's not hammered over the reader's head at all. The characterization is subtle and leads to a pair of really charismatic protagonists.

Enjoyment (9/10):
This manga is just such a feel good read. I can't not feel happy after reading a chapter. I want to praise the side stories as well, which are legitimately some of the best parts of the manga. They depict sort of scattered moments of Ichikawa and Yamada spending time together as friends. This is one thing that the manga does so well in comparison to others: conveying a deep relationship which isn't centered around some one-note gimmick. Ichikawa and Yamada like each other, and I mean that in a non-juvenile way. They deeply understand and care for one another, which is something I can't say for a lot of manga couples.

Overall (8/10):
A very solid romantic comedy overall, and it's working its way up to being one of my current favorites. It's greatest feat is portraying real chemistry between its love interests, which is strangely not very common in anime or manga.

The Dangers In My Heart is a laid back slice of life romcom that takes place in a school setting, just like many before it within the genre it doesn't really have much direction, but there is some. It's somewhat of an episodic series but does have some character growth between the main pairing of this manga. Ichikawa starts off with an overtly edgy impression of wanting to murder the heroine for some unknown reason but slowly grows closer to her and becomes more of an awkward little boy that crushes on his dream girl. Now onto the girl herself, Yamada greatly contrasts with Ichikawa with her much more lighthearted personality and ditsy attitude which at times appear to be quite odd. It's cute to see these two interact with each other as they slowly develop their relationship. One of the main highlights that make the execution of this SOL stand out is Ichikawa's narration, he takes more of an observer role rather than starting situations himself, then later gets himself involved in them. He commentates on these situations in an amusing way as he does not hold back on saying the truth in his little head, making comments on some of the bitchy girls or scummy guys in his school which all makes for some good laughs.

The art is simple but looks good and works for the story it is portraying, the most attractive character by design in the series if of course the heroine herself Yamada. Just like their personalities their designs contrast each other with their own dynamic as Yamada is very tall for a girl and Ichikawa is short for a guy, in summary he looks like a gender bent version of Tomoko from WataMote with his gloomy appearance.

Overall I rate this an 8, it's a simple and casual read. I recommend this for those who want to relax and get a few laughs out of a good slice of life.

Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu is at best proof of why Freud was right, and at worst a generic romcom manga. It is an unrealistic hodgepodge of virgin wish-fulfillment cliches that are ubiquitous in the dumpster of modern day entertainment. Keep in mind that such elements aren't always a bad thing, but I can't justify suspending my disbelief for 65 chapters and only getting 3 erections out of it. Plateauing at mediocrity, I am doubtful that, given the story's direction, there is anything left worth waiting for.



In order to truly understand this work's (lack of) quality, one must ask, "what will this series give me in exchange for a couple hours of my life?" Well, it can be boiled down to these elements:

1. Yamada's sexual temerity (I must at least congratulate the author on breaking new ground, that is, peeling back another filthy layer of the Otaku psyche, by drawing a grown woman and calling her a child, when usually the opposite is done)

2. The ability for the audience to vicariously project itself onto Ichikawa

3. Yamada's sexual temerity, superficial maturity, and caring yet infantile nature as forced onto a self-insert twink (Early psychoanalysts are smoking cigars in their graves right now...)

Now, as much as the occasional moments of blushing romantic play excite my phallus, it isn't enough to detract from the key flaws:

1. The aforementioned crux of it being a pathetic wish-fulfillment fantasy for people who have never spoken to women besides their moms in their entire lives (the young, aloof, and angry manlet is practically pursued by a tall, sexually mature beauty model?). It begs the question of how such a relationship came about in the first place (to which we are never given a concrete answer). It's completely contrived, eschewing any form of development or explanation that isn't forced romcom schlock.

2. Every cliche development point in the romcom playbook, this time distilled to such an extent that it's best comparable to the artifical and saccharine aroma of RAID bug poison.

3. Once the blinders of cliche are removed, one notices the sheer lack of any tangible, organic development as time goes on, which of course stems from the foundation of this manga being a child that falls in love with a nurturing and platonic mother figure (who takes all initiative in the relationship by comforting him regularly, sparking every conversation, and even frequently pursuing him to demand some sense of sexually assertive action).



These flaws have caused something which could be excused to an extent for the copious amounts of fapbait in sexually playful moments, as is the silver lining for most generic romcoms, to turn into something that is frankly tedious. This dime-a-dozen schlock commits the ultimate offense of being inoffensively boring. The art is decent but that's like praising a book because the text is legible. It's the baseline, but perhaps in this case, not being able to properly determine what is going on would be better...

I found this manga via comments on a Komi-san chapter that said this was better because the romance progresses. I'm not worried about romantic progress but I love Komi-san so I checked it out to see how good it was.

Off the top, it's exactly my type of thing. If you don't like fluffy manga/anime, then pass. All this is (so far) is fluff.

Now, despite the Komi comparisons, this manga is more like "Kubo-san wa Mob wo Yurusanai" with more side characters. MC is a loner chuuni and FMC is way out of MC's league but strangely interested nonetheless. Hilarity ensues.

If there is anything to dislike, it would ironically be that the romantic progress is just as glacial as anything, it just hasn't been that way for over a hundred chapters yet. That and the story is basically nothing but what would you expect from this type of manga?

This is a manga I would recommend to anyone that likes Romance, Comedy, Wholesomeness, Slice of Life, and pleasurable progression, this manga begins as if it's a Thriller, but it's intentionally misleading because of how much of the story will make you Cringe in how sugary it is.

Story: The story seems almost irrelevant until a callback is made that shows off the subtlety of the writing. The first run through you'll read it and you may think that there's no progression occurring at all, but the story progresses to reveal the depth to Ichikawa and Yamada's bond that they establish and continuously strengthen, not just Ichikawa's sake, but especially Yamada's since we experience the story through Ichikawa's mind who grows more concerned for her and as Yamada's character is expressed through the art.

Art: The art style is very unique and the art can very easily bring across the point that the story is trying to tell, even to the point of startling attention to detail. As Ichikawa is expressed through words and his thoughts, Yamada's words at times may be misleading for how she truly is feeling and thinking, her expressions shows her to be more realistic and at times more mature in her instability compared to Ichikawa's teenage angst.

Character: The beginning makes you think that Ichikawa is the "off" character until through the story through revealing art you realize Yamada is really more unstable than him. She hides her true thoughts and feelings throughout the narrative with eventual peeks being given, and as she slowly reveals her true character he unknowingly is pulled from the darkness of confusion, anger, and teenage hormones to the light of friendship, understanding, and warmth.

Enjoyment: And speaking of hormones I began reading this manga because I heard it was wholesome, and as someone who had low self esteem and who had been emotionally bankrupt for years, I found myself reading this manga with so much emotion and anticipation I thought people exaggerating when they would say they'd cry because of some movies, but with this manga I found myself smiling beyond control, crying and smiling at the same time, happy yelling through my teeth, constantly checking for the next chapter release and seriously contemplating learning Japanese so I can read it faster.

Overall: I don't think any synopsis or recommendation that I could give could be good enough to justly get you interested in this manga without actually giving spoilers, but if you take anything from this review take that this story is deeper than it seems and that you should read a little further than what your first expectations are.

First off, I feel like the synopsis for this manga is painfully inaccurate. The first 4 or 5 chapters touch on the themes of murderous impulses, but after that it's a fluffy school romance story and definitely not a "fearsome psycho-thriller". However, I didn't really mind this switch in themes because I'm personally weak for sweet school romances, but if you wanted a thriller examining the complexities of adolescent feelings then this isn't for you.

Story - 5
There's not much to say. The story involves Ichikawa, a loner at school, and his crush on Yamada, a model who has a sweet tooth. There's nothing particularly revolutionary about the story, but it doesn't fail in any areas. It's perfectly average, no more and no less. This hasn't been completed yet so the story could get really bad or really good, but in its current state it's a simple yet vaguely pleasant read.

Art - 7
The art is good. I can't say much more about it. It's appealing, but it doesn't try to break from the mold.

Character - 6
Once again, I don't have much to say. The characters aren't incredibly deep, but they aren't annoying and break past tropes enough for them not to feel entirely stale. I did like how the protag's ignorance of Yamada's affections towards him actually seemed realistic and his thought process makes sense, although I didn't really like how the series dropped his murderous impulses after a few chapters.

Enjoyment - 6
It's not spectacular, but it's definitely not bad. I didn't enjoy it as much as I enjoy other manga I hold dear, but I never found myself wanting to close it. It's solidly average and a good manga to read in between longer and more action-packed series.

Overall - 5
I felt like Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu is average, and that's not a bad thing. If you feel like the description of a sweet middle school romance between an outgoing girl and a shy boy has you hooked, then I recommend you read it. If not, search elsewhere.

Story:

Starts off on a weird note and no telling where it'll go. Is it a romance between an unpopular guy and most popular girl in school? A chuuni-edge lord living his life? A SOL about an awkward kid? It didn't know what it wanted to be at first, but the chapters are too amusing for it to be a huge rain-on-a-parade. It definitely does shift towards a romance tone, though largely remains a subtle-comedy SOL.

Art:

A goofy art-style that'd you expect from a SOL school-life comedy. This series has a great "show-not-tell"-style of comedy. The characters' expressions & the background never fail to crack a smirk on my mug, it's not blatant but subtle. Overall, a very fun art style that does its job.

Characters:

If you've read WataMote, you'll likely enjoy our protagonist, though his awkwardness is much more comedic and light-hearted than Tomoko. You might wildly cringe or adore Ichikawa. At the start, his character was purely an edge-lord chuuni, which has toned-down over the progression of the story. Now, he's an awkward kid that doesn't know how to interact with girls (aka every middle-school guy). His narration is hilarious, couldn't ask for a better MC. As for our heroine, Yamada, she's the exact opposite. Bright, cheery and extroverted; her character allows for amusing interactions with Ichikawa. Though sometimes an airhead, she has some self-awareness and tact that doesn't make her an annoying bubbly character. The side-characters are also great for amusing scenes, that also help bring the two MCs together.

Enjoyment:

Though this series isn't entirely transparent with what it wants to be, it's nonetheless a very amusing and casual read with its wandering plot with its subtle comedy and romance. Very epic enjoyment.

Overall, I reward this an 8/10.