The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn't a Guy at All (Japanese: 気になってる人が男じゃなかった, Hepburn: Ki ni Natteru Hito ga Otoko Janakatta) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Sumiko Arai. Originating as a short story posted on Arai's Twitter account from July to September 2021, it started its current weekly run in April 2022, before being serialized on Pixiv Comic in April 2023. Kadokawa Shoten published the series in print, with its first volume releasing that same month.
The series has been a critical and commercial success, with critics praising the story, artwork, and characters. It won the 2023 Next Manga Award in the web manga category.
Plot
Aya Oosawa has developed a crush towards the clerk of the record store she frequents. Unbeknownst to her, the store clerk is her classmate Mitsuki Koga. The manga follows the budding relationship between Aya and Mitsuki and their shared love for music as they experience daily high school life.
A gyaru high school girl who has an interest in rock music; however, she is unable to share her interests to her closest friends due to her friends preferring contemporary music. Aya first gets acquainted with Mitsuki through stumbling upon the record store by chance and develops a crush on Mitsuki's workplace persona as she continues to frequent the shop and they connect through rock music, not knowing that it is her classmate.
A nerdy high school girl and classmate of Aya who also has an interest in rock music and works part-time at the record store. To maintain anonymity during work, Mitsuki wears unisex clothing, a face mask, and contacts in place of her glasses and school uniform, causing her to be mistaken for a boy and be dubbed by Aya and her friends as Onii-san (おにーさん). After Aya falls for her workplace persona, Mitsuki takes measures for Aya to not connect it with her school persona.
A friend and classmate of Aya and Mitsuki who is the first to connect Mitsuki's workplace and school personas after noticing similarities between the two. He makes efforts in making both Aya and Mitsuki interact and get close with each other and avoid miscommunication.
A friend and classmate of Aya's. She tends to offer Aya advice on how she can approach her crush on Onii-san, unaware that Onii-san is fellow classmate Mitsuki.
Joe's ex-girlfriend and a friend of Mitsuki's who moved to Los Angeles.
Hime (ひめ)
A high school girl who is Aya and Mitsuki's junior and is the daughter of a record producer. She holds Mitsuki's songwriting with high regard.
Production
In an interview with Shuko Yokoi, Sumiko Arai shared that the concept of The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn't a Guy at All originated from her being drawn to stories about individuals from differing backgrounds connecting and wanting to tell a story about girls, so she drew short stories featuring no dialogue which were posted to Twitter, as Arai believed it could thus resonate with international readers.[6] One of these short stories, uploaded between July to September 2021, served as the inspiration to the series.[7]
Since Twitter only allows four images per Tweet, chapters of the series are limited to four pages. As a result, Aya and Mitsuki's interactions have to be depicted concisely.[8] The series' editor commented that the character's faces are illustrated to be detailed enough to understand the story without the dialogue, which makes the series more accessible to Twitter users not from Japan.[8] The yellow-green color which complements the black-and-white illustrations was stated by Arai to be a late addition before the first chapter was uploaded.[6]
Media
Manga
Written and illustrated by Sumiko Arai, the series originated on the author's Twitter account on April 10, 2022.[9] It later began serialization on Pixiv Comic on April 29, 2023.[10]Kadokawa Shoten began publishing the series in printed tankōbon volumes in April 2023.[11]
Arai announced on April 3, 2024 that the series is receiving an official English release alongside other international releases, with Yen Press later announcing on April 26 they licensed the series for English publication.[12][13]
Apple Music and Spotify released an official playlist containing songs that Mitsuki and Aya listen throughout the series to coincide with the release of the first printed volume, featuring artists such as Nirvana, Turnstile, and Royal Blood, among others.[17]
A pop-up store selling merchandise from the series was open in Ikebukuro from September 15–24 and in Nagoya from September 30 to October 9, 2023.[18]
A drama CD adaptation was released on April 24, 2024.[3]
Reception
The first volume sold 150,000 copies within a week of its release.[19] By September 2023, the series had 200,000 copies in circulation.[19]
A columnist for Animate Times praised the artwork, particularly its use of color, and the story's progression.[23] Momo Tachibana of Real Sound praised the main characters and their interactions, describing them as understandable.[24]Erica Friedman felt the story was "not the first of it's [sic] kind" but that it handled its subject better than similar series. Friedman also praised the artwork and its use of black, white, and green.[1]
