Aishiteru Game wo Owarasetai

edit: also, re: what KazeNingyo said below, this series is not shoujo, it's definitely shounen.
Written at ch 44:
There's some occasional fanservice which imo breaks the mood but eh, what can you do
My one criticism is the alleged premise of the story is they want to end the "I love you" game so they can start going out. But after like

20chapters one of them proposes they just stop it, and the other refuses because of thoughts that the refuser is not good enough to date and somehow continuing the game will help with that...as if ending it and having a relationship wouldn't have the same result? Doesn't make sense. It calls into question every action that person did to try and end the game, I mean, all those actions are now inconsistent with their actual desires.
It introduced this whole other reason for the game continuing that came out of nowhere and felt kinda contrived..

I just put it down to a bout of idiocy and it's my least favourite chapter I try not think about. We DO still get some great arcs/chapters later so I'm still giving it a 9 overall...even though thining about it again, that one event means it probably desserves lower because it breaks a foundation of the story.
Not my best review, with regards to detail and such but maybe I'll amend later

As of the 4th Volume (40 Chapters)

I can definitely say this is by far one of the best shoujo series I've read in recent years. I've read a ton of shoujo manga, Kimi ni Todoke being one of my personal favourite but this one is fast becoming a favourite.

I love how the the main character are childhood friends. I'm a sucker for childhood friend turned lover. The way the premise of the story is what got me hooked. Afraid of being rejected the main couple turned into this "I love you game" trying to embarass each other. This kind of troupe may be vexing to some because of the slow romance progress. It would also drive some reader to say they both obviously like each other just confess already!! But it's more about their journey to self acceptance and self worth if they are worthy of each other. I love that the main couple acknowledges this and evaluates their shortcomings and tries to change for the better.

But anyway enough of the rant~ if you're into shoujo fluff with main couple that are childhood friends that eventually realized they like each other but played it off cool and turns into teasing. Just check this series out.

The art is impeccable~ not too cluttered with paneling like how most shoujo series are. The character design is really nice. Yukiya is handsome and Miku is such a cutie ~

Can't wait to read more ~ I have high hope for this one and so far it's excellent. I'm addicted kyaaa 💕

While it is a standard romcom, its all about the journey, the journey so far is interesting, but you will most likely hit your head against a wall because the dim wittedness of both the characters, like they are not able to take a hint about loving each other or whatever, even if they do something that usually couple will do, not relativves or friends or besties do, they will somehow play it off as apart of their game.

Some of the manga is good, but my god do i just want to pull my hair out because of the misunderstanding trope