Ki ni Natteru Hito ga Otoko Janakatta

I feel like I've been re-reading the same plot beats for ages now since the manga is only a few pages I feel myself aging before the main couple confesses or maybe?

It's a shame since I like the art and character designs but I'm just waiting for any sign of real progress in their relationship sometime...

Reviewed @ch99
So I first rated this an 8. And I was keeping up with it for quite a while. But I decided to take a break at ch70 and come back to binge.
And when I came back and read 70 onwards, I couldn't understand why I gave it only a 8. This is REALLY good.
A lot of people have praised the art.
And it's really great. It's fresh. It's original. The mangaka said she chose the green colours to make it stand-out, and it was a complete success, but that's not the only thing. The panels are packed but in a way that doesn't feel distractingly messy. The art feels fun.
And there are some panels where I just look at the detail, mostly when there's mid-shots of the characters with a focus on expression. The hair, the face, the clothing design, it's just often honestly top-tier but in an original way,

So as I said, many praise the art. But it's not just that. And it's not just the initial gimmick of 'thought she was a boy' or the 'gap' of a rock fan gal or the gap of a rock girl who's plain at school or their contrast, which is really great but that's all initial premise stuff that a series can be kickstarted by, but not maintained with.
It's that there's a lot of good writing here. The growing relationship, the self-consciousness of their role in their friendship, the one-sided crush thinking about friend vs crusher and wanting to be supportive, the whole 'figuring yourself out as a teen' and 'accepting yourself' while craving a 'belonging'... And the dialogue is just incredible at times.
We have 4 or so (detailed) pages a chapter but so often they end with some great dialogue that conveys so much more than 4 page chapters usually would.

Also it's got a VERY likeable cast. Not just the main two. There's the 3 school friends. There's the uncle and the (practically an) aunt (who've got a great story of their own that feels so real).

Also, it's got drama without being a big downer. Overall it's mostly a happy, fun series. But not shallow.

So yeah, idk why I gave an 8 initially. Maybe it dipped in quality at some point and I forgot. Or maybe it's just gotten better over time? That's possible. It's an indie mangaka who started off publishing it on twitter...and now has a publishing deal in Japan, a Drama CD, and licensing and publishing happening right now in multiple languages (English, French, I saw a cover in cyrillic...). It deserves all the fast success.
I'm tempted to go to a 10...but I think I'll wait a bit longer.

Also, pretty sure this inspired a similar manga called My New Friend Wasn't What I Expected. That's fun, too. Not quite this level, yet.

I forgot where I stopped bc of that weird way of posting chapters;// I need to go back bc it was a lovely stupid story about young love

This series is about a girl who mistakes another girl for a boy and develops a crush on her. Cue shenanigans and her finding out that her crush (that she thought was a boy) is actually a girl! It's a really good story with a really distinct style and gorgeous art! 10/10, cannot recommend it enough

The art is nice and there's certain qualities to the style that reminds me of other artists especially the way the eyes are done. I wish I could remember exactly those artists names because it would be interesting to see how this mangaka was influenced. The story is not only super cute, but has done a good job of capturing the personalities of the main duo and made the lives of these two believable. My only gripe is that only having cute situations is going to eventually get stale. Too much sugar is not good for you after all. If its going to stay slice of life then some real world challenges and experiences would help give the story a little more meat. I know it could be challenging based on its format, but I think it would make for a more interesting story in the long run. Anyways I'll be reading in the meantime.

You have to understand that Western rock music is pretty niche in Japan. It was popular enough with older generations, but I’m told Western music is now a fringe taste there and K-pop is ascendant.

So yes, a popular Gen Z girl being self-conscious for liking older American rock and metal…and even what Westerners think is “mainstream” stuff like Metallica…is plausible. It’s foreign music for them and old-man style to boot.

Sauce: Japanese friends

Being honest I couldn't help but feel weird while reading this, the story goes like this: there's this girl Koga that dislikes the popular girls in her class, she works at a music store but while she's working there she dresses herself up like one of those e-boys, then the popular girl of her class Oosawa falls in love with her e-boy appearance like she doesn't know at all that she's a girl.

Koga realizes that Oosawa fell in love with the boy appearance of her at the music shop, but instead of being honest she keeps catfishing as a boy and just keeps flirting with her and stuff, and it's kinda messed up because Koga listens to Oosawa in class talking about her crush at the music shop and despite hearing all that she keeps being a catfish.

I'ts just weird because Oosawa doesn't even like you in the first place, she fell for your e-boy appearance, you literally sat next to her in class for a long time and she never even look your way, like the whole romance feels forced because she's just a catfish.
Then there's this thing about Oosawa which I find really cringe, sometimes she's like "Omg no one in my class likes my music" "No one listens to metallica, etc" like portraying herself as if she's so different from anyone her age just because she listens to radiohead or metallica (Like they're so underground omg nobody knows them /s)

When Koga realizes that Oosawa discovered her true identity instead of apologizing like a normal person, she goes “omg I want to be Oosawa’s friend” like don’t you feel guilty for playing with her emotions, like you literally knew she fell in love with your boy appearance and then being realistic do you think this popular girl would accept real quick that her crush was just a catfish and it was this weirdo girl that sits next to her in class the whole time.

The characters are great, even the male character isn’t annoying or an antagonist. Normally most GLs suffer from poor storytelling but not this one! It’s refreshing and the fantastic art style is a bonus!