Tamura. Volume 7 Cover Art Cropped, A Side Character’s Love Story, Coamix.
A Side Character’s Love Story – Information
Author of Story: Akane Tamura
Chapter Count: 24 volumes, English version up to 19 volumes
Status: Ongoing
Content Warnings
These content warnings do not reflect the contents of the review below, only the literary work itself.
- Mild partial nudity
- Mildly suggestive content
Spoiler Disclaimer
This recommendation post may contain small plot spoilers for review purposes. Any major spoilers are hidden by default and are able to be revealed via click or tap.
A Side Character’s Love Story – Plot Summary
Nobuko Tanaka is a plain and quiet second-year college student who works at a supermarket. She’s worked there for a year, but still gets a bit nervous coming in to work.
Nobuko is simply like this—timid, unsure of herself, and not very outgoing. She was even mistakenly called “Mobuko” during her interview, which she found a bit fitting for her personality (“mobu” in Japanese is sort of like “npc”).
Luckily, this doesn’t really get in the way of her job much. However, Nobuko happens to have her eye on her coworker, Hiroki Irie, who is the same age as her. Will she be able to be brave in order to win his heart?
This cute and simple romance has such a calm, slow-paced story that makes it a nice and relaxing read. It’s great for anyone wanting a soft, sweet romance with an adult cast!
Why You Should Read A Side Character’s Love Story
Plot:
A Side Character’s Love Story is a breath of fresh air—no super complicated drama, no annoying characters… just sweetness in the form of a slow-blooming love!
This romance manga follows two quiet, sort of reserved individuals who happen to have an interest in each other, but actually have to take the steps towards dating for the first time. These two take things at their own pace and do things their own way, which makes this romance pretty wholesome and cute.
The romance in this sweet story is so cute and healthy. They communicate well, and honesty is always an important aspect of the duo’s relationship. I really like how the mangaka approached this first-love sort of story even with a college-aged cast. It’s so sweet and careful while still maintaining an air of maturity.
A Side Character’s Love Story also handles conflict very well. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a drama, but there are ups and downs of the duo’s relationship that feel realistic and meaningful.
This means we get to see both the fluffy, more wholesome parts of a romance as well as the more difficult realities of dating. I even shed a tear here and there because of this sweet story!
This manga shows perspectives for both Nobuko and Irie, which was nice (although it is a bit more commonly shown from Nobuko’s perspective). I really liked this aspect as we often get to see both characters’ sides of the story when it comes to conflict or romantic interactions. So cute!
Also, I described the series as slow-moving (and it is) but it isn’t the type of romance story where the entire build-up is a confession. This manga series follows the actual relationship and post-confession developments as well, so look forward to it!
Tamura. Volume 5 Cover Art, A Side Character’s Love Story, Coamix.
This romance manga does follow an adult cast, so there’s also topics of working, school, and job hunting—in other words, this manga looks at both the fun and more serious aspects of adult life.
Although it often focuses on these major life events, this manga also shows appreciation for the little things. I think the way each small interaction gets its own special focus really brings out a wholesome feel for this romance. Even the smallest moments make a big difference when it comes to love, and I really like how this series captured that!
A Side Character’s Love Story has some recognizable clichés or tropes, but I personally love clichés. If you’re a sucker for fireworks scenes, the trope where one character gets sick, holiday tropes, and other fun romance clichés of that sort, you’ll enjoy this series.
Although this series has cliché tropes, they’re all done well with mature and healthy communication; so the clichés weren’t annoying, just recognizable!
The romance overall is very careful, pure, and sweet. It’s not a spontaneous, high-energy romance with crazy stakes or melodrama. It’s just a soft, slow-paced story with a pretty refreshing and calm plot. It reminded me a bit of Blooming Love in terms of overall vibe and the setting, so if you liked that series you may enjoy this one, too!
One non-romance-related thing I wanted to mentioned was that these two characters experience some friendships throughout their mutual and individual job-related paths, and it was just so heartwarming to see friend groups of both guys and girls supporting each other in this series.
Because I read shoujo and josei often, it isn’t uncommon to see female friendships where they support each other through their love lives—but seeing a genuine friendship between men in this series was really sweet, and something I feel like I don’t get to see much!
Characters:
The characters in this series are all just so endearing and cute.
Nobuko’s character is described as quiet, insecure, or meek now and then—but honestly, she seemed very normal to me (maybe I’m just not outgoing, haha). She worried about very normal things and was often pretty brave when interacting with Irie or her friends.
While crazy and energetic main characters can be fun and entertaining, I enjoyed seeing a more realistic and relatable character like Nokubo, too. However, I have to admit, I liked the male lead the most in A Side Character’s Love Story.
Irie is the most sincere character and probably the most endearing male lead I’ve seen yet. At first I was worried he would be uninteresting, but in reality he’s incredibly thoughtful, sincere, and honest—and sometimes a little self-sacrificing for the sake of love.
I adore him, but at times he seemed a little too perfect. We see a lot of Nobuko’s personal struggles and flaws from the very beginning, so I feel like Irie could have been a bit more imperfect—although he does have an arc where he struggles a bit more later in the series.
Also, his too-perfect personality can actually be considered a flaw, too. Regardless, I do really like his character and how he approaches love… He’s surprisingly romantic!
Art:
The style of this series is very uncomplicated and simplistic, but still feels rather cute. A Side Character’s Love Story doesn’t have a super impressive art style, but it pairs surprisingly well with the more realistic feel of this manga and the heartfelt story it tells.
I will say that as the series goes on, the style becomes a bit softer and slightly more detailed, which was very lovely. The characters became even cuter, and overall I really liked the shift in style towards the more recent volumes!
Tamura. Volume 11 Cover Art, A Side Character’s Love Story, Coamix.
Any Cons?
There is one instance in the series where I felt as though Nobuko acted out of character, but it involves a major spoiler so you’ve been warned: At some point, Nobuko thinks to herself that she’d rather break up with Irie than grow apart due to college or work. It sort of gave me bad vibes, especially seeing how earnest Irie is in their relationship.
This next point can also technically be a spoiler, but a very mild one:
I personally dislike the trope where a character is comically overwhelmed by intimacy and passes out. It gives me second hand embarrassment and makes the intimate interactions in romances a bit disappointing. Obviously everyone has their own tolerance when it comes to intimacy, but I’m a little tired of seeing this character trait.
Luckily this is just a very small issue that didn’t really disrupt the overall romance much.
Final Thoughts
This series was much cuter and deeper than I expected. The romance was very sweet, and I’ve enjoyed the adult setting with a focus on careers and life in general! I highly recommend A Side Character’s Love Story for anyone who’s looking for something soft, cute, and easygoing with an adult cast.
Disclaimer: Many images used for this blog are for illustrative purposes only, are not owned by me, and are under ownership of the artist or publisher.
Images Credit: Tamura, Akane. A Side Character’s Love Story, Coamix, 2020.
