angel next door spoils me rotten

By Saekisan and Hanekoto. Released in Japan as “Otonari no Tenshi-sama ni Itsu no Ma ni ka Dame Ningen ni Sareteita Ken” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nicole Wilder.

As with prior reviews of this title, you’ll have to pardon me, there’s very little to actually write about. The brief bubble of ‘what if a sweet girl and a sweet boy dated?’ light novels burst a while back, and we’ve only got a few ongoing in North America, including this series. It’s doing quite well, and there’s a second season of the anime coming soon. That said, there’s really only two things I can really sink my teeth into here: “Boy, these kids are adorable”, and “Boy, their past has caused both of them to think they are completely unworthy of being loved”. That comes up here quite a bit, as not only is it Mahiru’s birthday, meaning we have to give her the BEST DAY EVER, but they’re also starting to think of college, which means moving to a new place… one where they actually would be living together. Even the very concept makes them both go red. We’re a looooooong way from sex still.

Having successfully celebrated Amane’s birthday, Mahiru’s is up next. Unfortunately, thanks to her parents, she regards the day as “oh, it’s just another year marker showing I’ve gotten older”, it holds no joy for her at all. Amane is determined to change that, and wants to do everything he can to make this the best birthday. Admittedly, after they take exams, and after parent-teacher conferences (which Mahiru attends by herself, of course). We’re going to need the help of friends with actual good taste and an eye for beauty to get just the right bouquet of flowers. We’re going to ask the part-time job to help him learn how to bake the perfect cake. We’re going to try to buy a gift for the girl who has no needs because anything she sees that she wants she just buys it. And in the end, we may have to bring in a ringer to put the cherry on top.

One little niggle that I noticed throughout the book: I appreciate how it can be hard to use real-life places and the names of actual universities in fiction. That said, this series goes above and beyond to obfuscate every detail. We know they’re trying for “the same college” and that it’s about an hour commute from their current apartment. That’s it. We don’t know anything about the college, we don’t know what major they’re doing, except Amane wants to use college to get a better job in the future. It’s very… generic, which is something this series, already a bit too sweet, should avoid. The finale of this book, though, was excellent, finally introducing a character we’ve heard about since the start but have never met, and here the plot is just right, with a good balance of “I’m so happy” and “but is that OK, don’t you deserve better than me?”, because these two are both still a bit screwed up.

Yen’s slowdown means I’ve no idea when the next book will be. Till then, enjoy the next season of the anime.

By Saekisan and Hanekoto. Released in Japan as “Otonari no Tenshi-sama ni Itsu no Ma ni ka Dame Ningen ni Sareteita Ken” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nicole Wilder.

There’s a real difference between a short story volume made up of stories that were given away as free stories to those who bought the volume at a certain store, and short stories that have been specially crafted for a short story volume. This definitely feels like the latter, and the author, in the afterword, says they tried to make it different from the 5.5 volume by shifting the focus away from the two best friends and over to Amane’s parents and Yuuta. But the real focus of the entire volume is on Mahiru, on what she used to be like and how she became the young woman she is today. Which means, at last, we finally get a glimpse of Koyuki, the maid who acted as Mahiru’s de facto parent in the absence of any love from her actual parents. And yes, that means that this book can get quite dark, because any time from before Mahiru met Amane is really depressing.

The wraparound for this is that Amane sees Mahiru writing in her diary, which she says she keeps to save important memories – good and bad – in her life. The stories: Mahiru and Yuuta have a polite but awkward lunch; Mahiru and Amane discuss the value of hard work; Mahiru is a Very Good Girl and asks Koyuki if she can learn how to cook; Amane’s parents discuss what to do about the boy who caused Amane to become the self-loathing young man he is now; Mahiru deals with the aftermath of Amane meeting her father; Mahiru and Amane discuss skin care; Mahiru and Amane buy matching flatware; Amane asks why Mahiri always speaks formally with everyone; We get Mahiru and Amane’s night in bed together from her POV; Amane takes care of Mahiru when she’s having her period; a 10-year-old Mahiru has to deal with the jealousy of other girls.

As you can see, a majority of these stories sound light and fluffy, and they are. The ones set in Mahiru’s past mostly are there to emphasize why she is the way she is, just as the volume where they return to Amane’s hometown does that for him. (His parents are awesome here, and we see how violently protective Shuuto is of his son.) She was a profoundly lonely girl who had tremendous difficulty – still does – opening up to anyone. As a result, she has Amane on a huge pedestal, and we realize the title The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten applies to both of them equally. They’re living together for the most part already, picking out furniture as if they’re married, and while they haven’t gone all the way yet, the lead up to the sexy times indicates that certain bases were achieved.

People read this series for the warm fuzzies, and this book gives them to you in spades. Just be ready for some heart-rending stuff whenever we see Mahiru as a younger girl.

By Saekisan and Hanekoto. Released in Japan as “Otonari no Tenshi-sama ni Itsu no Ma ni ka Dame Ningen ni Sareteita Ken” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nicole Wilder.

The author, I get the sense, is not only well aware of the reputation that this series has for purity to the point of ridiculousness, but positively revels in it. The start of this volume has Mahiru indicate that she’ll let Amane do anything he wants to her, and both times the closest we get to actual sex is hickeys. Indeed, the joke – both at the start and the end – is that everyone else, including Mahiru, wants something more (never stated, of course, due to pure pureness but implied with her getting very red when he talks about lying in her lap – the last time he did that he was facing towards her, so the implication is there). Amane is made of sterner stuff, though, and he knows very well that the moment that he lets go of his self-control and allows himself to do what he wants with Mahiru, she will somehow immediately be pregnant and possibly homeless. So for now, hickeys it is.

So yes, Amane and Mahiru are now sleeping together. By which I mean she’s staying the night in his apartment, and they sleep in his bed, but again, hickeys is as far as we go. And they’re not even visible hickeys. In the meantime, though, Amane has the future in mind. He wants to live with Mahiru forever, and that means marriage. His parents, who drop by to visit and embarrass the hell out of their son, not in that order, say that they will he,lp with whatever future plans he has – they know he tries to take everything on himself – but he wants to buy the ring with his own money. As such, he asks muscle fangirl classmate Ayaka to help find him a part-time job, and she hooks him up at a cafe her aunt runs for wealthy older customers – one where he can work as a waiter/barrista. That said, Mahiru’s not allowed to see him at work. Yet.

The final scene in the book is essentially the continuation of the first, showing off that them being married is just a matter of a registration – as far as their behavior is concerned, they may not be having sex, but in all other respects they’re soulmates. We meet the co-workers at Amane’s cafe, and they reminded me of the sort of eccentric personalities you might find in some other light novel series, where the childhood friend pines without ever being noticed. But Amane and Miharu are those types as well. In any other light novel, they’d be minor characters, the schmoopy couple who put everyone else in the class to shame and are always shamelessly flirting. Of course, these two flirt without realizing it – even to each other, which can get hilarious.

If you’re waiting for the sex, I’d wait till the end of the series, and get very angry then, as I suspect it won’t be there either. If you’re waiting for the cuteness and the syrupy sweetness, it’s all over this volume.

By Saekisan and Hanekoto. Released in Japan as “Otonari no Tenshi-sama ni Itsu no Ma ni ka Dame Ningen ni Sareteita Ken” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nicole Wilder.

This series continues to feature more of exactly what readers want, provided what readers want is Amane having an amazingly low self-image and also being overly polite about “not going too far” to the point that it’s actually starting to annoy Mahiru a bit. More to the point, now that they are a couple, and everyone in school knows it, they’re both having to deal with jealousy. Yes, both. It’s expected from Amane, as Mahiru is the Angel of the School, and that’s the premise of the series. But Mahiru is also starting to realize that her attempts to clean up Amane’s life, give him some self-esteem, and show off what a great guy he is means that other girls are going to think the same thing. And she hates that. It all comes to a head at the culture festival, featuring maid costumes, butler costumes, and lots and lots of thirst. Well, it’s Angel Next Door. Not thirst. Mild dryness.

So yes, it’s culture festival time, though this is a milder one compared to other series – no outsiders, invited family and friends only. But there’s still maid cafes, and much to Amane’s annoyance, that’s what the class chooses, even if it means everyone will be ogling his girlfriend all day. That said, she does look REALLY good in that outfit. And he also looks really cool as a butler, though you’ll never hear him say that – all signs of him being cool come from outside his own self-hating narrative, because you can try to clear up all the past trauma but it still lingers on when the plot demands it. Can he survive a customer trying to grope Mahiru’s ass? Can he survive his parents being amazingly embarrassing? And, yes, we finally get the full story on Itsuki.

We’ve heard the story of Itsuki and Chitose in dribs and drabs, and some of it in the short story book, but here we get the actual reasons behind things. He’s from a rich family, where there’s actually a need to carry on the family name. Being a second son, this should not affect him – except the first son decided to marry the girl he liked, who was not father approved. And now that he sees Itsuki doing the same thing, he is determined to dislike Chitose, especially since she’s the sort of girl that would grate on him regardless. I like how everyone realizes and admits that there’s no way to “fix this”, and there’s nothing Chitose is doing wrong per se. It’s just that sometimes family can be difficult. And even so, Mahiru ends up being jealous, as even though Itsuki’s father is against his relationship at least he acknowledges Itsuki exists. Mahiru still has the worst parents crown.

All this plus Amane’s determination to be a gentleman, to the point where Mahiru has to almost browbeat him into using his tongue. The Slow Burn Express is not stopping at this volume, but it’s good anyway.

By Saekisan and Hanekoto. Released in Japan as “Otonari no Tenshi-sama ni Itsu no Ma ni ka Dame Ningen ni Sareteita Ken” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nicole Wilder.

Sometimes all it takes is a little validation. For this entire series we’ve been watching Amane struggle to imagine anyone thinking of him in any positive way whatsoever, and we also got little flashes back to his past to show what happened to make him think this way. But now Mahiru is his girlfriend, and the two of them are a lovey-dovey couple, and all of a sudden he’s become a really amazing boyfriend, to an almost jaw-dropping degree. His tendency towards logically thinking things out and never being impulsive now allows him to, both consciously and unconsciously, seduce Mahiru completely. And frankly, thank God, because it was my main complaint with this series (and many others – a lot of these ‘sweet couple’ series have self-loathing as the guy’s main flaw). That said, that’s still one side of the equation. Mahiru’s past, of course, is arguably even worse, but – despite the last chapter in this particular volume – we have a ways to go before those demons are banished.

The first half of this book continues Amane and Mahiru’s visit to stay with his parents over summer break, and it’s basically a cavalcade of sweet moments, including looking at cute childhood moments, going shopping and buying cute outfits… and also settling things with one of his old best friends, who ended up abandoning him when everything went town in Amane’s past. (Amane’s response is, frankly, a bit logical and cold, but also very in character.) They then go back home and have summer homework… which everyone has done but Chitose, so it’s mostly an excuse to watch her suffer for humor purposes. And then it’s off to a festival, which is mostly there to have everyone realize that Amane is fully invested in Boyfriend Mode, and it can be terrifying. That said, family matters crop up at the end, as Mahiru’s father wants to meet… with Amane.

We do get suggestions of the ongoing plot with this series’ secondary couple, though the series is assuming you read the short story volume that came out right before this. It feels appropriate given this is a sweet love story between couples in high school that a lot of the conflict arises from parents, be it mild (too much teasing from Amane’s mother) to serious (everything about Mahiru’s childhood). Chitose’s issue falls somewhere in between the two, and is also easily the most relatable. She’s in love with her boyfriend and wants to make a life with him, but his father thinks she’s not good enough for him. I expect we may see more of that later on. As for Mahiru’s dad, there’s a lot of “I’m trying, but it’s a bit too late and I know it will make no difference” to this. Which, um, also feels very, very real to me. I wonder if the next major arc will involve Mahiru managing to come to terms with things?

There’s a whole lot of syrupy sweetness I just skipped over, because why review that? But trust me, it’s there. For those who enjoy “I got the perfect girlfriend” series.

By Saekisan and Hanekoto. Released in Japan as “Otonari no Tenshi-sama ni Itsu no Ma ni ka Dame Ningen ni Sareteita Ken” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nicole Wilder.

Oh dear, it’s a short story volume. Worse, it’s a short story volume that takes place entirely before the lead couple get together. So right after I write a review that basically says “I’m so glad we’re no longer frustrated waiting for these two dipshits to confess”, I get an entire book filled with scenes where these two dipshits are not confessing. So as you can imagine a majority of this volume is filled with short stories where our two leads clean the house, or cook a meal, or play a videogame, and pine for each other. If you enjoyed the earlier volumes, this is great for you, though unfortunately the author’s narrative voice can occasionally make both of them come across as a bit creepy some of the time. Fortunately there are three stories that aren’t about Amane and Mahiru’s relationship, and they actually have plot!

In among the stories I mentioned above, we get three others. The first is Mahiru’s perspective on her childhood, and so as you can imagine is rather sad and depressing. Sometimes trying to be the best so that your parents will notice you simply doesn’t work out. No amount of Angel is going to make her mother care. The second story has Chitose telling a curious Mahiro how she and Itsuki started to date, and it’s much more serious than you’d expect given Chitose’s entire vibe. She was all about track, and did not really care about anything else – but rejecting Itsuki’s confession leads to unforeseen consequences. Then we hear about how Itsuki and Amane became friends, which is also more serious than expected and relies on Amane’s terrible memory for faces.

The whole point of this series is that its two leads are ridiculously pure. Nothing is going to happen, especially in this book, where they aren’t even a couple yet. But it’s still being sold to GA Bunko readers, so a certain amount of horniness is required by publisher statute. As a result, you get a lot of times, pardon me, where you just want to yell at the writer “It’s OK to say erection!”. Several scenes in the book are blatantly Amane getting aroused around Mahiru and feeling embarrassed and awkward about it – the worst of which comes when she sees him, supposedly asleep (he’s faking) and rubbing his exposed stomach… then drifting lower. It really creates this … not quite a “moe gap”, but in that neighborhood, and it makes the two even sweeter, somehow. Still, it’s actually a surprise later in the book when Chitose says “boobs” – and Mahiru’s reaction to this is exactly like Amane’s. As for the serious stories, well, all four leads have gone through major events that have caused them to change the way they behave around others. For Itsuki and Chitose’s that’s been a net positive. Mahiru and Amane are still working their way towards that.

So, short story volume. Fluffy, sweet, a few deep things. Horny, but in a Saturday Morning Cartoon sort of way. Back to being a couple next time.

By Saekisan and Hanekoto. Released in Japan as “Otonari no Tenshi-sama ni Itsu no Ma ni ka Dame Ningen ni Sareteita Ken” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nicole Wilder.

There is a trope sometimes known as Moonlighting Syndrome, named after the 80s TV show, which refers to a series failing because the romantic couple got together and all the tension was removed from the show. Leaving aside that this is not at all why Moonlighting failed, I think it’s a trope that is honored more in the breach than in the observance. It also depends on the genre. If this were a standard harem comedy, with Amane attracting the love of five or six different girls, then the one where he picks one would definitely be the final volume. Fortunately, this is not that, it’s a syrupy sweet relationship book. In fact, the thing that separates this from the pack is how long it’s actually taken Amane and Mahiru to get together. But at last Mahiru has managed to convey her feelings and the two of them are dating, and so now we can finally answer the age old question the above trope asks: now what?

Well, first of all, they’ve got to let the school know that they’re dating. OK, they don’t HAVE to do this, but given how much they accidentally flirt with each other constantly now, it will become rapidly apparent anyway. Surprisingly, it goes very smoothly – Amane is serious and withdrawn rather than a “loser protagonist”, so doesn’t get as much backlash as expected for dating the Angel of the school. Plus she’ll kill anyone who tries to get on his case about it with an angelic (fake) smile. After this there’s two more important relationship goals to conquer. Going to the local pool, which will involve swimsuits and attractive bodies. And going back home to visit Amane’s parents, which will involve a lot of Amane getting teased, but also an encounter that will hopefully let him close the book on his past trauma.

Generally speaking, whenever you have these “my personality is broken because of kids in my past”, you are inevitably going to meet those kids again. So the question is will it be the “it turns out we were really sad about what we did and want to apologize” version or the “no, we really are massive assholes” version. Angel Next Door takes the latter tack, and it’s probably for the best. Amane’s psychological damage has been what’s held the romance back in the first place, so having it be due to a misunderstanding wouldn’t have worked. That said, instead of a past trauma, we have a new enemy for readers: Amane and Mahiru’s own innate pureness. It takes the entire volume for them to get around to a kiss on the lips, and you get the sense that any sexual activity will be long after this series has finished. This is syrupy sweet romance, but that means you have to put up with them being two massive cinnamon rolls.

So still decent, if you can put up with the two leads being gaga over each other but rarely getting past the “holding hands” part.

By Saekisan and Hanekoto. Released in Japan as “Otonari no Tenshi-sama ni Itsu no Ma ni ka Dame Ningen ni Sareteita Ken” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nicole Wilder.

I’m going to talk about the ending of this book, for the one or two of you who have never read my reviews before and don’t know I tend to spoil. It’s sort of unavoidable. Honestly, it’s something of a surprise to see the book has finally come out – it’s been 11 months since the last volume in English, and I’m not sure why there was such a delay. It could simply be to allow the reader time to recover from and prepare themselves for another wacky adventure with Amane’s self-hatred, which continues to drive the plot, because otherwise the series would have been one book long. Unfortunately, since the last volume of this Tentai Books has released a good 3-4 different series with a similar premise, so it now has competition. Can it manage to be sweet and syrupy while also separating itself from the pack? Yes, thanks to the ending. I wasn’t going to wait 5 volumes.

You know the basic plot. Mahiru loves Amane and is trying to subtly show him it’s OK to ask if that is the case. Amane sees the signs, but cannot possibly imagine anyone liking him romantically, so keeps pulling away. If this annoys you, why are you four volumes in? The main events here are exams, which features Amane trying to do better than before for Mahiru’s sake; getting in better shape, which features Amane trying to do better than before for Mahiru’s sake; and the sports festival, which features Amane trying to do better than before for Mahiru’s sake. He’s nearly got it! He’s almost there! That said, he still needs one last push, and it all comes down to the Scavenger Hunt, where Mahiru chooses to give up on “not rocking the boat” and drops a bomb in the middle of the school.

Not an actual bomb, of course, but she makes it clear in front of the student body that Amane is the guy she loves. She is aware this will trouble him, because the last four books have all been “we need to hide our friendship or else I will get attacked at school”, but honestly, I admire her waiting this long. I wanted to punch him in the face, as did his friends. That said, it is in fact the grandest gesture that makes Amane give in and confess to the rest of the class that he is in love with Mahiru. There’s an undercurrent here, seen in a lot of other high school romcoms, of “looks and shared interests are not as important as simply understanding one another”. That said, this honestly works out a lot better than you’ expect. Amane isn’t disliked or an outcast. he’s just “that tall guy who almost never talks”.

Best of all, now maybe Mahiru can stop0 being such an Angel at school. The author assures us they have a lot more volumes planned, even if this felt like an ending. That said, they also warn that we still have Amane’s self-hatred to deal with. Ah well, if you’re going to buy into a fluffy series you’ve gotta buy into its less-fluffy things, I suppose.

By Saekisan and Hanekoto. Released in Japan as “Otonari no Tenshi-sama ni Itsu no Ma ni ka Dame Ningen ni Sareteita Ken” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nicole Wilder.

Tempting as it is to simply cut and paste my review of the 2nd volume here and call it a day, I will try to find new things to discuss. This series runs on sweet but slow burn, and there are very few surprises. On the downside, that makes it somewhat boring. On the good side, you know exactly what you’re getting and you get a lot of it. The main difference in the third volume is that Mahiru tries to come on to Amane a lot stronger to get past his impenetrable shell of self-hatred. She fails, but it’s the effort that counts. She is starting to get a bit sick of his attitude, though – as is the rest of the cast, including his new friend Yuuta, the “class prince”, who sees a kindred spirit in Amane and is rather startled that the feeling isn’t mutual. By the end of the book, everyone is dragging him constantly to feel better about himself. Will it help? Possibly?

Usually the 2nd paragraph of my reviews is where I summarize the plot, but the plot can essentially be summarized in three words: Mahiru Tries Harder. As such we get a lap pillow, and more spontaneous touching. We get Amane seeing another guy ask Mahiru out, and see just how difficult it can be for her to reject them, especially when they refuse to accept it. We see Mahiru managing to actually join Amane for lunch and get away with it. Most importantly we get Golden Week, where Mahiru asks Amane on a date. Of course, it’s not a romantic date to him – not at all, after all, how on earth would she ever have feelings for him? It’s just going out to a cat cafe, a mall (where much trying on of clothes is done) and an arcade (where there is winning of stuffed animals) but as Just Friends. That said, a return to school shows some folks spotted her on the date, so something may break next time.

The author knows Amane’s big flaw can be annoying to the reader, but instead of trying to disguise this it is shoved in our faces – and his. We do finally get his own tragic backstory here, which amounts to “I grew up rich and naive and then met typical middle-school two-faced jerks”, but it’s left him bitter, mistrusting and thinking he’s the absolute worst. This even plays into the title, as he regards everything Mahiru is trying to do in order to get her feelings across to him as “spoiling him”, so he automatically pushes back. Multiple times in this book she, Itsuki and Yuuta all tell Amane to man up, have confidence, and actually try to show Mahiru how he feels about her. The end of the book implies we may see this in the next volume, but for now, this is painful.

Still, the sweet and cute romance outweighs wanting to strangle the lead man, so I’m still invested in it. Imagine how sweet it will get once these two actually confess. Like eating Pixy Stix.

By Saekisan and Hanekoto. Released in Japan as “Otonari no Tenshi-sama ni Itsu no Ma ni ka Dame Ningen ni Sareteita Ken” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nicole Wilder.

I admit that I had expected that Mahiru would be the tougher nut to crack in this burgeoning relationship. She clearly had some sort of family issue, which we get to see in detail here, and it’s both very predictable and also worse than I expected. That said, it also helps to explain why she falls in love faster than Amane. Now, don’t get me wrong, they’re both crazy about each other and it’s obvious to everyone who isn’t Amane. But seeing the relationship he has with his parents and his best friends is basically filling Mahiru with a longing that she’s had for her entire life, and it’s no surprise that she’s leaning hard into it. Unfortunately, we are going the cliche route here, for good and ill; the lead guy does not think that she could possibly love him, and does not notice any of the obvious signs. In fact, it turns out that Amane may have a tortured past himself.

The start of the book revolves around New Year’s, which the people-shy Amane and Mahiru do not want to be spending at a shrine, so they instead spend it with each other. They can’t avoid the shrine forever, though, and a few days later Amane’s parents show up to whisk them off there (and also dress them up in kimonos, because Mahiru is gorgeous and Amane, when he bothers to put in effort, is handsome). Mahiru then gets a cold, and (no surprises – again) tries to pretend she’s fine. Then we get Valentine’s Day and White Day, which is difficult to do when your relationship is so vague, as well as Amane’s best friend Itsuki staying over a few days after a fight with his father. Finally, we briefly meet Mahiru’s birth mother, and learn why she is the way she is.

The strengths and weaknesses of the second volume are the same as the first, so if you enjoyed one you should enjoy the other. That said, if you hate self-deprecating guys who cannot figure out that someone is in love with them despite it being glaringly obvious – and pointed out by everyone around them – then this series must be like drinking poison. Amane’s self-image is through the floor, which is probably why he never does anything about his hair, clothes, or lifestyle. His parents are both fantastic, so that’s not the issue, but a cliffhanger suggests that a friendship from the past led to this. Unfortunately, we don’t learn that there’s an obvious reason for his reticence till the end of the book, so for most of it it reads like Anime Guy Syndrome. Fortunately, the two are absolutely adorable together, couple or no, and the series runs on that.

I’m not sure when we’ll actually advance to a relationship – the 5th volume just came out in Japan last month, so it may be a bit. But aside from Amane’s mopey attitude, this remains an excellent high school romance.

By Saekisan and Hanekoto. Released in Japan as “Otonari no Tenshi-sama ni Itsu no Ma ni ka Dame Ningen ni Sareteita Ken” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nicole Wilder.

It couldn’t last forever, even though it seemed like it would. After a few years of the trend being “light novels will only get licensed if they have some sort of fantasy or gaming element”, we are finally starting to see a few series being licensed that are old school high school romances. Credit to this no doubt can be given to the one-two punch of My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected (which has had three seasons of anime) and Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki (whose anime is forthcoming), which has helped to open the door to other series whose premise is not “I ended up in another world with superpowers and a bunch of girls who fall in love with me because I am nice to them.” Well, OK, this is MOSTLY not that. The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten may not be an isekai, and our protagonist doesn’t have a sword, but it’s still a classic male fantasy.

Amane is a well-off kid living on his own in a big apartment, but he’s got classic teenage boy problems. His skin is pallid from not eating healthy, he’s a complete slob, and he’s somewhat unsociable, at least compared to his friend Itsuki. Then one day he comes across the class “angel” sitting in a park in the rain. She’s gorgeous, smart, athletic, etc. He’s not sure why she’s sitting getting soaked and looking depressed, but he gives her his umbrella. And then he promptly gets a terrible cold. Fortunately for him, not only does Mahiru live right next door to him, but she wants to thank him for the umbrella, so she makes him some nice porridge. And forces him to clean his apartment. And begins to cook for him every day. They’re not a couple, but… isn’t she just spoiling him?

This is a well-written book, and the characters are likeable. If there’s one big negative it’s the actual premise – it is right upfront about “seeming loser guy gets waited on by his amazingly beautiful high school classmate and neighbor” being the plot going forward, and it can be a bit much. This being a standard Japanese romcom, Amane doesn’t take advantage of this, and in fact is perfectly happy to tell himself he’s not falling in love with her, even though we can see that isn’t true. Likewise, Mahiru slowly warms up to him, showing off her natural personality rather than the “good girl” she perfects at school. It’s implied her relationship with her parents is poor, but he doesn’t pry. Actually, I take that back, this isn’t a romcom. While there are funny moments, for the most part it’s a plain serious romance, with two awkward introverts slowly realizing that they’re basically living like a married couple half the time.

By the end of the first volume they’re still just good friends, but that’s to be expected. It’s also very much a ‘small world’ here – the only characters in the book are the two leads, Amane’s overbearing mother, Amane’s friend Itsuki, and Itsuki’s girlfriend Chitose, who is outgoing, loud and bubbly and therefore quite jarring compared to our Angel. If you can get over its premise, this is a quiet, easy read.