So Cute it Hurts!!


So Cute It Hurts!!, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Gō Ikeyamada. It was adapted into an original video animation, included in volume 3 limited edition of the series. The manga series ran in the Sho-Comi manga magazine from 2012 to 2015, and was compiled into 15 tankobon volumes. An English translation was published by Viz Media, and in Southeast Asia, it was published by Shogakukan Asia.

Plot

Twin siblings Megumu and Mitsuru Kobayashi are now attending separate high schools. Megumu, nicknamed Mego, hangs out with her two school friends as they share otaku interests. Mitsuru is more of a ladies' man and a fighter. One day, Mitsuru and Mego switch places and cross-dress so that Mego can take Mitsuru's exams. Mego runs into trouble with a delinquent guy who wants to fight her, and then bumps into Aoi Sanada, the school's top fighter and lone wolf who wears an eyepatch and who had saved her from a fall earlier. Meanwhile, Mitsuru tries to save Shino Takenaka, a deaf classmate, from the bullying of the school's queen bee, Azusa Tokugawa. Mitsuru falls in love with Shino, while Mego falls in love with Aoi. They exchange places again, and encounter more interactions, including that Azusa has become attracted to Mitsuru as a guy.

Characters

;Megumu Kobayashi
;Mitsuru Kobayashi
;Aoi Sanada
;Shino Takenaka
;Azusa Tokugawa
;Chiharu Uesugi

Reception

Volume 1 reached a total of 117,197 copies by January 13, 2013, on the Oricon manga chart. Volume 2 reached the second place on the week of March 25 to March 21, 2013, with 100,762 copies. Volume 3 reached a total of 143,886 copies by August 11, 2013. Volume 4 reached the 7th place on the week of August 21 to September 1, 2013, with 113,820 copies.

Works cited

  • "Ch." and "Vol." is shortened form for chapter and volume of the collected So Cute It Hurts!! manga. Volume numbering follows the Japanese version and not the omnibus one.
  • "Ep." is shortened form for episode and refers to an episode number of the collected So Cute It Hurts anime