久住くん、空気読めてますか?

KUZUMI-KUN, KUUKI YOMETEMASU KA?

MANGA

STATUS
COMPLETE
VOLUMES
8
RELEASE
June 22, 2019
CHAPTERS
62

DESCRIPTION

He's plain, he's short, he's boring. And on top of that, Kuzumi-kun can't read the room. Popular high school girl Erika Sakura has for some reason become so stuck on Kuzumi-kun that she can't help it...

(Source: Yen Press)

Notes:

Includes the one-shot published in the April 2015 issue renamed to chapter 0 (chapter 0.1, 0.5, and 0.9)
Includes the one-shot "Soga ga Kininaru!" (曽我が気になるっ！), split into three parts in the volume release.
Includes an epilogue and five extra chapters.

CAST

Kuzumi
Erika Sakura
Haruna Chiba
Yuuko Ichikawa
Juri Yokota
Tooru Misaki
Narita Wakana

CHAPTERS

RELATED TO KUZUMI-KUN, KUUKI YOMETEMASU KA?

MANGA ComedyFutari ga Kiss Suru Made

REVIEWS

Ragnhilde
25/100
A very toxic depiction of romance with no self-awareness.
What is the most important thing in any relationship? Shared interests? Trust in each other? Being yourself? I don't know and rightfully no one really can know. Relationship between two people is such a vastly complex machine that it is fairly impossible and perhaps a little shallow to try and point out a single pillar on which it all stands. With that said though, few would dispute the importance of communication. Verbal or not, direct or implied, routine or serious - communication is without doubt the key that makes relationships function.
It is thus often disappointing to see manga/anime/light novels underestimating or outright ignoring the power of communication. Usually it's limited to some small stupid subplot like a fake love triangle or inconsequential misunderstandings - generally, plot points that can easily be resolved with two-three lines of dialogue. But Kuzumi-kun, Kuuki Yometemasu ka? takes this mistake to an absolute extreme.
Overall it is quite scary to imagine how toxic and emotionally draining the relationship depicted here is and will be. Essentially we watch a romance blooming from efforts of a single person. Forsaking her own desires, ideas and opportunities, Erika builds this relationship alone with sweat and tears, all because the person she fell in love with simply won't face her properly. What do I mean by that? Let's look at some fun facts about this paramour of hers. In 51 chapters (+ extras) of manga there were:

Number of verbal interactions - 6.5 (half point for when Kuzumi wanted to say something but was interrupted)
Number of dialogues - 4.5
Average length of dialogues (in responses) - 1.4
Average number of chapters between dialogues - 10
Chapters before the pair starts properly interacting - 42

I don't speak for others, but to me this seems as a non-relationship. Obviously, communication is not be-all and end-all, especially verbal one. There are plenty of stories that pull off incredible romance with some limitations placed on the pair's ability to communicate (and hundreds more that don't have such constrictions). But I found it impossible to believe this "love".

It started with a simple crush, interest in someone's aloofness, which is absolutely fine. Love doesn't need a big, grandiose reason to bloom. That spark that draws us to another person can lighten up from the smallest of things, after all. However, this spark is not and has never been enough to constitute healthy, stable, working relationship. Throughout the story Erika learns absolutely nothing about Kuzumi beyond surface level details, largely due to a total lack of proper interaction between them. Any sort of advancement in their relationship - all of which come exclusively after chapter 41 (!) - are either sad in their one-sided nature if coming from Erika, or baffling in their gratuitousness if coming from Kuzumi. Toward the end, I felt like Erika is the only one that puts in the work to sustain the relationship. She makes sacrifices, she tries to understand and support the other person, she tries to make everything work. Kuzumi decides to go to another university without telling her, does nothing to support or even to get to know her. There is no other word in my vocabulary to describe this other than toxic. Perhaps depressing will also do the trick.

On a more positive side, though, I adore the supporting cast. They are varied, engaging and fairly realistic. There's literally no side character that I did not find enjoyable in their own way, and it is only because of them that I did not find this story completely worthless. Each one of them is given a small arc to go through, during and after which they become even more likable and engaging. The side romances that bloom between two reasonably mature people and between a fuckboy and a fuckgirl are immensely enjoyable, despite limited "screen time". With that said though, seeing such high quality characters and stories told in the background only brings more pain seeing the main "couple".

Overall, I found it a painful read. Watching a very likable and honest main character go through her story without ever really learning anything significant about her crush is disheartening. The strongest feeling I was left with in the end is that she deserves much better. After everything, one question can summarize my feelings about this poor excuse for a relationship, one that even Erika, as far as we are shown, won't be able to answer:
What is Kuzumi's name?
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