Kiss Him, Not Me Volume 13

As I mentioned in my review of the previous volume, Kae is now dating. However, this installment gets back to wacky fan behavior, as she keeps forgetting about her boyfriend when offered cool events to go to featuring her favorite anime.

That’s a challenge many people have, learning how to consider another person’s feelings when entering into a relationship. The older we get, the more difficult it becomes to change established patterns of behavior, particularly when it comes to hobbies.

Since this is a shojo manga, there’s a complicating dramatic factor. Kae’s behavior is egged on by a “friend” of her boyfriend who wants him to see how inconsiderate she is for his own selfish motives. The boyfriend handles things maturely — the boys in these stories are often more reasonable than the lead girls — but is lying to himself about whether this bothers him. He starts having stress reactions.

Although these are kids, and the events are exaggerated for comedic effect, it’s not a bad portrait of the changes and choices that come with dating. Kae isn’t rude or mean, but she does keep forgetting to consider anyone else’s wants but her own. She doesn’t say she’s going to an event with another guy to spare her boyfriend’s feelings, but she doesn’t realize that other guy is going to twist the situation to make her look bad. (And plenty of people still have problems with male/female friendships or socializing, assuming it must be more than it is.)

Kae is finally confronted directly with the need to choose between her fictional, fandom love and her real-life boyfriend, although it’s really no choice at all. Next volume will be the last, we’re told, and this is a good time to wrap it up.