Love Me, Love Me Not (manga)

Yuna Ichihara is in the spring before her first year of high school and is pained to be separated from her best friend Sacchan who is moving away. On her way to the train station, she is stopped by a random girl who asks her for money for her train fare. Although Yuna is somewhat afraid and reluctant, she gives the girl money, who in turns give Yuna her bracelet as a promise she will meet her tomorrow to pay her back. On the same day, Yuna runs twice into a boy who looks like the idolized prince of her childhood. After the girl, named Akari, returns Yuna's money, they head home together only to find out that they live in the same apartment building. The girls instantly become friends. However, they find that they explore love in completely different ways, and Yuna may be in love with Akari's brother and Akari in love with Yuna's childhood friend.

Yuna Ichihara (市原 由奈, Ichihara Yuna)

Voiced by: Marika Suzuki[6]

Portrayed by: Riko Fukumoto[7]

A shy girl who loves to read romance shōjo manga,[8] but has never experienced love herself. Her best friend, Sacchan, moves away after they graduate middle school, and Yuna worries that she will be alone in high school.[9] However, when she unexpectedly meets Akari at the train station and befriends her. Due to Yuna's wary and shy personality, she is initially suspicious of Akari following her home, when they are actually just neighbors in the same apartment building. She is in love with Rio, Akari's step-brother. She confesses the first time but is rejected due to Rio's love for Akari. Later on, however, she confesses a second time and Rio happily accepts her as his girlfriend.

Akari Yamamoto (山本 朱里, Yamamoto Akari)

Voiced by: Megumi Han[6]

Portrayed by: Minami Hamabe[7]

Yuna's apartment neighbor who is also a first year in high school. She initially has a boyfriend at the beginning of the series,[10] but he later breaks up with her. Her step-brother is Rio,[11] whom Yuna is in love with. She thinks that Yuna's childhood friend, Inui, is a good guy and initially tries to push the two together but stops when she finds out that Yuna is in love with Rio. She eventually grows closer to Inui and falls in love with him. Akari's mother married Rio's father recent to the series beginning, and hates that her mother doesn't trust her and Rio alone together.[12] She pretends to not know that Rio loved her but actually has known since the beginning of the series. Both are able to reconcile, with the help of Yuna, which gives way for both to be able to move on. By the end of the manga, Akari is living in America with her parents and eagerly awaits Inui who has decided to move to America to be with her.

Rio Yamamoto (山本 理央, Yamamoto Rio)

Voiced by: Nobunaga Shimazaki[6]

Portrayed by: Takumi Kitamura[7]

Akari's step-brother and the boy of Yuna's affection. He is asked out by many girls but claims he only likes pretty faces, and rejects the girls.[13] He knew Akari before his father married her mother and was in love with her.[14] Akari's mother knows this and is suspicious of Rio spending time alone with Akari.[15] Rio develops a close friendship with Yuna early on in the series, often confiding in her when he found himself frustrated over Akari. He eventually falls for Yuna, but is hesitant to confess due to the fact that his friend has also fallen for Yuna. Both compete for her affection, but eventually he musters up the courage to confess at the same time that Yuna confesses to him that she is still in love with him. Both become a couple and are happily attending college together at the end of the manga.

Kazuomi Inui (乾 和臣, Inui Kazuomi)

Voiced by: Sōma Saitō[6]

Portrayed by: Eiji Akaso[7]

Yuna's childhood friend. Akari describes him as a "good guy" and wishes that Yuna and him would get together. Inui has often been referred to as an "airhead" by Akari due to his carefree and sincere nature. He and Akari both develop feelings for each other, but he rejects her confession out of consideration for Rio's feelings. After he finds out Rio has moved on, he confesses to Akari. He faces some trouble when Akari's ex-boyfriend comes back into the picture and especially so when Akari decides to move to America, but he asks her to wait for him. By the end of the manga, he meets with Akari at the airport as he has decided to also live in America to pursue his dream and to be with her.

The series was announced in Bessatsu Margaret's June 2015 issue.[16] Sakisaka reflected on plot lines in her previous series, Ao Haru Ride and wanted to display love experiences in a different way.[17]

The original Japanese title was inspired by a tagline from an advertisement campaign for acne from the 1980s that became popular among schoolgirls; the tagline claimed certain locations of where acne appeared on the face foretold if the person or the person's admirer like or are ignoring each other.[18]

Volume 3 debuted at #4 on Oricon's Japanese Comic Ranking[22] and peaked at #2[23] and sold an estimated 325,010 copies in Japan.[24] Volume 4 debuted at #1 and sold an estimated 168,863 copies in its first week alone.[25] It sold an estimated 293,419 copies in a month and consistently ranked from October to November.[26] Volume 4 debuted with 168,863 copies.[27] Volume 5 debuted at #6, selling 110,175 copies[28] in its first week and peaking at #1 in its second week with 121,903 additional copies sold.[29]

The manga won the 2017 Shogakukan Manga Award in the shojo manga category.[30]

• Official website (in Japanese)
• Love Me, Love Me Not (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Love Me, Love Me Not(Live-action film) at IMDb
• Omoi, Omoware, Furi, Furare(Anime film) at IMDb