"I'll be your first friend and help you make 99 more."

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-copy of this manga in exchange for an honest review!

I'm such an awkward person in real life. I really identified with Komi in this manga, because I really like the idea of talking with other people and have things to say myself, I just can't always get that across coherently.

We meet our girl Komi through our main character, Hitohito Tadano, on his first day at a private academy where he's eager to make a new impression at a new school. He ends up having a locker next to Komi, and also sits next to her in class, and finds her elegant, aloof, and hard to talk to. Turns out, she's actually none of those things (except elegant I suppose), and literally can't talk to people out loud. There's a heartwarming image early on after Tadano catches onto what's really wrong with Komi of the two of them having a chalkboard conversation side by side that really stuck with me after finishing the manga. Komi wants to make more friends (100, specifically), and Tadano declares himself her first friend and pledges to help her make more. Several other characters are also introduced in this first volume, each with their own particular quirk or social issue, some more convincing than others.

The story is super sweet and super lighthearted so far, which while not necessarily realistic in a severe shyness sense, does create a lot of "aww" moments throughout the manga. I enjoyed my time with this first volume, and likely will pick up the second just to see where things go from here.