Kuzumi-kun, Can't You Read the Room? (Kuzumi-kun, Kuuki Yometemasu ka?) is a eight volume Romantic Comedy manga written and illustrated by Mosco, serialized by Gangan Joker from March 2015 to June 2019.
Erika Sakura is the most popular and attractive girl at her high school, with guys wishing to date her and the girls worshipping her as if she were in a relationship. Unable to see herself in a relationship with someone, she finds her classmate Kuzumi to be lame, boring and dull. However, she quickly becomes fascinated with his quirky actions and lifestyle, and Erika's mind becomes filled with concerns and thoughts for Kuzumi as she seems unable to keep her eyes off him.
Erika slowly starts to learn more about Kuzumi as her classmates and friends get invested in their dynamic, wondering if Kuzumi will ever be able to read the room of their feelings.
This manga has the following tropes:
- 0% Approval Rating: Haruna has a lot of detractors because his face makes him appear to be a delinquent and prompts others to think he's going to hurt someone or extort money by threatening to. The only person who likes him at the start is Kuzumi, who everyone else thinks is being bullied by Haruna. Erika is one of the few people that doesn't have a problem with Haruna and, knowing the truth, lampshades the absurdity of the conclusions everyone jumps to. Amongst the girls, some think he's attractive but a sleazeball and Yukko starts to develop slight feelings towards him. Thankfully, as Haruna starts to hang around Erika, Haruna, and even Misaki, things slightly improve.
- Beach Episode: Chapter 25 has Erika, Kuzumi, Yuuko, and Haruna going to the beach together to hang out. Things go from funny to serious when a talk between Erika and Kuzumi results in an Innocently Insensitive comment from Erika that results in Kuzumi being upset with her for some time.
- Class Trip: The class go on a field trip to Nara for a two parter where Erika tries to apologize to Kuzumi after what happened on the beach. He accepts it at the end by tricking her into thinking he was asleep in order for her to feeling comfortable saying it to him since she's not good at communicating with him.
- Clingy Jealous Girl:
- Everyone has been shown to be extremely jealously protective of their love interests, even if they aren't necessarily together to the point out of all the main characters, only Juri and Waka are immune. For the most part, its played for laughs.
- Erika gets increasingly anxious when there are other girls around Kuzumi, especially when her sister flirts with him. Yukko often chides Erika for this, only for her to do the same when it appears two girls appear to be flirting with both Haruna and Kuzumi, with Erika of all people holding her back.
- Misaki despises Kuzumi for how much attention Erika gives him. Haruna is much more lighthearted about this but shows immediate concern when someone asks Haruna out, though in that case he was concerned for how she felt at the time. In retrospect, Kuzumi turns out to be one as well, "accidentally" smacking two guys hitting on Erika and Yukko, fighting with Misaki after he threatened to take her away for himself, and started acting similar to Erika following him all the time before he confessed. After the two start dating, he shows signs of jealously when Erika teases him about the possibility of another guy going after her.
- Don't Try This at Home: The author warns the readers taking pictures without consent is a crime as Erika does it to Kuzumi early on (and continues to do so).
- Double Date: The beach chapter basically has Haruna accidentally convince Yukko to set up one with them, Kuzumi, and Erika.
- Loved by All: Erika is loved by almost everyone in her school. Even as she moves up to different grades, freshmen become immediately infatuated with her. It's a bit deconstructed since Erika is aware most of them only like her for her looks, and really only becomes close with people that genuinely care about her (Yukko, Juri), are kind hearted (Haruna and Kuzumi), or actually try to get to know her (Misaki and Wakana).
- Love Triangle: Two. Erika has a crush on Kuzumi, who seemingly doesn't care about her, Misaki starts to have feelings for Erika which puts him in conflict with Kuzumi, who feels Misaki would be a better fit for Misaki than her. The triangle only ends after a final conflict between Misaki and Kuzumi where the former has already moved on and trying to get the latter to be aware of his feelings towards Erika. The second one is between Erika, Kuzumi, and Wakana, where both girls have a respective crush on Kuzumi, but unlike the first, both girls are amicable towards each other once they reveal it, and resolve to confess their feelings regardless of the outcome.
- Mood Whiplash: Not without foreshadowing, but moods can go from heartwarming to hilarious, vice-versa, or in more tense situations at the drop of a panel. One example would be Erika's suitors. They're mostly played for laughs, but one attempted to kiss and confess to her on stage, began spreading false rumors about her that were starting to get out of hand, and even cornered Erika a few times. Had Kuzumi not interfered or put the attention on her, things would get problematic fast.
- Moment Killer: In chapter 46, Erika and Kuzumi spend some time in his house when his dad leaves. With Kuzumi acting Out of Character concerned with his mother finding out and requesting to meet Erika, the latter consoles him, and the two almost kiss when Kuzumi's dad returns in time. She shoves him away only for his dad to ask why she did that.
- Not What It Looks Like: In chapter 49, after Erika helps Haruna realize he's genuinely in love with Yukko, the former acts as a stand in for her. However, Kuzumi comes in just as she's training Haruna to yell at her.
- Oblivious to Love: Haruna, Erika, and Kuzumi on the surface mostly deny their feelings or are unaware of their feelings being romantic. Haruna's aware that he cares about Yuuko but doesn't realize its love, Erika doesn't realize at the start that she's slowly falling in love with Kuzumi until the latter barely notices. And Kuzumi doesn't even notice Erika or Wakana's feelings towards him, or acts like he doesn't.
- Only Sane Man: While Misaki can be a jerk, he's the Straight Man to almost everyone's antics with Kuzumi and Haruna being big Cloudcuckoolanders with...interesting personalities to say the least, Juri being a massive ditz, and Erika being so scatterbrained when it comes to her feelings. Yukko's the second closest character with her using sarcasm just to handle being close around Erika and Haruna's all the time and usually offering the more sensible solutions to situations.
- Shipper on Deck: Haruna and Yukko support Erika and Kuzumi getting together, even though the latter prefers to show it by teasing. The former goes out of their way to convince Erika to try and ignore her status because Kuzumi was there for him just as himself, and she could do the same.
- Single Girl Seeks Most Popular Guy: This manga inverts it. Erika's the most popular girl seeking a single guy, Kuzumi.
- "Super Sentai" Stance: At the start of the school trip, Juri and Wakana ask Erika to join in for one, with them at the center and Erika in the middle.
- Vapor Wear: At the end of chapter 1, Kuzumi accidentally sees Erika's bra through her uniform blouse after she actually splashes herself with water.
