Elementary school has been rough for Akane Nishimura; with everyone considered her cursed as the school's "Grim Reaper," she has little social interaction and no friends to speak of. That is until the class gets a transfer student, Taiyou Takada, who considers Akane's "Grim Reaper" status to be cool. With this assertive boy constantly by her side, Akane's school life may be getting brighter.
My Clueless First Friend (Jijō o Shiranai Tenkōsei ga Guigui Kuru or The Transfer Student is Too Assertive) is a comedy manga by Taku Kawamura which began serialization in Monthly Gangan Joker in 2018. The manga received an anime adaptation by Studio Signpost in the spring of 2023.
My Clueless First Friend contains examples of the following tropes:
- Appropriated Appellation: The Shinigami (Grim Reaper in the English translation) nickname for Nishimura is not meant to be flattering at all, and Akane pushes back against it in her own shy way until Taiyou declares the nickname to be extremely cool and begins using it with obvious admiration. Downplayed in that while Akane accepts the nickname from Taiyou, she still doesn't like her other classmates using it, although over time her attitude shifts from being hurt more to mild annoyance or indifference.
- Better Partner Assertion: Kasahara at one point tells Takada that she and him are 'more compatible' than Takada and Nishimura according to a magazine horoscope. As with most attempts to get Takada's attention off of Nishimura, it falls flat.
- Big Damn Heroes: Taiyou showing up at the sports festival, sans cast, *just in time* to run anchor position for his team in the relay race.
- Calling Your Attacks: Dodgeball is serious business. This includes naming your throws and catches.
- Caught the Heart on His Sleeve: When Akane gets sick, Taiyo, Daichi, and Umi visit her. When it comes time to leave, though, Akane, delirious and thinking she's dreaming, grabs Taiyo's sleeve, begging him specifically not to leave because she's lonely. She is absolutely mortified the next day when it turns out it was not, in fact, a dream.
- Chuunibyou: An odd case in that Akane, Taiyou and their peers aren't in middle school, but in 5th grade. Akane's classmates seem to buy into their ostracizing of Akane so much that they'll chant Barrier spells to ward off her supposed curses. Taiyou too, buys into the rumors, yet is so jazzed about it that he wants to stick as close to Akane as possible in the hopes that some of her Grim Reaper-ness rubs off on him.
- Comically Missing the Point: Taiyou's friendship with Akane is the result of him doing this... repeatedly; he doesn't realize that everyone in class calling Akane the "Grim Reaper" is them bullying her and instead legitimately believes that she's an actual death god, which he thinks is really cool and motivates him to become friends with her, with him misinterpreting every negative rumour about her as stuff she can actually do, furthering his desire to bond with her.
- Cute Bookworm: Akane is not only a cute face, as she also likes reading.
- Death by Childbirth: Akane's mother died shortly after giving birth to her.
- Don't Fear the Reaper: Taiyou doesn't let the rumors about Akane phase him one bit.
- Everyone Can See It: It'd be easier to list the people who see Taiyou and Akane interacting and don't suspect one or both of them is crushing on the other.
- Friendless Background: Stated to be the case for Akane before Taiyou transferred in. She outright states that she was used to walking home alone, not having anyone to talk to, generally being teased and ostracized, and lying to her father so that he wouldn't know how unpleasant school was for her. She had even so internalized the bullying that she initially tries to push Taiyou away so that he won't be bullied for associating with her. Takada's insistent friendship helping her to break out of this is the series' central premise.
- Hiding Behind Your Bangs: Akane's hair covers one of her eyes, emphasizing her shyness.
- Insult Backfire: Taiyou's classmates try to encourage him to ditch Akane and hang out with them instead by telling him every nasty rumour they spread about her. Due to his utter cluelessness, this only serves to encourage his admiration of her instead.
- At the pool, Kitagawa repeatedly attempts to bully Akane about her elaborate choice of swimsuit. Taiyou keeps obliviously misinterpreting his comments in ways that boost Akane's self-esteem and (unbeknownst to Taiyou) make Kitagawa look like a degenerate who fetishizes school swimsuits.
- In the Blood: Downplayed. When Akane tells Yukiko, Taiyou's older sister, about her Grim Reaper nickname when saying she wouldn't look good in cute clothes, Yukiko just bluntly remarks that it's a cool nickname before reassuring Akane that Taiyou would likely stick up for her if their classmates picked on her over it.
- Iyashikei: the premise of the series is a bullied little girl making her first friend, coming out of her shell, and generally seeing her life improve, surrounded by genuinely nice people and, at worst, a few Jerks With Hearts of Gold.
- Kindhearted Simpleton: Taiyou is a cheerful and enthusiastically friendly boy who legitimately believes the rumours about Akane being the Grim Reaper, but instead of being afraid of her finds her extremely cool. This can be justified due to his young age, but the fact everyone else in class is shown to not be nearly as clueless suggests that he's a bit of a natural airhead.
- Kissing In A Tree: In the first days after Taiyou befriends Akane, some of their classmates draw their names together in a "Grim Reaper family", suggesting they're married, as a way of teasing both of them/shaming Taiyou out of associating with Akane. As usual, Taiyou thinks this is awesome.
- Love Epiphany: Downplayed when Akane and Taiyou catch Kasumi kissing a boy during her Christmas date in Episode 10. This makes Taiyou realize that he similarly likes Akane, in a different way from how he likes his other friends. He's still not sure exactly how, though.
- Luminescent Blush: Most of the children do this at some point due, usually due to embarrassment or bashfulness, but Akane is easily the most frequent offender, sporting one of these (often covering her face to hide it) seemingly at least once per chapter.
- Maternal Death? Blame the Child!: The reason Akane takes the Shinigami/Grim Reaper moniker hard is because she on some level feels like she replaced her mother. Notably she seems to be the only one that feels this way: nobody in Akane's family seems to blame Akane for her mother's death, and her classmates don't know; her nickname is merely an unfortunate coincidence.
- Meaningful Name: Taiyou's name means "sun," fitting a bright child like himself.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Taiyou suffers this after he hears about how Akane's mother died not long after giving birth to her, causing Akane to feel like she replaced her mother, and realizes how cruel calling her a Shinigami/Grim Reaper is. It's severe enough that Taiyou bursts into tears and avoids Akane for days afterward, worried that he's been hurting her the entire time.
- New Transfer Student: Prior to the start of the series, Takada went to school out in the boonies (all but stated to be the town Nishimura's grandma lives in). His arrival is what heralds the end of Nishimura's Friendless Background and shakes up the whole class.
- Phrase Catcher: People outside of Akane's classroom invariably find her nickname to be the coolest thing ever, much to her dismay.
- Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Gender inverted; Taiyou is the active, happy-go-lucky type while Akane is the reserved, pragmatic type.
- School Festival: Taiyou and Akane get dressed up in yukata to visit Yukiko's middle school cultural festival. There's also a mini-arc focusing on the elementary school's sports festival, and the events surrounding it.
- Shinigami: Akane's nickname, which she's dourly used to by now. Taiyou however thinks this is the most metal nickname he's ever heard anyone have.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: At the end of episode 8, Akane and Taiyou are on the top of a jungle gym, but a gust of wind blows Akane off of it, and Taiyou dives down to save her. She ends up landing on his arm. Not only does this break Taiyou's arm, but he also cries out in pain from her falling hard on it. He's then forced to keep his arm in a sling after for weeks.
