"Sometimes my girlfriend is incredibly cool."
Yuu Izumi is the unluckiest boy on Earth. Even stepping outside is a challenge as he's bombarded by various animals, cars, people, falling shingles, etc. that seem determined to kill or maim him. That is, until he meets his new girlfriend "Micchon" Shikimori, who protects him from everything life throws at him. She's not just cute, she's extremely cool. Together they and their friends navigate the perilous world of high school.
Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie (Kawaii dake ja Nai Shikimori-san) is a Rom Com manga by Keigo Maki that was serialized on Kodansha's Magazine Pocket website from 2019 to 2023. An anime adaptation by Dogakobo started airing on April 9, 2022.
This manga contains examples of:
- Amazonian Beauty: Definitely not herself, but Hachimitsu's online avatar Buff Biceps is one.
- Animal Theme Naming: Izumi and Shikimori's circle of friends all have animal-themed family names; Hachimitsu's name means "honey" and contains the kanji for "bee", Inuzuka's name has the kanji for "dog", Nekozaki's name has the kanji for "cat", and Kamiya's name has the kanji for "wolf".
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Older brother in this case, but otherwise Shikimori's brother fits this perfectly, far more than the other older brother tropes. In contrast, she's the aloof little sister to him. One can be easily forgiven for thinking she is the older sibling, if not being explicitly stated in the manga.
- Artistic License – Physics: The laws of the universe don't seem to apply to Hachimitsu, who is like a cartoon character in an otherwise realistic world.
- Big Friendly Dog: Kara, Shikimori's pet German Shepherd.
- Bi-Wildered: This can be seen as the reasoning behind Shikimori's jealousy of Inuzuka for his relationship with Izumi.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Hachimitsu directly addresses the audience to explain the Couple Numbers at the School's Cultural Festival. Neko Lampshades it by asking who she's talking to.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Heroic variant. Shikimori helps out so many people that she cannot remember doing things that were a defining moment of their lives. It was just another daily occurrence for her. Subverted with Risa, where it turns out Shikimori does remember the incident and thought Risa might be that same girl, but didn't bring it up because she wasn't 100% sure.
- Change the Uncomfortable Subject: Shikimori doesn't like talking about either her past or her home family life, and will almost always try to deflect as much as possible when either subject comes up.
- Chastity Couple: Izumi and Shikimori haven't engaged in physical intimacy beyond hugs and handholding.
- Izumi finally kisses Shikimori in chapter 100, as a way to make a memory just between them.
- Shikimori eventually gets annoyed over their lack of physical intimacy and wants to progress further.
- In the final epilogue chapter, Shikimori finally kisses Izumi as they discuss living together after graduating from university.
- Class Trip: To Kyoto. Izumi is determined to make it a success after he missed his middle school trip.
- Clip Show: Special Episode 2 was a clip show of best scenes commented on by the voice actors for Izumi and Shikimori.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: When the manga started, the series took the form of very short chapters centered around the gag of something unlucky happening to Izumi and then being saved by Shikimori. After 15 chapters, the chapters got longer and the gag-a-week format largely got dropped in favour of it becoming a more standard Slice of Life romance. The supporting cast was greatly expanded upon and developed, and the series started shifting more towards drama than the Gag Series it started as.
- Even the Girls Want Her: This is heavily featured with Izumi's mom, with her even saying that she wants to date Shikimori, in the episode where they first meet. This also happens after the win at volleyball to both Shikimori and Nekozaki. There is a lot of this in Nekozaki's falshback of how she and Hachimitsu met Shikimori. (Though this could also be Ambiguously Gay)
- First-Name Basis: Shikimori initially calls Izumi's parents "mother" and "father," but switches to this after some family bonding.
- Frying Pan of Doom: When playing a First-Person Shooter, Shikimori ends up stuck with a frying pan as a weapon. She then beats an enemy combatant armed with an assault rifle and body armor to death with it.
- Gamer Girl: Risa and especially Hachimitsu. Shikimori eventually gets into gaming as well when she feels like she's being left out.
- Instant Expert: The gang go bowling in one episode. Shikimori says she's only gone bowling two or three times, then proceeds to bowl 300 (a perfect game that involves throwing a strike in every frame and is rare even for professionals).
- Last-Name Basis: Shikimori and Izumi exclusively refer to each other by their last names. When Shikimori's friends ask about this, noting that she's much more casual with them, Shikimori says it was because her grandparents address each other the same way so she thinks it is romantic.
- Lethal Chef: Shikimori easily fits this category, though she's working to fix it, another contrast to Izumi, who is a Supreme Chef, a Shared Family Quirk with his parents.
- Love at First Sight: Izumi towards Shikimori. Averted for Shikimori towards him. In fact, she doesn't even remember him after their first meeting.
- Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: The premise. Izumi is the feminine boy who likes cooking and cleaning. Shikimori, despite being girly on the surface, is a strong and skilled athlete who protects him.
- Meet Cute: Izumi and Shikimori first met when his high school entrance exam blew into a tree, and she climbed up to retrieve it. A Forgotten First Meeting for Shikimori.
- Meet the In-Laws: An early chapter is dedicated to Shikimori being introduced to Izumi's parents. Later on Izumi takes it upon himself to introduce himself to Shikimori's mother after she avoids doing so.
- Averted in the anime version where Shikimori already knows them at the start. The scene still happens, but the context is different.
- Men Like Dogs, Women Like Cats: Subverted. Izumi has a black cat. Shikimori has a large German Shepherd.
- Retail Riot: Motoko takes Izumi to a New Year's sale where one breaks out and they get trampled.
- Second Year Protagonist: The series starts with the main cast entering their second year of high school. They move on to third year later on.
- Shared Family Quirks: Both Shikimori and Izumi are basically younger versions of their mothers.
- Sickeningly Sweethearts: Izumi and Shikimori are utterly in love and each is flustered by the other's displays of affection.
- Slice of Life: At its heart, the manga is more this than anything else.
- Strong Girl, Smart Guy: Shikimori isn't dumb by any means, but Izumi definitely gets the better grades between the two and their dynamic is very much this.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Izumi's parents look like they could be father and daughter.
- Wall Pin of Love: Subverted. Kamiya wall pins Izumi to find out more about Shikimori.
- World of Technicolor Hair: The two leads have purple and pink hair respectively. And several others like Kamiya have blue hair.
