Writer/Artist: Nico Nicholson
Letterer: James Stewart
Translator: Matt Treyvaud
Publisher: Kodansha USA
Publication Date: Nov 28, 2023
Price: $12.99
Rating: 13+
Genre: Manga (JPN), Romance, School Life, Comedy
REVIEW RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 stars (Recommend)
If you’ve ever thought “new anime fans have it easy”, then I highly recommend My Lovesick Life as a ’90s Otaku by Nico Nicholson. This series follows Megumi Sato, a 42-year-old divorced mother and a secret otaku, as she takes us back to her high school crush.
Megumi can’t believe that anime and manga are socially acceptable now. She starts to think back to when she was a teenager and how she tried desperately to hide the fact that she loved manga and anime. Megumi transfers to a new school so she takes that as an opportunity to rebrand herself. She’s hoping to make a good first impression but her introduction left her class stunned.
Fortunately for her, the class president, Masamune Kaji breaks the ice and talks to her first. As she’s talking to her classmates she starts to wonder if anyone would accept the real her. She doesn’t want to be shunned for being an otaku like she was at her previous school so she’s hiding her interests for now.
After showing her around the school, her classmates take her to Masamune’s basketball practice. She can’t help but notice that he looks like Rukawa from Slam Dunk with his hair down. Once practice is over he offers to give her a ride to the bus station and his fans were livid. Megumi can’t help but make up scenarios in her head as they head to the station.
They start talking and Megumi thinks she might have a chance at a normal high school romance without having to hide that she’s an Otaku. She asks him what he thinks about Otaku and he gives her an answer that shatters any hope she had. “I dismissed them.”
Megumi frantically reads all the Shojo manga she can find for advice, and she realizes the heroine doesn’t get the happy ending until she works for it. Even if Masamune despises Otaku, he doesn’t know she’s an Otaku. All she had to do is hide that part of herself, should it be easy enough right?
Anime trends and shojo tropes
Over the last couple of years anime and manga have become more and more popularized. Long gone are the days where anime fans have to watch their favorite shows in multiple parts on YouTube. Anime is slowly taking over and can be seen represented across different industries.
There have been many collaborations with fashion brands such as the Dolce&Gabbana x Jujutsu Kaisen or the Jimmy Choo x Sailor Moon collaboration. In 2023, the NBA’s Denver Nuggets used the Jujutsu Kaisen Season 1 ending credit animation as a template to release their season schedule. Award-winning rapper, Megan Thee Stallion has also been including anime references and animations in her latest music videos. In her most recent release, Neva Play in collaboration with RM (Kim Namjoon) of BTS, the music video blends animations of herself and RM with live action shots of Megan. RM’s outfit also seems to be inspired by Spike of Cowboy Bebop.
After being bullied for liking anime and manga, Megumi can’t fathom how popular her otaku interests have become. I enjoyed how My Lovesick Life as a ’90s Otaku highlights how drastically different it was being a fan in the ’90s compared to now.
Megumi being an otaku was the perfect avenue to poke fun at some tropes commonly seen in romance stories. Throughout the volume there were moments when Megumi and Masamune would magically end up alone and each time Megumi pointed out how similar her situation is to scenes in a shojo manga.
While situations like these can be the perfect catalyst for some great romances, I can’t deny that the fabricated moments can seem a little cheesy at first. My Lovesick Life as a ’90s Otaku read into these moments and it was funny to see Megumi’s internal panic as she was being pushed towards Masamune by the forces that be.
Volume one was a great start to this series. I’m invested in seeing whether or not Megumi will be true to herself and eventually share her otaku interests with Masamune and her classmates. I also appreciated that Megumi is 42 years old. Many of the current romance stories focus on high school or college romances, so seeing an older character was a nice change of pace.
I’m curious to see if there will be any developments in her love life as an adult. Megumi mentions that as an adult, having gone through a divorce it’s not easy for her to love as freely as she did when she was a teenager. Her daughter pushes her to find love so I’m excited to see what it looks like for her to fall in love as an adult.
Kodansha USA currently has volumes one through four available in print and digital for $12.99 (print) or $7.99 (digital). If you’re looking for some ’90s nostalgia, I would check out My Lovesick Life as a ’90s Otaku. If you’ve already read this series, what are your thoughts? Comment down below!
