With distinctive visuals, charming characters, and a fantastic music motif, The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t a Guy At All is a blast to read. Begun in 2022, the ongoing manga **by Sumiko Arai has been nominated for — and won — several manga awards and is getting an anime adaptation next year. But is it the right manga for you? Today, we’re reviewing the first volume of the English edition. We’ll tell you what we liked, what didn’t resonate so much, and what makes this as-yet-unfinished manga, also known as Green Yuri, stand out. Beware minor spoilers below!
What Is the Green Yuri Manga About?
Aya Osawa is an outgoing high school girl with a gyaru style and a fun vibe. Her music tastes are a little different from her friends’, however, as she prefers rock to K-pop. To get her fix, she frequents a record shop with a cool, quiet shopkeeper that she has a crush on — but in reality, “he” is actually her classmate, Mitsuki Koga.
The two bond over their shared love of old-school rock, both in the record store and later at school, as Mitsuki becomes more open and grows closer to Aya. Mindful not to embarrass Aya or hurt her feelings, Mitsuki keeps her identity as the “onii-chan” cashier a secret, but finds herself drawn more and more to Aya.
Why “Green Yuri”?
There are essentially two reasons for the affectionate fan name “Green Yuri."
The first is the distinctive green tint coloring that permeates the story. As readers may be aware, most manga is drawn entirely in black and white. Believe it or not, though, the lime green that made her manga so distinct was actually a last-minute addition.
The other reason is that the official title, The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t a Guy At All (*Ki ni Natteru Hito ga Otoko Janakatta/*気になってる人が男じゃなかった in Japanese), is very long! Writing it out each time takes up a lot of time. Even abbreviating it to “TGSWIiWaGAA” is unwieldy. As such, the distinctive green coloring and girls’ love storyline made Green Yuri an obvious and useful alternative title.
Why Aya and Mitsuki Work
While the two are bound by their love of niche (for their age group) music, Arai also manages to portray a classic “opposites attract” couple. Aya is popular, outgoing, and at ease with herself. Mitsuki is not antisocial, but is much more reserved and withdrawn, willing to forego interactions if it means she can remain true to herself.
I appreciated that, fun though the starting point of Mitsuki’s “secret identity” is, Arai does not let it become a gimmick that outstays its welcome. The revelation leads to the two becoming distant for a short time. I really liked that Aya’s feeling of betrayal wasn’t because she felt ‘tricked’ into falling for another girl, but because Mitsuki wasn’t honest with her.
The fallout between them is heart-wrenching to read. They each dance around one another, trying not to hurt the other while both wish they could get closer. One particular panel where Mitsuki wishes she didn’t feel the way she does hit particularly hard as the kind of teenage angst everyone goes through.
As they make up, though, the way that Mitsuki opens up and is noticeably happier once she starts to hang out and talk to Aya more often is a delight to see. Similarly, it’s nice to watch Aya become more comfortable being open and expressive about the type of music she enjoys and being more true to herself.
Green Yuri also explores some very real problems that queer youth may experience. Now we come to a few moments that ground Green Yuri in reality. Once Aya and Mitsuki start mingling more at school, one of Aya’s friends, Chizuru, disapproves and begins acting coldly towards Aya.
The manga plays this as a friend feeling jilted, but it is a moment that will doubtless resonate with many queer people. The experience of friends becoming distant or even hostile is one that is familiar to many LGBTQ+ people when they come out (or even before, if friends start ‘noticing’ things about them).
Even if the social friction that Aya and Mitsuki experience is not textually attributed to homophobia, some might find that it feels reminiscent of it, whether Arai intended for this or not. A lot of yuri manga can shy away from the aftermath of coming out or being attracted to someone of the same gender. By setting stories in girls’ schools or just ignoring or shrugging off the implications of not existing in society as heterosexual, some yuri manga can exhibit what yuri historian Erica Friedman calls “lesbian content without lesbian identity.” This is a problem Green Yuri deftly avoids.
I felt that this gives an edge of realism to Green Yuri that some sapphic Japanese media can lack. Aya and Mitsuki’s dedication to one another, however, stops this important aspect from being overwhelming or depressing.
Music and Neon-Green Style
Coming into this manga, I was aware that the green color motif would be prominent throughout, but I wasn’t aware of how important music would be to the story. I must confess a certain bias, in that the bands and songs that Aya and Mitsuki both love are exactly to my taste. As such, I felt even closer to them as I spotted favorites of my own in their shared playlists and reminisced over seeing Muse live (though it made my joints ache to hear my faves described in ways that made them seem almost painfully retro).
The striking bright green throughout, as well as making this work visually distinct from other manga, focuses the reader’s eye. I also thought it helped both set the mood and demonstrate the characters’ feelings. For example, at the very start of the manga, Aya and Mitsuki are the only things on the page in stark black and white, contrasted against the solid green of the outside world. I interpreted this as Aya feeling that they were the only two things in the world that mattered.
The artwork itself is bold, and the characters are expressive. This is, in part, thanks to the manga’s origins on Twitter. Perhaps this is because, with only four images attachable to a single Tweet, Arai made the characters stand out and easy to interpret, even if you don’t speak Japanese. The subtle differences in Mitsuki’s demeanour and body language between when she is at school and when she is working at the store also demonstrate how the art conveys her internal state.
What May Not Work for Every Reader
One thing that may put potential readers off is the pacing of this first volume. It could be considered both too fast and too slow at once.
As mentioned, I was relieved that Mitsuki’s hidden alter ego was not drawn out beyond the point of narrative usefulness. However, I can imagine that anyone who was excited by the premise and hoped that it would continue long into the manga’s still-ongoing run might be disappointed.
On the other hand, while I am enjoying the slow-burn strangers to friends to potential lovers story being told, some might find it frustrating. Many readers will feel that a romantic relationship between the two is endgame, but watching them pine for one another, wanting the same thing, in the same room, but neither acting on their desires could test the patience of some yuri enthusiasts.
It’s also worth noting that each chapter is done in four pages (owing to Twitter/X allowing only four images per post). This didn’t bother me, but I can imagine some people being irked that some beats felt too compressed, thanks to this formatting choice. I did feel this to a degree with the side character Megumu Narita. After discovering Mitsuki’s secret early on, he conspires to bring the two girls together. However, his contributions are short and fleeting. While he’s not the main character and I wouldn’t want time or focus taken from our leads, it would have been nice if he were fleshed out a little more.
Is Green Yuri Worth Reading?
I think Green Yuri is an evergreen manga. By that, I mean that no matter what age you are or where you are in life, there is something for almost anyone to enjoy and relate to. If you’re currently a high schooler or just graduated, you’ll probably see a lot of yourself in Mitsuki and Aya. If your school days are more of an echo than a tune you still sing along to, you’ll probably find some nostalgic joy here. From the way every small thing felt important, and how you and your crush seemed to be the only people in the world who really “got it, you know?”
Either way, this heartwarming story is one I heartily recommend. This first volume was a joy from start to finish. An easy recommendation for anyone looking for a fresh yuri manga to tune in to.
The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn’t a Guy at All, Vol. 1
A stylish yuri romance about music, identity and mistaken impressions.
For more yuri manga recommendations, check out our top ten recommendations これ.
