My Special One, Vol. 6

君がトクベツ [Kimi ga Tokubetsu] #6

by Momoko Koda

After a mortifying rejection, Sahoko Wakaume has sworn off beautiful boys. But a chance meeting puts her in the sights of gorgeous J-pop star Kouta Kirigaya of the group Like Legend. Sahoko will need all her cynicism to defend herself against Kouta’s tenderhearted and affectionate attacks to win her heart!

Actress Emika Nanase is in love with idol Kanato, but she’s stuck in the friend zone! When the perfect opportunity comes along—a chance to costar with Kanato in a TV drama—she does her best to bring the two of them closer together. But being a top-notch actress doesn’t help her avoid being a total mess when she’s around her crush!

Genres: Manga, Romance, Shojo, Graphic Novels, Young Adult

176 pages, Paperback

First published March 25, 2021

About the author

Name (in native language):幸田もも子

Associated Names:
幸田桃子
幸田百子
KOUDA Momoko

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sahoka and Kouta… are not the focus of this volume. No, the mangaka seems to think that side character Emika and her crush on fellow showbiz guy Kanato can carry the story along for a while… but is that true?

Let’s start with the caveat - you need to accept that Emika has literally pursued her entire, very successful, acting career in order to chase down Kanato and win his affection. And she’s also terrible at the latter part. Shojo manga? Shojo manga.

People have done more for worse reasons, so I let it slide. And, hey, Emika is trying her best to get her feelings across without blurting them out. It’s not like she’s just hiding in a corner, but, again, she’s not so great at the follow through.

And, in that twisted, tortured way of fiction, that does make sense. Spending your entire life in pursuit of something that you could easily have blow up in your face with a single exchange? Who wouldn’t be scared of that? And Kanato is not exactly easy to read.

This is quite the shift from the main story, even if it’s running a similar premise, and I kind of appreciated both the audacity to do something new and the way it let Sahoko be there for somebody else who is in a similar position to her for a change (even though she has 100% more experience than Emika by virtue of having had a single boyfriend).

Having the two leads making nothing more than glorified cameos for a bit is pretty neat, enough that I didn’t mind this as a change of pace. I wouldn’t want every series to do it, but this one makes a fun time of it.

Emika is a bit of a mess, flailing hopelessly in her attempts and possibly drinking a little too much to cope, but watching her try to breach the seemingly unknowable (but not really, you can tell how much Kanato is enjoying all this) heart of her would-be love is fun.

The major fly in this ointment is probably Kurusu, another band member who shows up and tries to insert himself in this narrative, having known Emika a long time. You can guess where that’s heading.

This does lead to a fairly awkward situation where a very clearly inebriated Emika is close to being taken advantage of (not as bad as that sounds, but bad enough) until a last second save. Kurusu is arguably more antagonist than the scenario needs; Emika is doing fine tripping herself up.

Minus that, I liked a lot of this. Strong female friendship. The awkward school TV drama that naturally causes things to get messy. The incredibly ‘what the hell’ peach themed amusement park. The magazine quiz that Emika takes also turns out to have a punchline so good it nearly had me in stitches.

If your focus is only on our leads, not your volume. If this sort of poor adulting with a side of feels that smells of booze isn’t your thing, also not your volume. But it’s not without its charms, far from it, and there’s enough good wrung from it that the caveats don’t bug me as much as they could.

3.5 stars - good gags and a hapless heroine who doesn’t give up, even in the face of adversity and her own reluctance to commit to finding out the truth. Solid change of pace.

[Jess Shumaker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it, I just missed the main couple

[Sheepy · Rating 5 out of 5]

So cute, it's a sign of a good series when th2 main characters can be pretty much non-existant in a volume and it still be a really good read!

[The Book Dragon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enough of Sahoko and Kouta, they're doing perfectly fine for the moment. Instead, we're going to focus on Emika and Kanato because she's head-over-heels in love with him, but bridging the gap between "We're professional coworkers" to "I want to be your girlfriend" is hard when you're unsure how he feels.

Honestly, it's really cute and you're rooting for her, and it seems like he's just as interested, but she has no experience with dating so she's not picking up on any cues and AHH!

[Aurora · Rating 3 out of 5]

I suppose it’s fiiiiiiiine? We spent 90% of this volume with another couple, so I kind of miss the main characters aha.

[Chaela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume was very cute and quite funny! Emika was a fun heroine to follow for this volume and I loved seeing her and Sahoko bond and have some more girl talk.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve already read this volume but I guess I forgot to add it on here.

I really liked the side couple, they’re so cute. The kiss scene during the rehearsal!!!

[Skye (Skye's Scribblings) · Rating 3 out of 5]

9/24 This begins a focus on another couple's romance. Not as enamored of these two, but interesting enough I'll continue.

[Isel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I like this couple more.

[Keyle Apricot · Rating 3 out of 5]

It changes the character focus to two side characters. I got the book to follow the 2 mains, and I hate when books do this

[Cassandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow the whole volume focused on the second couple I liked it. The main couple were supporting characters and it was cute. I have hard time believing these are adults though... they act so young.