I Can't Say No to the Lonely Girl Vol. 1

ロンリーガールに逆らえない / Can't Defy The Lonely Girl #1

by Kashikaze

Quintessential good girl Sakurai finds herself trapped in the middle of a bribery scheme. Her teacher offers to write a recommendation letter in exchange for luring a truant student into attendance. Sakurai pins down the reclusive transfer student Honda, but there are strings attached. Honda demands that Sakurai grant one wish every day. The first wish is a kiss-and Sakurai finds herself feeling very eager to please…

Genres: Manga, Yuri, Romance, LGBT, Lesbian, Queer, Comics

182 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 19, 2024

Reviews

[Brooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️ 3.5 stars ⭐️

Sakurai needs to grant Honda a wish a day if she wants that recommendation. But, maybe the requests aren’t so bad after all.

The cover caught my eye right away, so kawaii and adorable. And, fortunately, it reflected on the inside as well.

If we sort of turn a blind eye on the blackmail-ish vibes we get in the beginning, I Can’t Say No To The Lonely Girl was an extremely cutesy Yuri manga.
The art style was extra pretty and sparkly, complementing perfectly the actually sugary sweet brand-new relationship between smart and friendly Sakurai and the lonely girl Honda, despite its questionable start.

This was a fun part one, and can’t wait to see more of this series and these characters.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley, and am leaving this honest review voluntarily.

CW and tropes (spoilers):
- Dub-con/blackmail
- High school setting
- Cliffhanger
- FF/yuri romance

[Mika · Rating 1 out of 5]

*I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.*

Insta-love

The romance felt more like insta-love with an ecchi element than a naturally (and healthy) developed relationship. What bothered me the most was that the characters had kissed and entered a romantic relationship before even reaching the halfway point of the first volume. Everthing developed quickly and unreasonably; it felt more like an ecchi series than a romance.

The protagonist accepts the kiss request too quickly; simply to secure her future at school. Her statement that she would ‘do anything’ makes her come across more as an object than a person.

Teacher's request

At first, the teacher's request seemed reasonable. The idea that support from peers can make it easier for someone to return to school than guidance from a teacher made sense. However, asking the protagonist to improve Honda's grades crosses a line. While students can certainly help each other study, it is in the end the teacher's responsibility to provide academic support.

Pacing

The inconsistent pacing made it difficult to stay engaged. Each chapter progressed at a different pace and mostly little happened.

Outroduction

Ultimately, I decide not to continue this series. I wouldn't recommend it unless one is looking for a fast-paced romance with ecchi elements.

Thank you NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for the advanced reader copy of I Can't Say No to the Lonely Girl 1 by Kashikaze.

StoryGraph review

Started the book: 23. March 2024
Finished the book: 23. March 2024
Wrote the review: 23. March 2024

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

After choking on her high school entrance exams, Ayaka is desperate to snag a referral to her top pick of schools. She gets her chance, but with a catch: she must get the absentee Honda back to school. And how hard could that possibly be?

Well, this is pretty cute. I don’t like it quite as much as this week’s other new title, How Do I Turn My Best Friend into My Girlfriend?, but it definitely gets the job done and more than that in a couple spots.

While everything about the first chapter seemingly sends up more red flags than a visit to Pamplona in July, the story reveals its true colours pretty quickly and they’re pretty rainbow-styled after all.

The conceit, that Ayaka’s incredibly bizarre teacher wants to preserve her perfect record with homeroom and is willing to bribe Ayaka to get what she wants, is standard manga bad idea. That Honda then demands daily favours, starting with an intimate kiss? I mean, it doesn’t look great.

Not that these horribly imbalanced power fantasies don’t have their place, but this isn’t that anyway. We quickly learn that Honda is going through some stuff and ‘lonely girl’ barely covers the depths of her isolation.

We get the sense that she was just waiting for somebody to reach out and it happened to be Ayaka. Who she now kisses a whole bunch. Honda’s still very reserved unless she’s with Ayaka and you can easily see Honda’s demands as a way to keep somebody in her life.

As for Ayaka, she’s mostly finding herself again. After falling short of the expectations that she largely appears to have put on herself (her parents seem very nonplussed that she didn’t make her top choice for school), she doesn’t seem to have much going on except chasing her brother.

Honda certainly gets enough to do and she’s not mean in the slightest, as it turns out, but it’s Ayaka who really makes this volume pop for me. The way she’s adrift and unsure, then grasping at this kind of awful straw, is very well portrayed.

Even better, there are few things that a good yuri can do to make me happier than have a slow awakening and the journey Ayaka is on is laden with both text, she spends so much time confused about what she and Honda even are, and lots of subtext.

Part of the reason that this premise sorts itself out is how fast it goes from ‘she doth protest too much’ to ‘she doth’nt protest at all whatsoever’. Honda calls this out towards the end, but it’s not even necessary - you can see the change in Ayaka’s demeanour the more time she spends with Honda. Or not with her and thinking about her anyway.

This manga is also incredibly funny in places. There are lots of goofy expressions and such, but that ridiculous teacher steals the show time and again with her appearances like she’s just strolled in from an espionage story (the explanation for this is delightfully nonsensical).

There’s a lot of good stuff here and it starts off okay but picks up as it goes. It’s not quite a romance just yet, but it nails the feeling of confused infatuation. I’m interested to see how the story will generate drama going forward, if it does, as there are definitely areas it could pull from should it choose to. But as a starting point it does a solid job.

3.5 stars - extra half for the teacher alone, but this really impressed me once it got going. I’m hoping the next volume will be even better, but it’s certainly worth a look.

[Angie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got a netgalley early copy and i’m honestly so offended at another fetishistic manga that paints lesbians as sexual predators. The premise is honestly so gross and offensive and missed an opportunity to showcase the adolescent gay girl experience with all of the struggles and joy in favor of generic no depth characters that are literally predatory. There is no plot line aside from sexual coercion and it’s extremely triggering to those sensitive to those things. Very disappointing first netgalley read.
I do not recommend and wish I could rate lower.

[Lucy (the invisible life of a reader) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so cute!! I randomly saw it on netgalley, not really knowing what to think of it, but the moment I saw it was a girls' love manga, I was sold!!

I can't say no to the lonely girl follows the story of Sakurai Ayaka as she ends up being forced to fulfill this lonely girl's requests and who knows? All this might end up in romance.

As I said, I wasn't sure what to think but this happened to be exactly what I needed. I really loved the two main characters, Sakurai and Honda, and their dynamics were just so interesting.

The concept of this book is similar to other things I've read before but at teh same time the way it is portrayed is just completely unique. I'm really curious to see how everything will develop in the next volumes!

[Mehsi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A super adorable manga about two girls getting closer and closer with each request one of the girls make! I loved seeing the girls get closer and closer with each chapter and I had a giggle at the request Honda made, though some, the kisses, I am not sure about those. I mean, Ayaka isn't sure about those and it just feels weird. But later on things get less weird because Ayaka is definitely considering her feelings and is likes to spend time with Honda. I just loved these two girls together, but also see them with friends. The art was also cute!

[Helene Black · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is a bit hard to rate. Sakurai is a teenage girl who only cares about grades. But then she meets Honda-san and suddenly she’s asking herself questions. What do these new feelings mean? Am I attracted to this girl? The manga explores the theme in a very weird way. Honda-san hasn’t been coming to school and Sakurai strikes a deal with her. In order to get Honda-san to take her exams, Sakurai has to play her games. And one of these games involves a kiss. The consent is a bit dubious, especially due to the big panel on page 34 where the main character looks frightened. I get it—not everybody understands their sexual preferences as a teenager and that’s what the manga is hinting at. I just wish we could have got a better developed plot. But Yuri is a genre in itself and this manga probably caused no concerns in Japan.

Thank you to NetGalley for my access to a copy of the manga.

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 stars - There were certainly some odd things about this manga, like a teacher who hangs out in bushes and broom closets only to blackmail one of her students into getting another student to come to school in exchange for a letter to any school of her choosing. Then, the main female character is asked to comply with a request everyday, with the first one being a kiss. It just felt forced.

The illustrations were cute and I liked the cover, but the overall story was a bit lacking for me. I'm not sure if I will continue on...

Thank you to NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) in exchange for my honest opinion/review.

[Vanna Book-Mage · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious and adorable so far.

[Sunny ☀︎ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

[marysia :D · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.7

[Kayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this first volume and am curious on what's to come. I can see this relationship working; I just need a bit more from Honda's side. Like what's her motive? I'll pick up the next volume to see if we get more.

[IvyInThePages · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating: 2.83 leaves out of 5
-Characters: 1/5
-Cover (+art): 5/5
-Story: 1/5
-Writing: 5/5
Genre: Romance, Yuri
-Romance: 0/5
-Yuri: 5/5
Type: Manga
Worth?: Eh

Hated|Disliked|Meh|It Was Okay|Liked|Really Liked|Loved

Want to thank Netgalley and publishers for giving me the chance to read this book.

It is a struggle between older me and younger me right now. Younger me would have thought it was cute and funny. Me now though? Main girl was basically sexually assaulted by being kissed and then black mailed in a way so that the girl can basically do whatever to the main one. It just doesn't sit right with me.

[PageCreature · Rating 5 out of 5]

04/23/2024 || I Can't Say No to the Lonely Girl: Volume 1 by Kashikaze || #ICantSayNototheLonelyGirl #NetGalley #yuri #WLWmanga

Thank you NetGalley, Kashikaze, and Kodansha Comics for making this e-ARC available!

Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author and myself.

All of my thoughts are my own~

Full 5 Stars!!

Friends to Lovers is such a precious pipeline and adored the soft, gradual pining the characters seem to be growing towards. I cannot wait for more volumes to drop- I will be reading every single one now!!!!

Here is a direct link to my blog post for this title :)

[a · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was really addicting and I actually can't wait to continue it with the next volume when it comes out. The premise is an easy one albeit a bit problematic but sometimes you just want to read a book for fun and don't care about things not being super realistic and for me, that was this manga. I feel like there is so much the author could do with this series and show us with these characters so I'm definitely going to be continuing with this series to see where she takes things.

[Katarzyna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where can I find my Honda???

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I Can't Say No to the Lonely Girl has a cute cover that left me expecting it to be cute throughout. At first, I was unsure about it, but it quickly turned a leaf that left me reading with so much fondness.

Ayaka is really finding herself. Throughout this volume, we get to see that well. It encompasses so many emotions of what she is going through and discovering about herself. Between the expressions and thoughts, it was easy to feel her confusing as she's trying to figure out her feelings.

Honda is still a bit of a mystery by the end of this. We get to see a little bit about her that starts to make some of her actions make sense, but it gave her depth and made me eager to see more about her.

While starting off in a way that left me unsure, this quickly turned into a cute manga that I found myself invested in. I'm interested in what is going to happen as the story moves forward.

[suvi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw the cover of this and I clicked the request button before I even had the time to process what I was doing. Thank you NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for the ARC!

This is a super quick and fun read! The story is about Sakurai who is asked (bribed) by her teacher into getting Honda to come to school in exchange for a recommendation letter. Honda finds out about this and agrees to come to school as long as she gets to make one request to Sakurai each day. The first request is a kiss!

I really liked the characters and I think the plot is really fun. I do think that this first volume was just a little bit too fast as we didn't really get to know any of the characters. And some of their motives are still quite a mystery. But I am really excited about the second volume.

[Cassiereads · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

The premise is a bit...strange but it seems like its trying to be cute instead of weird. Im curious to see how its handled in the next volume.

Ayaka is roped into a task by her teacher, to track down another student and see why she's been missing school, in exchange for a referral to any school. The other student, Honda, finds out and strikes a deal with Ayaka.

The 'request' aspect is a bit odd but I thought everything else was pretty entertaining. Sora is kind of a mystery and my interest is piqued.

[Chris Gernon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute story, interesting characters, but (a) the premise is pretty wtf (as basically everyone else mentioned), and (b) the hell is wrong with this teacher? (I get that her whole deal is meant to be comic relief, but being in a position of authority, it comes off a little disturbing.) Honestly, this volume is basically an entire collection of red flags, but I’m told it improves once the first volume sets everything up, so we’ll see how the next one goes …

[Kelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think the initial premise is a bit problematic—but, it’s trying to be a cute story? We’ll see.

There are so few wlw manga that get an English release, that I want to be supportive. But, the genre as a whole still has a lot to work on~

[Mae]

🫣

[Darel Katcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’re reading this, you can read!
(applies both to this review and to the story)

[Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hate the first few volumes but it redeems itself a bit in the end.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute! Easy read and hits some fun notes. Not a lot going on with the characters and prob won’t continue but nothing wrong with it!

[Gabrielle Blaque/~Bhlack Benehvolence~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not too bad for a first volume, I feel for the main character and I look forward to seeing how her relationship with the other female main character develops.

[sweet orange books · Rating 1 out of 5]

SA is not cute or funny or the way to start a FF relationship. The MC is manipulated by the high school teacher in order to get accepted into college, and then forcefully kissed by another student and blackmailed every day. Nope, nope, nope. The plot is very weak and relies on artificially scary situations to get the two main characters to bond together. It was very shallow, problematic, and not interesting. I wouldn't recommend it. 

*Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

[Heather D-G · Rating 4 out of 5]

So…there’s no way around the fact that the relationship between the two main characters starts off in a sketchy way.
After her nerves cause her to fumble the entrance exam to her high school of choice, Ayaka is offered a deal by a teacher at her backup school: get an absentee student to attend school and get a referral letter to her preferred school.
After agreeing, she approaches the student—Sora—and tries to befriend her and coax her back to school.
Unfortunately, Sora overhears a meeting between the teacher and Ayaka and learns about Ayaka’s true motives in approaching her. She offers her own deal: fulfill one request a day and she’ll attend school. This is offered after she has shoved down and kissed Ayaka without getting her permission first. Sora does say that future requests will be along the same lines, and Ayaka feels pressured to accept.

If you stopped reading here, it would be entirely understandable. As it turns out, however, there is a lot of nuance to these characters. Further reading makes it clear that Sora is extremely socially awkward and inexperienced; she really doesn’t seem to understand how to approach other students. Ayaka is taken aback, but never feels endangered or threatened. As she comes to know Sora better, genuine feelings grow between them.
Honestly? I wish the author would tweak the beginning a bit, because these are really interesting characters once they’ve had some breathing room. Things could certainly have gone in a different direction (and then I would have stopped reading), but despite the unfortunate start, there is true character growth and development all around. We’ll see what happens in the next volume.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a sucker for yuri and slice-of-life manga, and this was such a cute start to this story! I can't wait to read more of it. They kiss on the first page and yet still, somehow, it ends up also being a slow burn. The character designs and the art is really nice and the dialogue is honestly a good cut above a lot of other manga I've read. Honestly, my only complaint is that I don't have volume 2 in front of me to read immediately.

Having said that, if this story were in anything other than a yuri manga, I'd probably have a problem with it. Honda's first "request" of Sakurai (in exchange for coming to school to appease their teacher -- yes, the plot is paper-thin, but we love it) is a kiss and she just... lays it on her. This happens a few more times -- the consent, she is dubious. This is kind of par for the course with a lot of yuri though, and the subtext is that Sakurai clearly is actually attracted to Honda, she's just not admitting it to herself. They were also friends in middle school, so it's possible there's a future plot reveal that Honda knows something we as the audience don't. Even still, I can understand this not playing well with English-speaking audiences.