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クラスで２番目に可愛い女の子と友だちになった [Class de 2-banme ni Kawaii Onnanoko to Tomodachi ni Natta] (manga) #1
I Made Friends with the Second Prettiest Girl in My Class, Vol. 1
High school is a fresh start for most people—but not for Maki Maehara. He’s always been a loner, and he knows this year isn’t going to be any different. As expected, Maehara sees no change even six months in…until he runs into his classmate Umi Asanagi at a video store! Always at the center of attention and ranked the second-prettiest girl in class by the boys, Asanagi’s from a totally different world. But it turns out the two have some things in common, and not just the B movies they came to rent. When they become friends in secret, Maehara discovers his days are about to get a little more colorful!
196 pages, Paperback
Published July 1, 2025
5 people are currently reading
13 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 2, 2025
I’d be lying if I said my initial thought on seeing the description of this one wasn’t, basically, ‘here we go again’. This genre has almost as many self-inserts as your average isekai and that tends to make them boring.
At least marginal effort is being made to give Maki, the male lead, some personality. He’s a loner, but he is properly written as an introvert (I recognize my own kind) who has crowd issues and a love of b-movies (although this tends to translate entirely to shark films for some reason).
Him having never had a friend before in his life is a bit of a stretch, even with his mom’s job keeping them moving and leaving him on his own every Friday night. That’s about all he gets, but it’s better than absolutely nothing.
His tastes in food and movies happen to align really well with Umi, the so-called second prettiest girl in class. I was relieved to see that they weighed in on the gender politics of this title really fast and that this isn’t something Maki came up with. He appreciates Umi just as she is.
When Umi reveals her own nerdy side to him, the one she doesn’t show when she’s at school, they hit it off and become fast friends. They do make a pretty fun pair - they banter and tease one another and get along quite well.
Now, clearly this is high grade wish fulfillment, but it’s better than some of the less interesting specimens of the genre. Maki is impressively strong in the face of the most popular girl in school, politely declining her when it conflicts with his relationship with Umi.
Of course, she also happens to be Umi’s best friend and seems to be developing an interest in Maki at the same rate Umi is too. Crossed wires start happening until they iron the whole thing out, including a pretty amusing near-crucifixion. But, again, wish fulfillment the whole way.
Still, that’s the genre - guy with no friends gets all the girls. This one gives Maki enough personality and makes his relationship with Umi enough fun to help it get over that aspect. And it does do more than just give him a gaggle of gals to gawk at; there’s at least an attempt to show why he’s a loner, not a loser.
The two of them are keeping the relationship secret because of Maki’s own insecurities, which feels a bit of a cop-out, but I’ll allow because it at least shows that he’s thinking about her. Again, it’s not brilliant, but sometimes these guys do literally nothing to earn a friendship. Maki is trying and that counts for a lot.
On the scale, I would say it’s not as good as the very strong Tsumiki Ogami’s Not-So-Ordinary Life, but it certainly beats out brainless (if decent) fluff like The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses. There’s a semblance of a plot, for example.
3.5 stars - it’s fine and if you love the genre it has a lot to recommend it, so round it up in that case, but it does feel a little too same-y, no matter how reasonably well it works at certain points.
At least marginal effort is being made to give Maki, the male lead, some personality. He’s a loner, but he is properly written as an introvert (I recognize my own kind) who has crowd issues and a love of b-movies (although this tends to translate entirely to shark films for some reason).
Him having never had a friend before in his life is a bit of a stretch, even with his mom’s job keeping them moving and leaving him on his own every Friday night. That’s about all he gets, but it’s better than absolutely nothing.
His tastes in food and movies happen to align really well with Umi, the so-called second prettiest girl in class. I was relieved to see that they weighed in on the gender politics of this title really fast and that this isn’t something Maki came up with. He appreciates Umi just as she is.
When Umi reveals her own nerdy side to him, the one she doesn’t show when she’s at school, they hit it off and become fast friends. They do make a pretty fun pair - they banter and tease one another and get along quite well.
Now, clearly this is high grade wish fulfillment, but it’s better than some of the less interesting specimens of the genre. Maki is impressively strong in the face of the most popular girl in school, politely declining her when it conflicts with his relationship with Umi.
Of course, she also happens to be Umi’s best friend and seems to be developing an interest in Maki at the same rate Umi is too. Crossed wires start happening until they iron the whole thing out, including a pretty amusing near-crucifixion. But, again, wish fulfillment the whole way.
Still, that’s the genre - guy with no friends gets all the girls. This one gives Maki enough personality and makes his relationship with Umi enough fun to help it get over that aspect. And it does do more than just give him a gaggle of gals to gawk at; there’s at least an attempt to show why he’s a loner, not a loser.
The two of them are keeping the relationship secret because of Maki’s own insecurities, which feels a bit of a cop-out, but I’ll allow because it at least shows that he’s thinking about her. Again, it’s not brilliant, but sometimes these guys do literally nothing to earn a friendship. Maki is trying and that counts for a lot.
On the scale, I would say it’s not as good as the very strong Tsumiki Ogami’s Not-So-Ordinary Life, but it certainly beats out brainless (if decent) fluff like The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses. There’s a semblance of a plot, for example.
3.5 stars - it’s fine and if you love the genre it has a lot to recommend it, so round it up in that case, but it does feel a little too same-y, no matter how reasonably well it works at certain points.
June 22, 2025
Actually probably one of my favorite mangas that I’ve read recently. I thought it was really cute, had fun characters, and a cute dynamic between the two main characters. I’m excited for the next volume when it comes out!
August 15, 2025
Cute and fun.
December 28, 2025
Cute teenage shenanigans!
January 5, 2026
This was really cute, but it mostly just made me want to read the original LN. (Which it turns out wasn't even the original since it started as a web novel)
June 12, 2025
I kind of like the secret friendship and secret relationships trope in manga that uncover the hidden layers and interests in people who end up finding each other. Though, it does beg the question about being your authentic self. However, when done right it can be a fun exploration of a friendship as is the case with Maehara and Asanagi who love B movies. It's especially important to Maehara because he's never had many friends and Asanagi is popular with plenty of love interests too yet she's hanging out with him.
I like the messages and the calm but a little frazzled character Maehara.
I like the messages and the calm but a little frazzled character Maehara.
June 11, 2025
Volume 6 has yet to be listed on Goodreads, so this review will be for what is as of yet the 'entire' series.
The full English title will probably give you a very bad impression... I feel it completely misrepresents the series. Rest assured, this is a very cute read with a surprising amount of depth by the time of Volume 6. I'd imagine the series will begin to wrap up pretty shortly, but who knows?
This series is about a child in high school who is the typical loner. In the usual fashion, he's convinced himself no one would want to be his friend and, unlike most other stories, the author actually explores that delusion of the MC's. His parent's divorce has caused him to feel like "his own time has stopped." His father would never be home and his mother would inadvertently ignore him, so his younger self coped by believing he didn't actually need to be liked. Asanagi is the first to reach out to the MC and, soon enough, he becomes confident in himself and eventually begins to confront his past.
The romance proceeds very slowly. They are unofficially together for a volume or two and become a true couple at the tail end of Volume 6. I enjoyed the way things played out. It feels real for anyone who can remember being that young.
One moment that really sticks out to me in this manga is when Asanagi's father (also Asanagi, of course) comforts the MC after seeing him unconsciously begin to cry after being overwhelmed by invisible wall between him and his parents. That was a really sweet moment between people who are still strangers. I felt like reaching a hand out to the MC too... poor kid...
The full English title will probably give you a very bad impression... I feel it completely misrepresents the series. Rest assured, this is a very cute read with a surprising amount of depth by the time of Volume 6. I'd imagine the series will begin to wrap up pretty shortly, but who knows?
This series is about a child in high school who is the typical loner. In the usual fashion, he's convinced himself no one would want to be his friend and, unlike most other stories, the author actually explores that delusion of the MC's. His parent's divorce has caused him to feel like "his own time has stopped." His father would never be home and his mother would inadvertently ignore him, so his younger self coped by believing he didn't actually need to be liked. Asanagi is the first to reach out to the MC and, soon enough, he becomes confident in himself and eventually begins to confront his past.
The romance proceeds very slowly. They are unofficially together for a volume or two and become a true couple at the tail end of Volume 6. I enjoyed the way things played out. It feels real for anyone who can remember being that young.
One moment that really sticks out to me in this manga is when Asanagi's father (also Asanagi, of course) comforts the MC after seeing him unconsciously begin to cry after being overwhelmed by invisible wall between him and his parents. That was a really sweet moment between people who are still strangers. I felt like reaching a hand out to the MC too... poor kid...
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews