What do you think?
Rate this book
Girl Crush (ガールクラッシュ) #4
Girl Crush, Vol. 4
The monthly evaluations at LJH are coming up fast, and Tenka and her friendly rivals’ futures at the company hang in the balance. Not satisfied with just passing their first test, the trio want to wow their trainers with a group performance that’s as cool as it is cute. But when an unexpected wrinkle threatens the group, can team captain Tenka make the right decision for more than just herself?
- GenresMangaContemporaryComics
160 pages, Paperback
Published December 9, 2025
4 people are currently reading
28 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 13, 2025
My estimation of these k-pop fame hunters keeps going up, up, up. Now that I have been culturally relevant for the youth, let’s dig into another cracking good volume of the road to stardom.
This is a big ‘make your dream come true’ story, but it at least sugar coats only some of its chosen subject matter. When the squad have their evaluation later in the volume and the company’s cosmetic surgeon walks in, well, that’s a thing.
It takes guts on the part of the writing to pit these three against themselves for much of the volume and it makes it work by giving them all literally something to do and something interesting at that.
Minchae is the best singer of the three of them, but has been pushed down the path of being an idol by her famous singer mother, who is one of those, if you know what I mean. Seeing her mother trying to drill the business into her and Minchae sort of falling into that trap is as sad as it gets. Arguably more so when it actually pays off later.
Minchae wanted something else for her life at one point, but now she’s here and trying to the point where it hurts. Her being the focus of her mother’s desires takes a physical and mental toll that’s highly believable.
Tenka gets the least to do, but she’s had tons of time in other volumes so it all balances. Besides, it soon becomes obvious that she is not only the glue holding the team together, but she’s also the smartest one in the room when it comes to figuring out how they can succeed despite, and within, their limitations.
And then there’s the smug dancing machine, Jiwoo, who had made for an excellent foil in the past, but becomes something rather more this time around in a brilliant little twist.
Turns out, Jiwoo is not only not interested in romance like her peers, she also doesn’t really identify much as a girl. Or a guy. She doesn’t go full on they/them, but her discussions with Tenka do pretty much everything but.
Her only desire is to make her art by dancing and make the world recognize it and literally everything else is just noise. It makes her so much more fascinating and explains why she’s been so hard to reign in. Not that Tenka can’t, of course, but that’s Tenka’s ability.
The end result of this is a huge pivot from where the arc started and it certainly plays to everybody’s strengths, even though we end off before the big climax. I’m not sure quite how sold I am on the end result yet, but the path here is way different than expected.
This seriously goes crazy hard and if you like these sorts of stories or the k-pop industry it is an easy sell. It’s not as good as Wandance, which is basically S-tier as far as dance manga go, for me anyway, but this is definitely close behind.
4.5 stars - much more intriguing than expected, but no rounding up until the climax lands in a satisfactory way. Another great volume though and I happily await the one that blows my socks off and gets a full 5 stars. It has been a super consistent series so far.
This is a big ‘make your dream come true’ story, but it at least sugar coats only some of its chosen subject matter. When the squad have their evaluation later in the volume and the company’s cosmetic surgeon walks in, well, that’s a thing.
It takes guts on the part of the writing to pit these three against themselves for much of the volume and it makes it work by giving them all literally something to do and something interesting at that.
Minchae is the best singer of the three of them, but has been pushed down the path of being an idol by her famous singer mother, who is one of those, if you know what I mean. Seeing her mother trying to drill the business into her and Minchae sort of falling into that trap is as sad as it gets. Arguably more so when it actually pays off later.
Minchae wanted something else for her life at one point, but now she’s here and trying to the point where it hurts. Her being the focus of her mother’s desires takes a physical and mental toll that’s highly believable.
Tenka gets the least to do, but she’s had tons of time in other volumes so it all balances. Besides, it soon becomes obvious that she is not only the glue holding the team together, but she’s also the smartest one in the room when it comes to figuring out how they can succeed despite, and within, their limitations.
And then there’s the smug dancing machine, Jiwoo, who had made for an excellent foil in the past, but becomes something rather more this time around in a brilliant little twist.
Turns out, Jiwoo is not only not interested in romance like her peers, she also doesn’t really identify much as a girl. Or a guy. She doesn’t go full on they/them, but her discussions with Tenka do pretty much everything but.
Her only desire is to make her art by dancing and make the world recognize it and literally everything else is just noise. It makes her so much more fascinating and explains why she’s been so hard to reign in. Not that Tenka can’t, of course, but that’s Tenka’s ability.
The end result of this is a huge pivot from where the arc started and it certainly plays to everybody’s strengths, even though we end off before the big climax. I’m not sure quite how sold I am on the end result yet, but the path here is way different than expected.
This seriously goes crazy hard and if you like these sorts of stories or the k-pop industry it is an easy sell. It’s not as good as Wandance, which is basically S-tier as far as dance manga go, for me anyway, but this is definitely close behind.
4.5 stars - much more intriguing than expected, but no rounding up until the climax lands in a satisfactory way. Another great volume though and I happily await the one that blows my socks off and gets a full 5 stars. It has been a super consistent series so far.
January 20, 2026
The monthly evaluations are fast approaching but Tenka's team is so determined to place well that they add some complicated acrobatics into their choreo and risk a serious injury. Tenka debates how to balance the fierce energy of Jiwoo with cute, shy Minchae. In a very exciting twist of events for me personally, one of the characters admits they don't feel like a male or female person but would like to use their art to express ideas beyond gender. I would love to see more of this theme as the series continues but even if this is the only time it comes up I am still delighted for this nonbinary rep in my kpop idol manga!
December 14, 2025
"Maybe I can be cool while still being me."
This volume surprised me so much! And I loved it A LOT! I haven't read much this month, but it easily stands out in my mind of my favorite because Minchae and Jiwoo's journey in this was amazing!
Considering how nervous I was about Minchae before, I was shook by where her anxiety comes from. It honestly rocked me, and as a result, I felt very emotional when reading that part of the volume because I so got where she's coming from. Seeing her have a breakthrough that reminded me so much of Tenka's own backstory deeply touched my heart, and I could not help but get excited to see her shine as the volume went on!
When it came to Jiwoo, WOW! What a backstory and character development in this volume alone! I think what the director said about her was really spot on, and I feel it honestly challenged me as a person because of a situation I have been going through this week. Jiwoo has incredible strength and agree with Tenka that no matter if she were to "crush" herself, she would come back. However, I think now she is going to come back and absolutely thrive!
I am VERY excited to see what Tenka will show in the next volume! She might not have been as much of a big focus, but I loved seeing her grow as a leader and how proactive she is! I know she is going to wow us just the same way the Minchae and Jiwoo did!
Hurry up and release the next volume, VIZ!! I need to see what happens next!!
This volume surprised me so much! And I loved it A LOT! I haven't read much this month, but it easily stands out in my mind of my favorite because Minchae and Jiwoo's journey in this was amazing!
Considering how nervous I was about Minchae before, I was shook by where her anxiety comes from. It honestly rocked me, and as a result, I felt very emotional when reading that part of the volume because I so got where she's coming from. Seeing her have a breakthrough that reminded me so much of Tenka's own backstory deeply touched my heart, and I could not help but get excited to see her shine as the volume went on!
When it came to Jiwoo, WOW! What a backstory and character development in this volume alone! I think what the director said about her was really spot on, and I feel it honestly challenged me as a person because of a situation I have been going through this week. Jiwoo has incredible strength and agree with Tenka that no matter if she were to "crush" herself, she would come back. However, I think now she is going to come back and absolutely thrive!
I am VERY excited to see what Tenka will show in the next volume! She might not have been as much of a big focus, but I loved seeing her grow as a leader and how proactive she is! I know she is going to wow us just the same way the Minchae and Jiwoo did!
Hurry up and release the next volume, VIZ!! I need to see what happens next!!
January 27, 2026
Tenka takes a step back from the spotlight in this volume and it was a great choice. We're able to connect with the two other girls on her team, and they both go through a transformation of sorts by the end. The character development in this one was top tier.
December 18, 2025
Largely guided by Tenka, the group of three decides to choose a different song to perform, after a couple of things happen with Minchae that demonstrate the boy band song won't work for her at this point in time. The decision they make preferences Minchae's strengths (and Tenka's chameleon power) vs. Jinwoo's. That seemed unfair to her, since she had told the other two that she was nonbinary, more or less, and she'd put a lot of effort into the choreography for the first selection.
I think the look they came up with for Jinwoo for the new song works, though, especially the clothing. I liked the author's take on a girl group whose outfits have uniformity, and also highlight the persona of each performer. If it makes me uncomfortable to think about plucking Jinwoo's eyebrows and penciling them back on so they fit the needs of the piece, well, let's just wait until the cosmetic surgeon comes in, I guess. There's a little hint of idol life's ugly dystopia lurking under the gloss.
I think the look they came up with for Jinwoo for the new song works, though, especially the clothing. I liked the author's take on a girl group whose outfits have uniformity, and also highlight the persona of each performer. If it makes me uncomfortable to think about plucking Jinwoo's eyebrows and penciling them back on so they fit the needs of the piece, well, let's just wait until the cosmetic surgeon comes in, I guess. There's a little hint of idol life's ugly dystopia lurking under the gloss.
January 6, 2026
The more I read this series, the more I like it. I like that the girls aren't trying to brute force their way to the top but are learning how to adapt to changing circumstances. It's hilarious to me that Momose and Jiwoo have to use reverse psychology on each other to get each other to succeed.
I cannot stand Kim Sion but I feel like there's going to be a very loose love triangle between him, Momose and Harumi and I hate love triangles. But this series focuses so heavily on the idol training system and not romance that I probably won't mind if they go down this path.
I cannot stand Kim Sion but I feel like there's going to be a very loose love triangle between him, Momose and Harumi and I hate love triangles. But this series focuses so heavily on the idol training system and not romance that I probably won't mind if they go down this path.
October 22, 2024
Carinoooo
December 3, 2024
torn on how to feel about her being sexualized lowkey because i guess you have to be pretty for the job and also for the character but again isn't everyone super young like....
December 20, 2025
read time: 27 minutes
October 27, 2025
This is a satisfying continuation of this series. I enjoyed the art as always and loved the development of Tenka's leadership skills. You can really see her start to blossom. The only downside was that this felt super short and barely moved the plot along. I wanted much more, and so I cannot wait until the next volume.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews