I'll Never Fall in Love With Amano!, Volume 1

by Haruna Harumaki

Takahide and Amano are the top students at their school—much to Takahide’s frustration. No matter how hard she works, she just can’t seem to outshine the effortlessly brilliant (and maddeningly aloof) Amano. But when a small confrontation leads Amano to mistakenly believe Takahide has a crush on him, things take an unexpected turn. His curiosity turns to affection, and suddenly, Takahide sees a new if she plays along, maybe she can finally come out on top. But even the best-laid plans can’t account for matters of the heart…

Genres: Manga, Romance

184 pages, Paperback

Published October 28, 2025

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This starts off and makes it very plain that it is here to rep, and rep hard, the trope of the lazy genius who gets top marks without effort and the person now stuck in second place who yearns only to defeat them.

Which is fine enough; we expect a certain amount of recycling with manga plots, and there have been any number of these stories. No reason we can’t have more.

No, my first problem comes from the character design, which reminds me of no less than Yurine and Ayaka from Kiss and White Lily for My Dearest Girl. Now, the latter pair were both girls, but their plot was the same, personalities identical, and Takahide and Amano look just like them. It is uncanny and distracting.

I think the first part of the manga is not so great. Amano is a perfect robot who has no issue doing literally everything. A misunderstanding has Takahide thinking she can beat him by teaching him about love, though she knows as little as he does.

Yes, they also use shojo manga for all their research. If there’s an original bone in this series’ body I have no idea where it’s hidden. The two of them get a little closer and everybody thinks they’re dating.

Which is why I was kind of surprised that I was kinda fond of this by the end. I would say that as it goes on and our leads actually end up smitten it gets better and less aggravating. Figuring things out is more acceptable when it’s not a straight blockade to romance and part of the romance proper.

It also gets increasingly goofy, which is the real saving grace. Yes, the earlier tennis thing is amusing, but I don’t find it as funny as the story wants it to because it’s just more of Amano being perfect. The denouement IS good though, in a cute way.

Once we hit the section with the play, things get fairly ludicrous in short order (it doesn’t hurt that Amano turns out to have at least one weakness). I had a hearty chuckle when they just name a character and what she’s about in order to jam her into the story at speed and when cosplay erupts for no good reason. It’s deliciously unsubtle.

By the time we’ve reached the end, Amano has calmed down a lot and Takahide is figuring herself out more earnestly and that’s when this feels like it might be worth hanging around for.

Neither lead is especially well developed, but they do the job. Takahide’s turn from trying to one up her rival to genuinely enjoying herself is fun and Amano gradually becomes actually tolerable (with expressions!) once he falls in love.

The difference between the first two chapters and the last two is not exactly stark, but it’s certainly noticeable. There’s a late scene in the nurse’s office that’s downright excellent and Takahide having the hots for costumed Amano is very sweet.

This won’t win any awards for… uh… anything. But it’s a cute little bit of business that gets better as it goes and I’m certainly not opposed to seeing what nonsense they end up doing next to try and figure out love.

3.5 stars - that’s probably generous, but it really got better as it went. No points for originality, but it has a decent heart and an odd sense of humour, which comes through more clearly than similar manga of its stripe, at least by the end.

[R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Takahide starts out being insanely jealous of Amano, but how could she expect the series of events him catching her watching would entail. For all of his genius, Amano is truly innocent and naive when it comes to love, not that Takahide is much better with her focus on her academic studies. Somehow, what starts off as a game keeps spiraling and growing. It seems perhaps there's something there after all, especially given the rather touching moments with the school festival. While Amano has decided to take things at Takahide's pace and not push her boundaries anymore, it seems maybe Takahide actually wants to test those boundaries after all.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a really cute volume! My first time reading genius x hard worker, it’s cute that Amano did not feel superior even when he’s a genius, he can give it his all when it comes to Takahide. Here we can see that there’s just a step from hate to love.

[Ariz · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has cliche moments, but it's part of the plot. I really enjoyed it. I think the characters have a lot of potential. I think it's sweet that they're learning together to take things at their own pace.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

The hero's dead-eyed look pulls this down for me, but the story is fun.

[Alexia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rough start, but the ending was pretty cute.

[rads · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

[Linda]

A good start. There’s a great scene by the window curtain. Also like the chapter of Amano going all out that was funny.

[Cheyenne Davey · Rating 4 out of 5]

cute and fun manga! really enjoy their slowly budding love and the cute back and forth

[DonutKnow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awww so cute, and they are a lot more honest with their feelings which is nice 🥰

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite enjoyable and endearing ❤️
I might read the 2nd volume someday.