Achève-moi - tome 1

いっそあなたがトドメを刺して [Isso Anata ga Todome wo Sashite] #1

by Megumu Seto, Mathilde VAILLANT (Translator)

Elle veut une histoire sérieuse mais lui, pas vraiment... qui craquera en premier ?

"Je veux que tu continues à sourire"

Ichika, étudiante à l'université, aimerait vivre une vraie histoire d'amour. Or, elle est souvent considérée comme superficielle à cause de son apparence jugée tape-à-l'œil. Lors d'une soirée, elle rencontre Kôsei, un garçon gentil avec qui elle partage les mêmes passions. Au fur et à mesure, Ichika tombe sous le charme de Kôsei, qui l'apprécie pour qui elle est vraiment. Mais celui-ci cache un secret ! Découvrez le début de cette histoire d'amour qui s'annonce plus que compliquée !

Genres: Manga, Romance, Comics, Shojo, Graphic Novels, Josei, Adult

168 pages, Paperback

Published September 11, 2025

Reviews

[DianaRose]

firstly, thank you to the publisher for an arc!

4.5 stars — you might as well be the one is ultimately a gender swapped 500 days of summer, except in manga form. i am interested in seeing where this goes, so i’ll be continuing the series to see how sanari’s and nakajo’s relationship develops, but i have a feeling nakajo won’t wait for sanari to change…

[Jen]

My thanks to NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for an eARC of this book to read and review.

I'm tired of unhealthy, toxic relationships where the female MC decides to pursue someone who clearly doesn't want the same thing she wants in a relationship. Ie-she wants commitment and he wants to play the field. The MC h here starts out as a decently strong character, with a clear understanding of who she is and what she wants, but then she meet the MC H and loses her sense of self and self-respect, chasing him around like a dog in heat and getting jealous, when he is rather clear that what he wants isn't what she wants.

Girl, get over it. He's a man-child/has baggage that your love won't magically fix. Stop banging your head into a wall and find someone better.

Unfortunately, this is true to life for a lot of women, but I'm tired of seeing it in fiction. Yes, healthy relationships aren't as drama-filled for books/movies/tv shows, but it might be less damaging to those who ingest it.

DNF at 21% because I didn't want to see this continue to spiral.

1, the message wasn't working for me why can't we have healthy relationships showcased, star.

[Curious Madra]

Honestly was really really frustrated with this romance manga. FL is yearning badly for ML to like her back but he keeps ducking and dodging with her feelings. It just was painful enough to read the rest of this manga because from beginning to end of volume 1, it’s just so full of desperation and cringe…

Got this manga via netgalley and publisher for free.

[Bibliothecat]

Thank you Kodansha for providing me with the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This review is for volume 1 only.

Ichika is on the lookout for a boyfriend. Instead, she meets and befriends Kosei - the two get along really well Ichika begins to develop feelings for him. Kosei, however, doesn't do serious relationships and offers they can be friends or casual lovers. Ichika only wants a serious relationship but agrees to remain friends.

The art is really pretty, I actually like the inside art more than the covers. I think this is off on a good start - both characters seem quite mature and likeable in their own way. They do really have good chemistry and I appreciate that Kosei is upfront about not wanting a serious relationship. Ichika is also a nice main character with a good portion of confidence, I like that she's got fairly specific standards. Because they agree to be friends and are both upfront on how they feel about things, this does dip into a bit of an angsty territory with blurred lines between friendship and more. At this stage, I would like to continue following their story, I think the main thing would really be how long this series ends up becoming as I can also see this turning into a bit of a drawn out slog. Fingers crossed!

[Mark]

[Thanks to Netgalley and Kodansha for an ARC of this manga in exchange for an unbiased review.]

This isn’t a bad title, but it is a bit wanting in a couple of places in ways that stuck under my craw, which means I’m going to be a little hard on it. I can see this being a pretty divisive title too.

Ichika’s trying to find a decent guy and thinks she’s found one in Kosei. He, however, would be much happier fooling around than settling down and has several female friends who agree. The stage is thus set for this series.

The best part of the story is the opening mixer where Ichika and Kosei meet and start bonding. Their chemistry is pretty much instantaneous and they make for such a compelling pair together. There’s no question of why the two of them would make a great couple.

I especially found Ichika to be a fantastic character. The confidence she carries herself with and the way she dresses how she wants and enjoys her height? All great traits and she makes a killer first impression.

Kosei’s fine. Your tolerance for him is going to be down to how you feel about his casual attitude towards his dating, but, for me, as long as everybody’s on the same page then there isn’t anything wrong with that. Yeah, he could tell Ichika sooner about his disposition, but at least he does.

What really made me lose some of my fondness for this was that, as the story goes on, it really feels like Ichika is getting less and less confident the more she falls for Kosei. That’s maybe believable, given his flat rejection, but it throttles her as a character.

The idea that these two would become friends isn’t crazy, they get along really well, nor is it implausible that they would keep being friends after Kosei comes clean about things. That dynamic is believably awkward.

A romance about two people who want two different things isn’t bad, I just fault the execution a little. It would have been nice if Ichika didn’t suddenly decide she needed to change to find a guy, but you could argue that that’s a negative consequence from her friendship with Kosei and her string of previous failures.

It would have helped if Kosei’s side of things was more developed as well. Between some of his actions and words it seems like there’s maybe something behind his attitude - not that there has to be - and getting to that sooner would definitely make him seem less like he’s just making Ichika weaker.

Such a strong female character deserves slightly better than to become a ball of nerves over a guy, no matter how many moments they have together. It’s not that I was opposed to this, but I feel it could have been done a bit better. I’m just happier when being in love actually makes people stronger and that doesn’t feel the case here.

3 stars - I’ll definitely check out the next volume, but I would say that I understand why some people just can’t with Kosei. If what I’ve described makes him sound like a jerk, you might want to avoid this one.

[Mella aka Maron]

So this manga was pretty cute but goodness, this guy is a major red flag. 🚩 I don’t like him at all; his insistence that she’s too good for him… She really needs to move on and find a man who respects her more.

Still, it was a fun read and I liked the FMC quite a lot!

[Skirmantė]

The art style was really cute, and I really liked the FMC - she's strong and interesting.

The MMC is such a playboy and a major red flag. Honestly, the girl should run, though he's kind of hot?? lol

Overall, this was a fun read, and I'm curious to see what happens next.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

[Anni K. Mars]

mega mega süß! erinnert mich vom zeichenstil manchmal an ai yazawa. Ich weiß nur nicht, wie lange man eine Reihe mit so einem Thema ziehen kann. hoffe, das wird nicht so endlos und so ein hin und her.

[Emma]

J’adore ! Ichika est très attachante j’ai trop hâte de découvrir la suite + le style graphique est très mimi 🥰

[Emylia]

ML is a very smartly written character, giving the FL the last word without actually doing it. He's fully aware that he's not really rejecting her, and that glimpse of hope is what keeps the "I can fix him" thought in the FL head.

He hangs out with her and dates her without a label, all the while knowing she's attracted to him. He mentions the friends with benefit (FWB) thing to assert that he will only accept this aside from friendship, which will make her more desperate for more. He gives her options to give her the illusion of choice. He shows self-control from not pouncing on her to tantalize her. I am not 100% sure about this, but IRL his actions look purely manipulative. He's definitely a red flag for me. In real life, this is not a red flag, is a red freaking wall, but this is manga universe so go gurl.

Unhealthy and destructive.. It hurts so bad, yet i like reading these stuff lol. Angst college modern romance is why I’m even alive.

[Rebecca]

Ichika has had enough bad luck with men that she's ready to find someone serious. Kosei is not that guy - but he sure is perfect in all other ways. They have a great friendship, but is there really no hope for something more?

You'd have to ask Kosei, and I'm honestly not sure he could give you an answer - he clearly likes Ichika in a way that feels more than friends, but he's also an avowed casual, situationship kind of guy, and he repeatedly tells Ichika that she can and should do better than him. I feel like there's something more going on with him, and that's enough for me to keep reading even if I wasn't a sucker for a josei romance.

Bonus: when she tells him "no," he stops. Immediately. More male leads should learn that trick.

[Kadi P]

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.*

The art was great, it looked just like a number of other romance manga I’ve read. The protagonist is what sets this manga apart from other romance manga.

I loved that the protagonist had integrity because often protagonists in these romance manga lose their values when they fall in love, but the protagonist was clear what she wanted and she stuck to it even when she had a golden opportunity to be with the love interest by any means necessary.

I didn’t hate the love interest. I didn’t particularly like him either, but I got the feeling that there was more to his characterisation that first met the eye. It’s likely that his backstory will reveal some sort of daddy issues or trauma which causes him to have commitment issues which is why he doesn’t want to commit to a relationship with the protagonist despite the fact that he clearly likes her as much as the protagonist likes him. Still, the friends to lover trope is an interesting angle you don’t often see in josei manga and pushing that angle does make this manga feel more fresh whilst recycling the same environments of summer festivals, etc that every manga has. Next they’ll surely be having a summer trip with friends.

Seeing the will they-won’t they tense atmosphere throughout this volume is enticing, especially because they’ve flipped the script by having it so that the mysteriousness of the love interest acts as the barrier rather than the protagonist rejecting the love interest. If there’s more of that to come, I’d be interested to see it…

[Ankit Saxena]

This Vol. #1 is a tender and quietly engaging manga from the series of 'You Might as well be the One' that finds its charm in the awkwardness, uncertainty and emotional turbulence of young love. Megumu Seto creates characters who feel refreshingly human—imperfect, hesitant, sometimes confusing, yet easy to root for. The romance develops through small gestures, misunderstandings, fleeting moments of vulnerability and the kind of emotional tension that makes teenage relationships both beautiful and complicated.

What I particularly enjoyed was the balance between sweetness and emotional realism. The story does not rush to turn every interaction into a dramatic romantic revelation; instead, it allows feelings to gradually take shape. The artwork complements this wonderfully, capturing expressions and subtle changes in the characters' relationships with considerable warmth. However, at some points the shocking expressions on Ichika's face were very badly designed. The translation by Miryll Ihrens help reads naturally and keeps the conversations flowing without feeling overly stiff.

Nevertheless, the first volume occasionally feels like it is laying the groundwork rather than fully exploring the emotional possibilities of its premise. Some character dynamics could have been given more depth, and certain moments feel as though they end just when they are beginning to become genuinely compelling. Still, there is enough chemistry, tenderness and narrative potential here to make the next volume worth picking up.

A charming, heartfelt beginning to what promises to be a beautifully complicated romance.

My NetGalley review

[Minna]

Thank you to NetGalley, Kodansha, and to the author/artist for the opportunity to read an ARC of this title. An honest review was requested but not required.

Loved this, the entire vibe of helplessly falling for someone you KNOW is not good for you is so painfully familiar. I've definitely been there. You wish you could pick and choose these feelings but sometimes they just take place, anyways. Ichika is trying hard to find someone serious but the heart wants what it wants, and it definitely wants Kohei. To be fair, Kohei is also sending some serious mixed signals so you can't blame the girl for being conflicted.

I will definitely pick up book 2 to see what happens because now I'm fully invested.

[bailey elizabeth smith]

2⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Love the main girl! SAVE YOURSELF AND RUN AWAY. YOU’RE TOO GOOD FOR HIM; HE SUCKS!!!!!!!!!! He is just toying with your feelings, and it was completely unfair. Just because he's being honest, it doesn't excuse him from simply being a bad person.

[Mary]

Oddio mi sono innamorata di questa storia e questi disegni💙

Questo manga promette molto bene, è infatti realistico e maturo, non solo perché ambientato all’università ma anche per il modo in cui si approcciano i due protagonisti.
Nonostante rimanga semplice e leggero in stile “slice of life”, l’ho trovato davvero originale perché ha un qualcosa di diverso dagli altri.
Me lo aspettavo più slow burn ma mi è piaciuto davvero tanto comunque, ho adorato il tipo di narrazione e i protagonisti.

[Yolanda Galiana]

First of all, thanks NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for the opportunity to read an ARC of this story.

I love starting new manga series and watch the romance develop volume after volumen, so I was excited when I saw this one in NetGalley. Its synopsis caught my attention, since I like a good friends-to-lovers storyline. Unfortunately, «You Might As Well Be The One» didn’t live up to my expectations.

I’ll start by saying what I really loved: Megumu Seto’s style. The author has a really nice way of drawing her characters. I specially fell in love with Ichika’s looking and expressions, I connected with her immediately. It didn’t happen that way with Kosei, who I found annoying and quite plain.

Ichiko is looking for love, she’s tired of boys who don’t commit so now she’s searching for a forever love, someone who will stay. She meets Kosei and she connects with him instantly. They become friends, they have a lot of things in common and their bond grows stronger. She starts falling in love with him, but he’s clear that he doesn’t want a relationship, he wants to keep things casual with the girls he’s meeting. Everything would be fine for me if it wasn’t because he plays with her and her feelings; he knows she’s into him —she talks and is open about it— and he keeps rejecting her BUT doesn’t stop being ambiguous, doesn’t stop being close to her, doing gestures... He doesn’t let her be. He wants everything, all at once, but without commitment and that doesn’t sit well with me since he knows her situation, what she wants and what she needs. I didn’t really feel the connection between those two, their relationship is too one-sided for my liking.

This story wasn’t for me but it kept me entertained for a few hours. I hope that he changes through the next volumes and stops playing with her, I really think she deserves it —although the best ending for this story, for me, would be for her to find someone else, someone worthy of her love—.

[Jack Goff]

I really enjoyed this! Our main character Nakajo is frustrated trying to find a boyfriend. She’s tried matchmaking mixers and all the apps and nothing seems to be working. That is until she meets Sanari at one of her matchmaking parties. He seems to be perfect for her. Funny, down to earth, and easy to talk to. The problem? He doesn’t want a serious relationship. So, instead, they decide to be friends. Which would be great if Nakajo didn’t have all of these confusing feelings for him.

I love a good slice of life romance. This was so fun and nice to read. I can see the makings of a really good slow burn here with lots of pining. Sign me up. The characters are fun and relatable, and I love their chemistry. They’re so cute together. My only small gripe is that I wish we got more about Sanari’s character. There is a bonus mini scene at the end (no spoilers) where he talks about how he doesn’t get social media and Nakajo tells him just to send her the pictures he wants to post. He sends her a picture of a cool bug he finds, and it is so cute. I want more stuff like that! More little things to fill out his character more.

But this is just the first volume. We’ll probably learn more about him as we go, and maybe that’s part of the point, since Nakajo is also trying to weedle information out of him.

Thanks so much to Kodansha and NetGalley for the DRC!!!

[Mary]

3.5 ⭐️

I like the art a lot. I really like that our fmc is confident, dresses how she wants to, and doesn’t let comments about her height bother her. This series has a lot of potential, I like that both of the main characters seem to be mature and know what they want/don’t want. I am worried that our fmc won’t wait for our mmc to be ready for a serious relationship and that might ruin it a little bit for me. While he was upfront about wanting a casual relationship, it also feels like he is leading her on a little bit (letting her be the one to turn down his offer, telling her she’s too good for him, holding her hand, etc.) I’m hoping it doesn’t become too angsty. I do like the chemistry between the main characters and I like that they’re becoming friends.

I’m not a huge fan of slice of life romances because the pacing always feels a little weird to me with things moving really fast.

I’m really interested in seeing where Nakajo and Sanari’s relationship goes. I’m curious about learning more about our mmc and why he doesn’t want a serious relationship.

Thanks to Kodansha and Edelweiss for the ARC! All thoughts are my own.

[Morally_Gray_Nola]

YOU MIGHT AS WELL BE THE ONE is bittersweet chocolate with sweet morsels blended in. Itchika craves loving someone & being loved back—to the point of desperation. Kosei likes lovin’, but it’s the casual kind, the no strings attached kind, the opposite of what his good friend Itchika needs.

I liked this black & white comic. The attention to detail in the line drawing is fantastic. It took me a minute to realize I needed to read the captions in the columns from right to left—once I got that straight, I thought it was a great YA comic, full of emotion, friendship, and mixed signals. I am looking forward to #2!

You Might As Well Be the One
Pages: 177
Author: Kondansha Comics
Publication Date: 8/11/2026
Review site: NetGalley

MMC:
✨Kosei Sanari
FMC:
✨Itchika
HEA/CLIFFHANGER:
✨to be continued, cliffhanger

*** Recommended ***

Thank you NetGalley, Megumu Seto, and Kodansha comics for this ARC.

[αɳɳαɓεℓℓε]

*This book was an arc from NetGalley.*

This was a very cute read. However, I didn’t like the two characters very much. It’s too fast-paced, with time skips I was unaware of. In the first few chapters, we meet Kosei, the romantic interest. Ichika, the female main character, who supposedly wants a long-term relationship, becomes attracted to Kosei almost immediately. Somehow they already have each other’s numbers and are friends and casually texting by the next ten or so pages???

Ichika also becomes too into Kosei and it’s not how I thought or read about her character so I was a bit disappointed. I thought I was heading into a story where the female lead is searching for love and a long-term relationship instead of crushing on a boy she has just met on, like, the very first page! It was basically all Ichika desperate for Kosei to like her back. Incredibly cringy for a college romance. It was very frustrating for me.

[Snail]

Terrible.
The “development” of the story felt so jerky; simultaneously too fast AND too slow.
I had no attachment to either character at all.

The writing was disjointed, the main character felt both shallow and inconsistent, unable to be honest with herself. Even she knows it’s a bad idea to fall for Playboy, and that he isn’t going to change. HE knows he isn’t going to change. Maybe the only redeeming quality is that at least he’s honest and straight forward about what he wants (no serious relationships). The fact that this looks like it’s building up to be a story about her trying to change him is also kind of boring and upsetting in its own right. Seems tedious, potentially heartbreaking (if I cared about either character). A lot of drama for no good reason at all.

It’s too bad because I do like the art.

If the second volume somehow gets way better, please let me know, I guess…

Art: ★★★★⭐︎
Plot: ★⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎
Characters: ★⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎

[Chydie]

Ce style de shojo romance, c’est soit tu finis par apprécier fortement en lisant la suite… Soit t’es juste déçu et tu DNF aussi rapidement que tu l’as attrapé en rayon.
Pour une raison qui m’échappe… Je le sens bien pour la suite, j’attendrais donc la sortie du second volume pour vous en dire des nouvelles.

Mon avis est très mitigé… Autant j’aime les histoires d’amours semées d’embûches, parfois avec des débuts catastrophiques, remplis de dramas,…
Mais je ne trouve pas le MC particulièrement beau… Après ça c’est un détail, honnêtement osef.
Je trouve aussi que Sanari supplie TROP omg… Let that man go. Y’a trop d’hommes sur terre pour qu’une serial loveuse reste acharné sur un gars qui lui fait comprendre maintes et maintes fois qu’elle mérite mieux lui #leçon

Je sens du potentiel, mais on verra avec la suite…

[BreAnna (Bre'sBooks)]

**ARC provided by NetGalley for honest review**

You Might As Well Be the One, Volume 1 by Megumu Seto follows a female college student as she tries again and again to find a nice, normal boyfriend. As soon as she finally finds a guy who gets her and is super sweet, she learns he's a player and only wants casual relationships! Somehow, she still can't stop her heart from falling for him, though. This was just okay for me. I really wanted to love this, but I thought the female lead was being way too naive for a college student. Why would she put herself in a situation where she would only get heartbroken?? Towards the end of the volume, it did kinda hint at the male lead reacting to her feelings a bit, but I'm still not on board for drama if that's what this series turns into.

[Becky (romantic_pursuing_feels)]

I love the artwork in this one! This had humor and sweetness and hints of something amazing.

but it also has a hero I just can't like yet.

I'm curious about where this will go - I want my heroes all in when I read romance so I found myself struggling with that aspect. But I adored the art and like how they are getting to be good friends first. I am curious enough to keep going with this series!

The finger touch was my fave part! I love that stuff 🥹

[Awesome Ashley Renee]

I really love this series so far! I absolutely love the art style and I honestly really like both main characters. Kosei feels like he's not a great person but I feel like he's super sweet 😂 and what ichika is going through is pretty relatable. This girl just wants to be in love and feel loved but the guys around seem to just want her for superficial reasons. I'm super excited for the next volume!

Thank you so much NetGalley and Kodansha for the review copy.

[Vendea]

Thanks to publisher and Netgalley for providing eARC in exchange of honest review.

I am a sucker for a college romance in manga. In any form. That's why I immediately picked up You Might As Well Be the One. It is my first time reading anything from Megumu Seto but I was very pleasantly surprised. The art reminded me of some of my other favorite authors. It was clean, cute and well drawn - anything you could wish for in this genre.

The story itself is nothing complicated. Ichika would like to find a boyfriend and date seriously. It was always hard thanks to her flashy appearance. She tries a mixer and to her surprise, she immediately clicks with Kosei. Starting as friends, she thinks she finally found someone who gets her and starts falling for him. But what a surprise - Kosei doesn't want to commit, he only wants sex. What could go wrong?

I usually can't stand Ichika's type of FMCs. I am surprised I haven't felt like that with her at all. I rooted for her and some of the misunderstandings were truly hilarious. Her chemistry with Kosei is right there and I hope he'll fall for her soon.

This is a perfect read for any lover of college romances with cute art and pretty characters.

4/5 stars

[Brittany]

ARC from NetGalley

The art style for this manga is absolutely stunning. I truly love the character designs. The story, however, was not that great. The characters are in college and this felt like a typical high school story with a playboy. The romance is not there for me so I think this story needed more plot.

[read with kath ✿]

I like Josei, the relationship is too realistic (situationships) and the plot is really interesting. There’s so much angst and the ML is so flawed — I think it’s nice. But if I was her friend, I would have to pray hard and smack the out of her to tell her to move on! 😕🙏🏻

[pining.deciduous]

I'm a sucker for love triangles and drama when I read manga. This had the classical Playboy with sweet girl bff and they're navigation through dating. Art was awesome, reminded me of how peach girl was drawn.