Akira Failing in Love, Vol. 4

百瀬アキラの初恋破綻中。 [Momose Akira no Hatsukoi Hatanchuu.] #4

by Shinta Harekawa

純粋で、健気で、愛おしい2人の…夏です。

既刊全巻 緊急大重版&
「次にくるマンガ大賞 2025」ノミネート中!
今 1番尊い 純愛ラブコメ…
高鳴る夏が、始まります。

今巻は…『名探偵コナン』』『YAIBA』の
青山剛昌先生の推薦コメント&
描き下ろしイラストも(初版帯に掲載です)!

ド田舎の少年・久我山はじめの元に帰ってきた、
かつての憧れの同級生・百瀬アキラ――
実は彼女は、大好きなはじめと結ばれるため、
周到な計画を立てて帰ってきていた!!
が!抜けてる2人の恋は…すれ違いの連続!

百瀬さんの恋愛計画が詰まった「台本」を、
はじめが発見!?
そして…百瀬さんたちと海に訪れたはじめ。
迎えた大きな転機と、固めた決意。
強く一歩踏み出して、夏を駆け抜けます。

【編集担当からのおすすめ情報】
人気爆発中のドタバタラブコメ…4巻です!
本誌掲載時にアンケートで大反響だった
「海編」を収録!

そして今巻は…
青山剛昌先生が熱くご推薦くださいました!
さらにはなんと!ご厚意で
百瀬さんのイラストを特別に描き下ろしてくださいました!!
初版帯にてどうぞお確かめを!

Genres: Manga

192 pages, Paperback

First published September 18, 2025

Reviews

[Ida]

This might be my favourite volume so far? As I've stated in reviews to previous ones, what I like about this series is: artwork, the mix of romance and comedy, and just the general feeling of lightheartedness it gives me. Especially reading this volume in July, where our characters begin their summer holidays, was a cherry on top! What I particularly liked here was that on top of the usual chaos caused by Akira and Kugayama's obliviousness, we're getting more of the story. More is happening so you never grow bored of the mishaps and instead just laugh about them! Cultural festivals and aspects of countryside living that are woven seamlessly into the story let you learn in a way that doesn't feel like learning.

P.S.: THAT ENDING WAS PERFECT

Thank you to VIZ Media, Shinta Harekawa and Edelweiss for providing me with this eARC. 百瀬アキラの初恋破綻中。 4 aka "Akira Falling in Love, Vol.4" will be out 8th of October 2026!

[Mark]

[Thanks to Viz and Edelweiss for a copy of this manga in exchange for an unbiased review.]

His hairstyle is just bed head… or is he deliberately committing fashion crime?

My tolerance for wacky is very fickle and frequently fleeting, but I have to admit that this series manages to mix comedy, romance, and the expected fan service in a way that has really gelled for me.

Oh, it can be super dumb at times - the way Akira wiggles out of the situation she landed in at the end of last volume is ridiculous and Hajime proves that he is super dense by even vaguely entertaining the notion she presents.

I do think that its genuine heartfelt thread of young love really helps. Both Hajime and Akira are unabashedly in love, but they’re just so bad at it (see: series title). it subsequently makes the big wins feel earned - the ending of this volume lacks crazy surprises, but it’s incredibly sweet.

Of course, there’s also that dumb humour and a lot of it really worked this volume. The chapter with the overzealous and less-than-helpful police officer keeps taking turn after turn and really piles on the gags.

Hajime also somehow gets roped into helping out at Akira’s inn, which lets Akira’s cousin try to help things along while learning a valuable lesson. Not before slamming Akira’s taste in boys relentlessly, of course.

This section was really fun because it shows Akira being super efficient and amazingly skilled at running the inn, which is a welcome change from her typical flustered nature and gives some welcome depth. It also brings back the running gag of Hajime being coated in inn branded merchandise, which is so random and I absolutely love.

The last big section opts to take things to the beach and everything you expect to happen does, in fact, happen. It’s pretty funny though - Hajime’s friend Riku gets dragged along and he couldn’t be less comfortable amongst actual girls.

Having everybody all in one place, plus a special appearance by the track team captain, makes for a good time and some lazy summer fun. Plus an excuse for the mangaka to draw cute girls in bikinis, naturally.

Then there’s an unexpected hot springs visit where Hajime’s struggle with his feelings, which have been bubbling up all volume, manifests in him trying to ask Akira out. This amusingly parlays one of the series’ other running gags to good effect, plus it lets Riku be a real friend instead of just a joke vector. It works really well.

Which is this series’ whole thing - it just works really well. It doesn’t do anything especially new, but it has a brutally satisfying sense of humour and it has made a couple of hapless dopes so easy to cheer for.

4 stars - one of my favourite rom-coms right now. Nothing especially new, but really, really good at spicing up the usual things we expect from a series like this.

[Maddie]

This is one of only two shounen romance manga that I’m actively keeping up with the new releases for, and it reminded me just how biased I am towards shoujo manga. I originally picked up the series both because I found the art to be beautiful and because I thought Akira was a very cute female lead—I’m shallow, I know. The fact that I ended up vibing with the majority of the comedy was a welcomed surprise, and I’ve been more or less enjoying it ever since.


I struggle to enjoy shounen romances, as I typically am unable to see attractive-to-me qualities in the male leads. This was a problem for me with Akira Failing in Love, as while I could list all of Hajime’s wonderful qualities on paper, I just don’t feel much when I look at him. More than anything I want Akira to have a happy ending, so if it’s Hajime she wants, I have no choice but to root for him as well. This was something I had been feeling more subconsciously while reading, and only made the full realization of wow maybe I really am shallow once I finished reading this volume.

You see, the author shares a few early concepts she had for Hajime prior to officially starting the series at the end of this volume. One such design is described as “He was kind of a downer. Tall with curly hair. And good-looking! Perhaps better for shojo manga…” I found myself thinking why oh why was that design scrapped!? I want that Hajime! Would I be able to truly root for the more handsome, shoujo manga-esque version of the male lead? Perhaps. However I don’t think he would have tied in well with the comedic concept. While I’m not the biggest fan of Hajime, you can’t deny that he’s funny. I really to read a shoujo manga by this mangaka one day!

Overall I enjoyed this volume quite a bit more than the previous two. While it had two recurrences of tropes and over-the-top silliness that I didn’t love, the majority of it was so much fun I just couldn’t help but forgive them.

My favourite comedic bit was when a stoic-looking police officer picked both Akira and Hajime up while they were walking outside. He was hoping to support their blooming romance, but ended up only terrifying the two of them… I really enjoy the characters whose facial expressions and overall appearances don’t match their thoughts and personalities at all!