Title: I Made Friends with the 2nd Prettiest Girl in My Class Vol. 1
Author: Rin Ono, Takata (Original Story), Azuri Hyuga (Characters)
Publisher: Yen Press
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 196
Genre: Slice-of-Life, Romance, Comedy
Publication Date: July 1, 2025
The Story
Maki Maehara is a loner. He doesn’t interact with anyone all that much and spends most of his time watching B-movies, eating pizza, and playing video games. At the start of the school year, he transfers to a school where he is put into a class with two popular girls, Yuu Amami and Umi Asanagi, the latter of whom is considered the second prettiest girl in the entire class.
Six months after giving their introductions, Umi works up the courage to talk to Maki. She confesses that she’s interested in him because they share similar interests, but she’s been keeping those interests a secret from Yuu because she’s afraid of being made fun of for liking things that are not becoming of someone like Yuu and her friends. She asks Maki if they can be friends, but Maki knows how people view him at school. Because everyone sees him as weird and a loner, he agrees to be Umi’s friend on the condition that they keep their friendship a secret from everyone.
Things get complicated when Umi gets confessed to and Maki overhears it… as does Yuu. In order to keep the fact that they were eavesdropping a secret, Yuu gives Maki her contact information without even asking for it. As their friendship progresses, Umi wants to take Maki out someplace, but he’s a bit apprehensive about leaving the house. They go to a game center when Maki runs into Yuu and a group of her friends while Umi is in the restroom. The interaction between them leaves Umi a bit hurt, so as a way to apologize, she wants to talk to Maki alone; however, Umi ends up getting dragged into it.
Our first volume ends with Yuu asking a question that could put a serious damper on Maki and Umi’s secret friendship!
Characters
Our first character is Maki Maehara. While he is a loner, it’s not like he enjoys being alone. He wishes that he could have a friend he could share his interests with; however, with the way people view him, he knows that having a friend would only cause problems for them, so it’s a forced choice to remain alone. Even though he feels that way, he still accepts Umi’s offer to become friends because he wants to fulfill that void inside of himself. As they continue to hang out, you can see how happy he becomes knowing that he finally has a friend, even if he doesn’t outwardly show it. There is one moment at the end of the book where he indirectly tells Umi how he truly feels about her friendship, which confirms all of his actions and thoughts up until that point. He’s also very protective of that friendship because he doesn’t want to lose it, but he also doesn’t want anyone to find out because he has a fear that they would get ridiculed and looked down upon just by being friends with him.
Maki is a character that you just want to pull aside and give a hug to. He tries so hard to be harmless by staying out of everyone’s way, but he wishes it didn’t have to be that way. When he meets Umi, you can see the apprehension because he knows what might happen if people find out they are associating with someone like himself, but you also see the hope in his eyes that he may finally get to have something that he has been longing for all this time.
The same could be said for Umi. She’s a pretty popular girl, and because of her popularity and good looks, she’s often asked out by a bunch of guys. She rejects them all because she knows that there is more to her life than being popular. Even though that “something more” is only about a year old. She only just started getting into things like video games and B-movies by borrowing stuff from her brother. Between trying to keep up appearances with Yuu and her friends, she hasn’t had much time to truly enjoy her newfound hobbies with someone else… especially with Yuu and her friends not having the same interests as her. That’s why when she discovers Maki, it’s like a breath of fresh air. Hanging with him brings her a lot of joy as it’s just this incredible outlet where she can put the popular life aside and just be herself.
It’s nothing new in terms of a character, as we’ve seen it before, but for some reason, Maki and Umi just feel so natural to one another. Nothing about them is over-the-top. They are just two characters who want to find something with one another and have that outlet to break out of their shells. They are content with just keeping it to themselves, too. Nobody has to know about it… as long as they can spend time together and enjoy the things they like in private, that’s all that matters. The only downfall is that Umi is more of the social type and loves to be active, which is why she drags Maki out of the house and goes to the game center. While there is nothing wrong with that at all, in Maki’s case, that could lead to them eventually being discovered, which is his greatest fear. It’s a great dynamic that’s pretty simple, not too contrived, and just feels natural!
Lastly, we have Yuu Amami, who is the friendly, popular girl type. Rather than just being a stuck-up snob who relishes in her popularity, she is a laid-back, down-to-earth type of popular girl. She’s energetic, happy, and just radiates positivity, but she has a genuine care for her friends, which is something of a rare type amongst the popular girl trope. Typically, a popular girl’s friends would be stuck up, bullyish, and would generally look down on those lesser than them, but Yuu treats everyone kindly and equally. She doesn’t seem to care much that Maki is a loner and even approaches him with a big group of people. She even goes so far as to invite him to hang out. The thing is, though, I feel that her group of friends (not many were named or properly introduced) are just a bunch of “Yes Men” because they seem to just go along with everything that she says, even if she doesn’t intend for them to do so.
Final Thoughts
I really enjoyed this first volume! I’m a sucker for the loner gets the girl type of romance stories and this one doesn’t hit you with the relationship stuff straight out of the gate. It starts things off on a friendship level and prefers to let things build slowly and naturally. Of course, there are some things about the story that are painfully obvious that even Ray Charles can see coming.
The first thing is that Yuu is going to find out about Umi and Maki’s friendship. Ever since she got involved and gave Maki her number, you knew it was going to happen. In a story like this, Yuu’s main job is probably going to be the role of the cheerleader, along with the one who will nudge Maki out of his shell. I can’t see her being anything more than that; however, the series COULD take an unexpected approach and keep the relationship a secret for a lot longer. Yuu will eventually figure things out, but some good comedy could come from her being kept in the dark. Whether or not this is the type of series that will draw it out remains to be seen.
The second thing is that Maki is eventually going to become popular. Even though there are those taking behind his back, if, and I do mean if, I was wrong about Yuu’s group of friends and they were truly okay with wanting to hang out with Maki, then it just means that Maki was wrong to assume that his loneliness had to be that way this entire time. This could be the moment he breaks out of his shell and becomes a part of a bigger group. Of course, when that happens, the dominoes will fall, and people will stop talking about him. That typically happens when the popular kid takes a chance and befriends the loner. I have a feeling that’s what will happen here, and Yuu will be the catalyst for all that.
Lastly, Maki and Umi will date. You can already see the makings of it in the first volume, as there are certain moments where Umi felt threatened whenever Maki had any sort of attention placed on him. Even though she openly told the boy who confessed that she wasn’t interested in relationship stuff “at this time,” she never said she wasn’t interested in that stuff at all. This means that there is plenty of room for Maki to enter her heart, and judging from the joy she experiences when she’s with him, and some of her facial expressions, I’d say he’s already nudged himself in there.
So, even though this series is pretty predictable, I don’t care because the first volume was very well-written. It clearly established the characters, what to expect out of this series, and the whole geek culture premise that encompasses everything is right up my alley. If you’re looking for a cute, yet down-to-earth rom-com with some geek stuff thrown in, this is surely going to be a series you’ll want to pick up!
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