Title: How to Love a Loser Vol. 1
Author: Iwaba
Publisher: Yen Press
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 184
Genre: Slice-of-Life, Comedy, Drama, Romance
Publication Date: March 24, 2026
The Story
Shinba is a loser… like a total loser. He quit his job after two years of verbal abuse from his boss, and everything he tries to do, he ends up screwing up. People like him are seen as the dregs of society, and yet, he has a girlfriend named Hizumi who sticks with him no matter what. It sounds like a wholesome relationship, except it isn’t. For an unexplained reason, Hizumi continues to date Shiba while reminding him of what a loser he is. Whenever he does anything to try to improve himself or impress her, she viciously shoots it down and makes him feel small and insignificant, only to follow it up with just enough kindness to keep him around.
This is seen throughout the volume as the chapters bounce between episodic adventures while maintaining an overarching story. From going to see a movie together, to going to Nezumi Park, to even going clothes shopping because he tried to impress her (and failing) by being fashionable, Shnba tries and tries, but no matter how many times he fails, he still holds onto that determination to try and improve himself.
This eventually leads him to seek part-time work, but the ending to our first volume shows that his string of bad luck is about to continue!
The Characters
Shinba… how can you not feel sorry for this kid? He knows that he’s a loser, and he knows that he’s not good at anything in life, but all he wants to do is not be a loser anymore. When you look at it on the surface, it’s highly admirable that he wants to change and become someone that people can be proud of. He’s tired of making mistakes all the time, and he feels that with every mistake he makes, he’s falling further and further down the hole with no way to climb back out. What makes matters worse is his girlfriend, who both discourages and encourages him. She’s fine with him the way that he is, but in one chapter, he got sick, and when he fell asleep, she stayed, which was cute, but when he woke up, she admitted that she stayed because it looked like he was about to die, and she wanted to stick around and see his death with her own eyes.
And the poor guy just takes it. Of course, he doesn’t truly accept her words, as each time she’s super blunt and vicious like that, it hurts him to his very core, but then when she says something sweet right after, it’s as if all of that is easily forgotten. Still, all of her harsh reprimands cause him to stay in a constant cycle of screwing up and apologizing. It’s as if he’s not being given any breathing room to grow and improve because every time he tries, she says something, and it discourages him from even trying to do something nice. But this is where his strong will kicks in because no matter how many times he’s made to feel stupid for doing anything, he keeps trying all. After all, he doesn’t want to lose the love that he has for her.
As for Hizumi, I can’t figure out what she wants out of Shinba. I mean, there is that vague feeling that she’s not taking pity on him and that there is something about dating a loser that gets her off. Maybe she likes being in that protective and caring role? Whatever it is, the fact that she cuts deeply into him with her words is kind of cruel. That’s the part that makes you second-guess what her true motivations are for this relationship. There is one thing that we did learn about her, though, and it may offer a clue as to the deeper reason behind her dating him… and that’s she hates having her picture taken. She doesn’t like looking at herself, so that tells me something must have happened to her in the past, and that caused her to change. Maybe she used to be like Shinba, and for some reason, she sticks with him because having him stay a loser reminds her of how she used to be?
I don’t know for sure, but that’s just an educated guess here. Nevertheless, it does bother me that she tears him down so often, though. Forgetting that manga is a form of entertainment and looking at this through a lens of reality, unless someone was truly desperate for love and attention, I can’t see any reason why anyone would stay with a girl like her. To be strung along with kind words only to be told harsh stuff like she was watching to see if you’d die in your sleep, or to put you down for getting her a cheap ring as a symbol of your love, or to be verbally destroyed for trying to show off your epic gaming skills to her, or being put down for practicing for a song that meant a lot to you and singing it for her a karaoke… that’s just too much.
Final Thoughts
Uncomfortable.
That’s how I felt reading this manga, but I don’t mean I felt uncomfortable, personally. I meant that I felt uncomfortable for Shinba because that’s how I imagined him being on every page of this volume. To see a poor kid try and try and try some more, only to be shot down by his so-called girlfriend, created this uncomfortable aura around the entire story… and that’s exactly why I loved this first volume. The scenes in this manga are supposed to invoke laughs and comedy… like you’re supposed to laugh at Shinba’s pathetic attempts to impress Hizumi; however, the opposite happens. It reads more like a drama where you have this 20-year-old kid fresh off of quitting his job, feeling like nothing he does in life matters, trying to hang onto the one thing that’s keeping him together… the love of a girl who sticks with him for some odd reason. You see the desperation in his eyes to keep her around because it’s his form of validation, because he knows without her, he has absolutely nothing left.
That’s why he tries… but he’s a loser, so he keeps failing. Those failures are supposed to be the comedic part of this rom-com, but it’s not. They’re cries for help… cries for attention… cries for acceptance, and it’s really sad to watch him fail over and over again. Then you have Hizumi, who is supposed to be supportive as a girlfriend, cutting him down verbally every time he tries to do anything remotely to impress her and become the man that he feels that she deserves. He’s putting genuine effort into improving himself, so he can stop being a loser, and he’s getting shot down every step of the way.
The one thing this manga excels at is invoking emotions within the reader. Typically, a story like this is just for laughs, but it does something way more than that. It makes you feel in ways not a lot of manga can. It forces a deeper connection to the characters, especially Shinba.
Because of that, manga like this tend to leave lasting impressions, and while it’s still early in the year, this could be a Manga of the Year contender for me if it continues to hold this quality and build off of what it set up here in the first volume. Thanks to the way it ended, I can tell that the story is going to evolve and not just stay in this episodic format, which is a good thing. Getting that established right out of the gate is a smart move, so that tells me that this series knows where it wants to go. I want to see more with Shinba… I want to see him keep trying. I want to know why Hizumi sticks with him, why she hates having her picture taken, and why she cuts him down so harshly.
It’s like a train wreck. You feel horrible for those involved in it, but you just need to keep looking… and I mean that in a good way. So far, an excellent start! Can’t wait to check out more!
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This item was provided for review by Yen Press.
