Title: Kirio Fanclub Vol. 1
Author: Chikyu no Osakana Ponchan
Publisher: Kodansha Comics
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 164
Genre: Slice-of-Life, Comedy, Romance
Publication Date: April 28, 2026
The Story
Aimi and Nami are hopelessly in love with their classmate Kirio, but neither of them possesses the courage to do anything about it. What they do; however, is daydream about scenarios that they can have with him, all while maintaining a healthy competition as to who would get to date him. Of course, one would expect this to be a friendly rivalry filled with laughs and light-hearted moments, right?
Wrong.
This is demented as hell.
From talking about adoring Kirio’s farts and wondering what they would be like at ear-shattering decibel levels, to hopelessly trying to return his jacket, to writing everything they love about him on a blackboard which included his bones of all things, to having imaginary conversations with him in public, to admiring him on the soccer field, or even coming up with excuses to go to the nurse’s office just to lie next to him when his allergies gave him a bloody nose, these two would stop at nothing to achieve their power fantasies… without making any necessary moves to achieve them.
In short, this is the story of two girls hopelessly in love with one boy, who also happen to be best friends with one another, so they just waste their high school days away obsessing over him while keeping their obsession to themselves. After all… nothing says obsession like proclaiming that Kirio loves them back because he wears the number 31 on his soccer uniform, then they go through mathematical and wordplay gymnastics to justify their claim!
Characters
I don’t know if I can truly describe the characters in this series because they are so similar to one another. Both Aimi and Nami love Kirio… they are also best friends… and yet, they spend their entire time going back and forth with banter that is very similar. It’s almost as if they are the same character, but that’s what makes this work. If anything, I would think Aimi is a little more unhinged than Nami, though. She’s the one coming out with these wild and radical claims while Nami just nods and goes along with them. She also does try to counter Aimi’s claims from time to time, though, offering a (slightly) more realistic approach, so I would venture to guess that she’s the more grounded of the two?
Calling either one of these girls grounded is a bit of a stretch, though, because let’s face it… they’re both delusional and out of their minds, but the chemistry that they have with one another made this first volume exceedingly entertaining, so it’s quite obvious that this will be a character-driven series, for sure.
We get a couple of brief meetings with Kirio… one outside the nurse’s office, the other as they were walking out of school with Aimi talking about a really weird dream that she had that seemingly came true in real life. Both times, Kirio just came off as a normal, everyday kind of guy. There truly isn’t anything special about him outside the fact that he plays soccer and has a pollen allergy. It’s still early, so I’m sure we are not meant to know much about him… and I’m glad we don’t. The more ridiculous Aimi and Nami become, the more the mystery of what Kirio is really like deepens and becomes more valuable.
Final Thoughts
This is a super rare moment for me. Normally, I would read a manga series first, then watch the anime counterpart. Typically, I would just watch a few episodes, then drop the anime because I just wanted to see how the characters sounded to see if they matched up to how I envisioned them in my head. I typically do that because I don’t like rewatching something I’ve already read because then it feels like a repeat rather than something new.
Here, I had already planned to pick up this series to read and review it, but the anime adaptation started before the first volume was published in English. So, I watched a few episodes just to see what this series was about, but when I realized that I wanted to read and review it, I stopped watching. But… what I did watch was enough to cover the first volume of the manga (and the anime does go beyond the first volume, so I feel as if I already have the second volume spoiled for me).
The interesting part is that the anime didn’t follow the first volume perfectly. It opened with the scene of Aimi and Nami talking to nobody and pretending it was Kirio, but that scene didn’t happen until halfway through the volume. Then, halfway through the anime’s first episode, they talked about Kirio’s farts, but that’s the scene that opened the manga. There were also a couple of chapters that weren’t adapted, so I was happy that I got some new material on top of what I saw.
It’s always interesting to see how adaptations work, but I will say… the anime was unhinged, and I loved it… the manga is just as unhinged, and I still love it. So, you better believe I will continue this series… just in manga form because that is my preference. Anime or manga… your choice… the bottom line is, pick one (or both) and check this out!
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This item was purchased for review.
