Kae Serinuma is a fujoshi, a female otaku who loves reading yaoi and imagining men together in romantic relationships, both fictional and real. When one of her favorite anime characters is killed off, Kae is so shocked that she locks herself in her room for a whole week. When she eventually comes out, she discovers that she has lost a lot of weight. She becomes a beautiful girl that catches the eye of four boys at her school: Yūsuke Igarashi, Nozomu Nanashima, Hayato Shinomiya, and Asuma Mutsumi. Despite learning about Kae's bizarre tendencies, the four boys, along with another fujoshi named Shima Nishina, all fall for Kae and begin competing with each other for her affection, much to Kae's frustration as she wants them to fall in love with each other.
had been creating yaoi manga professionally since her debut in 2009, and after reading some of her works, a staff member from Bessatsu Friend invited her to contribute to the magazine. Junko decided to focus on an otome game concept, and after the editors had asked her to make the series comedic, Eiki Eiki suggested making jokes about fujoshi culture. Junko created Shima when she wanted to add a new male character to Kae's group and later decided to make her female.
Media
Manga
Originally titled Boys, Please Kiss Him Instead of Me in Japan, the manga is written and illustrated by Junko. It was serialized in monthly manga magazine Bessatsu Friend from May 2013 to 2019. The chapters were later released in 14 bound volume by Kodansha under the Kodansha Comics imprint. Crunchyroll began releasing the manga in English online as it is published from September 5, 2014, holding a contest to determine the series' official English title, with Kiss Him, Not Me winning. Kodansha USA began publishing the physical edition in English from October 13, 2015.
Volume list
Anime
An anime television adaptation of the manga was announced in the Bessatsu Friend magazine's April 2016 issue. Brain's Base produced the anime, with Hiroshi Ishiodori directing, Michiko Yokote handled the series composition and Kazuhiko Tamura designed the characters. The series aired in Japan between October 6, 2016 and December 22, 2016 and simulcast by Crunchyroll, and Funimation streamed an English dub. The opening theme is "Prince×Prince" by From4to7, while the ending theme is "Dokidoki no Kaze" by Rie Murakawa. Anime Limited has licensed the series in the UK.
Episode list
Film
A live-action film adaptation was announced in January 2020 and is set to release on July 10, 2020. The film stars The Rampage from Exile Tribe member Hokuto Yoshino as Mutsumi, Asahi Ito as Nanashima, Fuju Kamio as Igarashi, and So Okuno as Shinomiya. E-girls member Nonoka Yamaguchi and Miu Tomita both star as Kae, with Yamaguchi playing her slim form and Tomita playing her pre-weight loss form. The theme song is "Watashi ga Motete Dōsunda" by Girls², who also make cameo appearances in the film. Additional cast members were announced on March 6, 2020 with the release of the film's official trailer. The film is directed by Norihisa Hiranuma, who is also writing the script along with Nami Kikkawa, Shōhei Fukuda, Kei Watanabe, and Daisuke Kamijō. Upon release, the film debuted at #4 during opening weekend and earned a box office total of.
Reception
Kiss Him, Not Me sold a cumulative total of over 3 million physical copies in Japan since January 2020. Volume 3 of the manga reached the 44th place on the weekly Oricon manga chart and, as of June 15, 2014, has sold 17,994 copies; volume 4 reached the 43rd place and, as of September 14, 2014, has sold 22,107 copies; volume 5 reached the 17th place and, as of January 18, 2015, has sold 41,112 copies. The manga won Best Shōjo Manga at the 40th Kodansha Manga Awards. It was number four on the 2015 Kono Manga ga Sugoi! Top 20 Manga for Female Readers survey. Publishers Weekly stated that the work is "a well-played farce filled with both laughter and empathy, no doubt helped by" the author's background in yaoi.
