Blue Spring Ride, Kimi ni Todoke, Chihayafuru, Snow White with the Red, Barakamon
My Love Story!!(Japanese: 俺物語!!,Hepburn: Ore Monogatari!!, lit. "It's My Story!!"), is a Japanese romantic comedy manga series written by Kazune Kawahara and illustrated by Aruko. The manga was serialized in Shueisha's Bessatsu Margaret magazine and is being published in English by Viz Media. A television anime adaptation by Madhouse began airing in April 2015 and a live actionfilm adaptation of the same name was released on October 31, 2015.
The story follows Takeo Gōda, a tall and muscular student who doesn't have much luck with women, as every girl he likes ends up falling for his best friend, Makoto Sunakawa, who is charming and good-looking. This all changes when he saves Rinko Yamato, a petite shy girl who, above all other expectations, falls in love with Takeo, beginning a unique love story.
Characters
Takeo Gōda (剛田 猛男,Gōda Takeo)
Voiced by: Takuya Eguchi, Ren Katou (young) (Japanese); Andrew Love, Luci Christian (young) (English)Actor portrayal: Ryohei SuzukiThe protagonist of the story and a first-year student at Shuei High School. He is very tall and muscular, easily dwarfing everyone around him. Women tend to find his appearance off-putting or frightening, likening him to a bear or gorilla, but Takeo nevertheless has many friends due to his popularity among men, who are inspired by his strength, physique, and vitality. Despite his hulking appearance and strength, Takeo has an affable personality and is actually extremely kind and selfless, quickly helping others without a second thought throughout the story and never holding a grudge for things people say about him. Near the beginning of the story, he saves Rinko from a groper and quickly develops feelings for her, but mistakenly thinks that she likes Makoto. Rinko later on confesses her love to Takeo, to which he gladly accepted.
Rinko Yamato (大和 凛子,Yamato Rinko)
Voiced by: Megumi Han (Japanese); Tia Ballard (English)Actor portrayal: Mei NaganoA girl whom Takeo saves from a groper on a train. After Takeo saves her, she immediately fell in love with him. Unlike most girls, who find Takeo frightening, Rinko admires his strength, confidence, and kindness, and she doesn't seem to pay any mind to his unusual size or appearance. She attends Koizumi Girls' Academy and is very skilled in baking and making sweets. Rinko is the first girl who has been called "a nice girl" by Makoto, presumably since she's the first to look past Takeo's appearance. It is later revealed in an extra chapter, the true reason why she really fell in love with him was because Takeo saved her when she was younger and met her for the very first time, though, he mistook her for a guy when she was lost in a dark cave before meeting her again on the train, unaware that she was the same person he met many years ago.
Makoto Sunakawa (砂川 誠,Sunakawa Makoto)
Voiced by: Nobunaga Shimazaki, Yuka Terasaki (young) (Japanese); Austin Tindle (English)Actor portrayal: Kentaro SakaguchiTakeo's next door neighbor, childhood friend, and classmate, who he calls "Suna" for short. Compared to Takeo's boisterous personality, Makoto is level-headed, studious, and rational, though he will occasionally burst into stifled laughter upon witnessing Takeo's unique behavior. Because Makoto is so handsome, all of the girls Takeo liked ended up falling in love with Makoto instead. Despite his endless stream of admirers, Makoto remains single, as he rejected every girl that's confessed to him because of their insulting comments they made about Takeo. Although not nearly as outgoing as Takeo, he nevertheless values his friendship, noting that his life would be "boring" if Takeo were not around. Makoto is always watching out for Takeo and is willing to sacrifice his own happiness for his friend.
Ai Sunakawa (砂川 愛,Sunakawa Ai)
Voiced by: Kikuko Inoue (Japanese); Carli Mosier (English)Makoto's older sister and a college student. Takeo mentions that she, like her brother, is a great and kindhearted person. She has had a secret crush on Takeo ever since he compared her to a flower when they were children. Only her brother and her colleague Oda know about her feelings for Takeo.
Yuriko Gōda (剛田 ゆり子,Gōda Yuriko)
Voiced by: Kazuyo Aoki (Japanese); Marcy Bannor (English)Actor portrayal: Sawa SuzukiTakeo's mother, who always works hard for her family. Takeo is extremely protective of her, though she insists he worries for no reason as she was once an amateur wrestler and when she was giving birth to Takeo she actually helped carry another woman into the maternity room when she went into labour first.
Yutaka Gōda (剛田 豊,Gōda Yutaka)
Voiced by: Tesshô Genda (Japanese); Josh Morrison (English)Actor portrayal: Yasufumi TerawakiTakeo's father, who has a rather handsome appearance. He fell in love with Takeo's mother when he saw her put herself in harms way to protect someone else and decided he wanted to be the one to protect her.
Hayato Oda (織田 隼人,Oda Hayato)
Voiced by: Daisuke Namikawa (Japanese); Patrick Poole (English)An acquaintance at Ai's university who has a crush on her, but keeps getting turned down because of her feelings for Takeo.
Osamu Kurihara (栗原 オサム,Kurihara Osamu)
Voiced by: Junya Enoki (Japanese); Cameron Bautsch (English)A friend and classmate of Takeo. He has an afro hairstyle. He took a liking to one of Rinko's friend, Nanako, and asked her out, and she accepted.
Mariya Saijō (西城 まりや,Saijō Mariya)
Voiced by: Rena Maeda (Japanese); Stephanie Wittels (English)A classmate of Takeo. She begins to call Takeo "shishō" (師匠,teacher) after he trains her for a sports day relay race at their school. She had a crush on Takeo and confessed but was politely declined and she moved on. She even gave obligatory/friendship chocolate to Suna and Takeo on Valentine's Day and is the second girl who has been called "a nice girl" by Makoto.
Nanako (奈々子,Nanako)
Voiced by: Rina Kitagawa (Japanese); Luci Christian (English)A friend and classmate of Rinko. She was confessed to by Takeo's friend, Osamu Kurihara.
Ayu (アユ,Ayu)
A friend and classmate of Rinko.
Yukika Amami (天海悠紀華,Amami Yukika)
Voiced by: Ai Kayano (Japanese); Juliet Simmons (English)A girl from Takeo's and Suna's childhood. She has a crush on Suna after he blocked a ball from hitting her during dodgeball in their childhood. She has given anonymous valentine letters to Suna every year since and when she confessed to him; she was rejected by him; although, both are in good terms (as friends). Unlike the other girls rejected by Suna, Suna felt bad and guilty for seeing her cry.
Kouki Ichinose (一の瀬後期,Ichinose Kōki)
Voiced by: Jun Fukuyama (Japanese); David Matranga (English)A confectioner that works in the shop where Rinko works for a part-time job. He falls in love upon seeing Rinko and considers her his muse. When he discovers that Takeo is Rinko's boyfriend, he asks him to break up with her because he says that he is a better fit for her, causing an inner dilemma in Takeo´s mind over whether he is really the one who can make Rinko happy.
Manga
The series debuted as a 100-page special in Bessatsu Margaret Sister in October 2011 before becoming serialised in Bessatsu Margaret, ending with an 100-page final chapter on July 13, 2016. The first volume was released by Shueisha on March 23, 2012, and the thirteenth and final volume was released on September 23, 2016. Viz Media has licensed the series and released the first volume on July 1, 2014. The tenth translated volume is scheduled for release on October 4, 2016.
Anime
In November 2014 it was announced that the series was being adapted into an anime series. The anime was directed by Morio Asaka at Madhouse, with Natsuko Takahashi as the scriptwriter and Kunihiko Hamada as the character designer. The anime began airing on NTV from April 8, 2015 and is being simulcast by Crunchyroll. The opening theme is "Miraikei Answer" (未来形 Answer, lit. Futuristic Answer) by Trustrick while the ending theme is "Shiawase no Arika" (幸せのありか, lit. "Happiness' Hiding Place") by Local Connect. The soundtrack is composed by S.E.N.S. Project. The final episode of the series, originally scheduled for September 16, 2015, was delayed to September 23.
It won the award for Best Shōjo Manga at the 37th Kodansha Manga Awards. It was number one on the Book of the Year list of Female-Oriented Comics from January to June, 2013 by Da Vinci magazine and number five in the annual list of 2012. It was nominated for the 6th Manga Taishō. In Takarajimasha's 2013 edition of the guidebook Kono Manga ga Sugoi!, a survey with more than 400 manga professionals, it was selected as the best series for female readers; in the 2014 edition, it was the 15th best. The fifth volume was the 53rd best-selling manga volume of the first half of 2014. It was also nominated for the 18th Annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize "Reader Award". In 2016, the manga won in the Shōjo category at the 61st Shogakukan Manga Awards.
