The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn't a Guy at All
Japanese manga series by Sumiko Arai
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The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn't a Guy at All (Japanese: 気になってる人が男じゃなかった, Hepburn: Ki ni Natteru Hito ga Otoko Janakatta), shortened as KiniOto or TGSWIIWAGAA[3] and more popularly known as the Green Yuri due to its distinct green accent color,[4] is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Sumiko Arai. Originating as a short story posted on Arai's Twitter account from July to September 2021, the series started its current weekly run each Sunday on the platform in April 2022, before being serialized on Pixiv Comic in April 2023. Kadokawa Shoten published the series in print in the same month, with its chapters collected in four tankōbon volumes as of February 2026.
| The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn't a Guy at All | |
First tankōbon volume cover, featuring Mitsuki Koga (left) and Aya Oosawa (right) | |
| 気になってる人が男じゃなかった (Ki ni Natteru Hito ga Otoko Janakatta) | |
|---|---|
| Genre | |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Sumiko Arai |
| Published by | Kadokawa Shoten |
| English publisher | |
| Magazine | Pixiv Comic |
| Original run | April 10, 2022 – present |
| Volumes | 4 |
| Anime | |
The series has been a critical and commercial success, with critics praising the story, artwork, and characters. It won the 2023 Next Manga Award in the web manga category.
An anime adaptation has been announced.
Plot
Aya Oosawa has developed a crush on the clerk of the record store she frequents as they share their love for rock music. Unbeknownst to her, the store clerk is her female classmate Mitsuki Koga. The story follows the budding relationship between Aya and Mitsuki as they experience life within and beyond high school with their friends, while finding out how much they mean to each other.
Characters
- Aya Oosawa (大沢 綾, Ōsawa Aya)
- Voiced by: Akari Kitō (drama CD)[5]
- A gyaru high school girl who has an interest in rock music; however, she is unable to share her interests to her closest friends due to her friends preferring contemporary music and out of fear of being alienated. Harboring no romantic interest towards men, she first gets acquainted with Mitsuki by stumbling upon the record store by chance and develops a crush on Mitsuki's workplace persona as she continues to frequent the shop and they connect through rock music, not knowing that it is her classmate.
- Mitsuki Koga (古賀 美月, Koga Mitsuki)
- Voiced by: Mariya Ise (drama CD)[5]
- A nerdy high school girl and classmate of Aya who also has an interest in rock music and works part-time at the record store with her uncle. To maintain anonymity during work, she wears unisex clothing, a face mask, and contacts in place of her glasses and school uniform, causing her to be mistaken for a guy and be dubbed by Aya and her friends as Onii-san (おにーさん). After Aya falls for her workplace persona, Mitsuki takes measures for Aya to not connect it with her school persona. She also learns how to play the electric guitar.
- Joe (ジョー, Jō)
- Voiced by: Kenjiro Tsuda (drama CD)[5]
- Mitsuki's uncle who manages the record store and serves as her parental figure and guardian, often showing concern for his niece's introverted nature. It is later revealed he was in a previous relationship with Kanna when Mitsuki was young, but they had to end the relationship as he was prioritizing taking care of Mitsuki when Kanna proposed moving to Los Angeles with him.
- Megumu Narita (成田 恵, Narita Megumu)
- Voiced by: Tasuku Hatanaka (drama CD)[5]
- A friend and classmate of Aya and Mitsuki who is the first to connect Mitsuki's workplace and school personas after noticing similarities between the two. He makes efforts to make both Aya and Mitsuki interact, get close to each other, and avoid miscommunication.
- Chizuru (ちづる)
- Voiced by: Erina Koga (drama CD)[6]
- A friend and classmate of Aya's. She tends to offer Aya advice on how she can approach her crush on Onii-san, unaware that Onii-san is fellow classmate Mitsuki.
- Mao (まお)
- Voiced by: Nene Hieda (drama CD)[7]
- Another friend and classmate of Aya's, who is highly supportive of Aya's efforts to connect with Onii-san. She is also shown to be very friendly to others, especially Mitsuki and Narita.
- Kanna (カンナ)
- Joe's ex-girlfriend and a friend of Mitsuki's who moved to Los Angeles to work as a stylist. She returns to Japan and spends time with Joe and Mitsuki, though she still experiences lingering feelings towards Joe despite their previous breakup. She also connects with Aya on their respective struggles towards romance.
- Hime Hasegawa (長谷川 ひめ, Hasegawa Hime)
- A high school girl who is Aya and Mitsuki's junior and is the daughter of a record producer. She holds Mitsuki's songwriting with high regard.
Production
In an interview with Shuko Yokoi, Sumiko Arai shared that the concept of The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn't a Guy at All originated from her being drawn to stories about individuals from differing backgrounds connecting and wanting to tell a story about girls,[8] noting in another interview with Anime News Network that "woman-loving-woman media in general is unique and special as it is".[9] In order for her concepts to also resonate with international readers, she drew short stories featuring no dialogue, which were posted to Twitter. One of these short stories, uploaded between July and September 2021, served as the inspiration to the series.[10]
In creating the characters of Mitsuki Koga and Aya Oosawa, Arai shared she used the extroverted and introverted aspects of herself as inspiration in writing them while also drawing from the characters of Shelby Goodkind and Toni Shalifoe in The Wilds, creating a "polar-opposite kind of pairing”. She also expounded on the decision to incorporate music as a major element in the story, believing that music is a great way to "find a community" and noting that she grew up with a "lot of foreign music" such as Beck, The Beatles, and Half Moon Run.[9]
Since Twitter only allows four images per Tweet, chapters of the series are limited to four pages. As a result, Mitsuki and Aya's interactions have to be depicted concisely.[11] The series' editor commented that the character's faces are illustrated to be detailed enough to understand the story without the dialogue, which makes the series more accessible to foreign Twitter users.[11] The yellow-green color which serves as an accent to the black-and-white illustrations was stated by Arai to be a late addition before the first chapter was uploaded.[8]
Media
Manga
Written and illustrated by Sumiko Arai, the series began its weekly run on the author's Twitter account on April 10, 2022;[12] it was also serialized on Pixiv Comic on April 29, 2023.[13] Kadokawa Shoten began publishing the series in print in the same month,[14] with its chapters collected in four tankōbon volumes as of February 2026.[15]
Arai announced on April 3, 2024, that the series would be receiving an official English release alongside other international releases, with Yen Press later announcing on April 26 they had licensed the series for English publication.[16][17]
Volumes
| No. | Original release date | Original ISBN | English release date | English ISBN | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | April 19, 2023[14] | 978-4-04-681732-7 | October 22, 2024[18] | 978-1-9753-9968-9 | ||
| ||||||
| Aya Oosawa encounters a record store on her way home from school and develops a crush with its clerk. Unbeknownst to Aya, the store clerk is her classmate Mitsuki Koga, and she aims to clear up the misunderstanding soon. Aya and the disguised Mitsuki bond over their love for rock music, with Aya sending Mitsuki a playlist of her favorite songs. Mitsuki also befriends Aya at school alongside Megumu Narita, who figures out Mitsuki's double life. Despite Mitsuki urging Narita to maintain the secrecy, Aya also realizes the connection when she discovers the playlist she sent to the disguised Mitsuki in the latter's phone. Aya distances herself from Mitsuki, saddening her. With the help of Narita and her uncle Joe, Mitsuki performs at the school festival to make amends. Aya and Mitsuki grow closer as friends as the year passes, and they win tickets to a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert. However, Mitsuki worries she is taking Aya's time away from her friends, so she requests Aya's friend Chizuru to take her concert ticket, leaving a stunned Aya to directly confront Mitsuki at her house. Mitsuki also recalls growing up wanting to stay true to herself at the cost of becoming introverted, which changed when Aya arrived at the store and Mitsuki realized she and Aya share the same interests. | ||||||
| 2 | February 27, 2024[19] | 978-4-04-683173-6 | February 18, 2025[20] | 979-8-8554-1259-8 | ||
| ||||||
| Mitsuki apologizes to Aya for the mishap, and Aya has Mitsuki join her friend group consisting of Chizuru, Mao, and Narita at the start of a new school year. They also meet Joe's ex-girlfriend Kanna, who takes care of Mitsuki as a parental figure with Joe. Joe reveals that he and Kanna shared the same aspirations but broke up due to conflicting priorities. Aya wonders how her friendship with Mitsuki will progress. During their trip to Okinawa with their class, Aya notices Mitsuki spacing out and voicing her desire to go elsewhere after graduation. Aya lifts her spirits by singing at their class karaoke session, and Mitsuki realizes her feelings for Aya. They study for exams upon returning home, where Mitsuki receives a burst of inspiration to write and compose her own music. Aya notices this and worries Mitsuki is closing herself off, as she connects with Kanna on their similar predicaments. Mitsuki later privately invites Aya to listen to her songs after Mitsuki received a note from Aya proclaiming she is her first fan. Aya becomes enamored with Mitsuki's songs and suggests she share it to a wider audience. | ||||||
| 3 | February 20, 2025[21] | 978-4-04-684257-2 | December 23, 2025[22] | 979-8-8554-2797-4 | ||
| ||||||
| 4 | February 19, 2026[15] | 978-4-04-607724-0 | — | — | ||
| ||||||
Anime
An anime adaptation was announced by Arai on her Twitter account and Kadokawa Shoten on February 20, 2025, to coincide with the release of the third volume.[23]
Other
Universal Music Japan released an official playlist containing songs that Mitsuki and Aya listen throughout the series to coincide with the release of the first volume, featuring artists such as Nirvana, Turnstile, and Royal Blood, among others. The playlist is periodically updated after the release of a succeeding volume.[24][25] Arai has also remarked how select songs from the playlist represent Mitsuki and Aya's progress in their relationship.[9]
A pop-up store selling merchandise from the series was open in Ikebukuro from September 15–24 and in Nagoya from September 30 to October 9, 2023.[26]
Reception
The first volume sold 150,000 copies within a week of its release.[27] By September 2023, the series had 200,000 copies in circulation.[27]
A columnist for Animate Times praised the artwork, particularly its use of color, and the story's progression.[28] Momo Tachibana of Real Sound praised the main characters and their interactions, describing them as understandable.[29] Erica Friedman felt the story was "not the first of it's [sic] kind" but that it handled its subject better than similar series. Friedman also praised the artwork and its use of black, white, and green.[1] Lucas Kloberdanz-Dyck of Collider praised the manga for its tasteful exploration of queer relationships.[30]
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 9th Next Manga Award | Web Manga | Won | [31] |
| Da Vinci 23rd Annual Book of the Year | Book of the Year | 2nd place | [32] | |
| 2024 | Kono Manga ga Sugoi! List of Best Manga | Female Readers | 2nd place | [33] |
| 2025 | 2nd American Manga Awards | Best New Manga | Won | [34] |
| Harvey Awards | Best Manga | Nominated | [35] |