Love Agency - Vol. 1 Ch. 1 - Coward

[MangaDex]

 

[Ochrolv]

For a second I thought Kon was going to be Seki’s sister or someone she’s related to. Interesting premise but I do wonder if this is going to be a long serialization. Plus I am interested to see how this plays out in the same universe as Kaguya. Thanks for the translations.

 

[DISCO_BOT]

THE AKAVERSE IS REAL

 

[Ann2004]

I will give this manga maybe 5 chapters? This manga seems like the type that I would hate to love, a sweet and cute story that contains so much misunderstanding and shits that it will give me a headache reading it.

Edit: I just checked the author, it's the same person that made Kaguya-sama. No wonder.

 

[Efen_2109]

THE AKAVERSE IS REAL

Isn't that Oshi No Ko reference?

 

[FeliSenpai]

Yoo that is shhoo good! Half Swedish half Japanese lovely shy gyaru! Mysterious fox gamer girl? Our mc also is quite handsome, that guy who helps him out was a big plot twist! Can't wait for more! And oshinoko reference!

 

[MajorLeeGaming]

Aka going 0/7 with his manga. Amazing.

 

[infernoWRLD]

Premise seems fun but holy fuck why are foreigners names always awful in manga? Like that shit just makes me cringe every time I see it. I get that coming up with foreign names is hard but this is just excessively bad

 

[Alexandria46]

THE AKAVERSE IS REAL

IKR! Akaverse is real. I believe it will connected to Kaguya and Oshi no Ko manga.

 

[TNT261]

The premise is... interesting, but kinda overly convoluted and honestly it's just not something I'd want to follow. It's a little cute but in terms of romance what's the point if both leads are creating this much of a facade? They won't be able to keep up any of these lies in the long run and it can't really be said they fall for each other then (and like they're so drastically different than without the coaches). It's a little cute I guess. But unless they resolve it in 5 chapters or less I don't see it working for a long term series (if this were real life this style of coaching would be only marketed to boost confidence and teach social skills and the person they're tested on would be a one night stand at best which isn't super interesting to read/watch in a romance).

Also holistically there's a lot problematic about this. Its a cultural thing, but I'm really not on board with the idea of "half-japanese" for otherwise full citizens of Japan (and the country specifically doesn't allow for dual citizenship). There's also a lot of dangerous assumptions being made about both men and woman here. A lot of which could have been avoided. And the idea of a high school rom-com built on adults feeding answers to minors on how to act and what to do through an ear piece just leaves me feeling icky.

 

[Oeconomist]

Premise seems fun but holy fuck why are foreigners names always awful in manga? Like that shit just makes me cringe every time I see it. I get that coming up with foreign names is hard but this is just excessively bad

I don't know about this specific case, but part of the more general issue is in the transformation of Western names into katakana approximations, and then transcribing or reverse-engineering these for Western readers.

For example, in The Voynich Hotel a character is given the name “ベルナ” [ˈberuˌna], which is almost surely an attempt to approximate “Berna”. But I've seen this rendered as “Beluna” in a scanlation, neither a proper transliteration nor a successful reversal.

On top of that, well, Japanese folk are going to be about as silly about Western names as Westerners are about Japanese names. Of course, you probably cringe in either case, in which case you deserve some sympathy.

 

[Oeconomist]

what's the point if both leads are creating this much of a facade?

Good question. The apparent leads are basically trying to advance under false pretenses, and their coaches are accomplices in these frauds. This story has no Good Guys.

I might expect the coaches to be hero and heroine in their own romance, but the male coach has been drawn to be repulsive.

 

[Topomouse]

I will give this manga maybe 5 chapters? This manga seems like the type that I would hate to love, a sweet and cute story that contains so much misunderstanding and shits that it will give me a headache reading it.

Apparently, we have similar tastes. I tend to get second-hand embarassment from these misunderstang stories.

 

[insert]

I'm not a big fan of some of these tropes... see you all on chapter 2.

 

[Jagged]

"Det var så lidt" is Danish, not Swedish. For reference, you will never see "dt" in Swedish.

 

[darekpawlo]

Looks pretty interesting

 

[xyzzy]

Wait a minute… this is just double Cyrano de Bergerac.

 

[badjokejoel]

Aka has a problem with exposition and making his characters act both impossibly grounded and ridiculously over the top. Like we'll get moments of extreme emotional maturity (far beyond what high school students are capable of) and farcical misunderstandings. I really hope he's learned from some of the downsides of Kaguya and OnK so I'll keep an eye out for chapter 2!!

 

[Oeconomist]

"Det var så lidt" is Danish, not Swedish.

The Swedish (and Norwegian) being “Det var så lite”.

 

[RedIce05]

I was reading this and was like “what Love is War-wannabe manga is this?” Look at the comments after and realize that this is by Akasaka himself. Definitely not his strongest start but at least his series tend to improve past the first few chapters.