The Fall 2024 Manga Guide

Kurokiya-san Wants to Lead Him Around by the Nose

What's It About? 

I used to have better grades than this fool!

3 years ago…

Ruu Kurokiya, a Kuro Gyaru, is on her way to flunking high school. Her childhood friend, Straight-A student Tadao Tadashi volunteers as private tutor to avert her reckless path―but Ruu's more focused on seducing him than learning, and their study sessions soon go wildly astray! When a “Gyaru's Pride” clashes with Tadao's “Take-it-Serious” attitude, who knows what will happen next!

An unexpected rom-com so pure you can't help but cheer it on!

Kurokiya-san Wants to Lead Him Around by the Nose has a story and art by Pororoca, with English translation by Jameson Taber. Published by One Peace Books (September 10, 2024).

Is It Worth Reading?

A cute romantic comedy starring a gyaru! Keep 'em coming!

The twist that makes Kurokiya-San stand out from the usual horde of “knockout with big knockers has it bad for a stick-in-the-mud” is that we have a clear confirmation that Kurokiya and Tadao are mutually attracted to each other. There are cute spots where the two reminisce about their time in middle school and how they both started crushing on each other. I think it's fascinating that between middle school and high school, the two reversed their roles: first Tadao looked up to Kurokiya and strove to do better in his life to impress her, now Kurokiya endeavors to do right by Tadao's tutoring. It's also cute how Kurokiya's efforts to turn Tadao into putty in her hands aren't working; it's hard to tease a guy willing to go for it at a moment's notice.

The other angle I appreciate is that Tadao is genuinely interested in Kurokiya's inner workings. He's not a stick-in-the-mud because he lacks personality, he's just a blunt guy who doesn't understand what his peers are into. It's easy to see why Kurokiya is nuts for him, anyone would love a partner who's trying to put in the work to appreciate what their other half likes. Theirs is the purest romance there is; two teenage idiots in love, pratfalling around each other while they worry about how to text each other or whether they remembered to put on deodorant. Also, Yukiginu lurking in the background as the audience surrogate squeeing over these two lunks is equally enjoyable. I'm hoping she gets her own cute little romance arc.

The only thing I can think of that knocks this manga down a few pegs is that it's fairly shallow. There isn't much going on below the surface; if you're hoping for another My Dress-Up Darling, this will likely fall short. While it's cute to see our two leads be twice-shy around each other, the story is nevertheless an idiot plot (there isn't any story once these two lovebirds confess). But what the heck: there's a gyaru on the cover and we get to see her be a little gremlin who speaks in key smashes while her sprocket of a love interest navigates the confusing world of Instagram culture. Sometimes, all you need is a hit of cotton candy. Mandatory if you like gyaru, and recommended for everyone else.

The appeal of gyaru is rightfully timeless, and the current point we find ourselves at in the nostalgia cycle means a whole lot of authors writing romance fantasies with those style-setters. The cumbersomely titled Kurokiya-san Wants to Lead Him Around by the Nose very much falls into the "another one of those" category. Kurokiya is a cool and sexy gal, she's got a childhood friend circumstances have conspired to reunite her with, they're both sweet on each other but can't spit it out, you get how this goes. If there's a defining element of Kurokiya-san, it's probably the way it leans into the tropeyness of its setup. Both Kurokiya and Tadashi come off like utter caricatures at first, but it's not necessarily that the writing is thin, it's that both characters are intentionally playing up that presentation. The idea is that the pair of lovebirds'; current arcs were shaped by their interactions when they were younger, so Kurokiya went out of her way to play up the gyaru role, complete with disregarding her studies, while Tadashi climbed his way to the top of the honor student heap while winding up blissfully unaware of wider modern culture.

It's an okay setup that provides a solid enough personality gap for the leads to interact, bounce off one another, and engage across perspectives. The biggest problem with Kurokiya-san is that it simply doesn't give these two enough to do with their developing relationship, at least in this first volume. Virtually all of Kurokiya and Tadashi's interactions are framed through their regular study sessions at school, and activities rarely go off the rails beyond some lightly embarrassing touching reactions and a whole lot of flustered conversations. It feels like more of this volume than it should be is comprised of talking heads—with a few funny facial expressions, to be sure, but not really enough to elevate it unless you already have the fantasy of "studying algebra while a gyaru breasts boobily at you." Which, I mean, yeah, I get it.

It's frustrating because when Kurokiya-san allows itself to cut a little bit loose, you can see where its strengths might lie. Pororoca has a knack for cool panel sequences and layouts when they want to, glimpsed in things like the stack of panels when Kurokiya sits in Tadashi's lap for an attempt at ASMR. There's a terrific payoff page spread of the character Mashiro kicking down a locker door. A whole chapter about Kurokiya and Tadashi going out to get boba tea takes the manga's usual aspect of running gags into the ground, and actually follows up on some of them in escalating outrageous ways. There's probably something here in the long-term, if the series can branch out a bit. But as-is it's recommendable only to die-hard devotees of gyaru-service.

Kurokiya is a story that starts cute and then you realize that this setup is all the story has, it gets boring very quickly. We have two childhood friends who are forced to interact with each other because one of them needs to tutor the other. One is an incredibly hard-working straight guy \while the other is a loud and carefree gal. The twist is that they are conscious of how much they like the other person and sometimes get so caught up in things that they end up in each other's spaces without realizing it. Outside of that, every chapter more or less ends the same. There is also a recurring joke about the straight-laced guy's name having a cute pun. When I read that joke for the eighth time, I was ready to close my computer.

If I read this five years ago, I would enjoy it more. There's not really anything here that allows this story or comedy to stand out. The facial expressions are great, especially on the gal character. My favorite parts of the book are when it breaks away from the same setup in the same classroom to share some insight into what these two were like as kids growing up.

My favorite chapter is probably the last one because it starts unconventionally compared to the other chapters and has some real heart behind it by establishing a strong bond between these two. I like their chemistry and can see them getting together, but I don't think it's worth reading beyond this book. This story is very passionate about its status quo and no matter what story it tells, or how often it repeats the same punchline, it wants to make sure that every chapter ends the same. That can be fun in a way, but I don't think it's worth spending your money on.