Welcome to Manga Monday! This week we're diving into The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn't a Guy at All by Sumiko Arai, affectionately known by fans as "Green Yuri," and the winner of the Next Manga Award 2023.

Aya is a fashionable gyaru high schooler who's obsessed with rock music but can't find anyone who shares her taste, until she starts visiting a small CD shop and falls hard for the cool, mysterious clerk dressed in all black with a hoodie and face mask. The problem? That clerk is actually her quiet, nerdy female classmate Mitsuki Koga, who works at her uncle's shop and wears contacts and unisex clothes to stay anonymous. Mitsuki knows exactly who Aya is, sits right next to her in class, and is terrified of the truth coming out.

What starts as a premise you think you've seen before quickly becomes something special, a story about two girls connecting through music, building a friendship that's achingly authentic to how teenagers actually bond, and slowly realising their feelings run deeper than fandom. It's fluffy, it's heartfelt, it handles queer romance with real care and zero sensationalism, and an anime has already been confirmed.

If you want something that'll make your heart do that thing, this is it.

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