When Will Ayumu Make His Move? All 17 Manga Volumes

When Will Ayumu Make His Move? Has 17 Manga Volumes — Complete Series

The series has 17 volumes in both Japanese and English, and it is fully complete.

Written by Soichiro Yamamoto (山本崇一朗), When Will Ayumu Make His Move? (それでも歩は寄せてくる) was originally published chapter by chapter — a process called serialization — in Weekly Shonen Magazine from March 2019 to November 2023. (Shonen magazines are aimed at young male readers, though the audience for this series skews much broader.) Over that run, it accumulated 225 chapters spread across those 17 volumes. In manga, a volume is a collected book containing roughly 10–15 of those individual chapters. The English edition is also published by Kodansha, and all 17 volumes are available now.

That means there’s no waiting for new releases, no cliffhanger limbo, and no worrying about whether the story will get a proper ending. It did. You can read the whole thing from start to finish right now.

For anyone coming from the anime or just discovering the series, this is one of those rare cases where the full journey is already on the shelf. Seventeen volumes is a manageable length too — long enough to let the romance breathe and develop, short enough that you won’t be committing to fifty-plus books.

Complete Volume List

Here’s a breakdown of all 17 manga volumes with their Japan release windows and a note on what to expect from key installments. English editions followed within roughly a year of their Japanese counterparts, and all 17 are currently available in English. Not every volume gets a detailed description — I’ve highlighted six representative volumes that mark important moments in the story.

Volume	Japan Release	Notes
Vol 1	2019	Ayumu joins the shogi club. The push-and-pull dynamic with his upperclassman Urushi begins here — he’s determined not to confess his feelings until he can beat her at shogi. Adorable from page one.
Vol 2	2019	—
Vol 3	2020	—
Vol 4	2020	—
Vol 5	2020	The relationship deepens as Ayumu’s feelings become harder and harder to hide. Urushi starts picking up on more signals, and the comedy gets sharper as a result.
Vol 6	2021	—
Vol 7	2021	—
Vol 8	2021	—
Vol 9	2021	—
Vol 10	2022	The midpoint of the series. Emotional stakes escalate — the comfortable shogi-club routine starts getting tested by situations that push both characters out of their comfort zones.
Vol 11	2022	—
Vol 12	2022	—
Vol 13	2022	Late-series developments bring Ayumu and Urushi meaningfully closer together. The dynamic shifts from “when will he confess?” to something that feels more urgent and real.
Vol 14	2023	—
Vol 15	2023	Climactic buildup. This is where the story starts paying off everything it’s been carefully setting up. If you’ve been waiting for the confession storyline, you’re almost there.
Vol 16	2023	—
Vol 17	2023	The final volume. The romance reaches its conclusion — and it delivers. Everything the series spent 225 chapters building toward comes together.

A few things worth noting about this table: the Japan release dates come from verified publication data. Volumes marked with a dash (—) simply don’t have specific milestone content to flag — they’re still part of the story and still worth reading. This isn’t a series where you can skip volumes. The charm is in the slow accumulation of moments.

How the Romance Develops Across the Volumes

One of the biggest questions people have about When Will Ayumu Make His Move? isn’t just “how many manga volumes” — it’s “does the romance actually go anywhere?” Fair question, especially for a series where the relationship develops gradually over a long stretch. Here’s a spoiler-light overview.

The Setup (Early Volumes)

The premise is deceptively simple. Ayumu Tanaka, a first-year high school student (roughly equivalent to a sophomore in the US system), joins the shogi club. The club has exactly two members: him and the second-year president, Urushi. Ayumu has a crush on Urushi. Urushi is oblivious (or is she?). And Ayumu has made himself a personal rule: he won’t confess his feelings until he can beat her at shogi.

That self-imposed restriction is the engine of the entire series. It creates this wonderful tension where Ayumu keeps accidentally saying incredibly romantic things with a completely straight face, and Urushi keeps getting flustered, and the reader keeps grinning. The early volumes lean hard into this comedic dynamic, and it works beautifully. Yamamoto — who also created Teasing Master Takagi-san, another romance manga built around playful back-and-forth between two leads — knows exactly how to write this kind of chemistry.

The Middle Stretch

As the series moves into its middle volumes, the cast expands. New characters enter the picture, school events happen, and the shogi-club bubble gets a little bigger. But the heart of the story stays focused on Ayumu and Urushi. What changes is the weight of their interactions. Moments that would have been purely comedic early on start carrying emotional significance. You can feel both characters becoming more aware of what’s between them, even as Ayumu stubbornly sticks to his rule.

This is the stretch where some gradually-paced romance series lose readers — but Yamamoto keeps things moving by varying the scenarios and gradually raising the emotional stakes. The comedy never disappears, but it shares space with something warmer and more tender.

The Final Act

Without spoiling specifics, the final volumes deliver on what the entire series has been building toward. The romantic tension resolves. The confession happens. And it feels earned — not rushed, not dragged out, just right.

This is a big deal, because plenty of romance manga fumble the ending. They either cut things short or drag them past the point of satisfaction. When Will Ayumu Make His Move? sticks the landing. If you’re someone who needs to know there’s a payoff before committing to a series, this one has it.

Who Will Love This Series

This manga is a great fit if you enjoy:

• Gradually-building romance with a clear destination — the kind where feelings develop slowly over many volumes rather than happening all at once
• Comedy-driven chemistry between two leads who are both endearing
• A completed story — no waiting, no ambiguity about the ending
• The shogi-club setting — it’s cozy and intimate, giving the two leads plenty of alone time
• Soichiro Yamamoto’s style — if you’ve read Teasing Master Takagi-san (his other hit romance manga about a girl who loves teasing the boy she likes), you’ll feel right at home. And if you haven’t, this is a great entry point into his work.

It’s a sweet, feel-good series. There’s no heavy drama, no love triangles — where a third person creates romantic complications — that overstay their welcome, no tragic twists. The joy comes from watching two people who clearly belong together figure out how to get there. And across 17 volumes and 225 chapters, the journey is genuinely fun.

Is the Series Finished?

Yes — completely finished. The manga concluded in December 2023 with the release of volume 17 in Japan. All 225 chapters have been published. All 17 volumes are available in both Japanese and English.

There is no ongoing continuation, no sequel series, and no announced plans for either. The story is self-contained and reaches a definitive conclusion.

The series also received a TV anime adaptation that covers roughly the earlier portion of the manga. If you’ve seen the anime and want to continue the story — or start from the beginning to catch everything the adaptation didn’t cover — all 17 manga volumes are ready for you. Starting from volume 1 is recommended even for anime viewers, since the manga includes plenty of scenes and moments the anime didn’t have time to adapt.

For anyone who specifically came here wondering “is it done?” — yes. You can buy volume 1 today and read all the way through to the ending without hitting a wall or waiting for future releases. That’s one of the nicest things about picking up a completed series.

Where to Buy the English Manga Volumes

All 17 English volumes are published by Kodansha in standard single-volume format. Here’s what you need to know about getting your hands on them.

Physical Copies

The individual volumes are available through major retailers — Amazon, Barnes & Noble, local bookstores, and online manga shops all carry them. Since the series is complete and relatively recent, all 17 volumes remain in print and widely stocked. If your local bookstore doesn’t have a specific volume on the shelf, they can almost certainly order it for you.

As of now, the English edition is available only in the standard single-volume format. There are no omnibus editions (collected books that bundle multiple volumes into one), box sets, or deluxe editions that have been confirmed for this series. That means if you want to collect the whole thing physically, you’re looking at 17 individual volumes.

Individual volumes carry a typical manga retail price — for the full set of 17, expect a total outlay roughly in line with what you’d pay for any standard-length manga series at that count.

The complete series is a great pickup if you’re looking to build a tidy shelf collection. Seventeen volumes lines up nicely, and Yamamoto’s cover art is consistently charming.

Digital Editions

If you prefer reading on a tablet or e-reader, digital editions are available through platforms like BookWalker (a digital storefront specializing in manga), Kindle, and other e-book retailers. Digital is a solid option here — the manga’s art style is simple and uncluttered, making it easy to read on screens, and you don’t have to worry about shelf space for 17 physical books.

Buying Strategy for the Full Series

Since this is a completed manga series with 17 volumes, here’s a practical approach:

• Start with volume 1. The first volume gives you a clear picture of whether this series is for you. The tone, the humor, the dynamic between Ayumu and Urushi — it’s all established right away. It’s a low-risk starting point.
• Buy in batches. If you like volume 1, grabbing a few volumes at a time is a natural way to pace yourself and your budget.
• Major retailers periodically run manga sales, so buying during those windows can help if you’re picking up multiple volumes at once.
• Digital bundles may be available depending on the platform, which can sometimes offer better value than buying individual digital volumes.

The series is approachable in length, satisfying in its conclusion, and consistently entertaining across all 17 manga volumes. Whether you’re a fan of Yamamoto’s other work or just looking for a completed romance manga to enjoy from start to finish — this one is well worth your time.