Kiss Him, Not Me Manga Volumes: All 14 Books Guide

All 14 Kiss Him, Not Me Manga Volumes at a Glance

Kiss Him, Not Me — known in Japanese as 私がモテてどうすんだ (roughly translated as “What’s the Point of Me Getting Popular?”) — is a reverse-harem romantic comedy created by Junko. “Reverse harem” simply means one central female character has multiple male love interests competing for her affection, flipping the more common setup where one guy has several girls after him.

The series was serialized in Bessatsu Friend, a shoujo (girls’) manga magazine published by Kodansha. In manga, chapters typically run in magazines first and are then collected into book-form volumes — and Kiss Him, Not Me’s Japanese volumes were released between 2013 and 2018. The English edition also comprises 14 volumes, matching the Japanese release one-for-one, and the entire series is complete.

Here’s the quick rundown:

• Genre: Reverse-harem romantic comedy
• Author: Junko
• Volumes: 14 (Japanese and English)
• Status: Completed
• Publisher (Japan): Kodansha (Bessatsu Friend)
• English Publisher: Kodansha Comics

The premise is wonderfully ridiculous: Kae Serinuma is a chubby, passionate fujoshi — a girl who’s obsessed with imagining romantic relationships between male characters (often called “shipping” them together) — living her best fandom life. When her favorite anime character dies, she’s so devastated that she locks herself in her room and somehow emerges dramatically thinner. Suddenly, four boys at school are falling over themselves to win her attention. The catch? Kae couldn’t care less about dating any of them. She’d much rather pair them up with each other in her fantasies.

That comedic tension — a heroine who actively resists being the center of a romance because she’d prefer to be the audience for one — drives the entire series. It’s funny, self-aware, and surprisingly heartfelt as it goes on.

The bottom line: 14 volumes, all available in English, story fully complete. You can read the whole thing without hitting a cliffhanger that never gets resolved.

Story Arcs by Volume

One of the nicest things about Kiss Him, Not Me being a completed 14-volume series is that you can see the full shape of the story before you start buying. Here’s how the narrative breaks down across its volumes, grouped into informal sections to help you understand the pacing. (These aren’t official arc names — they’re just a handy way to describe how the story evolves.)

The Sudden Popularity Arc (Volumes 1–3)

This is where the chaos begins. After Kae’s dramatic overnight transformation, she goes from being largely invisible at school to the sudden object of affection for four boys: the cool Igarashi, the sweet Nanashima, the gentle Shinomiya, and the mischievous Mutsumi. There’s also Nishina, a fellow fujoshi who adds another layer to the dynamic.

These opening volumes are pure comedy gold. Kae’s suitors try to win her over with dates and romantic gestures, but she keeps steering every situation back to her Boys’ Love fantasies — imagining the guys in front of her as romantic couples rather than seeing them as her own potential boyfriends. The humor comes from the collision between a standard reverse-harem setup and a heroine who truly does not want to participate in it. She’s not playing hard to get — she’s mentally writing fan stories about the boys standing in front of her.

Volumes 1–3 also do a great job establishing that Kae’s fandom identity isn’t a phase or a flaw to be fixed. It’s who she is, and the series respects that from the very beginning.

If you’re testing the waters, these three volumes give you a complete taste of the series’ tone and comedy style. You’ll know by the end of Volume 3 whether this is your kind of manga.

The Love Rivals Deepen Arc (Volumes 4–6)

With the premise established, the middle section starts giving individual suitors their moments in the spotlight. Rather than keeping all four boys as interchangeable romantic options, Junko takes the time to develop each one as a distinct character with his own reasons for being drawn to Kae.

This is where the series starts balancing its comedy with more genuine character work. The boys aren’t just competing for Kae’s attention — they’re figuring out what they actually feel and why. Meanwhile, Kae’s fandom passions keep clashing with the expectations of dating, leading to some of the series’ funniest scenarios. Imagine trying to have a heartfelt romantic moment with someone who’s mentally comparing it to her favorite manga scene.

The rival dynamics get sharper here too. It’s not just lighthearted bickering anymore — real stakes start to emerge around who’s really connecting with Kae versus who’s attracted to a surface-level image of her.

Shifting Feelings Arc (Volumes 7–10)

This is where Kiss Him, Not Me starts to surprise you. The comedy is still present, but the emotional register deepens noticeably. Kae, who spent the first half of the series deflecting every romantic advance, begins confronting her own feelings. She can’t keep standing on the sidelines of her own love story forever, and watching her figure that out is genuinely compelling.

These volumes include some of the series’ strongest emotional turning points. The rival dynamics shift in unexpected ways, alliances form and break, and the question of who Kae actually likes becomes a real narrative driver rather than a running joke.

For readers who might have worried that the series would just repeat the same gag for 14 volumes — this is where those concerns get put to rest. Junko knows when to let the comedy breathe and when to let her characters grow.

The Final Choice Arc (Volumes 11–14)

Everything builds toward Kae’s ultimate decision. The final four volumes handle the romantic resolution with more care than you might expect from a series that started with such an absurd premise. Each suitor gets a fair hearing, the emotional groundwork from earlier volumes pays off, and Kae makes her choice in a way that feels earned.

Without spoiling the ending, the series wraps up its story threads cleanly. You get a definitive conclusion — no ambiguous non-ending, no open-ended tease for a sequel that never comes. Volume 14 closes the book on Kae’s story in a satisfying way.

For a 14-volume romantic comedy, the pacing across these arcs feels well-managed. There’s no major stretch where the story drags, and the shift from pure comedy to comedy-with-heart happens gradually enough that it doesn’t feel jarring.

What Kind of Romance Is This? A Guide for All 14 Volumes

Before you commit to collecting all 14 volumes, it helps to know exactly what flavor of romance Kiss Him, Not Me delivers — because it’s not quite like anything else in the genre.

At its core, this is a reverse-harem romantic comedy with a twist: the heroine would honestly rather not be in a romance at all. Kae Serinuma is a fujoshi through and through. She loves Boys’ Love manga (often abbreviated as “BL” — stories about romantic relationships between male characters), she pairs up male characters obsessively in her imagination, and her idea of a perfect day involves a convention haul and new fan-made comics, not a candlelit dinner.

That self-aware fandom sensibility is what makes the series special. Kiss Him, Not Me doesn’t just feature a fandom-loving protagonist — it actively parodies and celebrates fujoshi culture. If you’ve ever gotten way too excited about two fictional characters having a moment together, this manga will feel like it was written specifically for you. The humor about fandom, character-pairing obsessions, and fan culture is constant and genuinely funny rather than mean-spirited.

Tone-wise, the series lives primarily in comedy territory for its first half, then gradually introduces more sincere emotional beats as Kae’s relationships deepen. It never becomes a drama — the humor stays present throughout all 14 volumes — but the later books have moments that land with real feeling.

This series is a great fit if you enjoy:

• Comedy-first romance where laughs come before dramatic tension
• Heroines with strong personalities who drive the story through who they are, not just who likes them
• Reverse-harem setups where multiple love interests compete for attention
• Fandom and fan-culture humor woven into the romance itself
• Completed stories with a definitive romantic resolution across all volumes

It might not be your first choice if you’re looking for intense dramatic romance, slow-burn tension, or a more grounded realistic tone — though plenty of readers who usually prefer those styles have found themselves charmed by Kae’s story anyway. This is a comedy that becomes a romance, not the other way around, and it’s worth giving a chance even if it’s outside your usual comfort zone.

Manga vs. Anime and Live-Action Adaptations

Kiss Him, Not Me received an anime TV adaptation that aired in 2016, and you might be wondering whether you can just watch the anime instead of collecting all 14 manga volumes. Short answer: the anime is fun, but it doesn’t tell the whole story.

The anime covers a portion of the manga’s storyline. It captures the comedy and character dynamics of the earlier volumes well, and it’s a solid way to get a feel for the series’ tone and humor. The voice acting adds an extra layer to the comedic timing, and seeing Kae’s fujoshi fantasies animated is a lot of fun.

However, the anime does not adapt the complete manga. If you watch only the anime, you’ll miss the later character development, the deepening romantic stakes, and — most importantly — Kae’s final romantic choice. The full resolution of who she ends up with only exists in the manga’s 14 volumes.

A live-action film adaptation was also produced in Japan, offering a condensed take on the story for the big screen. Like the anime, though, it covers only part of the narrative and doesn’t replace the manga’s complete story.

Here’s a quick comparison:

Format	Covers Full Story?	Includes the Ending?	Manga Volumes Covered
Manga (14 volumes)	Yes	Yes	All 14
Anime (2016)	Partial	No	Early volumes only
Live-action film	Partial	No	Condensed adaptation

If you enjoyed the anime and want to know how things end, picking up the manga where the anime left off is a popular approach. But honestly, the manga’s comedy often lands even better on the page, where Junko’s expressive art and visual timing shine. Starting from Volume 1 is worth it even if you’ve already watched the anime.

Which Edition Should You Buy? Collecting All 14 Manga Volumes

Good news: collecting Kiss Him, Not Me is straightforward. The English edition, published by Kodansha Comics, consists of 14 standard paperback volumes. Since the series is fully complete, every single volume is already available — no waiting for future releases, no uncertainty about whether the publisher will finish the run.

Here are your options:

Physical paperback volumes — The standard way to collect the series. Each volume is a compact paperback in the typical manga size (roughly the dimensions of a small novel). These are widely available through major book retailers. Since the series ended a while ago, individual volume availability can vary — some may be easy to find new, while others might require checking a few different stores or retailers depending on current stock. If a volume seems unavailable at one shop, try other major booksellers or check back in a few weeks, as restocks do happen.

Digital editions — All 14 volumes are also available as e-books, which is great if you prefer reading on a tablet or want instant access without worrying about physical stock. Digital editions also tend to remain consistently available regardless of whether physical copies are in print.

Box sets and omnibus editions — There is no widely available official box set or omnibus edition for the English release. Collecting means picking up individual volumes one at a time (or finding someone’s complete set secondhand).

Buying Strategy

For a sense of budget, each individual volume carries a typical retail price in the range you’d expect for a standard manga paperback — multiply that across 14 books and you can estimate the full set cost before you start. Checking the current list price at any major retailer will give you the exact number.

If you’re new to the series and not sure whether it’s for you, starting with Volumes 1–3 is a smart move. Those first three books give you a self-contained introduction to the premise, the comedy style, and the main cast. By the end of Volume 3, you’ll know whether you want the rest.

If you already know you love it — maybe you’ve seen the anime or read a few volumes at a library — then buying the full set of 14 at once is the most efficient approach. With a completed series, there’s a nice satisfaction in having the whole thing on your shelf ready to read or re-read whenever you want.

One practical note: since all 14 volumes are individual paperbacks, keep an eye on availability. Popular volumes sometimes go temporarily out of stock between printings, but buying from established retailers helps ensure you’re getting legitimate editions.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many volumes of Kiss Him, Not Me are there?

There are 14 volumes total, in both the Japanese and English editions. All 14 are available in English from Kodansha Comics.

Is Kiss Him, Not Me finished?

Yes. The series is fully complete. It ran in Bessatsu Friend magazine from 2013 to 2018, and all 14 collected volumes have been published in English. You can read the entire story from beginning to end right now.

Does the anime cover the whole manga?

No. The 2016 anime adaptation covers only a portion of the manga’s story. If you want to see Kae’s full character development and her final romantic choice, you’ll need to read the manga volumes.

Who created Kiss Him, Not Me?

The series was created by Junko and serialized in Bessatsu Friend, a shoujo (girls’) manga magazine published by Kodansha.

Is this series good for romance manga beginners?

Absolutely. The comedy-forward tone makes it easy to get into even if you’re not used to reading manga. At 14 volumes, it’s long enough to feel like a complete, satisfying story but short enough that it won’t take months to finish. The premise is immediately engaging, and you don’t need any background knowledge of manga conventions to enjoy it — though fans who are already familiar with fujoshi and fandom culture will get an extra layer of humor.

What age group is this appropriate for?

Kiss Him, Not Me is a shoujo (girls’) manga with a comedic tone. It deals with crushes, dating, and fandom life. It is a lighthearted series, but younger readers should check the publisher’s or retailer’s current listing for the official age rating and confirm with a parent or guardian.

Should I read the manga even if I’ve seen the anime?

If you enjoyed the anime, the manga is absolutely worth reading. You’ll get the complete story including the ending, plus Junko’s art style and comedic timing work beautifully on the page. Many fans who started with the anime end up preferring the manga’s pacing for the later story arcs that the anime never reached.