Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie Manga: All 20 Volumes

Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie Manga Volumes at a Glance — A Complete 20-Volume Romance

Here’s the quick rundown so you know exactly what you’re getting into:

• Title: Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie (可愛いだけじゃない式守さん)
• Author: Keigo Maki (真木蛍五)
• Status: Completed
• Total volumes: 20 (both Japanese and English)
• Total chapters: 178
• Originally published: February 2019 – February 2023, on Magazine Pocket (Kodansha’s web manga platform). “Serialized” in manga terms means chapters were released on a regular schedule on that platform before being collected into the physical books sold today.
• Genre: Romantic comedy
• Content rating: This is a clean romance — no explicit or ecchi content. It’s suitable for teens and up, and comfortable to give as a gift without worrying about mature material.

The premise flips a common romance manga dynamic on its head. Instead of the boyfriend being the cool, protective one, it’s Shikimori — the girlfriend — who switches from adorable to effortlessly cool whenever her boyfriend Izumi is in trouble. Izumi, meanwhile, is sweet-natured but hilariously unlucky, constantly stumbling into minor disasters that give Shikimori the chance to shine.

It’s a simple hook, but it works beautifully. The series ran for nearly four years, building from that lighthearted gag premise into something with genuine emotional weight. And since it’s complete at 20 volumes, you can read the entire romance from start to finish without waiting for new releases.

All 20 volumes are available in English from Kodansha — one of Japan’s largest manga publishers and the company behind series like Attack on Titan and The Quintessential Quintuplets — so the full story is right there whenever you’re ready.

How the Story Develops Across 20 Volumes

One thing worth knowing upfront: Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie starts as a pretty episodic comedy — meaning each chapter mostly stands on its own as a self-contained vignette rather than building one continuous plot. The early chapters are short, snappy, and built around the central gag — Izumi has bad luck, Shikimori saves him while looking impossibly cool, everyone melts. If you’re the kind of reader who wants plot-driven romance right from chapter one, the opening stretch might feel a bit slow. Stick with it through the first five or so volumes. The series earns its emotional payoffs by letting the characters breathe first.

Early Volumes (Vols 1–5): Meeting the Couple and Their World

The first chunk of the series is all about establishing who these two are together — and just as importantly, who they are around their friends. The comedy is front and center here. You get the core dynamic locked in quickly: Shikimori is cute, then suddenly she’s cool, and Izumi is completely smitten every time.

But it’s not just the Shikimori-and-Izumi show. The supporting cast starts filling in during these volumes — their tight-knit friend group adds a warm ensemble comedy vibe that keeps the school setting lively. These early volumes are light and easy to read, almost like comfort food in manga form.

Visually, Keigo Maki’s art style is clean-lined and highly expressive. The characters shift between detailed, polished panels — especially when Shikimori has her “cool” moments — and exaggerated chibi-style comedy faces that keep the lighter scenes playful. Like most manga, it’s black-and-white throughout, but Maki uses screen tones and dynamic framing well enough that you won’t miss color.

Middle Volumes (Vols 6–12): Emotional Stakes Start Rising

This is where the series starts shifting gears. The episodic comedy doesn’t disappear, but school events and new situations push the couple — and their friends — into territory with more emotional weight. You start seeing actual relationship challenges rather than just cute moments strung together.

The supporting cast gets more development here too, which makes the world feel more three-dimensional. Characters who started as comic relief — side characters used mostly for laughs — get their own storylines and moments of genuine depth. The friendship dynamics within the group become just as compelling as the central romance.

If you were on the fence during the early volumes, the middle stretch is typically where readers feel the series click into a higher gear.

Later Volumes (Vols 13–17): Real Drama, Real Growth

By this point, the manga has fully committed to being a relationship drama with comedy elements, rather than the other way around. The couple faces real conflicts — not manufactured misunderstandings, but the kind of growing pains that come with two people maturing alongside each other. Without spoiling specifics, expect themes like self-doubt, personal identity, and the pressure of figuring out your own path while trying to support the person you love. These are the kinds of challenges that feel emotionally honest rather than contrived.

These volumes carry a noticeably more serious tone. The stakes feel personal and earned because you’ve spent twelve volumes getting to know these characters. Keigo Maki does a good job of making the dramatic beats land without betraying the warm spirit of the series.

Final Stretch (Vols 18–20): Wrapping Up the Romance

The last three volumes bring the story to its conclusion. Without spoiling anything, the series resolves its central relationship storyline in a way that feels consistent with everything that came before. You get closure — real, satisfying closure — which is something not every romance manga delivers.

For readers who value completed stories, this is a big plus. Twenty volumes is a manageable commitment, and the ending doesn’t feel rushed or dragged out.

What Kind of Romance to Expect

Let’s talk about what makes this series feel different from a lot of other romance manga, because setting the right expectations makes a huge difference in how much you’ll enjoy it.

The Subverted Dynamic

The heart of the series is the flipped couple dynamic. Shikimori is the one who’s athletic, effortlessly cool under pressure, and fiercely protective. Izumi is gentle, prone to bad luck, and openly admiring of his girlfriend. Neither character is a pushover — Izumi has his own quiet strengths — but the series leans into the idea that the girlfriend being the “cool” one in the relationship is charming rather than unusual.

This might sound like a one-note gag, and in the very early chapters it kind of is. But Keigo Maki layers in enough complexity over 178 chapters that both characters grow well beyond their initial types.

Established-Couple Romance

Here’s a big one: Shikimori and Izumi are already dating when the series begins. There’s no long, drawn-out tension over whether they’ll end up together. No confession scene at volume 15 after years of dancing around feelings. They’re a couple from page one.

If you love watching a relationship deepen over time rather than waiting for it to start, this is your kind of manga. The tension comes from how the relationship evolves — how they handle challenges, how they grow individually and together — rather than from whether they’ll ever get together in the first place.

The Friend Group

One of the series’ biggest strengths is the ensemble cast. Shikimori and Izumi’s friend group isn’t just there to react to the couple’s cute moments. They have their own personalities, their own developing relationships, and their own comedic chemistry. The group dynamic adds a warm, everyday-life energy that keeps the manga engaging even between the big romantic moments.

Who Will Love This

This series is a great fit if you enjoy:

• Lighthearted romance that gradually deepens
• Established couples rather than the long wait for a confession
• Ensemble casts with strong friendships alongside the romance
• Cool girlfriend energy as a central appeal
• Manga that starts as comedy and grows into something more emotionally resonant

At 20 volumes, it’s long enough to tell a satisfying story without being an intimidating commitment — a solid entry point if you’re newer to romance manga.

Manga vs. the Anime Adaptation

For readers unfamiliar with how this works: manga is the original Japanese comic format (printed or digital), and an anime is an animated TV adaptation based on that source material. They tell the same story, but the anime often covers only a portion of the manga.

A TV anime adaptation of Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie aired in 2022, running for 12 episodes. If you watched it, you might be wondering how the manga compares and where to go next.

The anime covers only the early portion of the manga’s story — roughly the material from the first few volumes. That means if you enjoyed the show, there’s a lot more waiting for you in the manga — the majority of the series, including all of the deeper dramatic storylines and the complete ending, is manga-only territory.

The anime captures the lighthearted comedy and the couple’s cute dynamic well, but it only scratches the surface of where the story goes. Readers who pick up the manga after the anime consistently mention being surprised by how much the series grows beyond what the show adapted.

If you watched the anime and want to continue, you could start from volume 1 to get the full experience (the manga includes material the anime skipped or condensed), or jump in around the early volumes to pick up roughly where the show left off. Either way, the full 20 volumes cover far more ground — the relationship challenges, the character growth, and the conclusion are all waiting in the manga.

For readers who haven’t seen the anime at all, there’s no need to watch it first. The manga is the complete version of the story, and it stands perfectly well on its own.

Which Edition to Buy

Good news: buying this series is straightforward. There aren’t a bunch of confusing edition choices to sort through.

The Standard English Edition

The English release matches the Japanese run at 20 volumes. Each volume collects multiple chapters into a single book — the standard pocket-sized paperback format (roughly 5″ × 7.5″) that most manga is sold in. There are no combined multi-volume editions or special collector’s editions in English, so what you see is what you get: 20 individual volumes that contain the complete story.

Both physical and digital editions are available, so you can pick whichever format you prefer. Physical copies look great on a shelf, and 20 volumes makes for a satisfying complete set without taking up a massive amount of space. Digital is convenient if you want to start reading immediately or prefer reading on a tablet.

At a typical retail price of around $10–$13 per volume, the full 20-volume set runs roughly $200–$260 at list price before any retailer discounts. That’s a meaningful investment, which is another reason buying a few volumes first to see if you click with the series is a smart approach.

Buying the Complete Series

Since the manga is finished, you have the luxury of buying at your own pace. You can grab the whole set at once, pick up a few volumes at a time, or start with volume one and see if it clicks before committing to the rest. There’s no anxiety about whether the series will get fully translated — it’s all out there already.

If you’re looking for the complete set, you can find the full 20-volume collection in one purchase.

That’s the easiest way to get everything at once rather than hunting down each volume individually.

Digital vs. Physical

	Physical	Digital
Availability	All 20 volumes	All 20 volumes
Shelf appeal	Great — complete set looks clean	N/A
Portability	20 books is a lot to carry	Read anywhere on a device
Start reading	Wait for shipping	Instant
Resale value	Can resell or lend	Tied to your account

Neither option is “better” — it’s purely about how you like to read. Plenty of fans buy physical for series they love and digital for series they’re testing out.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many volumes of Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie manga are there?

There are 20 volumes in both the Japanese and English editions, containing 178 chapters total. (Chapters are the individual installments of the story; volumes are the physical or digital books that collect those chapters together — typically around 8–10 chapters per volume.) The series is complete — no more volumes are coming.

Is the manga finished?

Yes. The manga ran from February 2019 to February 2023 on Magazine Pocket, Kodansha’s web manga platform. The story has a definitive ending. You can read the entire romance from start to finish right now.

Where does the anime leave off in the manga?

The 2022 anime adaptation covers the early volumes of the manga. The vast majority of the story — including the deeper dramatic storylines and the ending — is only available in the manga. If you watched the anime and want the full experience, the manga is where you’ll find it. Starting from volume 1 is recommended to catch material the anime condensed or skipped.

Is this a good romance manga for beginners?

Absolutely. The tone is lighthearted and welcoming, especially in the early volumes. The couple is already together from the start, so there’s no frustrating wait for them to confess their feelings before anything happens. And at 20 volumes, it’s long enough to feel like a satisfying journey without being the kind of 50+ volume commitment that can intimidate new readers.

The comedy is easy to follow, the art is expressive and fun — full of exaggerated reactions and dynamic character poses that make the comedy land even if you’re new to reading manga — and the gradual shift toward deeper storytelling gives you a nice range of what romance manga can do, all within a single series.