"Boyfriend Sometimes Girlfriend" is a manga that firmly pushes against some of the more tired tropes of the romcom genre, but not enough to meaningfully distinguish itself from the rest of the pack. Put another way, the manga doesn't commit any egregious narrative errors, but it also never has a moment that really knocks you off your feet. It is, in a phrase, pleasantly average. Also a quick side-note: there appears to be a discrepancy on MAL, because the manga is longer than ten chapters? A mangadex entry (as of writing this) lists the manga complete at 14 chapters. Take, for example, the male MC: unlike somany others in the category, he is not overly self-deprecating, does not constantly second-guess his decisions or emotional commitment to the relationship (another nice change of pace — the couple actually gets together at the beginning of the manga), and his stream-of-consciousness is not nervous mumblings, but coherent thoughts that translate into real action. These are all promising features, if not for the fact that they are attached to a character that has a near two-dimensional personality; he is either poetically fawning over his girlfriend or analytically worrying about his girlfriend. There really isn't much to his character beyond that.

The same goes for his girlfriend: she is either sweetly flirting with the MC or nervously avoiding him; the friend turned bully character is either ignoring the MC or freaking out. Everyone, it feels, has one of two "modes," and as a result the progression of the story feels much less like authentic, character-driven progression that someone arranging pieces on a chess board.

That said, the story is very sweet and has its own charm. Despite its lack of depth, there is still something strangely endearing about a couple that is heads-over-heels for each other, supportive of one another, and simply enjoy being awkward teenagers together. And while the timing of certain story beats is somewhat strange, the shorter length of the overall manga — three volumes — masks any pacing issues that, over a longer period of time, would be much more significant.

TLDR: A short, charming read that is lacking in character complexity and abundant in cute, wholesome moments of teenage love. The MC is not particularly interesting but also not particularly infuriating, which in the realm of manga romcom is better than half the playing field. Best enjoyed when read quickly — otherwise certain narrative choices become more annoying than interesting. 6/10