12cm Promise with a Cool Girl · review
Spoiler warning
This review may discuss plot details.
This manga is quite similar to Shikimori - a strong, cool girl and a kind guy - except they’re not lovers (yet). The female lead is a princely, tomboyish girl, and the male lead is a dense guy who’s 12 cm shorter than her. It starts off as a fun, comforting romcom… until the author decides to throw in a bunch of unnecessary drama after 20+ chapters. They introduce new characters, bait a love triangle that eventually turns into a square, and add a bunch of predictable tropes we’ve all seen a thousand times in other romcoms: fake dating, “learning the meaning of love” with athird wheel, jealousy, ... It all feels so forced.
But after all, it becomes wholesome again once all the mess is over. They finally confess, and the story regains its charm.
Overall, it would’ve been a great read if the author hadn’t thrown in all that unnecessary drama.