I was on /a/ awhile back and saw a thread about this manga. The funny looks of the main characters intrigued me, and glancing at it, their quirky personalities pulled me in further. Shiroyama and Mita-san is about two small town Japanese zoomers falling in love and growing up. I got bored of slice of life a long time ago but this manga is something different. It's extremely heartwarming but also frustrating at times for a variety of reasons I will get to. Shiroyama Tatsuhiko is a high-functioning sperg who doesn't really have any friends. He goes to school and works at a convenience store part-time. For enjoyment he listens to talk show radio. Shiroyama is often seen around town hunched over with a big grin on his face, listening to Double Machikos, thus classmates nicknamed him Grinyama. Mita Tamiko, while seemingly plain-looking, is actually quite popular, incredibly intelligent, and from a rich family. She is a big fan of Golgo 13 and likes to pretend she's Duke Togo. The two meet when Shiroyama rescues Mita's grandpa after he fell into a river or something. Grandpa Mita then pairs the young hero with his granddaughter Tamiko. The two have a very awkward and forced chemistry at first, naturally, but it is hard to tell if that is just their personality getting in the way. Shiroyama in particular is incredibly faggy and sometimes I want to strangle him. I know how the bullies at my school must have felt about me, now! While it boggles my mind why a peasant such as Shiroyama would not only date, but be forced to date, a rich, popular, smart girl like Mita, it is supposedly explained because Grandpa Mita sees him as a boy with a heart of gold or something. Anyways, he was right in matching them because over the course of 10 volumes and 100 chapters, Shiroyama and Mita really fall in love. Besides the scenario being a bit farfetch'd in a sad, dreamy sort of way (it feels like the daydreams of the real Shiroyama who remains alone and not in Tokyo), the manga frustrates in more ways. It's sad to see Shiroyama's stubborn insistence on leaving his small town. The grass is always greener and it is a shame to know the Japanese countryside is slowly being emptied out and poured into the big industrial nightmare of Tokyo. The heart and soul of Japan, as in America or Europe, is the country where the simple folk live. And it's not as if you live without amenities; this is Japan we're talking about! They have just about everything Tokyo does but without the noise and pollution. Any rural decay you see now wasn't there in previous eras and is a result of the mass exodus of the young. The same can be said of vast swathes of Eastern Europe where the young leave the entire country behind for greener pastures, where they get to be treated like slaves and work like dogs for veritable peanuts... but at least it's not dreary old home, eh? Then it is also sad to see Tamiko working herself to the bone for what? Tokyo University? There's no way the education there is any better than say, Nagoya, where her friends end up going. It's just that modern society requires you to have a piece of paper saying you jumped through all these hoops in order to spend the next 40 years of life pushing papers. You either work yourself to death or do overtime and less actual work is done and either way, it is inefficient, soulcrushing, and pointless. And Shiroyama will support her by working in dry cleaning! Wow, glamorous life right there, all so you can live in the big city. I will shake my head at Shiroyama and Mita the same way I shake my head at midwesterners moving to Los Angeles or New York to "make it big" or whatever. But the most frustrating thing is seeing how Shiroyama and Mita never engage in any physical touching besides some very, very well-earned handholds. It's beyond stupid to think they never kissed after 2 years of "dating". And it stretches believability paper-thin to see them live together in Tokyo by the end and getting separate beds, and multiple rooms. I know she's rich but they still had a vague budget in mind and could've lived in smaller accomodations, sharing a bed like literally any couple ever. I completely understand what the Japanese mean by "herbivore men" now. Fuck Shiroyama for absolutely wasting this incredible opportunity with such a nice girl. Still, it made me tear up at the end and overall I enjoyed every moment reading it. It's highly recommended! Click here to read the first volume. Find more on your own or buy them in Japanese. They deserve to be officially translated.