 Today, we're gonna take a look at one of my favorite romantic comedies as of late, and that is The Dangers in My Heart. Let's do it. I've been wanting to review The Dangers in My Heart, or at least talk a little bit about it. Obviously, I don't have a full review since the manga is still in publication, but I can talk to you about my experiences with this book and why I like it so much. I'm typically one that does not read a lot of high school romance, but I do like romantic stories. I do like drama. I like a little bit of everything. It just so happens that the romantic setting in a high school doesn't necessarily appeal to me, but I'm open to anything. And having watched the anime the first season last year, I thought I need to read more of this. I genuinely fell in love with these characters and their quirky stories, and most importantly, their personalities. So I really wanted to continue that story with the original source material. This Shonen manga is published in North America by the folks at Seven Seas Entertainment, and this is written by Norio Sakurai. At first, this manga was published at the Weekly Shonen Champion, but it changed publications to Champion Cross, and now it is currently being published at Manga Cross. There are nine volumes so far out in Japan, and over here in the US, we have seven volumes with number eight coming soon in April, if I remember correctly. And this basically tells the story of an unlikely romance between two particular characters, one being Anna Yamada and the other being Kyoto Ichikawa. Ichikawa is a boy that is barely there when it comes to the social clique of the school. He's always daydreaming of the most hideous and insane things that could happen to his classmates, because the actual fact is that our young protagonist here does not really have a social life, does not really have that much confidence in himself. He might seem anti-social, gloomy, sadistic in some way, with his fascination about murder and serial killers and stuff like that, but deep down, he's a genuinely nice kid. He just so happens to have a very low self-esteem, reaching the point where he thinks he's a burden to people, and that they might feel disgusted by the fact that he's standing there beside them. When that is hardly the case, sure, he might be a little weirdo, but people don't actually think that of him. They just think he's sort of an outcast. On the flip side of this, we have the other main protagonist of the story, Anna Yamada, who is the complete opposite of Ichikawa. She is a bit of an airhead, she's a very pretty student, but she's also very immature. Yamada happens to be an upcoming model and actress, so she's very popular with boys and girls, but she has a bit of a clumsy side to her. Anna can be frequently seen munching on snacks and food and will constantly sneak away to the library to eat these foods, much to Ichikawa's frustration. And on one particular day at the library, these two characters happen to clumsily interact with each other, and a sort of chemistry starts to form between the two. Now on paper, you might think, okay, these two characters don't seem to fit. You have a very popular girl and a not so popular boy, but the two of them are quirky enough that you find a middle ground, a common element, and this odd relationship forms between the two of them. They are very awkward in their interactions, but there is an attraction there. Anna is, even though she's famous, she's still honest and humble and wants to get along with everybody and finds Ichikawa amusing at first with his own quirks, whereas Ichikawa is just mind boggled by Anna's quirky side as she's hiding away to eat snacks at the library, while also just striking odd conversations about pop culture, movies, manga, snacks, and even messaging apps like Line. This is a story that reminds us once again of that tired cliched of not judging a book by its cover. You might think Ichikawa is this loner who doesn't really have anything going for him, but he actually has a history of rather artistic things. Growing up, he won awards for essays, drawings, and doing research projects in school and all that stuff, so he is a talented kid, he is smart, he just happens to have that debilitating social anxiety and that low self-esteem that doesn't allow him to reach to newer heights. Also, one of the funnier aspects is the height difference, so I guess that pun was intentional. You see, Ichikawa is pretty short and Anna is distinctively tall for a girl her age, which makes for an odd pairing. Ichikawa is a character that has communication issues, which often lead to problems with other students, parents, teachers, and Anna Yamada herself. She, on the other hand, is very considerate of others and will go out of her way to help in any way that she can, often to humorous results. Later on in the story, we do find out that it is something of a guilt complex, which leads to self-doubt, thinking that she's hindering other people and causing them problems. These two supposed polar opposites have a common ground in their oddities and mental issues as these characters continue to grow, their friendship blossoms into something more. And that is part of the fun of the dangers in my heart. Obviously, we've all had self-doubt and that is an interesting subject for the mangaka to express through romance, puberty, and teenage years. The fact that it's in middle school instantly brings back a lot of nostalgia and memories of things I would have rather forgotten about of my own childhood at school, and I'm pretty sure that everybody out there has some cringey stories as well. This series has a lot of cringe moments, but in a good way. It's a good kind of cringe where you can just laugh and enjoy at the awkwardness and absurdity that's happening. But whether it's speaking your mind without any cohesiveness to it, which then leads to some confessions you didn't actually mean to say out loud, to the fact that you have moments where the characters get caught in a rather risque set of circumstances. Noriyosakurai, I feel, has a handle on these voices and how much of the embarrassment helps define them for future moments. One of the good things about this romantic comedy is that there is progress, even though we have episodic adventures in the form of mini chapters throughout the story. When something major does happen, the after effects are felt throughout and we see the reaction not just from the main duo, but from the side characters as well. Typically, in these stories, we only have embarrassing moments sprinkled throughout and then at the end of a particular chapter, something major might happen and you would think that the relationship would continue, but it steps back and it repeats the process over and over until the author decides to quit and actually bring about a conclusion. With the dangers in my heart, we don't really see that. Yes, the structure is there, but it's more about these characters growing up together, evolving and actually, potentially, genuinely falling in love with each other. I remember when the anime was first starting and a lot of people online mistook the intention with the main character and thought, whoa, this is a creep and a really bad way to start a quote-unquote romantic comedy, but it was actually pretty great because at the end of the day, we're all different and there are people that are a little bit twisted due to their unfortunate circumstances and how they've grown up, their lack of communication, their lack of social skills really influences how they go about in day-to-day activities and we see that with Ichigawa, but there is a sincerity and a wholesomeness to him and every time he fumbles, he always gets back up and tries to fix his mistakes and learn from them, which is a great trait for a main protagonist. Same with Anna, because of her bright extrovert personality, though it sometimes can be seen as a front hiding her insecurities. It's interesting that because of her profession, a lot of fake individuals are bound to spring up, being in a modeling agency and a talent agency and all that stuff, you're going to attract a lot of scummy people and Anna is aware of this. As a result, in school, she will do anything to avoid conversations with the male students, but the turning point is that she took that leap and with the small interactions with Ichigawa at that library, bit by bit they traveled far. One of the aspects of the development of these characters that I really love is the fact that a lot of the story is told through both eyes and when one character is sharing the spotlight, the other isn't quietly sitting in the background and you see the reactions to stuff that's happening or conversations off panel that are referenced and it's that interconnectivity between the main characters and the world that they're in really makes this a shining romantic comedy that I think a lot of people should give a try and read to see if they like it or not. Throughout these seven volumes that I have here, a lot of the stories revolve around obviously the interaction between Anna and Ichigawa and how the two of them grow closer together, but one of my favorite aspects is that in every chapter there's something new and exciting happening and it typically leads into some awkward hilarious conversations. The inner monologue for Ichigawa sometimes hit a little too close to home with stuff that I would think of or I would say. Not to go into the whole macabre thing, but more about his reaction to the opposite sex or somebody talking about someone that you like and stuff like that. Now one aspect that I really enjoy is the art of the dangers in my heart. It is just as quirky and unique, especially that first volume. You see the difference here between Anna in the first chapters compared to her more recent appearances in the manga and how more well-defined the character designs are. They're so kids, but it's done in a much more elegant and beautiful way while still retaining certain cartoonish elements to their facial structures. There is great attention to detail with the background into school and the apartments and houses and structures. It all looks fairly realistic while retaining that manga charm. The characters are well drawn. I like the side characters. Visually they are just as engaging as our main couple and of course the main duo. I like the way that Ichigawa's eyes are portrayed through the series and the fact that obviously one of his bangs is covering his eyes is a reflection of his willingness to open up to people. Anna being in the fashion industry and acting means that this is a very stylish series. Even when Ichigawa, who does not see himself as a beacon of fashion, he's usually seen wearing some pretty cool outfits. I think at the end of the day the part that attracted me the most for the dangers in my heart was the idea of seeing myself in these characters and realizing that yes opposites do attract and that there is actually somebody out there for everybody. Growing up a lot of us maybe we're not the smartest, maybe we're not the prettiest, maybe we're not the most confident, but seeing characters like this reminds us that it doesn't really matter because the world is such a vast and unique place that you're gonna find somebody out there to get along with and it doesn't have to be a romantic thing. It's just where you find somebody you get along with and you share your passion, happiness and eccentricities with. That I think it's what it's all about. Plus the fact that these two are so oddball in their own way just made me fall in love with this cast. They are genuinely sweethearts troubled by their own insecurities, but I know as they weave through it together they're all gonna come out much better people at the end. That is sort of my little review, take a conversation piece I guess about the dangers in my heart. I really really do like this series. I hope I've interested you in picking this up and maybe if you're not used to this sort of manga maybe you might consider picking one up and potentially enjoying it. I do think this is a series that has a ton of heart and a little underrated yeah sure the anime boosted its popularity but I don't see it being talked about enough or at least the manga and hopefully with these sorts of videos I can bring more light into it and hopefully it connects with other people. So that's going to be it for now unfortunately I can't talk to you about an ending for it because it's still ongoing and we are only two volumes away from catching up with the Japanese release so we'll have to see how the story continues from here. Thank you everybody for liking commenting and being a part of Banga Geekdom here on YouTube. I am blown away by the reception, the views and all that wonderful feedback that you guys provide. Thank you all so very much. That's gonna be it for now. God bless. Stay safe out there. I will catch all of you on our next video.