3.5-4 Stars

This is an interesting read (ominous when I use that word, but it fits). Sawa just broke up with her boyfriend and Sakura makes his move pretty much instantly -this hasn't happened in the history of my reading shoujo manga, but I digress. My husband would say that he knows who he wants and goes for it lol. Admirable, really! Sawa's obviously 'once bitten, twice shy' and says no. But, as the title implies: Sakura's 'in it to win it' no matter what.

This is where I would normally talk about the percentage of drama, but there really isn't much to talk about. I don't want to give a complete synopsis, but I will say that most of the drama is mostly generated by Sawa and (what I'd like to call) her allergy to demonstrative affection and PDA -this is the opposite of what I was expecting. Funny enough, I relate to her a little much in the regard...maybe you will too.

This is a -for lack of better term- a simple/straightforward plot; so, I'm interested in how Vol 2 will pan out. My prediction is that this will be a short run (+/-50 chapters) since it seems like there's a high chance things will escalate quickly.

I highly recommend a gander as this looks like a debut work with a twist on the high school trope: they're not opposites, he's a really good guy with the patience of a saint, and she's not really jaded though she thinks she is.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kodansha for this eARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

Sakura’s Dedication is the type of manga I love and can easily devour tons of, a cute story with even cuter characters. The romance in these are adorable , I think with manga stories like this you need to accept insta-relationships , the love quite often builds over time, Japanese culture isn’t identical to us and you need to allow for that when reading. The build up of relationships is my favourite so I look forward to reading more

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Huge thanks to Kodansha Comics and the author for providing this manga in exchange for an honest review. All of the opinions expressed in this review are my own.
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This was a fun story with beautiful art and character designs. However, the characters themselves were a bit bland and the plot typical of shoujo manga. This was still a good read and I hope to see new things happen in the next volumes.

Overall rating: 3/5 stars

I received a copy of this manga through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I liked the art style and the story was cute. At first I didn’t enjoy the pressure of Sakura’s feelings toward the girl but it got very adorable quite fast. Her violent reactions to all sorts of displays of affection were a bit over the top but hilarious and made sense as a comic relief.😃
Overall a pretty nice manga!😊

I just finished this Volume and it was such a cute, sweet love story. I loved how their personalities are the opposites and how bold Sakura is although he seems to be a nerd. I thought it was very cute how she got shy everytime Sakura said something affectionate, but it also showed how she was not used to this kind of attention. I had the feeling Sakura was genuinely in love with her but i think she also fell harder than she intended to, which made the story even better. However, I thought it went a little too fast for my taste at the beginning. Because it seemed a bit too rushed as she did not know Sakura but then she fell for him quiet fast, but normally the books I read are a slow burn. Despite that, I loved every bit of the story and it made me smile the whole time and wanting to know more about their story.

Cute, but I found the main female lead kind of unlikely which ruined what I felt would have been a cute plot.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Kodansha for giving me the opportunity to review this manga.

I found this manga to be really cute and I loved the story. In a lot of shoujo romance manga I have read before, they are typically slowburn and it takes many volumes for the main character and the male lead to get together. In this manga they get together by the first chapter of the first volume which I found to be quite refreshing.

So far, I really like their relationship and how their reactions are unfolding. My favorite part about it though is the way that Sakura reassures Sawa. She is not used to being treated as nicely as Sakura treats her and sometimes it makes her shy, not to mention the fact that her ex will say things to her to try and make her insecure in her relationship. Regardless, Sakura always reassures her how much he cares for her and I adore that.

I'm excited to read the next volumes when they come out!

There is something inconsequential about this volume: it plays into the identical troupes that plague shoujo manga; it is predictable, with little development of the characters nor in-depth personality building. However, where this one shines over its counterparts is its relationship dynamics.

One of its downfalls is its dependency on the main character to carry its story, with little interaction of supporting characters or themes that develop each character individually. Yet, this is a quick read I would recommend because the protagonists have the type of opposites attract that is healthy? To explain, even when our male protagonist is open to affection and words of appreciation, our female lead is the opposite, not being used to such displays. This plays a significant role as she does try to be more open, having an open dialogue with the male lead.

I love the open dialogue and lack of miscommunication (which happens once but is quickly resolved humorously). He openly discusses his feelings for her their problems and displays affection like its second nature. It is adorable, and it is wholesome.

Even when the story plays into tried and true tropes, watching how it plays how between their dynamic keeps it interesting.

Thank you, Kodansha and Netgalley, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

It’s a bad sign when one has trouble differentiating one shojo manga from the next. Perhaps it’s because I’ve read many first volume rom-coms in a row, but it’s getting to the point where a lot of them feel too similar. Do manga authors have trouble writing rom-coms that aren’t either in high school or focus on polar opposites? I ask because Sakura’s Dedication, the debut work of Fuyu Yukimiya, plays every single shojo trope in the book, all with little-to-no imagination.

Sakura’s Dedication focuses on the titular character and his crush Hanasaki, the latter of whom is dealing with a breakup. The boy bluntly asks the girl to date him, with Hanasaki having no feelings for the guy whatsoever. But when Sakura saves her from an incident with her ex, Hanasaki starts seeing more of the charm of the nerdy guy. As the two get to know each other better, more feelings begin to blossom in Hanasaki’s heart.

One thing I’ll say about Yukimiya is that she knows how to draw her characters well. The art in Sakura’s Dedication is very gorgeous to look at, with both Hanasaki and Sakura having plenty of beautiful features on their faces. Their date at the aquarium also has some fine details placed in some of the marine life both characters see. Sadly, Yukimiya’s writing is not on-par with her art skills.

The big problem with this manga is how one-dimensional these characters seem to be. They lack personality, to the point where one can easily predict every single outcome that can and will occur in its run. As a one-shot, Sakura’s Dedication could’ve been a nice story; stretched out how it is, and it’s easy to see it already running out of ideas. How both Sakura and Hanasaki start to date also feels too same-y from every shojo romance manga out there, with their interactions feeling too paint-by-numbers to bring forth any sort of surprise reaction.

As a result, Sakura’s Dedication comes off as a completely forgettable affair. There’s plenty of other manga and anime out there that have done the polar opposites thing a lot better. If you can’t get enough of high school shojo romances, then you can add Sakura’s Dedication to your pile. As for me, I’ve got other series to look at that are worth more of my time.

This was super super fun!
Hanasaki is a high school student and just broke up with her boyfriend, Yuma Sakura, a classmate, hearing it, tells her directly to be his girlfriend and that he is going to show her that he really means it, he really likes her.
So our main character in the manga is Hanasaki but my hero is Sakura.
Hanasaki had ex-boyfriends but since she is a shy person she could not listen to cute things, such as I like you, you are cute or holding hands, while Sakura tells her all these without feeling any embarrassment.
As I said Sakura is super cute, not getting angry, always finding her super cute, he is really into her and most of all he has some super funny reactions.
I cannot say anything else.
I found this manga super super fun, a great “good luck” to Fuyu Yukimiya for this first serialization and I hope to continue reading this manga.
Also thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this manga.

I'm conflicted, visually this is beautiful and certainly full of "cute", but I'm not sure what the story is. The plot is presented in chapter 1 and each chapter is the same. Hopefully the next volume has more story to help.

It is a sweet and pleasant read, just not a lot of content.

Thank you NetGalley and Kodansha for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is such a cute story and an easy read. I also enjoy the manga because of the art style.

The young love is so adorable which kinda brings me back to high school, having crushes 😂. However, I was hoping for a better build up to their relationship. I don't like how fast Sawa got into a relationship with Sakura. But I would still consider reading the 2nd volume cause I would like to see how their relationship progress and see if the ex bf will get involved.

Thank you Netgalley and Kodansha for the earc.


In this story we meet Sawa, she just got out of a bad relationship when Sakura approaches her and confesses his feelings for her. She immediately rejects him, saying he isn’t her type. He is very persistent though and professes his feelings for her afterwards anyways.

First of all this story is incredibly sweet. It is full of young love, flustered feelings and being a young love-shy teen. The artwork is gorgeous and I really enjoyed how the story looked visually. Sakura is completely smitten with Sawa and loves to compliment her, Sawa on the other hand is very shy in their relationship and she isn’t sure how to express herself. It was a very cute read. However, there were a few things that I didn’t love about it.

The beginning felt forced. We are barely introduced to Sawa then immediately Sakura professes his love for her. This isn’t really a spoiler since it happens so close to the beginning, but it doesn’t take long for Sawa to grow feelings for him and be absolutely smitten. When I think back to being a teen I did form crushes very fast so it isn’t the idea that it is unrealistic. Things being unrealistic in books usually doesn’t bug me. What bugged me about it is the lack of build up into their relationship. The build up into relationships is one of my favourite things to read and I feel like that could have made it a stronger first volume.

I will continue with the series though as it is published. I am curious how Sawa’s and Sakura’s relationship will blossom and I am curious too see if her ex will play a bigger part later on and cause some conflict.

I rated this a ⅗ stars on goodreads. I didn’t love it, but it was cute and sweet. If you are looking for an easy, fast, fluffy read this is an option for you!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!
Spoilers for the manga's story, please read with caution!!

Before I go in on the story, I am going to speak about the art style of this manga. The art style is lovely, and its aesthetics hits all the points of a good shojo romance manga. Fluffy hair, sparkling eyes, nice fashion. Though on the fashion aspect, if they're both in high school, why do they dress like college students? The male lead looks like he walked out of a Kdrama set in college (Think Yoo Jung from Cheese in the Trap type of outfits) whenever they go on a date. It looks great fashion-wise, but jarring to see on high school students. Otherwise, the art style is what you would expect for the genre it is in. Now for the story. The description for this manga, while technically correct, feels inaccurate. I was under the impression, that this "dedicated" classmate, Sakura, would try to woo Sawa, and while she rejects him at first, would slowly come to fall in love with him as they get to know each other. Instead, Sakura asks to be Sawa's girlfriend on the literal third page of the manga, and when told "No, you're not my type" by Sawa, he responds with "Then I will try to make you like me, and I won't give up!". I know that persistence in "love" is supposed to be romantic and all, but when even the female main character is annoyed by this, I feel like the annoyance I felt during that interaction has been vindicated. Sawa even mentions in a conversation with her friend, that with how things had happened with her ex, she is NOT looking for a boyfriend right now. Yet, it only takes Sakura confessing TWO TIMES for Sawa to say "I like you too, let's date!" HELLO? Where's the build-up? Where's the romance?! I did see little hints of her liking him, like noting his smile or thinking that he's hard-working and smart. But not so much that the fact they start dating after only the second time he says "I like you" would make any sense. She does ask why he likes her in the first place, before telling him she likes him as well. His response to that question? At the beginning of the school year, she helped him pick up some papers off the floor after he gets bumped into and says something nice to him. Apparently, since that interaction, his eyes have "always followed her", and he thought he was attracted to her during that interaction. Uh. That's not a great basis for liking someone. "Oh, she was nice to me once" sounds like the beginning of a scary story, not a shojo romance. Yikes. With how quickly they jump into dating, this romance isn't merely a fast burn, it's instant incineration, and not in a great way. Also, I felt like the pacing of many of the romantic scenes was incredibly repetitive. They're studying, he makes a romantic and truthful statement, she gets embarrassed. They meet at the lockers, he says a compliment (which is romantic and truthful), she gets embarrassed. They're waiting for the train together, he says a romantic and truthful statement, she gets embarrassed. This formula repeats. I'm unsure if it was meant to feel repetitive or it was supposed to show how "straightforward" and "honest" he is, but it feels a little hollow either way. All the non-romantic scenes feel like mere setups for the next scene, which is always a romantic one. I know nothing else about these characters except that they're dating, she got cheated on once and he's a nerd. It feels disconnected from the reader. The relationship in this story felt like it moved WAY too fast, and it was off-putting, sadly. Maybe in a future volume, it will smooth out, since a lot of manga have a rocky start with their first volume. But this honestly almost bored me, so I doubt I'll be looking for that second volume.

For a first shojo volume this was quite cute. I did find it a bit fast in terms of how their relationship progressed so I’m curious to see how many volumes this series will be. Overall it was cute and light and I look forward to the next one

This volume was super cute. He confesses and they start dating pretty quickly but it was cute. He was never forcefully with his feelings and he accepted that she was shy without any complaints. I will pick up the next volume

Thanks for NetGalley and the publisher for this lovely ARC!

This is the cutest thing I've read this year. This manga talks about a guy that's in love with a very sjy girl that can't show her feelings. As someone who dates a nerd and has problems with PDA, I saw so much of me in the protagonist. Lovely shoujo, made my heart become soft.

This was a cute, easy read. The art is so pretty to look at the artist did such a wonderful job. I just wish the main character was a bit more confident in herself, but I do think that that is something that will happen over time. I’m sure young girls can relate to how she behaves and it’s nice to see a love interest like Sakura who treats the heroine right.

3.5 stars

*Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and author for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review*

Synopsis: Sawa just got out of a relationship with her cheating boyfriend and is on the lookout for an honest guy. But when her classmate confesses , she rejects him, and he’s not her type. But then he confesses again, and again, and again?! What’s a girl to do in the face of such honest dedication?

I was scrolling through NetGalley and this cover caught my eye; it’s gorgeous, so I requested it. The artwork did not disappoint! In my opinion the artwork is one of the best parts of this manga. It’s detailed and realistic plus I just adore the style. Definitely one of my favorite parts.

The next thing that caught my attention is that it was classified as a romance. While it is cute and has that adorable cute high school romance vibe, the romance didn’t feel genuine to me. It felt very rushed because one moment Sawa is claiming that he’s not her type and the next it turns out she does like him. It just happened a little too quick for my liking, but I could see others enjoying that especially if you are a fan of the insta-love trope; although I use that term lightly.

While I did enjoy the story and would still recommend it, I also found it a bit repetitive and was tired of how constantly Sawa was embarrassed by being shown affection, compliments, and love. The ‘shy girl’ aspect of her personality felt like it was overdone.

Would I still pick up the second volume? Yes, I’m interested enough to see where the story goes. I just hope her extreme shyness to every little thing doesn’t go on for multiple volumes.

Awww, well this was a super cute start to a new series. Sakura is so open and straightforward with his opinions and affection, and Hanasaki is so adorable and awkward. They make a great couple and balance each other out nicely.

I am curious to see how long this series is going to end up being, especially since the two main characters got together so fast.

Thank you to Kodansha and Netgalley for allowing me to read a digital ARC.