Sekine-kun no Koi (aka Sekine's Love) manga by Kawachi Haruka

I just felt that I needed to mention how bloody refreshing this manga this.

Once in a while, I feel the need to break away from the sappy, girl-centric, angsty, drama-filled shoujo and find something just..different. Sekine-kun no Koi, a josei romantic comedy of sorts, is different. For starters, the main protagonist is a guy. Sekine-kun is a very attractive, gorgeous, wish-he-we-were-real kind of alpha-male...but afflicted with deep-seated emotional problems stemming from past traumatic experiences (which I guess can also be another plus for tortured-hero-loving females :D).

In an effort to find some sort of fulfillment in his life, he comes across  a knitting shop and finds himself learning magic tricks from the owner's quirky grandfather. Enter granddaughter, and love-interest, Sara..a girl so utterly down-to-earth and normal, and another delightful character which sets them apart from your run-of-the-mill, annoying and clingy shoujo girl.

As the manga unfolds, so will your love for these two characters grow. Sekine, who, despite his good looks, is not very skilled in the art of love (and you will "AWW!" at his fumbling attempts), and Sara, who at first remains oblivious to his pursuits, misjudges him for a ladies' man and tries to distance herself for self-preservation. To top it all off, the overarching theme is knitting. If you're anything like me, you will find yourself wanting to teach yourself how to knit..and getting frustrated because you're not as naturally skilled as Sekine is.

Currently, the scanlated chapters stand at Volume 4, Chapter 21, by Stiletto Heels Team - they have a really good online reader, so I suggest you use theirs instead of shitty Mangafox. I go so far as to check back every day for a new chapter. I've even gone so far as to search for chapters on Mangalator.ch, but to no avail. If you become really desperate (as I have become), there are some raws floating around if you look hard enough. I believe there's a Japanese website with a teaser for volume 5. You're welcome.

As it has been about 230 days (that's nearly 8 months) since the last release, you can tell how agonizing the wait is for me, But it also shows how awesome I think this manga is! And many, many thanks to the Stiletto Heels team for your time and effort in giving Sekine-kun to us *deep bow*

Go read it now. Click here for the online reader :)