Love and the Highly Sensitive Person
Learning about love and life through the eyes of an HSP.
Happy Pride Month! During this month I will be trying to review more BL, yuri, and LGBTQIA+ manga. I hope this encourages people to read some queer manga, or maybe find some new titles to check out if you already consume queer manga. Let’s begin with a BL series with an openly neurodivergent person. In Love and the Highly Sensitive Person by Chimi Saruwaka our main character is a Highly Sensitive Person or HSP. If you’re an HSP, you have high levels of sensory-processing sensitivity which can lead them to get easily overwhelmed by certain situations, foods, and even media. Being that love can be such a strong emotional feeling, it really made me curious to see how an HSP would handle felling in love and being in a relationship.
Genre: Slice of life, romance
Age Rating: Teens 13+
Publisher: Animate International
Status: Complete, one volume
Synopsis:
Yoh Yukinaga is a hairstylist who’s also an HSP (highly sensitive person). One day when his scissors begin to get dull, one of his coworkers recommends them to send them over to a blade sharpener named “Chiyo.” Although Yoh was quite nervous about sending his beloved hair cutting shears to get sharpened, when he gets them back they were perfectly sharpened and maintained. In addition to getting his scissors, Yoh also got a letter from Chiyo written in beautiful stationary. The two begin to write to each other until one day Yoh’s curiosity brings him to wanting to meet Chiyo in person and see the person who’s been taking such great care of his scissors. Much to Yoh’s surprise Chiyo is not a sweet woman but a disheveled and very blunt guy.
Although Yoh gets initially scared by Chiyo, the two men learn to confide and learn from one another. Slowly but surely Yoh gets put into different situations which open up his worldview slowly but surely with someone who’s willing to be there for him.
Favorite Things:
Opposites attract: If you’re a fan of this trope, then you’ll be in for a treat because our two male leads are exactly that. From their physical appearance, to their demeanor- these two could not be more different from one another.
Yoh: I found him so likable and relatable to a certain extent. Seeing him cope with his anxiety was relatable for me, especially when those intrusive thoughts feel like they’re taking over.
Their professions: I really enjoyed seeing more interesting professions portrayed in this series. Don’t get me wrong, I do love a good office romance and seeing salarymen but the professions in this series were genuinely interesting. Yoh was a hairstylist which I haven’t seen a whole ton of in manga and Chiyo’s profession of being a blade sharpener was probably one of the most niche careers I’ve seen.
Artwork: Some of my favorite panels were the ones that showed Yoh being drowned with anxiety or all alone consumed by his intrusive thoughts. It really capture how isolating it is to deal with thoughts caused by how you perceive the world and different experiences.
Notable Things:
HSP: The author seemed to put in so much love and care in the portrayal of a Highly Sensitive Person. Not only was this care evident in the story but even in the afterword. Chimi Saruwaka’s explanations and examples of an HSP were very thoughtful and educational.
Rating: ★★★★ / 5
I really loved reading Love and the Highly Sensitive Person. I thought the one shot had good pacing and really interesting characters. I’m so glad I picked it up on my most recent visit to the Animate Los Angeles store but it’s such a shame that it’s not more readily available. The only way to buy a physical copy is by visiting the store in Los Angeles or buying it online from them and paying the $12 shipping. You can also purchase it from Crunchyroll as well, but that’s about it for book retailers. Despite that gripe I have, I do think this one shot was fantastic!
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