I’m kinda chubby and I’m your hero, or in Japanese Saenai Boku wa, Kimi no Hero, is a Manga by Nore. Licensed in English by Seven Seas, available for Paperback and Ebook.
It’s a slow-burn BL about Honjirou, the titular character who’s an actor in a theatre club, and Inari Konnosuke, a local pastry chef.
Honjirou’s colleagues in the theatre club often get gifts from their fans, however, Honjirou never had a fan and starts wondering if it might be because he’s plus-size.
Shortly after, we see Inari visiting the performance of the theatre that Honjirou has a role in, and Inari becomes a fan immediately. To thank him for the outstanding performance, Inari decides to send him some chocolates that he made himself. He didn’t know how to sign it though, so he leaves a card of the shop he’s working in.
The next day, Honjirou is extremely happy to have gotten his first fan-gift and decides to visit the shop. Because the owner of the shop is female (and the name on the card too), Honjirou thinks his fan is female too.
It creates a bit of a misunderstanding because Inari is quite close with the owner of the shop (as friends) and often leaves at the same time as her. So, when Honjirou visited, they were together, and Inari thought Honjirou came because of him, but Honjirou didn’t say anything particular about the gift, just that the chocolates are delicious here. It takes a while until it’s cleared up, who Honjirou’s fan is, but not too long and is on the healthy side of that trope.
It’s a very sweet (pun intended), wholesome and healthy slice of life manga. Slow-paced, in a very good way. I’m not always a fan of slow-pace when some storylines can be resolved sooner, but for this I wouldn’t mind if there’ll be 10 volumes of just their life without anything happening much. Really.
The body-positivity is amazing and I hope there are gonna be more mangas/animes like this. There are some remarks about him being chubby and he does think of starting a diet, but nothing that extends over more than 3 pages and the other characters always conclude with him being happy the way he is. It’s also great seeing him be successful in the acting branch, without being looked down upon, which usually is the case in fiction and reality.
The dynamic between the MCs but also to the other characters is very well written. Communication is present and there are no storylines where misunderstandings stretch throughout multiple chapters. (Although that was more or less the plot of the first volume, but got resolved pretty quickly.)
2nd volume focuses on them getting even closer, spending a lot of time together and blushing. But also hard-ships and work, and a bit of family problems on Inari’s side. They always got their back and help each other where they can. Super fluffy; I’ve got lots of butterflies and can’t wait to read volume 3.
Super recommended, especially if you want a break from toxic and sex-centered BL!!
| Criteria | Scores | Our Score |
| Art | 1 – 5 | 5 |
| Story | 1 – 5 | 5 |
| Pacing | 1 – 5 | 4 |
| Characters | 1 – 5 | 5 |
| Cost & Accessibility | 1 – 5 | 5 |
