Romance, particularly YA romance, which encompasses shoujo manga, has a reputation for being formulaic. We all know the basics: ordinary girl, extraordinary boy, he's awful to her, she eventually falls for him. Sometimes there's an element of one of them “saving” the other, often because “he's so misunderstood,” or she was bullied. It's the comfort food of reading, and while it isn't fair to lump all YA/shoujo romances together, the truth is that there really are a lot that fit one or two prescribed formulas.

You're Way Too Cheeky, Chigaya-kun! is one of them. Its one claim to difference is that the characters are members of the school's traditional archery club; otherwise, you've absolutely read this story before under different titles by other creators. Seen in one light, it's wonderful that we've reached this point in the English-language manga market, because for years, shoujo was overlooked in favor of shounen. But in another, this is so ordinary that you'd be forgiven for wondering why Crossed Hearts bothered to bring it over in the first place.

That, I think, is both a valid and an unkind question, because Mai Ando's series is actually quite charming. Innovation isn't required for enjoyment, and comfort food plots exist because they're always there for you when you need them. In that respect, Chigaya-kun is remarkably successful. The story follows heroine Natsune, a second-year in the archery club, as she tries to figure out and deal with Chigaya, a new first-year who gets on her last nerve. Before he joined, Natsune was considered the club's ace, something she's very proud of because she'd never picked up a bow before joining the club. But Chigaya comes with plenty of experience and is remarkably skilled, and although she never says it, it's clear that Natsune feels like he's overshadowing her achievements. To make things even worse, he spends a lot of time teasing her, which she interprets as lording his prowess over her.

Although he never says otherwise in this volume, it's pretty darn clear that that's not the case. Chigaya is simply falling into the old saw about boys teasing the girls they like (a trope I do wish would go away), and that seems to be at least in part because he has no idea how to interact with her normally. She rebuffs his every attempt, so he resorts to something he knows she can't ignore, no matter how ill-advised it is. The rating on this series being what it is (T), he never goes too far, and as the book goes on, you can sense his frustration that he's just not getting through to her. When Natsune proposes a contest to see which of them can score more points in exchange for a favor, he jumps on it because it's the first opening she's ever given him. She intends to ask him to leave her alone if she wins; his thoughts are very much the opposite. There's a decent amount of chemistry between them, so this isn't painful to read at all, even if Natsune could win awards for Not Getting It.

For all that this treads a lot of familiar ground, Ando does manage to keep it just unique enough to hold your interest. There are no school events apart from a training camp, and we only see from a distance because Natsune can't attend after a gym class accident – one that does not involve her taking the usual ball to the face. Chigaya seems to live alone, but there's no indication (yet) that this is because he's got a troubled family life; it seems to be more of a school-based situation. And while there's still the start of the obligatory nursing-the-sick plotline, the lack of other standard plot points makes it feel less like checking off romance boxes – at least so far.

There is nothing wrong with You're Way Too Cheeky, Chigaya-kun!. It's a harmless, easy-to-read story with blandly attractive art. The translation isn't quite as smooth as I'd like to see (it's definitely weaker than other Crossed Heart books I've read), but it isn't actively bad, and cultural glosses are relatively unobtrusive when they show up in the gutters and margins. It may not be an innovative shoujo romance, but it is a very nice one, comfortable like a peanut butter sandwich. And sometimes, when the world feels like too much, that's just what you want to read.