Volume 1 begins with exposition on twins, Megumu and Mitsuru Kobayashi, each with vastly different personalities and hobbies, Megumu an otaku and Mitsuru “manly”. While nearly falling down the stairs some weird ass guy shows up and “saves” her.  She accidentally kisses him and runs off in embarrassment.  Later, Mitsuru proves to be a jackass, requesting Megumu take his place for a week and waste it picking up his grades because he’s so stupid focusing on dating chicks when he could actually go to school and still date the chicks.  How this jackass thought this was a good idea is beyond me.  And it emphasizes how Japanese male characters are emasculated and feminized.

Mitsuru is loving it at the all girls school while Megumu is having trouble, especially when one of Mitsuru’s love interest’s boyfriend, Yukimitsu Mogami, confronts her.  Star model, Azusa Tokugawa, appears and Mitsuru plans to speak with her but witnesses her verbal abuse of another student. He comes into conversation with bamboo sword swinging cutting a can in half and stating his distaste.  Back at the boys school, Megumu is being chased by the jealous boyfriend, and while hiding on the roof meets the same guy who saved her from falling.

For some reason, Megumu is enthralled with the guy and Mitsuru enthralled with the girl being abused by Azusa at the same damn time. Mitsuru finds out the girl’s name is Shino Takenaka and that she’s deaf.  Oddly, he finds himself worried about Shino.  He “saves” Shino from more people (Japan seems to filled with jackasses who feel entitled) and somehow her saying thank you makes him feel like this is true love.  Back with Megumu, she finds out her “savior” is quite a douchebag (why is he sleeping on a roof anyway).  Mogami appears and Megumu takes off again but is later caught and dragged to a fighting ring.  The battle is pretty short (and humorous) with Megumu panicking, slipping and accidentally headbutting Mogami in the balls.  This victory earns her the number 3 spot of the Magnificent Seven, a group of the strongest students.

Before Mogami’s goons can jump her, she is saved by…surprise, surprise…Aoi Sanada, the guy that stopped her fall. Sanada literally carries both Megumu and Mogami to the infirmary (don’t understand why he’s carrying her as she is perfectly capable of walking on her own).  Later on, the twins are back home discussing their adventures at school and we get a little exposition on Sanada.  The next day Megumu is confronted by Mogami who she gives them cookies.  She finds Sanada hilariously covered in cats and the two talk about how much of a nerd she is.  He has this “connection” with these cats and it is a moving moment between the two (even to the point where I forgot Megumu is suppose to act like her brother).

Back at the girl’s school, Mitsuru runs into Shino while a scorned Azusa, who attempts to egg the two but Mitsuru’s expert kendo skills easily stop the assault.  Would’ve liked to have seen them get egged instead of Mitsuru stop the attack so easily.  Also, the social structure of the school sucks as everyone shuns the people the popular kid doesn’t like.  Anyway, his desk goes missing but is recovered by Megumu’s besties, Tomo and Shizuka (showing they actually have a lot of heart and loyalty). Azusa hits Mitsuru with a water balloon forcing him to change out of his disguise.  Azusa attempts recruit his new persona, Taro Yamada, but he declines. Damn, dude headbutted her.

After a heartfelt diatribe, she headbutts him back and storms off.  Of course, volume 1 ends with Azusa beginning to have all these feelings for him because he was nice to her. Typical.

The Verdict:  In the end, So Cute It Hurts!! Vol.1 is actually a pretty solid read.  The two main leads, Megumu and Mitsuru are pretty cool protagonists and despite my initial feelings about the story, it’s actually turning out to be really interesting, especially with the addition of the love interests Shino and Sanada, and some of the antagonists, Azusa.  So Cute It Hurts!! Vol.1 gets 3 out of 5.