I ended up buying the whole series and I'll review that tomorrow (with spoilers!), but today I'm just discussing volume 1. It's pretty good. It has attention-grabbing ideas, a likeable cast and good story progression.

MIYAHARA CHIKO is a schoolgirl who doesn't talk to anyone and always wears a scarf and headphones (even when someone's attempting conversation). When eventually persuaded to talk, she'll call herself a clumsy girl who's on the point of death three times a week. This is an understatement and she's omitted the most alarming information. (The manga's not a gorefest, though. It's quite funny.)

OUSAKA RYOUHEI is a likeable male protagonist. He's a bit nerdy and pathetic, but he means well and he's certainly no skirt-chaser. The nearest he gets to perversion is a fetish for voices. Well, it takes all sorts. Only after promising to protect Miyahara does he begin to realise what he's let himself in for.

NEKOYASHIKI AYA is Ousaka's best friend and a closet otaku who's learned how to create a popular non-otaku public persona. She's got big boobs and she's always showing Ousaka her knickers, but only as a result of kicking him (hard). That's friendship in Aya-world. She's rumbustious, but also inconveniently clever and perceptive.

The volume's a laugh. You wouldn't expect an entire series to maintain this impressive level of twists, revelations and surprises. Ousaka's goofy and intelligent enough to feel real, not just a generic manga protagonist, while Miyahara can be adorable under all those layers of "doesn't want to interact with anyone". It's also not a fanservice series... yet. That will change in later volumes, but for now even panty shots are mostly avoided, despite Nekoyashiki's best efforts. So far, we've got an intriguing plot and a small, likeable cast. There's obviously lots to discover. I've avoided spoilers here, but I'll go into more detail tomorrow.