Kotomi Aoki’s Kanojo wa Uso o Ai Shisugiteru is coming back for a one-off return. The November issue of Shogakukan’s Cheese! magazine announced that Aoki will publish a new work for the series in the next issue, due on October 23, to mark a 10-year anniversary.
The notice, reported from the magazine’s September 24 issue, does not say whether the new work is a full series relaunch or a single new chapter. It does confirm the length: 45 pages in the issue. For a property whose original run finished years ago, a 45-page return is a substantial one.
What the return looks like
The magazine has been specific about the page count and the date but not about the format, so the honest summary is that readers are getting 45 pages of Kanojo wa Uso o Ai Shisugiteru on October 23 and no confirmation yet that it continues past that. Aoki has form for one-off returns to her titles: the series received a new chapter for Aoki’s art exhibit in 2018, an event that showcased art from her manga including Kanojo wa Uso o Ai Shisugiteru, Boku wa Imōto ni Koi o Suru and Niji, Amaete yo.
The anniversary framing is worth treating carefully. The magazine described the new work as celebrating a 10-year anniversary but did not spell out which one, and the original serialisation dates do not line up neatly with a 2026 anniversary — the manga ran from 2009 to 2017. Whatever milestone the magazine has in mind, the practical detail for readers is unchanged: new pages, October 23.
What the manga is about
The premise centres on Aki Ogasawara, a “sound creator” who composes for the popular band Crude Play and earns more than 100 million yen — about US$635,000 — a year. Despite that, he hides all of it and calls himself a NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training). Seeking a life outside music, he begins seeing a high school girl named Riko Koeda. What Aki does not know is that Riko is actually a huge fan of his music. Even with his girlfriend, Aki cannot escape the world of music.
That gap — between the life Aki performs and the life he actually lives — is the engine of the story, and it is the reason the title has stayed in print long after its run ended.
The original run and its adaptations
Aoki launched Kanojo wa Uso o Ai Shisugiteru in Cheese! in 2009 and ended it in February 2017. Shogakukan published 22 compiled book volumes. The series inspired a live-action film that opened in Japan in December 2013, along with a 10-episode live-action prologue that debuted the same month. It later inspired a live-action Korean show.
Aoki is one of the more adapted shōjo authors of her generation. Her Boku wa Imōto ni Koi o Suru romance manga inspired a live-action film in 2006 and an original video anime in 2005. Her BokuKimi manga ran in Shogakukan’s Shōjo Comic from 2005 to 2008, and Shogakukan has published 6 million copies of its 12 volumes; the series received a live-action film adaptation in 2009 and an English version of the first volume was published in Japan that same year.
More recently, Aoki released a new chapter for Niji, Amaete yo. in Cheese! in September 2020. That series, which she launched in July 2017, ended in November 2020 with its ninth volume.
Why it matters
Anniversary returns have become a fixture of the manga calendar, and they do real work: they resurface backlist volumes, drive new printings and put a finished series back in front of readers who missed it the first time. A 45-page return for a 22-volume shōjo hit fits that pattern exactly.
Fans of romance manga have plenty else to track this season. My Tiny Senpai will end with its 14th volume in April 2027, and on the adaptation side, the anime of The Final-Boss Prince Is Somehow Obsessed With the Chubby Villainess has a January 2027 debut. Meanwhile the shōjo nostalgia cycle keeps turning, with Sailor Moon getting her first theme park ride in 2027.
We will know more about the scope of the October 23 release — one-shot or relaunch — when the issue lands.
Sources: Anime News Network, citing the November issue of Shogakukan’s Cheese!
Featured image: Kanojo wa Uso o Ai Shisugiteru manga artwork, via Anime News Network.
