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It feels fit to offer a warning for I Wanna Do Bad Things With You volume 1- the title is a slight misnomer. Villainy and terror does not reign over the high school careers of these two characters. It exists, certainly, but romance bursts onto the stage and steals away the thunder of a great deal of the work. It’s a shame, a damn shame, but if you approach with the idea that this series is a romcom then I think that much like myself, you’ll find that there’s more than enough to appreciate in it.

So, how would you describe I Wanna Do Bad Things With You volume 1? Well, I’d certainly stress the romcom aspects of it, but I would also add that the majority of the humor arises from the use of “bad things” in the vague sense being used as comedic relief. It’s an ingenuitive pairing, admittedly, and helps give this modern romcom a healthy degree of spice and flair- alongside a surprising amount of other aspects. Really, one after the other this debut volume piles up interesting ideas. Sure, our lead girl Mamori and lead boy Soshi bear traits that are surprisingly typical these days, but looking past you get a lot more than you initially believe.

For one, Soshi sports an impressively cool cane that leads into a backstory with health issues (alongside his small stature). It doesn’t really dive neck deep into that piece of him just yet, but it’s nice to see that sort of approach with a character, and actually follow through on how it affects Soshi. Similarly, while I have my gripes with some of Mamori’s character design (okay, a good deal of it), I do think that her personality is conveyed really effectively and in a way that doesn’t feel like pity. She’s shy and nervous and struggles here and there, but it never gets to a point of being unbearable, and you consistently get to follow the descent of her anxiety and concern throughout her emotional roller coaster.

I feel like I have to keep finding new adjectives to describe my experience with it, but there’s just a lot about I Wanna Do Bad Things With You volume 1 that leads you away from your expectations- both initial and ones that appear as you read along. There’s a lot of great ideas in the romcom stretch of the work, and a lot that I’m more than willing to stick with, but like so many debuting mangaka, the pace feels hopelessly brisk. What should take several volumes takes a few pages, and while it doesn’t necessarily damn the series to ruin, it feels like it wastes a lot of the creative potential that Yutaka has laid down. Sure, having Mamori clue in to her feelings for Soshi rather quickly is fine, but it takes you away from the excitement of doing something bad with another person. Sharing a little evil secret behind closed doors, lurking in the shadows together, excitedly running away from your consequences. It’s all immediately eclipsed by the insertion of Mamori’s feelings, and the beating drum that determines the pace of this first volume.

Truthfully though, being able to deliver an effective romance plot in the span of a single volume is still impressive. It lacks any feelings of forcefulness, contains a surprising degree of nuance between the characters, and is able to nail the idea of yearning and desire that escapes characters like Soshi. Though it’s rather separate from doing bad things with Mamori, their “pilot date” preparing her for his brother Koichi is a great example. There’s plenty of pieces where it shows off the inner personality of Soshi, and how his terrible childhood has twisted him into a villain that pushes everything away from him. It’s clear as day that he has feelings for Mamori, but never in a million years would he think she would feel the same, so he places her at (a short) arm’s length, and lives out his fantasies alone.

Mamori is able to pick up on that though, which really helps maintain the pacing of the volume. I Wanna Do Bad Things With You volume 1 certainly moves at the speed of sound, but it’s very aware of its surroundings as it flies by, never missing a beat. We expose Soshi as a calloused yet soft character stunted by his family, and see Mamori begin to take shape as the villainess that will save Soshi like he saved her in the opening moments of the volume. If it cut a little more out, it could have been a very successful one-shot. Ignoring comparisons though, Yutaka has a great deal of awareness when it comes to character interactions, and that makes a massive difference when treading upon ground that’s been touched by countless others. It’s hardly absolved of the sins of the genre, but I Wanna Do Bad Things With You volume 1 works hard to properly integrate them and deliver it in a well put together package.

Now, could that package be wrapped up bigger, better, and with a nicer bow on top? Absolutely, yes. Unfortunately, not everything exists as I will it to be, so I concede and will meet I Wanna Do Bad Things With You volume 1 in the middle. It’s very far from bad, and while it succeeds more often than other first time series like The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity, it still feels like it’s missing the touch of a veteran. Of course, that will come with time, but it can be a difficult pill to swallow when faced with something that would be so much better if given the time and experience. So at the end of it, I think that I Wanna Do Bad Things With You volume 1 is a solid read for romcom fans looking for something different, but has the possibility of leaving you upset that it can’t manage to go that extra mile.