The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn’t a Guy volume 5 sets January 2027 release
KADOKAWA has dated volume five of The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn’t a Guy for 13 January 2027, ahead of the manga’s January TV anime premiere.
The romance is moving forward, but apparently not without a few emotional potholes. KADOKAWA has confirmed that the fifth volume of The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn’t a Guy will be released in Japan on 13 January 2027, ahead of the manga’s television anime debut that same month.
What’s actually going on: The fifth volume follows Mitsuki and Aya after they move beyond friendship and begin living together. Their relationship has entered a new stage as a couple, but a “certain incident” at a local music festival begins to unsettle their previously peaceful days.
KADOKAWA’s synopsis teases a clash between Mitsuki’s loneliness after she becomes unable to play guitar and Aya’s frustration at wanting to support her. The pair’s growing feelings of loneliness, possessiveness and concern push them into their first truly open confrontation.
The standard edition will cost 1,485 yen before tax and is planned to contain 176 pages. A limited special edition will also launch on the same day for 4,840 yen before tax, bundled with a tote bag and two can badges featuring newly drawn artwork by creator Sumiko Arai. The goods edition is limited and is already available to pre-order in Japan.
The manga began on X and quickly built an international audience. KADOKAWA says the series has more than two million combined social-media followers and has exceeded 2.25 million copies in circulation worldwide, including digital editions.
The series has also won major manga recognition, including first place in the Web Manga category of the Next Manga Awards 2023 and second place in Takarajimasha’s Kono Manga ga Sugoi! 2024 list for female readers.
The television anime will begin broadcasting in January 2027. CloverWorks is handling animation, with Masashi Ishihama directing. Marika Kouno voices Mitsuki Koga, while Akira Kito voices Aya Osawa. The opening theme will be Nirvana’s “Breed”, a suitably loud musical choice for a story built around record shops, guitar riffs and feelings that refuse to stay neatly filed away.
The release confirms the Japanese publication and broadcast plans, but does not provide an exact anime premiere date, broadcaster list, streaming service or international release details. Those details remain to be announced.
Why you should care: The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn’t a Guy has built its identity around the collision of music, visual style and a relationship that refuses to fit the assumptions surrounding its first meeting. The fifth volume sounds ready to push that relationship beyond the charming discovery phase and into the much messier business of actually being honest with somebody.
Our opinion
A January release for volume five followed by the anime is an excellent one-two punch, although the plot sounds determined to make Mitsuki and Aya suffer for our entertainment. The music-heavy setup and CloverWorks production are promising, but the real draw remains the central relationship. If the anime can preserve the manga’s warmth while letting its characters argue like actual people, this could be one of 2027’s most emotionally tuneful surprises.