My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999

, also known as Loving Yamada at Lv999!, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Mashiro. It began serialization on Comic Smart's Ganma! manga website in March 2019. As of November 2024, the series' individual chapters have been collected into ten volumes. An anime television series adaptation produced by Madhouse aired from April to June 2023. A live-action film adaptation premiered in March 2025.

Plot

The story follows the daily life of college student Akane Kinoshita. After getting dumped by her boyfriend, she continues the MMORPG Forest of Savior (FoS) they once played together and attended an offline event of the game. There she encounters an emotionless and handsome high school student named Akito Yamada. Yamada happens to belong to the same guild in the game as Akane, and after this encounter Akane begins to get closer to other members of the guild, especially Yamada.

Characters

The Member of "Chocolate Rabbit" Guilds

Akane is a college student and a casual player of FoS, which she started playing for her ex-boyfriend (who ironically cheated on her with fellow game player). She is mature, although sometimes a bit naive. She has a habit of keeping things and letting them pile up, as she treasures the presents she receives so much. In FoS, she uses her real name as a nickname. She belongs to a guild called "Chocolate Rabbit."

A member of Akane's guild under name "Yamada," his avatar is an emotionless afro male character. Akito is a 3rd year high school student who hardly expresses his emotions and thoughts. He is locally popular as a pro-gamer, a player who gets sponsored to play a game. FoS is his "casual game," while mainly playing FPS games.

A 19 year old college student who runs the guild "Chocolate Rabbit" under a girl avatar named "Rurihime." Akito's childhood friend, he created the guild so his little sister could play in ease.

Eita's younger sister who is the model of Rurihime's appearance. She hates new people and thinks Chocolate Rabbit as her second home and initially wanted to kick Akane after their first meeting, though she becomes attached to her instead, even supporting her and Akito. She has several characters in FoS, one of them being a good-looking male avatar.

(Japanese); Brook Chalmers (English)

The deputy guildmaster of Chocolate Rabbit going by the name of "Takezo." His avatar is a small, cotton-like creature which grows to monster-size during battle. In real life, he is a middle-aged man who owns a strawberry farm and inexplicably has a lot of connections.

Akito's classmate who gets closer to him after they both matched in an FPS game battle. She fears falling in love with him because she knows she will be rejected like the other girls. She later inevitably falls for him and gets rejected. She starts playing FoS for Akito, joining Akane's guild under the name "Tsubaki", represented by a female elf avatar.

Other characters

(Japanese); Lauren Landa (English)

Akane's best friend Momo, who likes going to gokon. She's sharp, sometimes sarcastic, and is totally opposite to Akane personality wise. Nevertheless, she always stand beside Akane, and would listen to her troubles. It seems that the reason she can't get a boyfriend is because her standard is too high.

(Japanese); Howard Wang (English)

Akane's ex-boyfriend, who also happens to be a huge fan of Akito. Takuma was the one who introduced Akane to FoS, before cheating on her with fellow game player.

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by Mashiro, the series began serialization on Comic Smart's Ganma! manga website on March 7, 2019. Media Factory is publishing the series in print under their MF Comics imprint. As of November 2024, ten volumes have been released.

Mangamo is publishing the series in English digitally simultaneously with its Japanese release, initially under the title Loving Yamada at Lv999!, before changing it to match the anime's title. In June 2023, Mangamo announced that they would release the series in print in collaboration with Penguin Random House's Inklore imprint. The first volume was released on April 2, 2024.

Volumes

Anime

An anime television series adaptation was announced during the Aniplex Online Fest 2022 event on September 24, 2022. It is produced by Madhouse and directed by Morio Asaka, with scripts written by Yasuhiro Nakanishi, character designs by Kunihiko Hamada, and music composed by Mito and De De Mouse. The series aired from April 2 to June 25, 2023, on Tokyo MX and other networks. The opening theme song is by Kana-Boon featuring YÅ«ho Kitazawa, while the ending theme song is by Ryujin Kiyoshi. Aniplex of America licensed the series and streamed it on Crunchyroll.

Episodes

Live-action film

A live-action film adaptation was announced on November 7, 2024. It was produced by Kadokawa Daiei Studio and directed by Yuka Yasukawa, based on a screenplay by Anna Kawahara. Tomoka Takagi served as the producer and Kadokawa distributed the film. The film premiered on March 28, 2025.

Reception

In the 2020 Next Manga Award, the series ranked ninth in the web manga category. In the same month, the series was nominated for pixiv and Nippon Shuppan Hanbai, Inc's Web Manga General Election. In the 2021 Next Manga Award, the series ranked fourth in the web manga category. At AnimeJapan 2021, the series ranked ninth in a poll asking people what manga they most wanted to see adapted into an anime. In the 2021 Tsutaya Comic Award, the series ranked sixth. In the 2022 Tsutaya Comic Award, the series won the grand prize. In the 2022 Anan Manga Award, the series won the grand prize.

By April 2022, the series has one million copies in circulation between its digital and print releases. By October 2022, the series had two million copies in circulation.

References

External links