It would be easy to dismiss Itazura na Kiss for being similar to other shojo manga stories, until you realize that this early 1990's series preceded and influenced those other stories. This is a bit of a brain-twister for US manga fans who have read Marmalade Boy and Sand Chronicles years before encountering this first volume of Itazura na Kiss. However, without Itazura na Kiss, many of the contemporary shojo stories we enjoy today might be very different indeed.