We Were There Review: First Love Between Two Teenagers — and the Past That Has Always Stood Between Them

Quick Take

• One of shoujo romance's most emotionally demanding series — the relationship between Nanami and Yano is warm and real and also consistently painful in ways that feel honest rather than manufactured
• Yano's unresolved grief for his previous girlfriend is handled with unusual seriousness for the genre — it is not a mystery to be solved but a presence to be lived with
• 16 volumes complete in English; for readers who want shoujo romance that takes emotional complexity seriously

Who Is This Manga For?

• Readers who want shoujo romance with genuine emotional weight rather than easy resolution
• Anyone who appreciates manga that takes grief and complicated feelings seriously
• Fans of slow-burn romance that develops through genuine difficulty
• Readers who can engage with a love story that isn't always comfortable

Content Warnings & Age Rating

Age Rating: T (Teen) Content Warnings: Grief over a previous relationship is central and depicted with honesty; the romantic relationship involves emotional complexity that can be difficult; the later volumes follow the characters into adult situations with adult complications; themes of loss and separation

More emotionally demanding than the age rating suggests.

Yu's Rating

Category	Score
Story Depth	★★★★☆
Art Style	★★★★☆
Character Development	★★★★★
Accessibility for Non-Japanese Readers	★★★★☆
Reread Value	★★★★☆

Story Overview

Nanami Takahashi is a new student who falls for Motoharu Yano — popular, warm, capable of being genuinely kind — and he falls for her. This is the happy part.

Yano's previous girlfriend died in an accident. He loved her. He also knows things about her that complicated that love — and cannot stop loving her anyway. He brings all of this into his relationship with Nanami, which is not fair and which he knows is not fair and which he cannot fully stop doing.

The early volumes follow the high school relationship — the specific warmth and specific pain of first love, the presence of Yano's grief as a third party. The later volumes follow the characters into separation and adult life, and the question of what survives.

Characters

Nanami Takahashi — Her willingness to stay in a complicated relationship — not naively, but with open eyes — and what that costs her, is the series' most uncomfortable and most honest element. Her character development across 16 volumes is among the most complete in shoujo manga.

Motoharu Yano — His love for Nanami is genuine. His inability to be fully present for her — because of what he carries — is also genuine. The series does not excuse him but does not condemn him simply either.

Takeuchi — Yano's best friend whose unrequited feelings for Nanami create a secondary emotional throughline that the series uses carefully.

Art Style

Obata's art is warm and detailed — the character expressions carry the emotional weight the story requires, and the pacing of emotional scenes gives moments room to breathe. The visual storytelling in the significant conversations between Nanami and Yano is precise.

Cultural Context

We Were There ran in Bessatsu Margaret — the premier shoujo romance anthology — and represents the magazine's willingness to take grief and complicated feeling seriously within the romance genre. The series ran from 2002 to 2012 and influenced subsequent shoujo romance manga's treatment of emotional complexity.

What I Love About It

The rain scene in the middle volumes. Without describing it in detail: there is a conversation between Nanami and Yano in the rain, at a point when the relationship has reached its most difficult passage, where what each person says to the other is completely honest and completely painful. The series earns this scene by everything that came before it, and it is the clearest statement of what the manga has been doing.

What English-Speaking Fans Say

Western readers describe We Were There as the shoujo manga that affected them most durably — not the most fun, not the most light, but the most honest about how complicated real feelings are. Yano is cited as a male lead who is neither idealized nor simply problematic — someone genuinely trying who causes genuine harm.

Memorable Scene ⚠️ Spoiler Warning

The reunion of Nanami and Yano in the later volumes — after the long separation, after adult life has changed both of them — and the specific conversation about what has always been between them, is the most emotionally complete moment in the series and justifies 16 volumes of accumulated difficulty.

Similar Manga

• Strobe Edge — First love with emotional complications, same Bessatsu Margaret register
• Ao Haru Ride — Reunion romance, complicated feelings, similar tone
• Orange — Emotionally serious romance, grief themes
• Kimi ni Todoke — Warmer first love in similar school setting

Reading Order / Where to Start

Volume 1 — Nanami and Yano's meeting and the early relationship establish the dynamic.

Official English Translation Status

Viz Media published the complete 16-volume run in their Shojo Beat imprint. All volumes available.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Among the most emotionally honest shoujo romances in English
• Yano's character is unusually complex for the genre
• Complete with a full 16-volume arc
• The later adult volumes give the story real weight

Cons

• The relationship involves consistent emotional difficulty — not a comfortable read
• The middle volumes can be painful to read
• Readers wanting a conventionally satisfying romance may find the complications excessive

Format Comparison

Format	Notes
Individual Volumes	Viz Media Shojo Beat; standard
Digital	Available

Where to Buy

Get We Were There Vol. 1 on Amazon →

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