is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by . It was first serialized in Ichijinsha's Comic Yuri Hime April 2019 issue and is licensed in English by Kodansha Comics. The series follows Himari Kino, a first-year high school girl, and Yori Asanagi, a third-year high school girl in a band, after Himari's confession of admiration for Yori's singing leads to a romantic misunderstanding.
Takeshima created the story based on the idea of a - dynamic, a type of social relationship commonplace in Japanese culture. Afterwards, she worked in an element of miscommunication stemming from love at first sight, as well as a balanced relationship between the two leads as they evoked emotional reactions from each other.
An anime television series adaptation produced by Cloud Hearts and Yokohama Animation Laboratory aired from April to December 2024 after numerous production delays. Several insert songs and two ending themes were created for the series. Takeshima helped supervise the audition process, and throughout recording, the voice actors aimed to portray their characters' personalities through their expression.
In 2020, the manga series was nominated for Niconico and Da Vincis Next Manga Awards and selected as the winner of Yuri Navis Yuri Manga Awards. It had sold over one million copies by August 2024, and has been well received by critics, with praise for its story, characters, and themes of LGBTQ+ representation. The anime adaptation has received more mixed reviews, with positive comments for its plot but criticism for its production value.
Synopsis On her first day of high school, Himari Kino watches her senior Yori Asanagi perform with a band and instantly falls in love with her singing. When Himari confesses her admiration to Yori, she misinterprets Himari's feelings as romantic love. However, she falls for Himari anyway and promises to win her affections for real after finding out the truth.
Characters
A first-year high school student and energetic girl who falls in love with Yori's singing on her first day of school. She confesses her admiration to Yori, who misinterprets her feelings as romantic. Upon learning of Yori's true feelings for her, however, she eventually discovers that she loves Yori too and they become lovers.
A third-year high school student who serves as the vocalist and lead guitarist for the band SSGIRLS after their previous vocalist quit. Often seen as stoic, Yori enjoys singing alone while playing the guitar on the school's rooftop. Yori falls for Himari after her "confession", only to realize later that Himari was actually confessing admiration for her singing. However, she resolves to get Himari to reciprocate her feelings in time, and they eventually become lovers.
A cheerful third-year student and the bassist for SSGIRLS. She is Yori's best friend and tries to support her in winning over Himari while hiding her own romantic feelings for Yori. She had a falling out with the band's previous singer Shiho, who left the band on bad terms. After eventually learning that Shiho had romantic feelings for her and understanding how her feelings for Yori had changed, she makes up with Shiho and they become a couple.
A third-year student, and former vocalist and guitarist of SSGIRLS, which she left following a feud with Aki. She now fronts a rival band, Laureley, while also acting as a ghost member for the Culinary Research Club. It was later revealed that she had romantic feelings for Aki, becoming heartbroken upon discovering Aki had feelings for Yori and leaving the band as a result. Thanks to the efforts of Himari and others, however, she eventually manages to make up with Aki, who becomes her girlfriend.
A stoic third-year student and the drummer for SSGIRLS. She comes from a rich background and is childhood friends with Kaori. She tends to refer to people by their full names.
An easygoing third-year student and the keyboardist for SSGIRLS. She has been friends with Mari since childhood.
Aki's younger sister and Himari's best friend since elementary school. She is part of the brass band club and tries to support Himari and Aki any way she can.
A kind-hearted second-year student who is the president of the Culinary Research Club and the guitarist for Laureley. Gentle and supportive, she quickly befriends Himari, who joins her club.
A third-year student who is the drummer for Laureley. She is often seen with Momoka and is the younger sister of Momoka's late girlfriend Kyou.
A violinist who was Hajime's older sister and Momoka's girlfriend. She was originally friends with Shiho until Shiho became jealous of her talent. She died in an accident, leading Shiho and the others to form Laureley.
Production
Manga
Conception Prior to creating Whisper Me a Love Song, Takeshima had already had experience in drawing manga, having created several fan works featuring relationships. She had also previously published a one-shot story, , in Comic Yuri Hime. Takeshima has stated that she enjoys incorporating classic story tropes and is happiest when she can show characters being affectionate in these situations.
Whisper Me a Love Song began with the idea of a - dynamic, a type of social relationship commonplace in Japanese culture. However, after struggling to develop a full story from this premise, Takeshima decided to focus first on character design, eventually creating around twelve different character visuals. Yori's design was decided relatively quickly, whereas Himari's took more time to finalize.
Development According to Takeshima, once the character designs were established, the story developed more easily. Her editor suggested incorporating a misunderstanding stemming from love at first sight and having the character play guitar, both of which were eventually worked into the plot. As serialization began, Takeshima found the first two chapters challenging, since they were published simultaneously and depicted the same scene of Himari and Yori meeting from both of their perspectives. Takeshima named her favorite scene as the panel where Himari falls in love with Yori after seeing her singing, which she redrew five times.
In terms of characterization, Takeshima aimed to portray Himari as an outgoing and straightforward girl who tended to act directly on her feelings. However, to avoid Himari coming across as self-centered, she made sure to show how Himari is also thoughtful with her actions. Meanwhile, for Yori, she focused on creating a contrast between her outwardly cool and composed appearance and her inwardly softer, more emotionally vulnerable side. The relationship between Himari and Yori was designed to be balanced, with each character alternately taking the lead and evoking emotional reactions in the other.
Following the manga's publication, Takeshima said that one of her happiest experiences as a creator was meeting her readers in person during an autograph session, where she could directly see their appreciation for her work.
Anime
Recording For the adaptation, several changes to the story's presentation were made. For example, the scene where Himari confesses her love for Yori's singing was shown from both their perspectives in the original manga, but for the anime, this was condensed into a single scene from only Yori's perspective, shifting its emotional atmosphere.
The anime's voice actors were chosen through a tape audition, where they would read a script and send in a recording. Takeshima participated in the selection process, and after listening to around 60 recordings, she suggested that Hana Shimano voice Himari. Together with the anime's director, she also recommended that Asami Seto play Yori.
The recording took place in an atmosphere that the voice actors described as welcoming, and they gave advice to each other on how to best deliver lines. The sound director guided the voice actors on their performances. In addition, the voice actors frequently improvised dialogue.
Voice acting Shimano initially tried balancing the pacing of her lines, but as she read more of the script, she felt that consistently expressing her dialogue energetically would better fit her character. However, she was conscious to do this in a natural way so that Himari would not seem manipulative. She also tried to convey a feeling of initially being more impressed with Yori as compared to being in love with her, which required her to re-record several lines.
Seto felt that when Yori first meets Himari, she tries to impress her by putting on a cool persona despite being naturally more excitable. To convey this, Seto deliberately contrasted Yori's calm dialogue with her more flustered internal monologues to show the intensity of Yori's inner thoughts. In addition, Seto always remained aware of Yori's emotional turmoil, even when the script would call for Seto to use an exaggerated tone for her monologues.
, who played Shiho, said that she focused on portraying her character's force of will and determination, as well as her negative feelings towards the members of her former band. Due to her character's crucial role in the plot, she received advice from the anime's sound director to deliver her lines in a way that would stir up conflict. To express the intensity of her character's emotions, she projected her voice in a guttural way, which she found exhausting.
Mikako Komatsu, who voiced Aki, described her character as someone who experienced love at first sight and has an emotional side. However, because her character tends to also keep things hidden out of consideration for others, Komatsu tried to avoid expressing those feelings too much. She found this balance difficult to maintain, especially in a scene where Aki reacts to Yori's confession to Himari. As the story progressed, she focused on how Aki's feelings became increasingly visible.
Music Kana Sasakura portrayed Yori's singing voice. She wrote the lyrics for "Orange ni Somatta Oozora" and composed "Okujou no Melody", two of the anime's insert songs. In addition, to convey her character's feelings, she tried to focus on the emotion of her singing rather than just technical skill. For example, after Sasakura recorded multiple takes for "Follow your arrows", the anime's opening song, the director chose a take for the section following the second chorus that he felt carried more nuance and emotion despite being less polished. For the song "Sunny Spot", played in the sixth episode, she revised her approach several times to balance between being expressive and keeping the light mood intended for the song. The same episode also features a scene of SSGIRLS performing, which involved filming motion-capture actors at a live music venue as a basis for the animation.
Sui Mizukami portrayed Shiho's singing voice. Mizukami had previously studied at the Berklee College of Music, and was chosen to perform Shiho's songs after the second round of auditions. For the song "Meritocracy", she aimed to convey Shiho's forceful personality, using her natural voice to create an imposing tone. However, she also tried to show Shiho's softer side, and sang certain lines with more hesitance or emotion. , the song's composer, helped guide her performance throughout.
Media Manga
Written and illustrated by , Whisper Me a Love Song began serialization in Japan in the April 2019 issue of Ichijinsha's Comic Yuri Hime magazine. It has been compiled into twelve volumes as of May 2026. Kodansha USA licensed the series for English-language release, and has published eleven volumes as of May 2026.
Ichijinsha published an anthology of the series titled Whisper Me a Love Song Official Comic Anthology on July 29, 2024. It features standalone stories by various artists that include characters from the series.
Anime