So Cute it Hurts

So Cute It Hurts!!, actually Kobayashi ga Kawai Sugite Tsurai!! (Japanese: 小林が可愛すぎてツライっ!!, lit. "Kobayashi is So Cute it Hurts!!", abbreviated Koba Cute!), is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Gō Ikeyamada. It was published in Shogakukan's Shoujo Comic, with 73 chapters (plus two bonus ones) and 15 volumes. It also had a 2-epísode OAV and a Visual Novel game for Nintendo 3DS

The protagonists are the twins Mitsuru and Megumu "Megu" Kobayashi, who were born in Sendai and then came to live in Tokyo due to their father Satsuki's work in the JSDF (Japanese Self-Defense Forces). From Megu's part, she's a Japanese history Otaku with quite good grades and friends with two girls who share similar interests. From Mitsuru's, he attends a school different from Megu's and is quite the ladies' man and kendo practitioner... but kiiiiinda Book Dumb. One day Mitsuru must give some make-up tests and asks Megu to take his place this time, so he'll be able to go into some dates, Megu is not convinced... but the following day she finds out that Mitsuru has taken her Sailor Fuku and then ran off disguised as her, so she's forced to take up Mitsuru's appearance via putting on his uniform and a wig he left there for her, and they crossdress their ways into each others' schools.

In Megu's school (Tosho High) Mitsuru finds out about the existence of the Alpha Bitch Azusa Tokugawa, daughter of the owner of the school and a teen model; her favorite bullying target is a deafmute girl named Shino Takenaka, and he decides to stand up to Azusa to protect Shino. On the other hand, Megu finds herself in trouble when guys from Mitsuru's school (Akechi Academy) come to challenge her, thinking she's his older twin and wishing to fight "him"... but is saved by Aoi Sanada, the strongest and more handsome fighter around, who has an eyepatch over his eye due to an incident in his past.

Intrigued by their discoveries, the twins keep crossdressing for a while to see what will happen. On one hand Megu reaches for Aoi, who briefly questions his sexuality because he's attracted to her thinking she's "Mitsuru", and keeps hanging around him after he finds out she's a girl; on the other, Mitsuru starts falling for Shino (while she believes him to be Megu) while defending her from Azusa and also starts seeing other sides of the latter. And as time passes, the lives of these teens keep entwining in several ways. . .

Tropes used in So Cute it Hurts include:

• Arranged Marriage: There's one in the backstory: Azusa's parents had to go through it. Her mother Kyouka liked her husband Shuuichi but knew she was an Unwanted Spouse, so she cheated on him due to loneliness; Shuuichi already had Aoi's mom Yuki as The Mistress and she bore him Shino, but since she was married they couldn't stay together so he had affairs with women who looked like her.
  • Later, Azusa's neglectful dad tries to engage her to a boy named Shougo Toyotomi (who's pretty much The Ace, greatly admires Shuuichi for his dedication to his enterprise and already likes Asuza) so the boy will become the official heir to the Tokugawa business. Mitsuru, who at that point is dating Azusa, refuses to step down and is slapped with quite the Engagement Challenge from Shougo and Mr. Tokugawa as a result: he'll have to outdo Shougo in a VERY important national test so Azusa will be free AND able to take over the enterprise by herself... Neither boy aces said exam, but Mitsuru gets a higher grade than Shougo and helps him get away from delinquents, so the boy realises he can't compete with Mitsuru and willingly steps out.
• Alpha Bitch: Azusa. She turns out to have a Freudian Excuse for it, and as the series progresses she begins to defrost.
• Babies Ever After: At the end, the married Aoi and Megu have a daughter named Ibuki. Later, Azusa and Mitsuru have twin kids.
  • Additionally, Shino is pregnant by the time she and Ishida get married. They also have a daughter and name her Shiori.
• Backstabbing the Alpha Bitch: As soon as Azusa falls from grace, her Girl Posse turns against her.
• Beta Couple: Mitsuru and Azusa, to Megumu and Aoi.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Azusa, especially at the start.
• Calling the Old Man Out: When the affairs of Azusa's parents leak out to the press, she gets the chance to call out both of them on it and on how they utterly neglected her through the years, when she worked and studied hard to get their love and attention. (Plus she mentions how Shuuichi always chased "the shadow of that woman" (re: Yuki)
• Cannot Talk to Women: Aoi. Even as he finds out who Megu is and the two more or less start going out, for quite a while he can barely get near her without passing out.
• Canon Foreigner: Erio from the 3DS Visual Novel.
• Cute Bookworm: Megu is very cute and very booksmart, plus a pretty good illustrator who dreams of being a manga artist.
  • The also very cute Shino wants to be a writer. She fills her dream by writing a book that mirrors her and Mitsuru's friendship. Later, she and Megu work together in a children's book inspired by Aoi and Megu's romance.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Aoi was abandoned by his mother after the death of his father in the fire that scarred him.
  • Shino is Aoi and Azusa's paternal half-sister: her mother Yuki is her and Aoi's mom, who also was The Mistress of Azusa's father. Yuki abandoned the siblings when they were young, and Azusa bullies her out of resentment because their shared dad dotes on Shino but neglects Azusa.
  • Azusa is one heck of a Lonely Rich Kid who, as said above, is neglected by her parents but especially her dad, and she takes her frustrations on her half-sister for it.
• Dark-Skinned Blond: Megu's friend Tomo, who seems to be a Ko-Gal.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Azusa starts becoming nicer and kinder through her interactions with Mitsuru.
• Disabled Love Interest: Shino, for Mitsuru. Not really: she cares for him, but is in love with someone else.
  • Aoi, who wears an eyepatch to hide his injured eye, is this for Megumu.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: Downplayed: Mitsuru is very pretty looking, but needs more than just putting on Megu's fuku to pull this.
• Eyepatch of Power: Aoi covers one of his eyes with one.
• Family Eye Resemblance: Shino and Aoi.
• Florence Nightingale Effect: Sorta. Yuki's second husband / Akane's father was her psychiatrist and they fell in love, with him specifically marrying her because he wanted to support her.
• The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: Played with. Azusa seems to be a very bitchy Pretty Sister while Shino is a deafmute Smart Sister - but due to a BAD case of Parental Favoritism, Azusa sees herself as the Smart Sister and The Unfavorite compared to her Pretty Sister Shino.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: Aoi is a good guy, and his eyepatch covers his injured eye and his other big scar is on his shoulder. They come from the fire where his dad died.
  • Megu and Mitsuru's dad Satsuki, being a JSDF liutenant, is Covered with Scars.
• Good Stepmother: Genderflipped with Akane's father, who knew about his wife Yuki's children Aoi and Shino (Yuki herself told him) and, when he meets the first, not only he doesn't blame him at all for Yuki's death, but thanks him for saving Akane's life and asks him to stay in contact with the boy.
• Half-Identical Twins: Mitsuru and Megumu downplay it because, despite resembling each other, they need wigs on top of different clothes since Mitsuru's hair is shorter and darker than Megu's.
• He Is All Grown Up: At the very end, little Akane is seen as a gakuran-wearing teenager.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Yuki dies rescuing people in the Tohoku Earthquake, including little Akane and Aoi. In fact, she was swept away in the sea while trying to help Aoi and apologize for having abandoned him, so this can be seen as Redemption Equals Death.
• Hit Me Dammit: At Graduation Day, Asuza shows up and demands that Shino hit her at atonement after all the bullying she subjected her to in the past. Shino doesn't say anything, Azusa insists on it several times... and then Shino not only hits her, but punches her to the ground. And then helps her up.
• Hot Dad: Shuuichi Tokugawa.
  • Little Akane's father, aka Yuki's second husband.
• Hot Mom: Iroha Kobayashi and Kyouka Tokugawa.
  • Also Yuki, the mother of Aoi, Shino and little Akane.
• I Will Find You: Aoi goes missing in the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake, since in these days he was in Sendai aka one of the cities hit the hardest by it and the Tsunami. Since he and Megu had decided to marry, she decides to go to Sendai to find him and even invokes the trope when Mitsuru questions her. This fires up their mom Iroha and she decides to go with Megu to help her find Aoi and the twins' grandmother.
• Large Ham: AZUSA.
• Lonely Rich Kid: Also, Azusa.
• Maternally Challenged: Yuki, while not an evil person, had severe emotional issues that kept her from being a good mom to Aoi and Shino since, as The Mistress to Shuuichi Tokugawa, she "only wanted to be in love" (in her own words). She couldn't accept Shino's deafness or Aoi's scars, even being verbally abusive to Aoi for it, and then abandoned the two. She's a quite better mother to Akane (it helps that his dad / her husband was her psychiatrist), and deeply regrets the way she treated her older kids, especially Aoi.
• Meaningful Name: The twins' mother, Iroha, is a descendant of a servant of the feudal lord Date Masamune. She named Mitsuru after Masamune's Number Two Kagetsuna aka Koujuro Kataoka the First, and Megu after Masamune's wife Megohime.
• Meganekko: Megu's Yaoi Fangirl friend Shizuka
  • Also Azusa's Hot Mom, Kyouka.
• Military Brat: Megu and Mitsuru: their father, Satsuki Kobayashi, is from the Japanese Self-Defense Forces (JSDF).
• The Ojou: Azusa, the daughter of a very famous and rich man, starts as the Royal Brat kind.
• Overprotective Dad: Satsuki, Satsuki, Satsuki... oh, and did someone say Satsuki? He does loosen up quite a bit when Aoi gets hurt shielding Megu when both take a Staircase Tumble, and even bandages the boy's arm
• Otaku: Megu is a huge JPN history one, whereas Shizuka is a Yaoi Fangirl and Tomo is an idol otaku.
• Parental Favoritism: The real reason why Azusa hates Shino so much: their father favors Shino over her because Azusa was born from a loveless Arranged Marriage, while Shino is the daughter of his mistress and true love Yuki.
• Plucky Girl: Megumu, post-Character Development Azusa and Shino qualify as this in one or another degree.
• Revenge by Proxy: In a way. Azusa bullies Shino as revenge for their father's neglection of her.
• School of Hard Knocks: Akechi Academy, Mitsuru's all-boys school, is famous for its fighters - and unbeknownst to Megu, Mitsuru is among the Top Ten there. Megu-as-Mitsuru finds herself in TROUBLE when she gets there and several boys who think she's Mitsuru chase her around. . . Fortunately, Aoi is the Strongest Student There and does what he can for her.
• Sibling Rivalry: Azusa and Shino.
• Shoujo Demographic
• Stock Shoujo Bullying Tactics: Mitsuru as Megu meets Shino when Azusa and her Girl Posse are pouring their drinks over her, and steps in to protect her.
  • Rather ironically, Azusa is later harassed by said Girl Posse due to the scandal regarding her parents.She knew they'd ditch her because they only hung around for her due to her high status, so she does her best to fight back and even hits the ringleader... and when she's about to be overpowered Shino is the one who defends her, and then Megu and her friends show up to help too. Later, Shino says she did it not exactly because she felt sorry for her once tormenter, but because she wanted to prove to herself that she was NOT like these bullies.
• Sweet Polly Oliver: Megu can pull off a really cute boy disguise if needed.
• Sweet on Polly Oliver: Oh, Aoi. Even when, according to him, he deep down always sensed the somehow sweeter "Mitsuru" he spent a week with was a woman and not a man.
• Take a Third Option: When Shuuichi and Kyouka ask Azusa who does she want to stay with, with help of a Mitsuru who showed up to give her a love confession and ask the Tokugawas for permission to marry her, Azusa decides - to stay with Mitsuru. While she does later go with Kyouka, it's only after she proves that she's VERY sorry for what she (and Shuuichi) put her through.
• Twin Switch: Not very willingly, at first: Mitsuru just stole his sister's uniform, put on a wig, then left his own uniform in Megu's room plus a wig similar to his hair. And then they find themselves in quite the predicaments. . .
• Twin Telepathy: Mitsuru and Megumu have had at times the same Bad Dreams. First: they dreamed of their then hospitalized grandfather and he died few days later. Second: they dreamed for their dad getting a severe injury on his left arm, and months later it happened for real. And third: they dream of Aoi being "swallowed by black hands", and he almost dies in the Tohoku Tsunami.
  • Mitsuru also tells Azusa after the Tohoku earthquake and Megu and Iroha's trip there to find their grandmother and Aoi that he can sense their bodies and souls are like one in crisis like these. And few later, as Megu finds Aoi with Kagetsuna and Uesugi's help after days of searching for him, Mitsuru says he can hear his twin sister's voice even when he's in Tokyo and she is in the ruins of Sendai.
• Tsundere: Azusa, after her Character Development
• Wedding Day - Weddings in Japan: Megu and Aoi marry in Western style, and so do Shino and Ishida.
  • The second to last manga chapter has Azusa and Mitsuru marrying Shinto.
• Wham! Episode: The ones depicting the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake / Tsunami and its consequences in the city of Sendai.
• Write What You Know: Go Ikeyamada knows the basics of sign language and wanted to have a deaf character that used it, hence Shino's existence.
  • Ikeyamada also included the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake as a BIG Wham! Episode because she's from Sendai (she even lost people she knew in the 'quake / tsunami!) and wanted to pour her feelings about the whole issue. In fact, she wondered if she should start the manga with the quake itself but her editor told her "Too Soon, girl!" and she dropped the idea, but later talked to said editor again and used it as the climax in the story.
• Your Cheating Heart: Azusa's parents were in a loveless Arranged Marriage, so they cheated on one another - Shuuichi kept Yuki as his lover for years and had Shino with her (plus his current girlfriend looks a lot like Yuki), whereas Kyouka had several affairs too (including one with a much younger man). When all of this leaks to the press, shit hits the fan and, when they decide to separate and ask Azusa who does she want to live with, the angry and shocked girl explodes on them and runs off with Mitsuru. She stays with the Kobayashis for some days until a repentant Kyouka comes to pick her up, and Mitsuru convinces Azusa to forgive her; they live for some time in Nagano, where Kyouka is from, and Azusa later returns alone.