An Incurable Case of Love Vol. 1 (An Incurable Case of Love #1) by Maki Enjoji

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Content/Trigger Warnings: Sexual assault, talk of death, death of a patient, terminal illness, guilt, scene of attempted suicide, intoxication

After a lady collapses and a charming young doctor comes to the rescue five years ago, Nanase Sakura decides to train and become a nurse. But when they two finally reunite, working together as doctor and nurse, he’s nothing like the kind and charming prince she believed Kairi Tendo to be. Now they’re at each other’s throats and Sakura is determined to prove him wrong that she can be a helpful nurse!

Readers, I ate this manga up! It was so good, so captivating, and I need 2020 to be here now so I can get Volume Two! I also got a little soft and sappy because I do have family members and a few friends who are nurses. Not to mention the vibes of the whole romance in this manga is something I can’t get enough of in relationships. This was everything I needed to pull me out of a slump, everything I wanted with a romance, and I just love this series a whole lot!

“I wanted to see that smile again.”

In this story we follow Nanase Sakura who decided that she was going to become a nurse after meeting a handsome young doctor five years ago when she was trying to save a woman’s life. She ends up landing at the same hospital as the young doctor, but when she reunites with the doctor things don’t go quite as she imagined. He’s very harsh, majority of the nurses usually transfer from his department, and there’s rumors of him being loose with women. Now Nanase is in for a world of shock and has to work with Kairi Tendo who is anything, but easy-going on her.

I love the dynamic of our two main characters. So we have Nanase Sakura who has a very bright, sensitive, and easy-going personality that completely clashes with the personality of Dr. Kairi Tendo. Kairi Tendo on the other hand is abrasive, harsh, and takes everything very seriously. When you put these two personalities together it’s a recipe for a good hate to love trope to happen. Not to mention their work environment just becomes a tense battle ground of banter. It’s so good and there’s so much humor in the little moments. There’s also so really great moments when they aren’t bantering or being stubborn with one another. It’s a really great dynamic and the chemistry between these two characters is something I truly enjoyed reading.

We also get some really great side characters who make things really interesting. We get introduced to Nana which is Kairi’s sister. She’s a really bright, caring, positive energy of a character who delivers a great foundations for a friendship with Nanase. I really wish we had more scenes with her because I loved the scenes with her coming into the picture and I loved the way she introduced herself in this manga. Fingers crossed for more scenes with her! We also get introduced to a character by the name of Nishi. Compared to Dr. Tendo, Nishi is loved by all the nurses and patients, has a caring personality, and is really warm and welcoming. I have a feeling he’s going to play a bigger role in later issues because there’s just too many hints that he might be playing a bigger part than what we realize. There’s so many great characters and they truly help build the scene and the work environment for our two main characters.

Unfortunately, this book did have some issues that didn’t sit too well with me. However, out of all the little minor things in this book, my biggest issue was with the sexual assault situation. My biggest issue with this scene in particular is the fact that Nanase feels the need to convince herself that what’s happening is normal, that it’s okay, that this is all part of her job as a nurse and that she sees this as something she needs to overcome or get used to. I also don’t like the fact that Nanase went searching for help and guidance and she wasn’t met with any answers that she needed for her particular situation. Then there’s the matter of Dr. Tendo coming into the picture. I don’t like how once Dr. Tendo became involved the scene of sexual assault became set up as a “knight in shining armor to save the princess” type of situation. I understand why it was setup the way it was, but the whole scene in general just didn’t sit well with me, personally.

Overall, I really enjoyed this manga and still had a great time reading it even though there were some scenes that bothered me. This is one of my favorite tropes and I’m really excited for the next issues to come out. 2020 can’t get here soon enough! This is also one of my favorite authors. Maki Enjoji is also the author of the Happy Marriage?! series and that’s probably my standing favorite this author has written so far. So if you end up liking this manga series then you will probably enjoy some of her other work as well. She’s just a really great author and she has given me some of my favorite tropes. I highly recommend her books!