Seiji’s already-disarming looks get an SD manga makeover in this bittersweet episode from his less-than-active love life.

Like all of the members of the SoraNews24 extended family, our Japanese-language correspondent Seiji is a complex individual with a rich and deep psychology. But if we were going to boil his essence down to its essential elements, they’d be his passion for music, love of anime, and perpetual datelessness.

▼ Seiji (not pictured: Seiji’s non-existent girlfriend)

However, Seiji’s ordinarily flatlining love life showed a brief blip of activity earlier this year as a result of the Find Seiji a Girlfriend Project, in which we asked the eligible ladies of the Internet to go out with our unattached reporter. Eventually, a woman we’ll call Kiriko accepted the challenge…by sending a lock of her hair along with a letter in the style of a hatasejo (swordsman’s duel challenge).

For their date, Seiji and his new lady friend went to see the celebrated anime romance Your Name at a theater in Tokyo’s Shinjuku neighborhood, though unfortunately a lasting love didn’t bloom between the pair. However, it recently came to Seiji’s attention that not only does Kiriko have a blog, she’s also a bit of an amateur artist as well, and her post about the date includes a manga retelling (which Kiriko has agreed to let us share) of their first face-to-face meeting, and also their bittersweet good-bye.

▼ “I think I recognize that guy with the blond hair.”

▼ “Seiji? Ah, it is you!”

▼ Seiji: “Oh, thank God ”
Kiriko: “What…happened?”
Seiji: “My cell phone broke.”
Kiriko: “Wha-?”

▼ Seiji: “Yeah, it just shut down all of a sudden. I was worried that we wouldn’t be able to find each other!”
His phone broke

Thankfully, the pair did manage to meet up, going on to watch the movie and munch on popcorn (caramel popcorn, no less) together. As the date wound down, Seiji decided to make a bold, romantic move…

▼ Seiji: “So…what do you think about me?”

Our reporter, who’s usually painfully shy, decided to ask Kiriko, right then and there, to be his girlfriend. Her response?

▼ Kiriko: “Oh, ummm…let me think it over for a while (forever). Thanks!”

While it was a bit of a blow to Seiji’s confidence, he’s since learned that Kiriko had just gotten out of a relationship shortly before their date, and so the timing might not have been right for her to jump back into going steady with anyone at that point in time. But while he may not have gotten a girlfriend out of it, the date was still a happy couple of hours for our reporter, so he’d like to thank Kiriko for the memory, as well as the cute manga portrait she drew of him.

Related: Tsumamigui Jinsei 100 (Kiriko’s blog)
Manga images used with permission from Tsumamigui Jinsei 100
Photos ©SoraNews24
[ Read in Japanese ]

No hot date tonight? Let Casey keep you company on Twitter.