, also known as Love for Venus, is a shōjo

Shojo

The term refers to manga marketed to a female audience roughly between the ages of 10-18. The name romanizes the Japanese 少女 , literally: "little female". Shōjo manga covers many subjects in a variety of narrative and graphic styles, from historical drama to science fiction — often with a strong...

 manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 by . The series revolves around the lives of a group of students at Koutou University in Hyōgo Prefecture

Hyogo Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region on Honshū island. The capital is Kobe.The prefecture's name was previously alternately spelled as Hiogo.- History :...

 and primarily around the relationships of the main characters, Suzuna Ashihara and Eichi Uozumi. The manga is published in English in Singapore by Chuang Yi

Chuang Yi

Chuang Yi Publishing Pte Ltd. is a publishing company based in Singapore that specializes in producing domestic and imported comics and comics-related merchandise, in English and simplified Chinese. Chuang Yi distributes all or some of its products in Singapore, Malaysia, India, and the Philippines...

 as Love For Venus and in North America by CMX Manga as Venus in Love.

Major Characters

Suzuna Ashihara

Suzuna is an 18 year old freshman

Freshman

A freshman or fresher is a first-year student in secondary school, high school, or college. The term first year can also be used as a noun, to describe the students themselves A freshman (US) or fresher (UK, India) (or sometimes fish, freshie, fresher; slang plural frosh or freshmeat) is a...

 at Koutou University. She lives in apartment 206 of Apartment Shugesou, next door to Eichi Uozumi. She quickly becomes friends with Eichi and they become very close. Suzuna immediately develops a huge crush on Fukami after meeting him but this soon fades as her feelings for Eichi grow. Her birthday is September 10th.

Eichi Uozumi

Eichi lives next door to Suzuna, in apartment 207. He is the best friend of Fukami and has been since they met in high school. It is revealed late in the first volume that he has a crush on Fukami and thus becomes Suzuna's love rival. This doesn't seem to dampen their friendship in the least and his feelings for her gradually change into something more romantic. He plans to become an Archaeologist. His birthday is March 31st.

Yuki Ikeuchi

Yuki lives next door to both Suzuna and Eichi in apartment 205. He makes his first appearance towards the end of Vol. 3. His Green eyes give away his half Greek descent, which he uses when he models part-time. He quickly falls for Eichi which creates a bit of a competition between Suzuna and himself, until he realises that it is no longer Eichi he likes but Suzuna. His birthday is April 3rd.

Shinya Fukami

Fukami is the initial love interest for Suzuna and Eichi, as well as most of the female population, although he seems to be oblivious to this. He also attends Koutou University and is a first year majoring in English Literature

English literature

English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....

. His birthday is June 19th.

Hinako Kaji

Hinako is the friend of Suzuna as well as Fukami and Eichi, whom she has known since high school when she had a crush on him, although her advance was flatly rejected. She is in love with Mr. Hokari, her Greek

Greeks

The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....

 professor. Her birthday is August 5th.

Honoka Kashiwagi

Honoka is a second year student majoring in fashion design

Fashion design

Fashion design is the art of the application of design and aesthetics or natural beauty to clothing and accessories. Fashion design is influenced by cultural and social latitudes, and has varied over time and place. Fashion designers work in a number of ways in designing clothing and accessories....

. She and Fukami meet on the train and run into each other several times after that, always in situations which are embarrassing for Fukami (usually involving him being drunk). After a few of these run ins they agree to go out and start a relationship. Her birthday is June 15th.

Minor Characters

Satoru Ashihara

Satoru is the younger brother of Suzuna. He is 16.

Tomoki Uozumi

Tomoki is the younger brother of Eichi, who he resembles a great deal - even to the extent that upon first meeting with Suzuna she mistook him for Eichi and thought he dyed his hair black. Tomoki attends Koto Junior High and later gets accepted into a Beauty School. His birthday is May 5th.

Shizuka Uozumi

Shizuka is the older sister of Eichi and Tomoki. She was killed in an accident whilst on holiday in Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

. The nature of the accident is not explained in the manga. Her birthday is October 4th.

Kohei Kawauchi

Kohei is Suzuna's first neighbor on the right, in apartment 205. He is a huge fan of Miracle Mako, an anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

character, whom he believes Suzuna resembles.

Further reading