I Made Friends with the Second Prettiest Girl in My Class

Maki Maehara, a high school student with few friends, recently befriended Umi Asanagi. Umi, a popular student, is considered the second prettiest girl in their class, making him conscious about how he was able to befriend such a popular student. Despite seemingly having similar backgrounds, he is surprised to learn that he and Umi share the same interests, leading to them hanging out after school and strengthening their relationship. ==Characters==

; : :A high school student who has a loner personality. He is interested in anime, video games, films (especially mediocre ones), and other hobbies. After Umi reaches out to him, they start hanging out as they share similar hobbies. He develops a crush on Umi, getting flustered when she does cute things or shows him appreciation. Eventually, he confesses to her and they begin dating. ; : :Maki's classmate, who is often referred to as the "second prettiest" girl in class. She has short black hair and is considered very attractive. She is good friends with Yū. She harbors an inferiority complex toward Yū due to often being overshadowed by her, which she hides behind a composed front. However, this slowly wears her down and makes her more guarded around Yū. She reaches out to Maki after learning they share similar tastes, and they begin hanging out often. She tends to go to his apartment, which leads to their mothers finding out they are close. She develops strong feelings for Maki, getting jealous when he interacts with other girls or becoming flustered when he shows appreciation to her. She also becomes extremely angry and defensive when people insult Maki. She eventually becomes Maki's girlfriend once he confesses to her. ; : :Maki and Umi's classmate, who is considered the prettiest girl in their class. She has long blonde hair and is of foreign descent. She is childhood friends with Umi. She starts taking an interest in Maki and begins hanging out with him after noticing his honesty, kindness, and respect toward others. She struggles to read the room despite having good intentions, which can create awkward situations. She also seems to have growing feelings for Maki, albeit much slower than Umi. However, she decides not to pursue those feelings for Umi's sake, and remains good friends with Maki. ; : ; : :Maki's mother. She works very hard and cares deeply about Maki. Similar to Sora, she is quite fond of Umi. ; : :Umi's mother. She's a very beautiful woman, resembling a slightly older version of Umi. She enjoys teasing Umi about her relationship with Maki and is quite fond of Maki herself. ; : ==Production==

Takata became a member of Kadokawa Corporation's user-generated novel publishing website Kakuyomu in February 2016. He chose Kakuyomu over Shōsetsuka ni Narō to start writing web novels because there were few people on Kakuyomu, which officially began its service in February 2016. He wrote several novels, and one of his works, , I Made Friends with the Second Prettiest Girl in My Class won the special prize in the 6th Kakuyomu Web Novel Contest for the romantic comedy category, but this time the story takes place in modern Japan, instead of a fantasy world. ==Media==

Light novels Written by Takata, I Made Friends with the Second Prettiest Girl in My Class began serialization on Kadokawa Corporation's user-generated novel publishing website Kakuyomu on November 30, 2020. It later began being published, with illustrations by Tom Osabe and Azuri Hyūga, under Kadokawa Shoten's Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko light novel imprint on December 24, 2021. Nine volumes and a side story volume have been released as of April 2026. Manga A manga adaptation illustrated by Rin Ono began serialization on Media Factory's Comic Alive+ website on July 27, 2022. Seven volumes have been released as of December 2025. Anime An anime adaptation was announced during Kadokawa's "Sneaker Bunko 35th Anniversary Festa!" livestream on September 24, 2023. It was later confirmed to be a television series produced by Connect and directed by Hideki Tachibana, with Takumi Shibata serving as assistant director, Keiichirō Ōchi handling the series composition, Shoko Takimoto designing the characters, and Ruka Kawada, Yayoi Sekimukai, and Shūhei Mutsuki composing the music. It premiered on April 7, 2026, on Tokyo MX and other networks. RegretGirl performed the opening theme song , and Koresawa performed the ending theme song . Crunchyroll is streaming the series. ==Reception==

In the 2024 edition of Takarajimasha's annual light novel guide book Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi!, the novel series ranked 21st in the category. The novel series ranked seventh in the Next Light Novel Award 2022, The series has over 1 million copies in circulation. ==References==