Ranked #4102

Girl×Girl×Boy (Manga)

It's never good when the person you love has eyes for someone else. It's even worse when that someone else has eyes for you and you can't stand the sight of them.

Girl×Girl×Boy is a romantic drama about a girl named Fuuka who is in love with another girl; her best friend Riri. However, Riri is in love with a boy who Fuuka has bad memories of: Itta. Itta is in turn in love with Fuuka. It's a love triangle that revolves around itself, complicating the lives of these three individuals. Love triangles never end well. Someone always has to get hurt badly in the end, but this manga gives us a story where each side may suffer no matter what decision is made. What makes Girl×Girl×Boy a lot different story-wise is that each of the three wants to be happy. This is not an angst-ridden or depressing manga and it never once wallows in the drama it presents; surprisingly, we see these three characters work together to try to make their complicated situation work for them. It is almost a foolish dream on their parts but it is a earnest hope for them, and we watch as they try to become friends with one another and lovers with their respective love interests.

The art utilises a rather rough, realistic though simplistic style. It lacks certain amount of detail, and it does have a "sloppily sketchy" look to the character design at moments. If you prefer your art moe or pretty or beautiful, then keep looking. The style for Girl×Girl×Boy is attractive in its own way, geared more towards looking real than looking gorgeous.

Probably the redeeming factor of this very short manga is the cast. While the story doesn't develop tremendously, the characters do. Fuuka was the one easiest to relate to, Riri ended up being the most complex character, and Itta turned out to be the most likeable. There's that triangular balance working there again, as there is something from each of their personalities that make them strong characters. Significant amounts of growth and inner development also occurs for each character.

While Fuuka is the formerly-chubby shy girl who grows into a beauty, she remains as insecure and emotionally dependent on Riri as she was as a child. She is the main voice of the manga, and we learn the most about her feelings, her fears, and her desires. She shows the greatest reluctance to go along with Itta's idea of the three of time trying to be close, and we see her change slowly and learn not to be as weak-willed.

Riri shows a lot of depth as a character, especially when she realises her friendship with Fuuka became a relationship with Fuuka; there was that shift from her feelings of self-satisfaction and superiority to feelings of affection. This shift is something she is not comfortable with, especially now that her feelings for Itta have developed, and her actions seem cowardly.

As for Itta, he's probably going down in yuri history as not being a total idiot when it came to the girls. He starts of as being a loud-mouth jerk, but the most significant thing about him is that despite being the bluntest character, he is the most honest. He is a genuinely nice guy that actually tries to keep things together, though he comes to understand that the house of cards he and the girls have built will come falling down despite his brave attempts to hold it together.

The group dynamics are incredible to read, honestly. Their personalities as children (with Fuuka as the ugly duckling, Riri as the tomboyish knight that protected her, and Itta as the rude bully) changes when Fuuka realises that she needs to be strong, when Riri questions who really needs protecting, and when Itta becomes the one whose kindness and understanding heals them. The sort of relationship that develops between the three is not expected, and what you realise you have in the end are three good people who want to make one another happy but cannot.

All in all, Girl×Girl×Boy is an truly good manga about a love triangle that actually tries not be dysfunctional. With strong, solid characters, unusual story development and decent artwork, it manages to be an easy read. The one problem may be the length of the manga; the story could have had a little more to it, and we are often left to speculate how much time has passed in between the chapters.

Girl×Girl×Boy is an unusual manga about a love triangle. Not just because of WHO is in love with the other, but HOW they love one another, and how each side hesitantly, selfishly, or valiantly deals with it. read more

GirlxGirlxBoy is a Slice of Life, Yuri, Romance about a messed up love triangle. Well the title basically gives it away but it doesn’t tell you how bland this school life romance really is.

The story for this manga was practically trashed, in the first couple pages, once the love triangle is established. Fuuka Aoyagi is a girl who’s always hated boys ever since she was bullied by Itta Oosugi and his gang in Elementary school, and she has relied upon the help of her close friend Riri Furuya. Since then Fuuka and Riri have become lovers however Riri has a change of heart and confesses to Itta but it turns out that Itta actually likes Fuuka and that is the point this manga falls into a downward spiral. From then on the story is about them all sticking together, while each of them endeavours to get their other half to fall in love with them. Sounds interesting but it’s rather stupid and the story itself felt very random on the other hand, one good thing that came out of it was in establishing the problems that come with the different forms of romance.

Well the characters involved in this circular love triangle were fairly realistic and it was great how it portrayed each of their mindset. However their actions were sometimes baffling and they appear to lack any distinct personality that anyone can identify with.

Though where this manga really let itself down is in the artwork. The artwork is just piss poor and everything is so sketchy, which allows me think that even I can do a better job. Well it’s not all bad and I’ve certainly seen worse but I just couldn’t get used to the character designs, because they are really basic and the mangaka seems to lack consistency when drawing them.

Overall GirlxGirlxBoy is a manga that could have done better without such a weak plot. I really thought that the concept of a circular love triangle would be exciting but it’s executed poorly. Let’s get this straight, I love yuri but I didn’t like this manga because not only is there barely any yuri but the regular romance is played down as well, which leaves you with mostly slice of life. So you should come into this with low expectations because at least you won’t be disappointed.

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