Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai Chapter 184 Discussion

Riichiro said:
Oh, wow. Such a phenomenal chapter. It all came together. I’d almost argue you could end it there. That last page.

I can’t even recall the last time I saw my favorite girl get her moment.

Marinate1016 said:
Ngl bro those last 5-6 pages are probably in my top 5 manga sequences ever. I love romance manga so much, and the build up to Kirisu admitting to herself how she felt gave me goosebumps.

More than any of the other girls, Kirisu needed someone to tear down those walls she’d put up in her heart and Nariyuki did just that.

Wow. Definitely been the best alt route, for best girl.

Riichiro said:

Totally agree. Romcoms are my favorite and I just can’t even with how amazingly everything came together to make such a great moment.

ArchsagePent said:
As a famous (fictional) man once said: "Oh yeah. It's all coming together." The route thus far has been addressing Mafuyu's insecurities and that finally came to a head with the time capsule. It reminds us of a universal lesson - there are always other people around us who love and support us; we just don't see them sometimes.

The complete flashback to Mafuyu's high school festival is super adorable and I love that panel that recalls all the time that Nariyuki and Mafuyu spent together. It warms my heart.

I also think the last few panels spiked my blood sugar, lol!

There are probably only two chapters left (wish there were more) and I'm super excited for next week! I'm predicting that we will be visiting the Kirisu household next time to finally come to terms with her parents.

Riichiro said:

It’s been really heartwarming seeing the impact Nariyuki and his father has had on Mafuyu in the flashbacks. I love this route so much, and this chapter really hit it out of the park.

And it does seem like this will end with nine parts like the others. Tsutsui posted on Twitter that he started the final chapter a day or two ago.

tywhoppity said:
Can we all agree that Nariuki is the best harem protag ever? Through his eyes, it's always about the girl he happens to be with, and he delivers, above and beyond.

ArchsagePent said:


You could argue for it to end there, but I'd prefer it not. :P But like I said already, this chapter was very satisfying for me.

I'm someone that usually roots for more unlikely pairings, so yeah, I can relate to not seeing "my favorite girl get her moment" thing pretty well. That's probably one of reasons I have re-watched episodes 5-8 of Amagami SS (an omnibus anime) so many times.





Yep, I too am a fan of romcom stories!

I think this route has built itself well on what came before it and it has been really fun to read.





Totally agree. I read the chapter at least three times today!
It was also nice to see Nariyuki's dad finally have a face - I don't think it was ever drawn in before now.

Yeah, I kind of figured it would be 9 chapters just like the others. Maybe the last chapter can just be longer, like 30 - 40 pages? :P Not likely, but the dream isn't over yet!



He is pretty darn good. I had a brief conversation with Riichiro last week about this and Nariyuki is in my top ten if not top five.

I agree with you though; he always focused on the girl in front of him and always went above and beyond for her. I think that speaks more to how the manga as a whole was written - for example, you can pick out a Fumino chapter from an Uruka chapter. I'm a loon that a made a spreadsheet just listing the Mafuyu chapters and I believe you could get a compelling story just reading those chapters and cutting out everything else. That's how to plan to re-read this series sometimes - just Mafuyu please! XD

Vito-kun_PT said:

Yeah, naryuki's father face never was revealed in the others routes. Would it be a sign that this route is the author fav?
Either way, the author needs to be imparcial on this...so i dont think that this route will get more chapters than the others, bcz that would be an evidence about the author liking more this route and in it's mind and heart this route is hos canon.
But for now on i dont know what cam come from this. If this chapter haf a kiss and if i were told about that this was the last chapter i would believe it. I think at this point many or even all the routes would had already their end.

Riichiro said:

I prefer it not end there either! Haha. But, I could walk away happy if it was. I’m just happy my favorite had her moment. And like you, I can pretty much count on myself rooting for the pairing with almost no chance of happening.

I might have to check out Amagami SS.

Riichiro said:

I’ve reread it several times, too! Haha. And I do think this is the first time we’ve seen his dad’s full face drawn.

I’m hoping he’ll get a color page and few extra pages for the last chapter. Fingers crossed! I think when series get extra pages it’s usually around 23 total.

ArchsagePent said:
If it did end here, I would just be like, "Well, what happens next? Will she confess? Will she work things out with her parents? Where is my freaking epilogue?" XD

I love Amagami SS! I have watched it to completion 4 times and the 5th time is in progress. Episodes 5-8 (which I have watched an unspecified number of times) feature the more tomboyish character, Kaoru Tanamachi, who has been friends with the MC since middle school. If Amagami was structed like a typical anime based on a VN (Clannad, for example), the story probably would have focused on Tsukasa Ayatsuji, the class rep. That would have been fine, but that would have left the other heroines in the dust. Why Amagami SS is a 10/10 for me, is that all the heroines are likeable and their stories don't overlap that much. So yeah, check it out! It even takes place around Christmastime so now is good time to jump in! ;)

That sounds about right. I was snooping around on Twitter one day and someone did a color for the last page of the Asumi route, and that was pretty cool. 23-25 pages would be fine, but if he wants to do 50, I won't stop him. :P

ArchsagePent said:
Well, I for one wouldn't care if Tsutsui was impartial or not - if he thinks he could tell this story better in 10-15 chapters, then I wouldn't object. But, I think it will be about the same length as the other four, give or take a few pages.

I think the point of an omnibus format is that ALL the routes are canon. In other omnibus stories the length of the routes often varies somewhat, so that isn't really a big deal to me.

Riichiro said:

That’s more than fair! Haha. I get the feeling Tsutsui might go all out with an epilogue this route. He’s very consistently dropped hints at what’s coming the entire route and I think chapter 180 foreshadowed what it’s going to be. And I agree! 50 pages would be awesome if they’d give it to him, but I’ll take any extra we can get.

Cool! After seeing a couple images of Amagami SS, I was definitely interested in watching it a while back. I think it just wasn’t streaming anywhere back then, but looks like it’s on HIDIVE now. I'll check it out, need my romcom fix. Haha

Riichiro said:

This comment wasn’t at me, but I agree. I think Uruka’s route would’ve benefitted from a couple extra chapters. Mostly because at the time we all thought it was the canon ending and a few things felt oddly glossed over. And, I just want more Mafuyu chapters, period. Plus, she deserves them, she crushed everyone in the popularity polls. Haha

ArchsagePent said:
I really hope you're right and I agree that the foreshadowing is heavily implying an incredibly cute epilogue with Nariyuki-dad and Mafuyu-mom. If not, I will be commissioning someone to draw it! It's happening one way or another, gosh darn it!

My theory is that Tsutsui's original plan was for the Nariyuki x Uruka pairing to be the only ending. I think plans changed for him and probably for the people over at Jump after the first popularity poll.

Poll comparison from another thread:

As we can see plain as day, Tsutsui created a monster with Mafuyu Kirisu! I don't think he had any idea that she would resonate so much more with readers than any of the other girls. She had nearly 30% in the first poll and over 60% in the second - the other four combined don't even measure up to her anymore.

You want to keep artistic integrity when you are telling a story, but at the same time, you want people to buy the magazine and the chapter collections. As the series went on it was clear who the audience OVERWHELMINGLY wanted to see more of, and it wasn't Uruka.

I originally went way off-topic after this. I'll spare everyone my ramblings about "Would Bokuben be a better story if it had only one canon ending?" until after the series concludes. :P

Because the series took the path it did, with only 9 chapters per character ending, it was inevitable that some details would get glossed over, as you said. I think the endings have improved every time and I think Mafuyu's will be the most satisfying as it has connected back to all of her chapters from the base story in one way or another, as we have chronicled in these chapter discussion threads.

If I could have it my way, Mafuyu would have at least 14.4 chapters! That's about 60% more as compared to 9, right? That's what my phone told me anyway when I asked it "What is 60% more than 9?" I wasn't a math major. XD

Anyway, I'm happy with the overall direction of the manga and even though I thought the first chapter of this arc wasted a little too much time setting everything up, I have been very satisfied with this route as a whole and this chapter in particular is really good. I can't wait to see where it goes next!

Riichiro said:


Tsutsui’s not gonna let us down! Haha

I completely agree that Uruka was likely the canon ending originally. It would be really interesting to know when he decided on doing multiple routes. But like you were kind of implying, this is a discussion that deserves its own thread. I’d be happy to hear your ramblings and continue discussing the series!

Riichiro said:

Kind of hard to ignore those numbers Mafuyu was hitting! Haha. What you want to do versus what readers like must be interesting thing to balance when you get so much feedback. I always kind of feel the author should write the story they want to write though.

Riichiro said:

I definitely think Mafuyu’s route has been the most thoughtfully constructed. There really hasn’t been much waste, like everything is setting up something that’s going to happen or is a call back from a previous chapter.

I’ll agree with that math! And we can’t have a .4 chapter, so obviously we round up to 15 chapters. Haha

Riichiro said:

Also, I read your profile. I’m currently playing Fire Emblem: Three Houses!

ArchsagePent said:


I hope he doesn't let us down! If it were me, there would be 2 more normal chapters of the route (just a few more hours to go until I can read #185!) and then one final epilogue chapter with them getting married, which is the perfect time to bring in the other heroines and "the friends we made along the way" for one last hurrah, and then a flash forward to the future with them as parents. Then, if they want to do one shots later with characters like Sekijou, they could do that as special releases. I actually wouldn't mind more what if stories with characters like the leader of the Thorn Club or one of Uruka's friends, etc. I'm going to assume everything will be over after next week, but maybe not. The translated tweet just said he was writing the ending to the story - didn't say how many chapters that was!

I would be glad to continue to continue talking about the series after it ends. I've got thoughts and opinions! XD



I can't even imagine what that is like. Writing harem and harem-esque romance stories already puts you in the crosshairs of the different "best girl" camps, and if my theory is correct, to see the one you planned the story around to be ranked third had to be surprising to say the least. I can almost hear the "where did I go wrong?" Like I said, I don't think he or the team over at Jump had any idea that Mafuyu would resonate so well.

Well, if he was writing a standalone book that he sold to a publisher, he could write and draw whatever he wanted to. Writing for a magazine has to be a different experience altogether.



Yes and yes, lol.



#fearthedeer