Mamahaha no Tsurego ga Motokano datta

Ah, high school. Is there any better place to start fresh after a horrible middle school relationship? Nope! Not unless your ex ends up at the same school as you and is now your stepsibling. What was supposed to be a sanctuary of peace where I could avoid ever seeing her again has become a living nightmare! Everywhere I look, I see her—in my house, in my school, in my class. There's no escape! She even claims that she's the older sibling. Like hell she is! But I won't lose to her. After all, I'm the older brother in this new family situation. That's right, we're family now. No matter how much we may have thought we loved each other before, we saw one another's true colors and realized we weren't meant for each other. That's why even though we may keep up a buddy-buddy sibling act for the sake of our parents, things will never go back to the way they used to be.

(Source: J-Novel Club)

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Mamahaha no Tsurego ga Motokano datta has been published digitally in English as My Stepmom's Daughter Is My Ex by J-Novel Club since February 14, 2022.

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Alternative version:	Mamahaha no Tsurego ga Motokano datta
Adaptation:	Mamahaha no Tsurego ga Motokano datta

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Irido, Yume

Main

Irido, Mizuto

Main

Higashira, Isana

Supporting

Minami, Akatsuki

Supporting

Irido, Yuni

Supporting

Kawanami, Kogure

Supporting

Tanesato, Madoka

Supporting

Madoka's Father

Supporting

Kedouin

Supporting

Irido, Natsume

Supporting

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Jan 25, 2021

dul69

Recommended

Preliminary (17/? chp)

One of the best LNs I've read. Remember THIS IS NEITHER INCEST NOR NTR, I've seen some rascals misunderstanding the title and commenting their own BS so do not get misunderstood. I really like the way author tries to bring out their true feelings through multiple POVs to the reader. From the beginning, one can see they're obviously still in love with each other but do not like to accept the fact in front of the other person, and their shared 黒歴史 ("Kuro Rekishi" meaning dark past/history) is kinda a new concept I've seen in anime/manga/novels. They're slightly different from osananajimi but I like their ...

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Apr 27, 2022

Ninebae

Not Recommended

Preliminary (100/? chp)

Like many people, I was intrigued by the premise having seen an ad for the anime on Youtube, and wound up reading the manga followed by all eight (8) volumes of the Light Novel (thanks Hellping) because I grew invested in the story.

If I was to sum up the pith of the narrative, it is about two people finding their place with each other as sibilings / potential lovers, despite carrying the baggage of having broken up with each other some two weeks before the main narrative begins. The key questions are: what does it mean to be a lover, where does the line ... between former lovers / family get blurred, and the inbetween.

I will admit, while I was initially thrilled by the direction taken by the author for the first 6 - 7 volumes, I slowly came to realise what a train-wreck of a story it started to grow into by the final and most recent volume (8).

Being primarily a romance story, I will focus on that aspect in this review to see if it holds water as a "romance" story.

In terms of the romance between the titular main couple,

[spoiler]

my humble opinion is that the author has either totally lost the plot, or has decided, rather disingenuously, to string readers along with a patently meaningless love triangle, particularly WRT Isana, whom the author has expressly said in various of his afterwords for the earlier volumes, that she wasn't even in the race to begin with.

Having read all of the author's afterwords in from Vol. 1 - 7, and then finally reading Volume 8, I cannot help but feel that the author has totally betrayed his characterisation of the Mizuto in a complete volte face by causing him to suddenly develop feelings for Isana, when at least up to to the end of Vol 7, Mizuto states in no uncertain terms that he is interested / loves Yume.

I can appreciate that "love" is a complex things. Sometimes "side-baes" or love triangles in anime / manga / LNs receive characterisation so that they are not built as flat characters. And to that end, it is true that Mizuto condoning Isana's flirtations towards him ARE the source of his own destruction / the destruction of the Mizuto / Yume ship... but what I cannot accept is that the author has simply written Mizuto as a character that repeats again and again that he has no feelings for Isana, and that he has eyes only for Yume, and yet that catastrophe that was Vol. 8 could happen.

This coupled by the fact that the author's afterwords from Vol. 6 onwards seem to imply (to me at least) that he is extending the story for the sake of it. Money? Unclear... but this feels like a sus callback to what is happening with feaking Oregairu and its money-eyed author.

Call it "realistic" writing, but I feel cheated. [/spoiler]

*edited to make spoiler section clear - don't know how to blank out the spoiler portions.

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Apr 20, 2021

kanikou06

Recommended

Preliminary (32/? chp)

Came into this expecting an average rom-com with the standard cliches and nonexistent development as the author milks their content for fanservice—be it in the form of poorly written borderline smut showcasing the author's virginity on full display, or (a) love interest(s) that caters to the average LN reader's fantasies. Luckily that wasn't the case, although one can argue that there are little sprinkles of the above as they're staples to any fictional rom-com.

From what I've read of what's translated so far (end of V4), volumes 1-3 stick pretty strictly to a formula in which the first part of each chapter gives insight into some ... specific experience of the two protagonist's past while they were in a relationship. The remainder of the chapter then transitions back into the present day which ends up being a parallel of the past experience highlighted at the beginning of the chapter. The POV between the two protagonists generally alternates with each chapter, allowing us to see how each of them deal with their new relationship as ex's/stepsiblings—whether for better or for worse—in contrast to when they were lovers. This structure frustrated me at first since it plays out like a tug of war as the two protagonists struggle against each other and their own emotions that they're unable to express properly. This "tug of war" lends to what appears to be minuscule or nonexistent development, but it makes sense in hindsight. Volume 4 (my favorite volume by far), on the other hand, breaks from the pre-established formula and follows a standard chapter-by-chapter sequence. I won't spoil, but that should hint to you that it's a climactic volume.

The characters are great; it's clear that they're not one-dimensional—there are several layers as to how they are who they are or why they respond the way they do to certain situations. It sounds simple on the surface—after all, people in real life aren't one dimensional, but it isn't exactly an easy thing for writers to depict genuity and uniqueness in their characters since the author is one person at the end of the day and each character is their own creation. Characters in this LN may say one thing and mean another, they may give a certain reason for a specific action on the surface, when in actuality, there are several layers to that reason that isn't too apparent until later. You'd typically think that a character's inner dialogue reveals their truest selves, and that's true for the most part, but these damned characters are lying to themselves most of the time. With that said, don't believe what these characters are saying to others or even themselves; the author isn't going to spoonfeed you everything (I'd like to go more into detail on this, but that would go against MAL review guidelines). Many characters frustrate me, but that doesn't mean they're poorly written characters perse. A few times the author will dedicate some chapters to the side characters and their relationship(s), but I honestly can't care for them. I don't know if it's the author failing to captivate me with the side character's personal struggles or if it's just me, but I don't care for the side characters (Akatsuki and Kawanami namely, Higashira is good).

I'll be honest, if I wrote this review prior to reading Volume 4, I would probably score it on the lower end of a 7, maybe a mid 6. I'm not one to drastically improve my impression of a novel based off of one volume, but the redeeming factor here is that V4 ties in the previous volumes and sheds some light on many character interactions which didn't make too much sense to me previously. It isn't that V4 gave the previous volumes more depth, but more so that it revealed it and made things more clear. After reading V4, I've got high hopes for the next volumes.

With that all said, I give this LN an overall strong 8. I'd say 7-8 out of 10 rom-com readers will enjoy this LN; if you're into the genre, give it a shot until at LEAST the end of volume 4. If you don't like it by the end of volume 4, it's probably not for you.

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Sep 24, 2021 5:10 PM by Snow | Discuss (17 comments)

Light Novel 'Mamahaha no Tsurego ga Motokano datta' Gets Anime

An anime adaptation of Kyousuke Kamishiro's Mamahaha no Tsurego ga Motokano datta (My Stepsister is My Ex-Girlfriend) light novel was announced by publishing c...read more

Jul 20, 2021 9:50 PM by Vindstot | Discuss (46 comments)

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Poll: Mamahaha no Tsurego ga Motokano datta Volume 4 Discussion AngelofFrost - Feb 17, 2022	1 replies	by light_straight »» Jan 12, 9:12 AM
quick question lmaodotcom - Sep 14, 2022	5 replies	by leonardobarba »» Sep 21, 2022 5:34 PM
How would u describe the LN? mrjdko - Aug 20, 2022	4 replies	by DeMarcK »» Sep 14, 2022 12:48 AM
Poll: Mamahaha no Tsurego ga Motokano datta Volume 7 Discussion AngelofFrost - Feb 21, 2022	1 replies	by nseika »» Jul 8, 2022 11:59 PM
Anime Announcement Tensoru - Jul 20, 2021	8 replies	by -Pharos- »» Jan 8, 2022 1:32 AM

Mamahaha no Tsurego ga Motokano datta
My Stepmom's Daughter Is My Ex
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Mamahaha no Tsurego ga Motokano datta
My Stepmom's Daughter Is My Ex
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