Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata: Koisuru Metronome

Oct 13, 2018

MrCents

Recommended

THE BEST ROMANTIC COMEDY I EVER READ.

This novel and manga deserves a spin off anime and a lot of Utaha-s fan were screaming in the finale of the manga.

First of all, the characters and its own development mixed and inspired a lot of readers to follow this series until the end. It is more convenient and popular than the original. Personally, its 10 out of 10 more comparable to read and eventually funny to take close till the end.

10.10 in Enjoyment. It's definitely enjoyable and hilarious to make through.

11.10 in Art. Its character illustrations were so original and more comfortable to ...

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Mar 31, 2019

tzyha

Recommended

The spin-off feels better than the parent story, and that's already saying something.
I have to give this a high score.
(possible spoilers? nothing too big tho.)

Story: 9
The story is very well written. It has its heart-warming moments, and the pace does not ever once feel rushed or dragged out. The premise may sound very simple, just the typical guy somehow gets acquainted to admirable girl, but the reasons behind their motivations that make this story stand out. Especially with the main push not being on their romance or drama, but the common goal between them, of their goals and dreams of writing the novel and ...

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Jul 6, 2017

Lohuydahutt

Recommended

Preliminary (37/51 chp)

OK, so here we have a spin-off manga of Saekano. Spin-offs normally just feel like a cash grab that are rarely as good as the original, but I believe this one is an exception. This review is written assuming that you've already seen some of the original series, but I do believe this manga can hold up as a stand alone even without seeing/reading Saekano.

Saekano is a harem series, and while it is one of the best harem series I've personally seen it ultimately was not above the tropes that seem to define the genre. To the people that are turned off by harem ... series, or even love triangles but liked other aspects of this show then this manga might be for you. This manga is basically an alternate universe where the doujin circle is never formed and Tomoya helps Utaha pursue her writing career instead. Here, Tomoya probably never met Megumi to begin with, and characters like Eriri and Michiru are only given a passing mention. There is a new girl introduced that I don't think is even present in the original but thankfully so far no love triangle has formed. To put it simply, this manga is the Utaha route.

The original story did require some suspension of disbelief in the sense that the main character conveniently happened to know multiple hyper-talented attractive girls to make a visual novel with. Instead of being the director of a doujin team here, Tomoya is thrust into an even more implausible role as Utaha's official editor. If you can get over the implausibility of a high schooler being a professional light novel writer and her junior from school being allowed to be her editor the rest should be easy enough to accept. The story is basically following Tomoya and Utaha as they go through the process of working on her new light novel series. It plays the story pretty straight, though it doesn't exactly reach the depth of Shirobako or anything like that in dissecting the process. But to be honest that isn't really the most interesting aspect of this manga any way. It's not so much about the process of making a light novel as much as it is about seeing our quirky novelist go through it. The story isn't anything groundbreaking, but it serves its purpose.

One thing you might notice if you have seen or read Saekano before this is that the art style is a bit different. This manga is not illustrated by the same guy that did them for the original series. Honestly, I don't think that's a problem at all because the characters still look nice even if the art style is a bit different. The characters still look like who they're supposed to look like, and the art looks nice regardless. The backgrounds are pretty simple and unimpressive if you care about that, but otherwise there's no major flaws to the art style. It's nothing groundbreaking, but it does its job.

Of course the main attraction of stories in this genre are the characters themselves, and this is where the story is strongest. Of course there is Utaha herself, who was my personal favorite character from the original series. Due to a lack of competition she is not as aggressive with her seduction attempts, but otherwise she's the same as she usually is. This manga obviously puts more focus on her than the original source did, so there's the added bonus of expanding on her character more than the original did. Also, since the situation is different from the original source you get to see certain sides to her character that weren't as apparent in the original. Utaha being herself is one of the main things that makes this manga so enjoyable. If you like her character, you will probably like this manga. If you don't like this character, you probably won't like this manga. It's really that simple.

Of course we still have Mr. Ethical, our male main character as well. And yes, he's still dense as hell when it comes to romance here. He's not a fundamentally different character than he was in the main series or anything, but people who dislike his character will probably find him at least a bit more tolerable here. He doesn't screw things up as often as he does in the original, and he has mellowed out a bit. He's still not an amazing character, but he still has enough of his own quirks that stop him from being a completely generic protagonist.

Then finally there is Mayu Sagara, who I believe is a character unique to this manga. From what I gather her main purpose is to serve as Utaha's illustrator without the love triangle stuff that would happen if Eriri filled that role. She also has the distinct honor of being one of few girls in this series that gets reasonably close to our protagonist without completely falling head over heels for him. While the story doesn't place that much focus on her she's likable and gets fleshed out a decent amount.

As a spin-off manga of a light novel series it would be easy to assume that this was written as an after-thought. Maybe some might see this as a cheap cash grab for Utaha fanboys, but it appears to me that there was actually a good amount of effort put into this. I will note that there's less of an emphasis on humor compared to the original series, but you will still find a good dose of humor here and there. Also, while this is in many ways a more straightforward romance series between two characters the romantic progression is certainly on the slower side. The fact that chapters are released monthly doesn't help matters. Overall, this story is not exactly breaking new ground for the genre. However, for a romance manga the story is above average, it has an enjoyable cast of characters, and a great main heroine. I will confess that I love Utaha, she is among my top 20 favorite anime/manga characters. This manga certainly would be lower than an 8 if I didn't love her character so much. But even if you don't like her character as much as I do it's still a solid romance manga.

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Jan 22, 2021

Zeru77

Recommended

This Spin-Off deserves an anime adaptation.

It is my first time to write a review so I'll keep it short. I'm an Utaha fan all the way and this manga was a love-letter to all the Utaha fans out there. Their interactions between Tomoya and Utaha felt genuine to me because of how their relationship develops. The main characters draws their energy/motivation from the passion they receive from others such Tomoya to Utaha or vice versa. This manga shows that if you truly love what you do, you can spread that love to others and it becomes infectious. To end, I'll repeat this once again, ...

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Nov 12, 2020

Hayasaka14

Recommended

I came looking for copper and I found gold.

Yes, I have seen the Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata anime, and of course, wanted more content to the story. As we all know there is unfortunately no available English translation of the original light novels anywhere which is why I decided to read this. Basically, I was only expecting a simple Utaha route, but this manga is so much more than that. This manga gives us a little inside view of everything that happens in the production and creation of the anime that we love to watch, the Light Novels and manga that we love to read, ... and the games that we love to play. It showcases the many challenges that creators have to face as they strive to make an impact in the Otaku world. Probably, the most important thing we can get from it is that all those anime we have seen and manga/light novels we have read were extremely far from easy to make. It showed us how the authors can get torn up with all the decisions they have to make regarding the flow of their story as well as the complexity of making an anime due to the various factors hey need to consider such as casting, character design, storyboards, schedule, etc.

As for the romance aspect which a lot of readers have come for, it was indeed a wholesome journey that Kasumigaoka Utaha fans would enjoy. The story revolves around four characters: Utaha, Tomoya, Machida, and Sagara, all of whom have appeared in the main Saekano series except for Sagara who is an exclusive character for this story. That's all I'm gonna say in order to avoid any spoilers.

The characters in the story were presented pretty well. They were given proper introductions despite being a spin-off, making it possible for people who haven’t seen/read the main Saekano storyline to enjoy this manga. In other words, this can be read as a whole story in itself and not be thought of as plainly “another route”. Although, there were some references that could only be understood if you have watched/read the main storyline. For the art, it looked clean and beautiful. It did not look exactly the same as the anime, though, which gives it a sense of originality. Additionally, there were quite a handful of “chibi” scenes, but they were utilized appropriately so because they were not used during important and intense scenes.

Overall, this manga was truly amazing and had exceeded my expectations. One thing is for sure: it gave me a newfound respect for all creators, as well as the production and marketing staff. As a final word, I recommend this manga even to those who have not seen or did not like Saekano as it indulges the readers into a behind-the-scenes aspect of the Otaku culture while telling a romantic and hardship-filled tale of a writer, editor, and an artist as they create an instant hit novel series.

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Aug 18, 2017

DrYumYum

Recommended

Preliminary (38/51 chp)

(non spoiler review)
Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata: koisuru Metronome is by far my favorite spin off. I immediately fell in love with this manga after a couple of chapters. I may be biased because I myself am Team Utaha senpai but the story, art, and characters are all enjoyable. As for the story, it is nothing special, the main MC is now an editor of Utaha and the story is about them two working together to make Utaha senpai rise to the top. The story may be plain but the way the story is portrayed and the development of the characters makes the seemingly boring story ...

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May 29, 2021

DanTheBasilisk

Recommended

Solid, but a little disappointing considering the strong reviews I read beforehand, some even claiming it’s better than the original. To give a sense of where I’m coming from, I was Team Megumi in the original anime because I thought she was a better fit for Aki (admittedly I haven’t read the original source), but Utaha was by far my favorite character. I would have had no complaints if she ended up with him instead, because there were times when they had great chemistry, at least. So seeing an alternative route for Utaha was very interesting to me.

The art is beautifully done, it was good ...

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Dec 15, 2019

Not-Bot

Recommended

I'll write a short, spoiler-free review and my thoughts just after finishing it here:
Aki Tomoya, in this spin-off, instead of making a game, becomes an editor of Kasumi Utaha instead. This is a romance story instead of the harem parent story, between Tomoya and Kasumigaoka. It also tells us more about Kasamigaoka Utaha - although she still is as invective as before we come to know more about her personality and her insecurities in detail.
Secondly, I do not agree with people saying this spin-off is better than original story since the original ...

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Mar 17, 2021

EnglishName

Recommended

Good. Beautiful. Perfect. The Best.

I have read this manga two times already now.

Nothing Beats This rom-com for Me and it will always be in my heart to live forever on.

I will fight anyone who says otherwise unless they are objectively correct.

That is all

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Oct 23, 2020

FujiwaraKaito

Recommended

This manga is so great! this story can compete with the main story.
well guys, in this story will tells you about a progress how a light novel become an animation which we called anime. in this story, there are many problem which could be happen in animation production. An it's tell about how the MC will choose the girl who he's love.

The Story, art , and the other are so great. the art isn't disappoint. it's looks very good. this is story is fit for who likes Utaha Senpai with Yandere mode. In the end, this story tells about how to grow together ...

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Jan 7, 2022

Soupisekaitrash

Recommended

Not often can a spinoff (I hesitate to even call it that) match but even surpass the source material. This manga added emotional depth to the two main leads not present in the original series well also adding context to said original series. My personal favorite is Utaha alluding to why she gave up on Aki in the main timeline.

The story isn’t really a factor as this is even more character based than its predecessor, any drama is all personal relationships.
The art is decent when it needs to be and I like the little illustrations at the end of the chapters.

Last, the ...

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Feb 14, 2024

hexashadow13

Recommended

tl;dr: A spin off that has a great heroine and a solid plot centered around writing light novels, but drops the ball in terms of character and relationship development.

Koisuru Metronome is a manga spin off of Saekano which is a light novel series that also has an anime and manga adaptation as well as two other manga spin offs. Koisuru Metronome is heavily focused on the light novel author, Utaha. Unlike the Eriri spin off, Egoistic Lily, this one has a completely different story completely unrelated to the original story. The plot line has nothing to do with creating a doujin as the original story ... did. And none of the other heroines appear in this manga at all, though it is confirmed in passing that Utaha at least knows Eriri. As such, beyond some references here and there you won’t miss much by reading this even if you aren’t familiar with the original story. Though I would still recommend watching the anime for the original simply because it’s good.

This manga’s plot is centered around the protagonist, Tomoya, serving as Utaha’s editor. While they both are still high school students, school life doesn’t really matter at all. The focus is on Utaha’s writing, with flashbacks explaining how she came about writing her first work, Koisuru Metronome, and then walking through her working with Tomoya and the illustrator Mayu to write her next work, Pure Love Hectopascal. Similarly, to how the original story went into details on visual novels, doujins, and comiket, this spin off goes into details on the light novel writing and publishing process. This includes describing the writing process that Utaha personally has, but also going into detail on the general relationships that editors have with their writers as well as with the publishing company and how that can affect their writing. It also eventually goes on to describing how the anime adaptation process works, and how being a mixed media franchise can make things much more difficult for the author. It’s a very interesting look at the light novel process that gets somewhat into the nitty gritty, but is still pretty easy to follow.

Watching Utaha face various complications in her writing but pushing through is handled pretty well, While it doesn’t go into incredibly detail on the novels she’s writing, it provides enough detail to understand the gist of her thought process when writing and how it leads to where she chooses to take the story. It goes into enough detail that the problems are clear and concrete to the reader when she gets stuck and the reader can understand how she’s able to overcome them. Her relationship and investment in the novels are clear, and thus her managing to succeed is pretty satisfying.

The character aspect I felt was much more of a mixed bag. On the positive side, Utaha is still great. She was my favorite heroine in the original, and most everything that made me like her there is still here. She’s pretty witty and usually cool headed, but she gets jealous incredibly easily and is in general really prickly. Over the course of this manga, she becomes an even more fun character, especially when she has swirly eyes. Still, it didn’t really feel like she had much of a character arc. She grows as an author, but the way it was framed it didn’t really feel like character development. The same applies to both Tomoya and Mayu. They grow as editors and illustrators respectively, but it doesn’t really feel like that translated into character development. This is especially disappointing in the case of Tomoya as he has a pretty great character arc in the original.

The dynamics between the three is where I feel the manga was most noticeably weakest. The relationship development between Tomoya and Utaha wasn’t handled all that well. There’s basically no progress for the vast majority of the manga due to Tomoya shrugging off all of Utaha’s advances, only for it to be super rushed at the end. It has a solid enough ending, but it’s nowhere near as strong as the ending to the original. The relationship development between Tomoya and Mayu was even worse. It’s a love triangle that felt really half assed to the point of being unnecessary. It’s clear from the fact that this is an Utaha focused manga that Utaha is going to win, but if a love triangle was thrown in there should have been at least some effort put into making Mayu seem like a possibility that wouldn’t be terrible. As is, the emotional beats related to her just don’t land at all. And the last edge of the triangle, the relationship between Utaha and Mayu, was also really weak. One of the best dynamics in the original series was the bond between Utaha and the illustrator Eriri. They fought more than they didn’t, heavily in part due to both being in love with Tomoya, but they still became best friends. It was incredibly deep and well written. In comparison to that, the relationship between Utaha and Mayu just feels really shallow. The two relationships are somewhat similar, but the one in this manga is completely lacking in intensity. As such, it’s just kind of dull.

The art in this is pretty great. It’s much better than the art in the manga adaptation of the original, though I would say I still prefer the art in the anime. Also, as can be seen across pretty much all of their work, the artist really likes tights so Utaha is a perfect fit.

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