This. Manga. Sucks.
Spoilers will follow. TLDR at the bottom.
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Art: 7/10. Art is preference, don’t think too much about this. It’s not the greatest, but it’s not the worst unless you’re giving the less detailed, comedic panels a lot more weight than they should have.
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Character: 2/10.
Kazuya: The majority of the reviews on here either portray Kazuya is a spineless, cowardly, indecisive, unintelligent idiot or as someone who’s been traumatized by his first girlfriend (now his ex) and is struggling to decide what he really wants. Both sides are valid, but unfortunately, Kazuya has been indecisive for the past 150 chapters and shown almost nonexistent levels of growth throughout the series. On dates in the most recent chapters, Kazuya still thinks ‘what’s a beauty like her doing with someone like me’, which is still what he thought back in the initial chapters. One can argue that this is because Kazuya has very low amounts of self-esteem and doesn’t think of himself as having much value, but it’s hard to believe that Kazuya doesn’t think of himself as someone who has gained some value throughout the story. He’s also still a bit too strangely perverted, considering he’s know these girls over the course of a year. But whatever, there’s an ecchi tag.
Chizuru: Blatantly and unapologetically the story’s heroine. Chizuru is probably the most well-developed character in the series, but also like Kazuya, is completely indecisive as to whether or not she likes Kazuya. The issue with her character is that very early on and I mean by chapter 20, it’s clear that Chizuru does have some feelings for Kazuya, but it takes her much too long to address those feelings. Her intelligence also comes under question because Chizuru is portrayed as a very intelligent girl, but somehow she never makes the connection that she’s leading him on or even suspects that just because he proclaimed to not have feelings for her, even though she’s aware that he has a problem with compulsive lying to avoid conflict.
Ruka: Ruka is Chizuru’s rival in love and by far the best girl in the series. Unlike Chizuru, Ruka constantly tries to advance her relationship with Kazuya and the parts with her in the story are typically the most interesting ones and she forcibly tries to make herself known as Kazuya’s girlfriend. Unfortunately, due to the story’s structure, Ruka is ultimately fated to lose. It’s fine for it to be predetermined that Chizuru is the story’s winner, but it honestly feels like the author barely gave Ruka enough moments to outshine Chizuru and that really, she’s just warming the bench for Chizuru.
Mami: Terrible character. She’s initially portrayed to be the ‘heartless ex-GF’ character that doesn’t want Kazuya to get over her by scheming to try to break up Chizuru/Kazuya but later on in the series, there’s a couple scenes that possibly indicate that she might have regretted breaking up with him, but none of these are explored in any meaningful way and honestly contradict how she’s written.
Sumi: Pointless character. Sumi is the last addition to the female ensemble that is in love with Kazuya. Admittedly, Sumi’s cute and her chapters are fun to read. But Sumi could be removed from the manga and the readers wouldn’t notice because she and her chapters have almost 0 relation to the main plot, if there even is one. In 150 chapters, we also know nothing about Sumi’s background before Kazuya and the reason for her shyness, just so you have an idea of how pointless her character is.
Most of the other male characters (including the latest e-girl addition of Mini) are irrelevant and practically only serve to help move Kazuya forward and don’t really have anything interesting in regards to themselves.
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Story: 8/10 for the first 50 chapters. 2/10 for the remainder.
I’m not going to discuss the rental girlfriend premise nor the morality of it because it’s been overdone. I think it’s fine and simply something you’ll have to accept as a reader.
Up until roughly chapter 45, I thought the story was pretty solid and would’ve given it an 8/10 because there appeared to be meaningful progression in all of the arcs with the most prominent female characters were introduced and initial relationships being established.
However, what follows for the next 60 chapters might as well not have even existed. It’s also worth noting that a year passes by in narration in the manga, but nothing of note happens throughout this year, which is absolutely mind-boggling considering that Ruka was introduced before this timeskip and seemingly no progression between Kazuya, Chizuru, and Ruka occurred at all? None of the interpersonal relationships advance in the slightest?
Following chapter 100, we get what can be considered the manga’s main arc and by that, the arc that has the most repercussions, referred to by the characters constantly and is still a driving force 50 chapters later. (In fact, just to prove my earlier point on how useless of a character Sumi is, Sumi is almost entirely irrelevant in this arc). However, although this arc is paced relatively well, there is still nonexistent levels of progression between the main characters.
In fact, as of when this review was written, around chapter 149, neither Kazuya nor Chizuru have confessed their feelings for each other, but only admitted that they might have feelings for the other when pressured by external parties. In 3 years, there hasn’t even been so much as an honest confession between the two? And sure, you can say ‘oh, but Kazuya’s doing so much for Chizuru, clearly she knows it’s because he has a thing for her’, but I’m not even certain about that. Kazuya seems to be barely on her mind and it seems that Chizuru barely thinks deeper as to Kazuya’s intentions as to why he does so much for her.
Oh, and as for actual romance in this manga? There is painfully, and I mean PAINFULLY, low amounts of it. Sure, Kazuya goes on a lot of ‘dates’ with the other women in this manga, but none of these dates really amount to much. And also, the amount of compulsive lying that goes on in this manga is just… ugh.
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Enjoyment: 3/10. I enjoyed this manga in the first 50 chapters significantly more than the following 100 chapters. Take from that what you will.
Overall & TLDR: Manga is a complete mess, terribly paced, boring/inconsistent characters that never progress meaningfully. A melodrama that isn’t worth your time unless you really have nothing better to do. If you must, read the first 50 chapters or so then drop it, because it doesn’t get better from there. 3/10.
