The art in this series is fantastic. Its very pleasing and there are constant hilarious profile picture- worthy expressions and faces from a myriad of different characters.
The premise is odd but creative and original. Two babies- a boy and girl- are switched at birth, and suddenly at age 16 they are arranged to be married. The boy, whose birth father is a billionare hotel tycoon, grows up dirt poor instead. And the girl, whose birth father is a unemployed cook, grows up with the tycoon and becomes a social medial influencer and overall spoiled brat.
However the characters are where it goes wrong.
I dont beleive for a second that any of the 3 main girls in the harem like the MC, Nagi, for his value as a human being. All 3 are extremely toxic in their own ways and it leads me almost feeling bad for the main character of a harem which is not at all supposed to happen.
The worst offender by far is Segawa, the girl Nagi has been crushing on since the beginning of the school year. She likes boys that are smarter then her so he devotes his life to grades to win her affection (and to also get his family out of poverty). He gets #2 in total grades for forever, until he gets #1 once and decides to finally confess. SHe denies him, saying thats because she works at a miko in a shrine and cant marry him. However despite this she keeps deliberately stringing him along as a 'rival', basically treating him as a toy/dog whose only purpose is her own amusement/ motivation to succeed. She says she enjoys his company but not ONCE in the 39 chapters has she had any interaction with him that isnt using him. SHe invited him on a date, but it was to just get a discount. She went with them to a study retreat, only to tease him. She invited him to hangout before school, only to just study, and immediantly invites Erika (his fiancee) whom shes completely enamored with. And through all this Nagi keeps on trying and trying and she keeps on feeding this poor sap scraps that he eats up without realising that she doesent give a shit about him. Thing is, im not sure if this is how i should think. I think shes meant to be portrayed as an uber-driven competetive study freak whose driven and focuses on school, but instead she just seems like a ice-hearted witch woman who treats others as footstools. it doesen't help that she is repeatedly emphasized to be good at literally everything, including sports, socialization, school, and being a perfect good little girl raising her family shrine. She seems like a mary sue, a corrupted one at that. Its obvious she is never going to win and that is a good thing.
Erika, as many rich spoiled millionare blonde attractive teenage girls (sorry if that makes me sound like an incel but am i truly wrong?) is extremely spoiled and frequently voices that in almost any chapter, refusing to eat 'poor food', demanding Nagi cook for her (which he does since hes a simp), constantly incessantly distracting Nagi from studying just to entertain her, etc. This is one of the most forced ships ive seen in a while, they only have around 2-3 scenes of naturally enjoying eachothers company, and many of them already seem kinda iffy in how 'real' and genuine they are, but we are constantly told by other characters how 'perfect' they are together, how amazing of a combination they are. Nagi could whip out a belt and commit domestic violence, and segawa could see that and still blush and say 'Wow, what an amazing couple...'. No they aren't, they dont particularly mesh well nor get along at all. They dont have very much chemistry in the slightest and i dont buy that Erika wants to live the rest of her life with nagi or even wants him to be her one and only companion. Shes just jealous and entitled. While its not as outright toxic and inappropiate like Segawa, it still has a feeling of unnaturality and complete forced-ness
Next is Sachi, Nagi's little sister. Thats all i need to say to say how inappropiate that is. Sachi grew up with Nagi from the day they were born and the SECOND sachi learns nagi isnt related to her she begins to want him. The author keeps on pushing her as a valid member of Nagi's shitshow of a 'harem', but she REALLY shouldnt be. Until like chapter 20 nagi still saw her as a child sister, like anybody with a working brain, and likely still does. Sachi hasnt really given any reason she loves Nagi so much despite being her family member. Its even said she constantly shit talks him at school and even directly shit talks him to his face.
This entire manga is one dudes life being thrown upside down, being dragged to do thigns he doesent want to do by his siter or erika, or being emotionally manipulated by Segawa. Despite the rare, but great, moments of fluff and the great art, this harem is too fundamentally broken to be enjoyable escapism. I dont have a siscon fetish so i dont want to date my sister so i dont want to escape into Nagi to date Sachi. I dont like spoiled brat millionares who get everything on a silver plate, so i dont want to escape into Nagi to date Erika. And i dont like perfect mary sue women who do nothing but string me along like a dead pig so i dont want to escape into Nagi to date Segawa either.
