Reviews

I decided to write a review for this one because the hate train on this is nonsensical to me. The argument that "there is no story" is just false. This starts as a bland formulaic harem story, and progressively starts to get more complex as more characters get bits of info on different aspects of the big lie both the main characters are keeping. The crowdfunding arc is REALLY good, hitting the feels constantly, and the latest "pool trip" arc I did enjoy a lot (although it is a little too dragged out). In the latest arc, which I guess is probably the last before an epilogue (as I am writing, the manga is still publishing), the author manage to gather a lot of open hooks left behind throughout the story, and did not shy away from a "shit hits the fan" situation, which I did think was going to happen. I think that's most I can talk about it without spoiling it too much.

Most just hate the story for two reasons: the moral argument of paying for a girlfriend service, NTR, and the whole web of lies, and because the MC is as stupid as one can be. Look... for me the story is better because of this reasons. It tackles a real thing, real situations, and real problematic characters. Some, like Ruka, seem to be very straightforward (and annoying and dumb), but turn out to be very nuanced and complex in later chapters. She's my favorite character btw.

To me the whole "MC is stupid" is a weird incel narrative young manga readers all over the world are developing, expecting their heroes to be "alpha", "chads", and whatever terms kids are using. Hate the "beta", "simps", "white knights", men have to be strong and assertive. This used to something just conservative old people seemed to care for, and manga used to be created exactly for people who can't fit in that narrative. Truth be told, the main public of this type of work is totally not this alpha stereotype. I guess the dumb MC character used to be relatable back in the 90s and 2000s, but online life gave most people this random impression that they are just perfect and supposedly can't accept relating to a not very social character. I also don't like the main character. He is creepy, dumb. That doesn't mean the story is automatically bad. In fact it is quite the opposite. When the character spends 5 chapters mustering courage to do something assertive, just to be shut down by some of the confident characters again and again, I can truly feel that.

I do like stories about manipulative characters, webs of lies, different minded characters, situations where no one's wrong/everyone's wrong so there is not a fully clear path of righteousness. This feels to me as a japanese version of Gossip Girl / Mean Girls.

So I do hope people start leaving this weird conservative perfectionist mentality and just enjoy stories as they are presented, not as they should be. Almost seems as if every story should be written in the exact same formula, with the exact same MC...