Reviews

Jul 12, 2024
Well-writtenWell-written
Preliminary (25/? chp)
The same author as Aritoto, using the same dynamics in a yuri story: some sort of wager/competition between a normal/average girl (Renako) and a seemingly bright and untouchable girl (Mai), written from the point of view of the former, and with the latter trying to make her fall in love. But the similarities end with volume 1. Starting with volume 2, it throws romance away with the garbage, goes straight into harem territory, and all chararacter buildup flies out the window.

The first volume is mostly standalone, since it has all the features of a complete story: a premise, a development, a crisis and a resolution. On its own, although it gives any sort of serious topic a wide berth, it's actually quite a nice read. The romance isn't firmly established at the end, but it closes all plot lines.

In a nutshell, each following book is about Renako cheating on Mai (or being coerced to do so) with another girl from their own group of friends. Of course you can argue that it's not cheating since the romance isn't official (it's even the point of the story), but the novel still tries to sell the relationship between Renako and Mai as a budding romance, and has to rely on twisted logic to justify each situation using Renako's "kindness" and Mai's "tolerance".

A harem story is, by essence, incompatible with any form of empathy or trust between characters, and has to rely on contrived comedy to make the characters behave the way they do. Renako is supposed to be kind, if grumpy, but there's no way someone kind would do what she does for any extended amount of time. And the same goes for the other girls. What the novel says is kindness, is in fact a mix of cruelty, spite and selfishness.

Of course, if you like a full-on harem story, why not, switch off any reasoning or emotional centers in your brain and enjoy the ride. But if you like a romance story, stop at the end of volume 1. The author shows, just like with Arioto, that they don't have any skill to write a long-running story with any semblance of consistency. Arioto's follow-up volumes are still at least nice to read because we see the romance alive and developing, but WataWake is just piling up inconsistent behaviors to conveniently generate drama and harem situations.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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