The Spring 2021 Manga Guide

Girlfriend, Girlfriend

What's It About? 

Naoya just got a girlfriend, the gorgeous Saki-chan, and though their intensities often pit them against each other like ice and fire, they're totally, uncontrollably in love with each other. He vows never to cheat...when out of the blue he receives another confession! Nagisa's cute, sweet, and she's made him lunch to boot! He knows he can't cheat, but he can't let a cutie like this get away...so he does the logical(?) thing: Asks Saki for permission to date them both! The confidence! The arrogance! The very gall! No matter the outcome, Naoya's future will be lively!

Girlfriend, Girlfriend is drawn and scripted by Hiroyuki and Kodansha Comics has released its first volume on digital platforms for $10.99

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Is It Worth Reading?

Rebecca Silverman

Rating:

If Saki didn't keep telling us that Naoya was as straight as an arrow, I'm not sure I'd believe it, unless she was making a comment about his sexual orientation. That's because guys who decide that they "can't bear" to hurt a girl who confesses to him by turning her down because he's already GOT a girlfriend don't really fit that definition in my book. Instead, it feels like he's masquerading as a nice guy, when in reality he's just eager to take advantage of the situation he's found himself in; that, or maybe he is the kind of person who panics, says something, and then can't seem to take it back. In either case, it makes him a pretty unlikeable protagonist to me, and I wasn't surprised when I realized that this was by the same creator as Aho Girl, which I found aggressively unfunny.

The concept behind the hijinks is that Naoya, despite having finally scored his childhood friend Saki Saki (yes, her parents did that to her) as his girlfriend, is unable to turn down adorable Nagisa when she asks him out. Since he's not willing to give up Saki, he decides that all three of them should date, and, better yet, live together since he and Nagisa both live alone. Nagisa's okay with it, but unsurprisingly Saki is not – at least, until she realizes that a poly relationship is pretty much her only option if she wants to hang on to her boyfriend. Now, I have no issue with poly relationships; people should do what works for them, especially in fiction. It's just that I have this weird feeling that they ought to be, you know, consensual among all members of the relationship, not the result of one guy being a ninny and his girlfriend reluctantly going along with him. The fact that they all refer to what they're doing as “two-timing” is also kind of off-putting for me as a reader, in part because it's a misrepresentation of what a mutual poly relationship is, but also because it feels like trying to shoehorn in a kink that doesn't fit. Sure it's meant to be a comedy, and it does have some good moments (the whole bathroom scene for one), but its setup leaves something out – quite possibly “likeable and/or intelligent characters.”

I'm not sure how far Hiroyuki can take this concept. It's already starting to wear thin with its repetition of the same few basic jokes (Saki's got a dirty mind, Nagisa's not smart, Naoya can't keep his mouth shut, etc.), and although the art is nice, it's not gorgeous enough to make up for story deficiencies. But mostly I just don't care enough to find out what happens to these people, and by about halfway through the volume, I found myself hoping for a very specific ending…one involving a nice boat.