Are you looking for a harem? A single, ordinary person surrounded by a bevy of beauties, all of whom want them? Typically, that ordinary person would be an unfortunate young man, dull as a potato, but There's No Freaking Way I'll Be Your Lover! Unless...…, based on the light novels of the same name, plays it a little differently: the potato in question is a girl, and she's more of a sweet potato than your average tuber – there's a bit more to her than many a male harem protagonist. Renako is embarking upon the all-important high school glow-up, hoping to reinvent herself as a person who has friends rather than a gamer who has none, but her plans go ever-so-slightly awry when the group of girls she ends up with all start to fall in love with her.

The main romance of most of these six volumes is with Mai Oduka. Mai is the girl everyone wants or wants to be – she's beautiful, smart, and a professional model. She falls hard for Renako early on, something Renako herself can't quite wrap her head around. Mai desperately wants to date Renako, but Renako's not sold on this – or even comfortable with it. The two hammer out two compromises: if Mai wears her hair up, they'll be best friends that day. If she wears it down, they'll be girlfriends. When this becomes a bit much for an uncomfortable Renako, they settle on being “friends with Renafits,” which is girlfriends with training wheels. But then Satsuki, who has a crush on Mai, decides to fake date Renako (all unaware of the actual situation) and Renako starts to have mutual feelings for Ajisai. By the end of volume six, things are in a major tangle. If you love geometry alongside your harems, this is an almost perfect combination.

I say “almost” because some issues with this story risk alienating some potential readers. Mai is incredibly handsy with Renako, to the point where she consistently takes things further than Renako is comfortable with. One particularly unsettling scene has Mai taking off Renako's underwear and opening her legs while Renako protests vociferously; when Mai defends herself with “You liked it!”, Renako correctly responds, “That's not for you to decide!” Renako's comfort level and bodily autonomy are consistently on the chopping block where Mai is concerned, and it begins to look unpleasantly like the old “predatory lesbian” trope. By volume three, Renako does admit to liking Mai at least a little, but that doesn't excuse the way that Mai ignores her protests, and there's a feeling that Renako saying “no” becomes part of their romantic dynamic simply because Mai never takes her seriously.

This makes the budding romance with Ajisai, which takes up most of the volumes five and six, feel preferable, even though it's clear Mai is intended to be the primary love interest. Ajisai, like Renako, is very aware of how people see her. Where Renako was ostracized for her “boy” pursuits, most specifically her enjoyment of first-person shooters (FPS), Ajisai feels bound by her soft, angelic looks and her position as the oldest child in her family. Renako and Ajisai see a bit of themselves in each other, and it's obvious that Renako is more physically attracted to Ajisai than Mai. This may also simply be my preference for Ajisai, who respects Renako's boundaries more, but by the midway point of volume five, it's hard not to think that Ajisai would be the better match.

Given that this series is dedicated to being a romantic comedy, as is made very evident by Renako's internal monologue and Mai's incredibly melodramatic abilities (everything is dialed up to an eleven with her), it's almost certain that Mai will remain the primary romantic interest. And she is funny, even with her issues – she's a force of nature, ripping through the story like a windstorm, and watching Renako attempt to keep up with her and figure her out is interesting. The art doesn't quite keep pace with the story, although it does a good enough job, and all of the girls have distinctly different figures, not something that always happens. The pages are uniformly busy and feel deliberate, a visual representation of the chaos in Renako's mind and heart and the mad tumble of emotions and actions that make up Mai Oduka. Pages with Satsuki or Ajisai are generally less packed, which is an excellent visual detail showing the differences in how Renako interacts with both of them.

Despite the comedic trappings, serious moments are lurking here. Ajisai's feelings of being forced to project a certain image and how Renako plays into that is a highlight of volumes five and six, while Satsuki's competitive nature and difficult homelife inform volumes three and four. For all three potential girlfriends, Renako represents normalcy and stability, and each of them pursues that in a way that corresponds to her character. Mai is the one we know the least about, but meetings with her mother indicate that she, like Ajisai, may have felt overwhelmed by pressure. Renako has the most comfortable home life of all four girls, and the more we realize that the more the other three make sense as characters.

There's No Freaking Way I'll Be Your Lover! Unless...…consistently walks a fine line. The lack of respect for Renako's comfort is a major issue that greatly stifled my enjoyment of the series, but it's also clearly being done in a spirit of humor. This is a tried-and-true yuri romcom, and it does that well enough. If you're looking for a GL harem, this is a safe enough bet; just be aware of the dubious consent issues going in.