Kanojo mo Kanojo

I find it pretty hilarious that my first review is for a manga that I don't particularly have a deep interest in, but anyways.

Story: 5

Art: 7

Character: 6

Enjoyment: 10

Overall: 7

Kanojo mo Kanojo is a nice comedy manga that bases its premise on the fact that the main character is two-timing. While I personally prefer more serious romcoms that delve into deep stories and intricate characters, taking a break from those and reading a nice comedy is nice as well.

But it appalls me how many people give such low ratings on this manga, It isn't supposed to be story-driven, nor have much depth to the characters. It's just nice fun and stupid comedy, which if you take this manga for what it is, it does well at.

While this might not be on par with the likes of Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, it is still a decent read if you just want a nice comedy.

*Side note* I read this after Kimi no koto ga Dai Dai Dai Dai Daisuki na 100-nin no Kanojo which I personally was not much of a fan of (I rated it 4) despite having a somewhat similar premise.

I wasn't planning on doing a review of this manga but when I saw earlier today that Kanojo mo Kanojo was getting an anime adaptation in 2021, I jumped on MyAnimeList.
I really hate how these kind of mangas can be adapted so easily. The manga literally started on March 2020, it just took 6 months and 35 chapters to get an anime. Damn.

Bear in my mind, I don't actually dislike harem, or just romcom in general, even if they are kinda bad, I just need some enjoyment to read it casually when a new chapter comes out, or at least a good waifu to cheer for. There's nothing to like in Kanojo mo Kanojo in my opinion, literally nothing. I don't know why I needed 23 chapters to drop this massive disgusting manga.

All the characters are obviously generics but they all feel so empty. The MC is just a dumb screaming person, all the girls are nowhere near interesting.

Harem manga is nothing new, a lot of them are at least decent to read. If you really are a big fan of the genre, maybe you will like this one but if it's not your damn dream, you're just gonna hate this one.

Just don't read it.

Before reading this review please understand that any Manga don't have to be a serious genre or having real life stuff to be enjoyable; or better said, the purpose of the mangaka on Kanojo mo Kanojo is not about getting serious at all but have a lot of comedy and a great gag manga like Aho Girl was.

Kanojo mo Kanojo is another of those Romcom that ase more focused on the comical part, similar to a gag manga the purpose is to crack a smile to the reader without much thought on who is loving who.

Story is about our male MC (Naoya Mukai), enjoying his first girlfirend (Saki Saki), during the first day dating her he met another girl (Nagisa Minase) that she has intense feelings for him, and because for some logical but honest personality of the MC he ends getting her as a second girlfriend.

Now while the story is somewhat lacking, the characters are made to be the extreme of themselves, Naoya being a complete sincere and honest person that flows with feelings left and right, can't leave any of both girls and has to be in a two timing relationship with them. Saki being a useless character but at the same time she won't hate the situation and Nagisa willing to give her best so Naoya and Saki get together at the end even if her feelings are "pure" on some way. A complete mess and because of this maelstrom of feelings and logic (illogical) reasonings they'e together.

Art is real good, you can feel determination on their actions of each character on every page, at the same time we got many of these characters can't keep it low so they're always flipping their sht for any upcoming situation. The spread pages are almost perfect in giving us a well detailed joke, or the environment they're in. There are many blank backgrounds, that's something I have to deal with it because Hiroyuki (the mangaka) focused more on giving us a gag instead of a well detailed place in a few of these pages, probably these details can be fixed when a manga volume is publised in a future.

Enjoyment is subjective but at the same time is delicate on this genre, like the cake analogy of "eating too much cake everyday ends up with you dis-tasting the cake", it's the same for this manga. You can sit and read too much of it but you won't enjoy it at all after a while, because you're getting too much of it.

So if you're in need of something dumb fun, and at the same time a romcom, this manga is for you. More if you liked Aho girl.
If you real need a romcom - serious manga, then I suggest you check on some other genre, the gags won't be enjoyable for you at all even if Hiroyuki is giving his best on making you have fun.

Since this manga received an anime adaptation, I decided to make a review for this one. I have read until chapter 36. (I won't put spoilers as much as possible)

The title "Kanojo mo Kanojo" basically means "She is also my Girlfriend"

Overall, this manga is full of comedy. So while reading this, please don't think if it's realistic or no. What makes this manga interesting are the characters, story and the jokes/comedy of it. I recommend this anime to people who likes comedy or rom-com mangas.

First, lets talk about the story. I rate it 8/10.
The story is unique for me, and the backstory/stories of the heroines were, plus it's pretty funny so I rate it 8 for now. it might change in the future chapters. Also, how the author uses the concept "Neo Updating Rom-Com" are really good.

Next, lets talk about the Characters. I rate it 10/10.
The main characters are stupid in different ways. They are also pretty unique. Plus the Heroines are really cute. Let me describe them. These characters makes the story more interesting and funny. So I rate it 10 as of now.

・MC/Naoya - He is honest and straightforward person. (in good and bad way) He is stupid, like he literally asked his girlfriend if he can do two timing.
・Saki Saki - Tsundere and hyper heroine. First GF of the MC. She is stupid like the girl in 'Aho Girl' the only thing that differentiate them are that Saki Saki can feel the embarassment. FYI "Saki Saki" is her real name.
・Minase Nagisa - Brave, Humble and Hard worker heroine. 2nd GF. She is brave because she confessed to the MC, even though he already have a GF. She is humble because she mostly doesn't care about herself. She is hard worker, since she literally work hard to achieve her goal. She is stupid in studies, even though she studies/work hard she still fail.
・Mirisa - Tsundere, Youtuber heroine. She is more Tsundere than Saki Saki. She is also stupid like the other main characters.
・Shino - Friend of Saki Saki. She disagree to the two timing. as of now she is just a supporting heroine, but lets see...

Art, I rate it 8/10.
Since the artstyle of the author seems fine, and it seems clean so I rate it 8/10.

Enjoyment, I rate it 10/10
I really enjoy it, since it makes me laugh always. It make sense, since the author of this is also the same author of "Aho Girl" which is a comedy manga/anime.

Thanks for reading until here. Once again I recommend this manga to people who likes comedy and rom-com animes/mangas. Don't read this if you hate harem-ish manga.

FYI I'm Team NAGISA!

A story about two-timing that sounds interesting and new. What could go wrong? Really, what could go wrong? Everything went wrong.

The opening of a story should never be rushed. This is what this manga does. The first few chapters are there to introduce the characters, the setting and the conflict unless there is a particular reason to withhold this information but for this manga it seems like there is no conflict at all. For a rom-com if there is no conflict why would anyone continue reading, the protagonist himself said he wants to two-time too so like why.

The characters are a mess, both the current girlfriend and the new girlfriend have like the exact personality the only way to differentiate them apart is by their looks. Now with the Protagonist, he looks like the definition of an average male protagonist that somehow got an harem that’s what makes this cast of main characters so bad, it’s like the author took a minute to come up with each of the characters.

One positive thing about this series is the art style but even I wouldn’t say the art style is great at most I would give it a solid 7 but really the current girlfriend and the new girlfriend look exactly the same if you remove their hair.

My overall review of Kanojo mo Kanojo is a mediocre 5. If the author had spent more time developing the characters and the story it could have been a really a good concept as most mangas don’t usually have a story about two-timing.

Do I recommend this? Yes and no. As I have mixed feelings about this manga,
I will let you decide if you want to read this rom-com with a twist.

STORY

Some would say that the beginning of the story moves quickly and I'd be one to agree. However, I don't believe this was an accident by the writers. The premise of the story is a flip on the harem genre, so it makes sense that the writer sped things up to an almost astronomical speed, because a normal harem story would take volumes for the character to even confess their feelings if at all. It was also funny to see this so it being a comedy fits perfectly.

It was refreshing to see a character who decides what he wants and isn't afraid to speak his mind.

ART

Generic

CHARACTERS

The main character is refreshing. He's bold and isn't afraid to say what's on his mind.

The main girl is a generic wifu, but her rival is where things become truly interesting. She's also very bold and is usually moving just as fast as the lead character. It's not something you see too much in a rival.

ENJOYMENT

Such a refreshing read. It's a comedy so just enjoy the ride!

Strange to do the first review on a manga that I dislike, but I felt fooled with this one.

I want to analyse the tag first:
- Ecchi...poor for whom want to see ecchi things.
- Comedy...was ok but after 15chps has begun to become boring and repetitive
- Romance...it reduce to "I love you" and add a new girl to harem, 0 developments of the feelings.
- Slice of Life...it just follow the characters routine, but it's so boring (I love SOL but this sucks)
- Harem...yeah ok, but not fit with this plot. It would have been better to just focus on the two girls

Give the votes:
Story: 2
It had potential at the beginning, it could have been a good story, but more we go on and less we have, 0 development, it can be said that everything begins and ends in the first 5 chapters. The author just add new juice(girl) to the mix, but it just fill(er) it.

Art: 6
The only good thing of this manga, the drawing are good, clean lines and a not bad characters design. I appreciated that the mangaka didn't exaggerate with the (A Side) of the girls. However, the art itself isn't so good to drive me continue this manga.

Characters: 3
Good characters design, but POOR personality. Saying personality I don't argue the choice of the girls accepting the two-time thing (is a manga and the two time thing was the main plot, so is stupid to argue it), I talk about the characterization of the girls, they accept and do everything for him, like a bot.
The MC is terrible, at first I appreciated his sincerity, he says what he thinks without hiding, but damn, more we go on and the less he changes, he says and do the same thing of the first chapter but most of all...what the heck he always yells.

So in the end, I can't recommend this manga. It's a waste of time for whom are new of reading manga or just want to read something comedy. There are better manga.

Seems that person reviewing this this manga before me stopped reading just before developments concerning all the faults he/she described. Not that scoring it as 1 is anything different that simple score bombing or unexplainable hate, but to make this a proper review and not a comment on what someone else had written, allow me to tell you my feelings about newest Hiroyuki manga (and about quick anime - Hiroyuki has quite a lot of his works animated already, If I had to guess, it probably made talks about new series much faster)

I'm longstanding fan of Hiroyuki works, I started with Assistant-san to Mangaka-san to, then was Aho-girl, then I learned about older Doujin-work and his own doujin works (jam it in etc.), and I have to say, Kanojo mo Kanojo is his best manga to date. It's grown up, no longer infested by juvenile storytelling that his earlier works had, and at the same time it keeps his light, incredible pen for comedy that transforms scenes that in other mangas would be cringy, into something that makes me laugh out loud. Everything of course with healthy dose of moderate perversion and stupidity, that again in somehow works, and makes it very enjoyable.

All problems my predecessor mentioned - this manga is aware of them. It's supposed to be like this. It is, silly, funny, lighthearted comedy with interesting but exaggerated for comedic effect characters, that makes you feel good while reading it. I could say that it's hard to demand deep engaging plot from stories like that, but Hiroyuki surprised me with some plot-twists, subverted tropes, how complex, self-aware and well written it is, and how somehow plot always keeps coherent and interesting no matter what's happening.

For me Kanojo mo Kanojo is testament to Hiroyuki growth as an author in every aspect. Especially his storytelling and plot devising skills, but his art also got better than before. 9/10 and I hope that his next work, or even better this work after some more chapters will be able to get 10/10

I might not be someone qualified to write a review but I have read or watched all-around 20 harem or romance shows and this is the first one that really struck me because it just ignores all cliche tropes and has 0 bullshit just to make a guilty pleasure show that resonates deeply. The comedy is the shining point of the show and the art of the characters all look amazing. The story really isn't special at all and so are the characters they are better than average but nothing more. Overall I've never had this much fun reading a Manga ever before and so this is the first Manga Im gonna give a 10 rating.