Though Strategic Lovers opens with an intriguing first chapter that suggests a narrative of intellectual rigour and scheming within an Ecchi, Harem setting, only the latter is fulfilled. Although the main character has a background as some kind of mastermind chess player, the attempt at manipulating relationships and people in this manga is done in such a massively convoluted and unclear way that it is difficult to even discern what kind of scheming is being done. Hell, it's even difficult to identify what the stakes are in this manga with all the over the top sexualisation and the poor attempts at characterisation and setting upof plot twists.

Still, the art is good and the character models look nice. I guess if someone just wants ecchi content and isn't fussy about the context that they are viewing them within, this can be worth their while.