You Can't Be in a Rom-Com with Your Childhood Friends! · review
Now this must be my favourite currently-publishing manga, I confess it. Though to say so may be considered less than seemly, because this is not a "good" manga. In truth, it's very much part of the mosquito-like swarm of harem series, which are somehow or other so popular, that they easily survive by feeding on the readership no matter how good they be in reality. Upon reading this manga attentively, you should notice that it's brilliant in a technical sense. In all its simplicity, the art is divine. A thing strangely oft' forgotten is that when readers are expected tofollow along with a story told in short chapters which consist mostly of art rather than text, that art must be something at which readers enjoy looking. Aside from the art, and all of the characters are endearing—or at least, not actively frustrating when they appear—and the story has no obvious, large flaws.
Why, then, is it fun to read? There are those, assumedly, who'd say that it's cliché; this is true, of course, but is that such a bad thing? In fact, it's probably the same exactly that makes it so. Whatever it be that's said, I want to read cliché rom-coms about childhood friends, because it's fun. If a manga is fun to read, I'll read it, be it however good from an objective standpoint. If you like this genre, you may have heard of the anime "My Sister, My Writer"; this anime is a disaster, a totally hideous mess, a wonky mixture of dog and she-goat, but Mary, mother of God, it is a lot of fun to watch. A work can be enjoyable because it's objectively good, or for some other unrelated reason, and I don't really care which one it is, because this one is damn fun to read.
By the way, the thing about arcs being one-chapter is only at the very beginning of this manga; there is mostly standard-fare thereafter. Reviews aren't supposed to comment on other reviews, though, so for accordance's sake, let it be said that I say this in a predictive sense... sure.