A new bombshell enters the Harem—a fellow BL lover! As a woman, she constantly blurs the line between love rival and harmless friend…but will we ever learn her true feelings?
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Info about this series (complete)
This series is complete in both English and Japanese at 14 volumes.
My thoughts on this volume (Slight Spoilers!)
This is a series that is taking me quite a while to read. There is so much I love about it: we have a protagonist who unashamedly loves BL, bisexual representation, and fandom-based comedy! Unfortunately, every time I find something I like about it, it seems like there’s something I dislike waiting just around the corner.
In this volume, major themes of fat-shaming make a reappearance. In the end, I was able to find it palatable because it was used as a device to highlight the characters who genuinely care for Kaede, the protagonist, as a person. When she regains the weight, two of the love interests are quick to lose interest in her. One even goes as far as yelling in her face, and enforcing a strict diet on her.
That leaves two (or three?) remaining love interests who still treat her like a person after she gains the weight back. While I really didn’t enjoy seeing the harsh side of the boys who only like her for her looks, it was nice to see Igarashi put his feelings for her into words—she’s more than just a pretty face!
This allowed the story to feel a touch deeper, and I was finally able to decide on a boy I want to eventually win in the end. Regardless, from here on out, Nanashima and Shinomiya are out of the running in my eyes.
Moving on, I really was not a fan of how the fujo themes were handled in this volume. I really enjoy watching Kaede go to events to buy fan-made magazines and to fantasize about characters she likes with her friends…but my enjoyment stops when she tries to enforce her love of BL onto the boys around her. Kaede and Nishina get a little too excited when they force the boys to get into compromising positions for reference material—I understand it’s genuinely something artists use, but I was uncomfortable with overall tone of the scene.
There was also the scene of Kaede literally foaming at the mouth at the promise of more “in real life BL” from the boys. While this was prompted by the two boys who lost interest in her once she gained weight, it still felt rather nonconsensual to me.
Of course this is a comedy and everyone is a little bit in the wrong, but still—it feels like the boys are going along with being overly affectionate with each other for a chance to win Kaede’s heart. On the other side, It seems like Kaede has genuinely no interest in the boys besides watching them be with each other. I can’t see an ending where everyone ends up happy. Does Kae even want a boyfriend?
As in the previous two volumes, the character who came out on top was my nonchalant king Mutsumi.
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