Real no Heroine wa Irimasen!

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A friend linked this to talk about how bad everything about it seemed just from the summary and the original title of the LN. I decided to read the first chapter to see how it is and ho boy I wasn't prepared for just how shitty this series is.

An important part of any series is the protagonist: They should be enjoyable, and in most cases they have positive traits readers can appreciate, like loyalty, honesty or even just being a reliable and kind person. This protagonist is not enjoyable or likable. His utter obsession with virginity and not having anything to do with "used ... goods" were almost funny in an 'otaku culture is so unpleasant' way but they stopped being even vaguely funny during the attempted rape scene mentioned in the summary; Not only does he have no intention of doing anything to help Ayame until his hand is forced, he even admits in his internal dialogue he can't feel any sympathy for her... because she looks like she gets around. Not long after, it's made clear he thinks of women who (he thinks) aren't virgins as defective and feels no shame or discomfort with viewing them like that. I found it impossible to enjoy such an unlikable protagonist when the manga lacks a narration that acknowledges and accepts he's the very stereotype of an otaku.

Of equal discomfort to me was how Ayame's romantic interest stems from believing Seiichi helped her out of genuine goodness. It's played up for comedy but I found nothing comedic about the very 'romance' the manga is built on being founded on a misunderstanding that turns deceptive.

The only real positive I found was the art. It remained consistent and of good quality, even if it's not particularly unique, and the anatomy in particular was well done throughout. I expect Mikumo will improve and develop a more distinct personal style as the manga continues, which is... one plus to the series, I suppose.

A review is used to help determine if one should pick up the series. And in my opinion I think you should give this one a chance.

I'm writing this review because the only other review available is putting this series at a 1, which is too low for this series, as I believe it deserves higher.

Look, lets get down to it. The reasonings of the protagonist Arimiya and choosing to believe the rumours without proof or research is shallow. Shallow but realistic in the sense that no decent guy would date a slut. The heroine's obsessiveness with becoming his ideal girl is also not the ... best.

Despite these flaws, the execution of the story and the pace is quite good. Even though the motive for her persistence is a bit off, they do manage to bring them genuinely closer and the rumours clear up along the way. Along with this, character development is also noticeably present. Character development is the main thing I base a series on, and due to the flaws and the fact that they are starting to be addressed means that the series has a lot of room to grow. The comedy in this series is quite nice as well, and though I do like the ecchi scenes, sometimes I think they were a bit forced and could do without. Because to be honest, I'm actually enjoying the story more despite it being one of those "that one incident" stories.

If you like a story that has a confession early, a straightforward nice heroine who is not a tsundere, comedy, character development and can look past the shallowness of the premise, you should give this one a chance. I'm really enjoying this and I really like this girl who is the heroine.

Overall I would give it a 7.5 but it has the potential to go higher so I chose an 8

I enjoyed this even despite it's flaws.

One of the biggest problems is that the MC isn't all that great. Are first impression of him is of him debating whether or not he should save some girl from rape. He only ever saves the girl because they spotted him last second. Might have not been the authors intention and had completely overlooked what this looks like. But it's not that great right from the start.

I enjoy the girl character in this. I think her character model is nice and attractive in itself and i'd like if the story had more of her. I don't ... like how she doesn't seem that strong even though she is a feared delinquent. I don't think i ever saw her put up a fight and as a result almost leads to her being raped again.

Just a week or two ago i finished an anime. This anime and this show i feel has some similarities. The show i'm talking about is " The World God Only Knows" I get the feeling that the MC is meant to be inspired by the MC in TWGOK. They have similar hobbies. For example. Them both being addicted to games and both not having a care about the real world while liking 2D girls more then real girls. If you have watched that show and you read this then you will probably understand why it doesn't feel right.

Last thing of issue is the overuse of rape. Like we are all of a sudden told that the girl MC may have been raped after being slipped sleeping pills. This is so out of left field for a story with such a comedic aura. If i remember there are 4 different times rape comes up in this story with only 21 chapters as of today with the 21 just coming out hours ago. There's even more talk of rape if you count the Male MC almost getting raped by a guy.

I do enjoy this though even with those faults that may seem big. I wish we got to see more of the Girl MC be herself and not try to be what the boy's ideal girl would be like. I think she looks really nice when she doesn't have her hair in Twintails ( Get's flashbacks to that Anime) She looks nice with her hair down and in a pony tail. She does look nice how she is too.

Before reading this manga, I was already put off by the premise of an MC who worships the idea of choosing only virgin girls—who the fuck does he think he is?! The heroine here was introduced in a rape scene where the MC looks at the heroine with contempt, even going so far as to saying “she deserved it” because she was wearing skimpy clothes. I absolutely abhor this personality of his even after the chapters explaining his backstory of why he distrusts 3D girls—honestly, that explanation was lousy as hell as it completely forgot to mention why he feels entitled to virgin girls. What's ... that? “MC seems like a degenerate otaku”? That's because he is. I have nothing against otakus who respect people (I've never seen them as disgusting before this manga), yet the MC doesn't even bat an eye when he literally WALKS PAST a group of guys surrounding a half-naked girl, only stopping to help when his presence is noticed by the assailants. Points to Noritake Tao for the perfect representation of unconcerned Neanderthals.

Overall, from what I've read from the first 17 chapters, the MC is shit, the story is generic ecchi which barely deserves recognition, and the art is nothing special but consistent—not to mention the development of another harem; oh, and I forgot to mention that the heroine, who has rumors surrounding her that she's more or less a prostitute, turns out to be a virgin in terms of consent—yes, more rape. Hooray! She is the embodiment of a character who perpetuates the MC's cancerous preferences, namely his obsession over virgins because of course she finds him as a love interest.

If you can look past the motherfucking bastard of an MC, and if you really love comedic ecchi skits, then this dumpster fire is for you. I'm choosing to continue reading this manga ironically just to find more things to nitpick and raze. Maybe I'm just getting older (I'm turning 19 this year) and that might be why I hate this but I really don't care if you like this manga, just don't be an asshole to real-life virgins and non-virgins—which, by the way, isn't consistently provable by the existing methods in several cultures which I'll pass on describing. Go die in a ditch, Aramiya.

You know how sometimes a manga makes has some good points that makes it novel and refreshing? But in the mean time there are quite a few bad points to counter-balance? And you keep reading while being annoyed? Well this is one of those manga. The rate here doesn't really mean anything depending of whether or not the bad points will bother you. So instead I will list all the bad points that may or may not turn you down.

I'v read more than 50 chapters and I'm here to tell you what you should expect, the good, the bad and the ugly!

The good parts
===========

It's not ... a harem!
---------------------

Sure there is some jealousy at first but it becomes obvious very quickly that the main heroine is the only potential couple that is going forward and every other girls are either not interested or stepping down to wish them luck or just plain stupid? (ok this last one doesn't look so good...) It still has a haremish vibes but not as much as a true harem.

Also, by not being a harem, a whole range of stupid anime tropes are averted:
- No fake girlfriend bullshit
- No dating a different girl every week
- No loosing your time with dating/fake dating/temporary dating/it's not a date ba-baka with a girl that will obviously loose. It's pretty much focused on Kotoko

Also, confession on chapter 1 is always a win.

No siscon
-------------

The MC has a sister, Kiyomi
The manga doesn't lewd the sister, not even as a joke.
That's it, that's the good part.

No simp
-----------

Seiichi is the opposite of a simp. He is pretty much not interested in girls. And not the "i pretend to not be interested but I'm still getting flustered when a girl approches me." He is not interested as in asexuel, not giving a fuck about girls kinda way. And it's kinda rare and that's the whole point of this manga. How to get over your traumatic disinterest of girl when a girl actually likes you.

The MC has balls
-----------------------

In manga, there is always this one character that you hate, you wish the MC would flip them off and tell them to get lost. Well, here, Seiichi will call out on their bullshit. Loudly. In front of the class. While pointing fingers. Those moments, damn, those moments feel good.

Good pacing
----------------

The story has a good, pacing, the characters are pretty much straight-forward and direct. And overall it's pretty much bullshit free. The characters don't try to hide their feelings. Misunderstandings are rare and don't last long. Lies and rumors get dismantled, There is no status-quo forever but instead the relations evolves and grows. And the character development is quite good.

The romance is solid
---------------------------

It's pretty much the main point of the story. The romance is believable and quite balanced. Ok, hold up. I know, it starts with a rape scene and a hero syndrome. I know. But that's just a bad start. Very quickly it shift from that to more valid reason to get close to one another. They found a common interests and as two social outcasts (for different reasons) they kind of understand each other. But they also care a lot for each other to help the other one to get over some traumatic past. And also discard the rumors that affects both of them...

The bad
======

redemption
--------------

The different arcs all have some kind of antagonist that did something wrong or try to hurt the main characters in a way or another. Half of the time this antagonist will be pardoned and join the group of friend. And it feels kind of wrong. It's too much too quick. They don't deserve it, they are annoying at first and it takes time for them to calm down and for the reader to get used to them. I just wish that a certain character would just fuck off or get expelled from the school instead of joining them... :/

Coping with traumatic past
-----------------------------------

This manga is a textbook about how not to handle traumatic past in your story. It's an awesome theme to have, but it's handled wrong. Some very traumatic events occurring in the story (not a flashback, but actually current timeline) should have a very big impact on the characters mental health and they are just... discarded.

In the mean time, the "traumatic past" of the MC is just.... Super weak. Like how can it affect him that much?

I won't tell more than this, but yeah... its a mess.

hero syndrome bullshit
------------------------------

From the very start. The MC must help everyone for no good reason, he end up in some trouble and the girls love him even more. It's happening again, again and again. It's painful to watch.

The ugly
=======

About virginity
-------------------

For better or worse (mostly worse) virginity is one of the main theme of this manga. And of course it's not in a good way. Quite a lot of rumors turn around this theme. Some girls are called "used goods", accused of compensated dating, etc. Which is already bad. But at this point is just bullying it's supposed to be bad.

But the real problem is the main character's philosophy is just as bad. Even though he doesn't like real 3D girls and is not interested in dating, one of the reason involved is about 2D girls being always virgin and pure in games. And this is unfair expectation into the real world. Yet the character truly live by this rule and is only interested in virgin girls. But when it comes to boys and Seiichi in particular, THEN being virgin becomes an insult. The difference in treatment highlight even more how twisted his mind and the whole manga can be.

When a character acts in a horrible way, the character himself, some other character or the story itself must acknowledge than he's is doing something horrible. But nobodies catch him on his bullshit. The fact that heroines in games bust be virgin is a bunch of load crap and instead of denying that, this manga just rolls with it, like it's normal to expect from a normal girl in normal life to be virgin. Honestly disgusting.

semi-NTR bullshit
------------------------

For this one I hate the comments more than the manga itself. It wouldn't be NTR if you didn't care about the girl being a virgin in the first place. People (Not just in Japan, western readers too) are worried that the heroin will or had sex with someone else before the MC. Like "oh now, the heroine had sex before, I can't believe this mange is NTR. I am disappointed and my day is ruined."

This is not cheating, this is not cuckolding, this is not a hentai where the MC is rejected.... Therefore.... IT IS NOT NTR!

Who care if she's virgin? I really really hope, someone one day will call out the MC on this bullshit. In the mean time if calling out the readers:

Stop calling it NTR, it is not. And no, the manga will not be ruined forever if she's not virgin. The MC is disgusting, but as a reader it's even worse to think like that.


rape scenes
----------------

50 chapters.
Three rape tentative and counting (and maybe one more offscreen).

Yes, it's a seinen, yes this manga deals with "traumatic events", but this is simply too much in such a short time. On top of that it is badly handled. It doesn't feel traumatic as it should. It just feels disgusting.

When you mix all of this you get the ugliest of all:

"Oh no. I can't remember if he raped me or not. Maybe I am not a virgin anymore and the MC will not like me."

STOP. That's painful to read.

I've read 69 chapters of the manga and hence I am writing this review.

This is pretty fun if you enjoy school rom com manga, I was about to give up in the prologue but stuck with it and while he sticks to his ideals it didnt come up in an offensive way again, and you learn why he has that side to him (which is kinda anime/manga/lnish) so it somewhat stopped bothering me.

I like the heroine, she is amusing and quite charming (again in an anime girl way) and I also liked that the chapters are quite long. Another plus would be that the protagonist ... for all his faults have a personality that values himself highly but still helps others when he can in a way that feels smart. As for the bad, first up would be how I feel that the aftermath of certain events (attempted r*pe) are too easily skipped over and not brought up in any meaningul way as in how the characters feel or what they think about it which just struck me as forced and strange.

The main thing I didn't like was that the stories were all about rumors

In the end I liked it despite my initial impressions and various mistakes so I would recommend it if you like this genre.

[NO SPOILER]
It's disappointing, Story is totally messed up
It's an NTR and at the same time its not an NTR
But it's really not worth the time. It's like the author couldn't portray what he was trying to and the character development is shit.
Starting from Mc, the two girls' backstory is fine but too dumb for reality.
The Yuuka named girl is like a bitch trying to grab as much attention as she can.
After the first incident, at least what I wanted is that the story to go for a harem route, just to extinguish the fire that it created but I don't know if it's gonna happen ... or not bcoz I'm not continuing it anymore. But as it looked, I don't think such thing happened.

Ik it's not a review but it just an alert. There's no way you can enjoy it at all.
I gave it a 6/10 bcoz of its art, the content of this manga is totally not at all good.
THIS IS MY OPINION. PLZ DONT JUDGE ME.

So let's be clear upfront: The users giving this a 1 are people who (understandably) got turned off early on by the atrocious attitudes towards women that the main character has, and the fixation of the female lead on him as a result of a perceived misunderstanding of his motives in saving her. I, too, found the MC's attitudes to be downright disgusting in early chapters. In addition, the plot can be very heavy-handed, and character can appear to swing wildly between emotional states at times -- this tends to have a cheapening effect on the more intense or gritty moments that, at its worst, ... appears to make light of some very serious issues. I would not blame someone for dropping the series early on because of these faults.

However, it's obvious from the get-go that the series doesn't plan to maintain these garbage tropes for any longer than it needs to. From the beginning, an astute reader can tell that this is a story about recovering from an incel-like mindset and learning to forgive and overcome your past trauma. The unconventional motivations for the two main characters to help each other are compelling in their own way; as such, it's incorrect to say the romance in this series is predicated on a misunderstanding of the MC's motivations. His non-romantic motivations are made clear early on, but Kotoko moves forward with trying to become the MC's ideal woman anyways for reasons that aren't explicitly about pursuing a romantic relationship with him. For those who are willing to deal with some very dark/malicious situations and attitudes, this series promises catharsis and healing for its characters. I swear to you, if it was just a story about a guy who's awful to women and a girl who's so starved for positive attention that she'll fawn over him nonetheless, or if it glorified those toxic relationship dynamics to any degree, I would NOT be rating it so highly. These characters are much more multifaceted than they seem at first, so give them a chance.

And, oddly enough, therein lie my main complaints about it. I want to see these characters become better people, sure, but the series does a so-so job of actually showing that in an impactful way. Every time it approaches a nuanced point about its major themes -- e.g.: the importance of intent in wrongdoing, when/how to forgive someone who's wronged you, the complex hierarchical structure of closed social systems like high school, etc. -- it manages to step back at the last second in order to avoid its characters having relationships that can be categorized as anything except "favorable" and "antagonistic". There are many times when a character says something along the lines of, "Even if this person didn't mean to hurt me, they still did, so I can't just forgive them," but then moments later is acting all buddy-buddy, water-under-the-bridge with the person in question. I feel the series has great potential to explore aspects of trauma and healing that aren't often depicted in manga outside of settings of war, and to some degree it does that, but it has a habit of fumbling that momentum at the most important moments. Perhaps some of this is the inevitable result of faulty fan-translation, often from people for whom English isn't a first language, but that can only explain so much.

The arc where Eve is introduced is a great example of this. Much ado is built about the girl who traumatized the MC reentering his life, and much tension is built about how things are going to play out and what her motivations are. However, the truth of the matter spills out unceremoniously during a scene that can't seem to decide if it wants to be silly or serious (even though, given the context of what's actually going on, there's really no excuse for the former), and then the process of making up and moving on flies by so quickly that it almost gave me whiplash. I can very clearly see what it was TRYING to do, and in the writer's defense the characters never just up and drop/go against their core traits, but it just feels...unearned? Rushed? When the MC expresses being tired of holding a grudge, it almost feels like the author is telling us he's tired of focusing on his character's trauma, despite it being the MAIN MOTIVATOR for progression for the entire series. They keep coming back to touch on the unease of having Eve around from different characters' perspectives, which I welcome because it further explores this complicated relationship dynamic, but it ultimately feels like a band-aid over a botched surgery. If it had just been explored and developed more fully in media res, we wouldn't need to keep circling back on it.

It's just one example of many where the momentum is lost, the wrap-up is rushed, and the catharsis is delayed or cheapened. Still, it's not a story-ruining degree of dropping the ball. I think the series manages to pull of enough surprisingly moving and impactful moments to make it a net-positive experience, and most of the character development feels hard-fought and well earned. It even managed to blindside me at a few turns; the unorthodox motivations for characters can catch you off-guard, without giving the impression of simply being a tsundere-like pretense used to thinly veil a character's true feelings. They never seem like they're *lying* about their reasons for doing something -- but those reasons may change as the characters grow (as they should). I feel the need to reiterate that, on the whole, I think this is a good, ambitious series that strives to tell a wholesome tale using characters on the outskirts of social acceptance. However, at times that ambition is clearly too much for the author to deftly navigate, and that's not exactly an uncommon fault for a manga or anime to have.

Moving on. The art is very nice, if a bit reminiscent of certain other romance series (the character design reminds me a lot of My Next Life As a Villainess, for example). As the chapter-count increases, so does the number of named characters, and as a result certain character designs begin to blend together and become less distinct. Ryouma, Kiyomi, and Eve's friend Nishihara (who we briefly see in Chapter 39) all have a similar enough face/hairstyle combo that, when they aren't on the same page as one another, it can be a bit difficult to recall from appearance alone which one you're looking at. I was confused for a moment as to why Ryouma -- a kind, reserved, goody-two-shoes-type character who's on good terms with the MC -- would seemingly be siding with Eve over the MC until I realized it was a completely different character we'd never seen before, who just happened to look similar at first blush. However, the art on the whole is quite well executed, and I want to give particular praise to the way in which the artist handles Kotoko. As is clear from the synopsis blurb above, she undergoes quite the transformation in design AND in character -- and yet, when her more rebellious, stick-up-for-yourself side comes out to play, the artist manages to draw her in a way that makes her new prim-and-proper look seem to dissipate and take on an aura of someone you *really* don't want to piss off. It takes skill to pull that off, and I applaud the artist for never accidentally making Kotoko's anger feel less intimidating than it did at the outset of the story.



tl;dr: It get's much better very quickly -- it's not an incel power-fantasy story like some have made it out to be -- but it still has some growing pains and issues with tone. It reminds me to some extent of Higehiro, albeit handled less adeptly (and without the landmine of age being a factor). If you like stories about flawed people helping each other become better, found-family dynamics, and romance that's predicated on more than simple/shallow reasoning, then give this series a shot; you'll probably enjoy it.

Also, the true reason for Kotoko being called "used goods" made me chuckle, so there's that.

This is one of that manga just that doesn't need to exist. It exists for the sole purpose of getting money, there is no passion or soul in it. The art style is passable, but it's incredibly bland. That's probably the nicest thing I'll say about it. The story and characters rely too much on pre-established tropes and do nothing original. There are so many ass pulls and the typical "misunderstand" trope it gets almost comical. The main character is probably the best character which is laughable considering how shallow he is. The supporting cast is entirely one dimensional. The plot suffers from insane and ... total tonal whiplash. It goes from daily school life to fucking raping and kidnapping. Even then, the characters don't treat the situation with anywhere near a believable amount of emotion in those events. If your looking for a typical trashy harem manga, I guess this could be for you, but there are so many other manga that do the whole "trashy harem" aspect much better then this.

Ok look, there is really nothing to say about this. The ONLY thing worth noting is that you steer away if you cannot handle:

1. just a glimpse of NTR
2. Sexual Violence

This manga has no central plot and it just flows around like a bunch of side quests and cliche childish concepts. I don't want to destroy the authors ambitions because the character origins and still ok and the art is quite good.

HOWEVER, this is a bad execution of harem and it ties too closely to delinquents in the first half which is really unenjoyable. Overall, nothing really worth the time, I just wish the author ... spent their time on a more tame but cleaner piece.

A manga of somewhat high highs and very deep valleys. It lands squarely in the middle of the spectrum of what would be good. The highs are good enough to keep going but the valleys are so deep that it takes some strength to get further into the story.

Let's talk story. It's a pretty typical story of a girl falling in love with boy in high school. Boy doesn't fall back for the longest time but it's obvious where the boy's feeling will lie later in the story. Considering the manga isn't finished and I don't plan to read anymore of it, the author could ... come with a surprise and make him fall for background girl #43 but that's doubtful. The girl is a former delinquent who only changes because the Male protagonist saves her and she falls for him. It's a psychological phenomenon so it's a possible story I guess. They then try to live their school life with the main female character trying to be with the male protagonist. The problem with their lives is where the story gets its highs from. There is a big rumor conspiracy acting to take down the main female character and it's on the two and their expanding friend network to take this conspiracy down. This plot is great.

To continue talking about the deep valleys mention at the start the next section will have to cover the characters in some detail. Starting at the obvious place: the male protagonist. The male protagonist is named Aramiya Seiichi and he's an incel is the most apt description. He had a bad experience in middle school with girls and so he discounts women entirely and just stays in his bubble playing erotic video games. He saves the main female character by being at the right place at the right time and by calling the coppers and playing a fake siren. But apart from that he's an unlikable loser. The main female character's affection can make sense, but man every time Aramiya opens his mouth it grates on at least my entire being. Obsessed with virginity, referring to real women as "3D girls" and comparing to "2D girls". Now I understand he's meant to be seen as a loser but he's meant to also be likable but that doesn't work.
The female main character Ayame Kotoko is slightly better but is a bit much in a stereotype camp. The kind delinquent who uses violence to help people that then turns into the quintessential good girl. It's not that deep and her character isn't that deep. She follows the main character's hobbies and tries to style herself to be his ideal girl so she loses a lot of her own identity.
Then there is the first good character of the main group and that is Ayame's best friend Hatsushiba Yuuka. She's a conflicted person that tries to be by her best friend's side but is quite mentally weak (no elaboration as that would lead into spoiler territory). She isn't enough to lift the series and she's not great, just in comparison to the rest she's good.
The rest of the characters are difficult to describe without spoilers and won't be necessary for this review. All in all the characters get a 4/10.

Now to talk about the deep valleys. The valleys come mainly from the interactions with Aramiya. He's such an unlikable person that it makes most of the scenes with him unbearable. The love plot is annoying because the two characters are one with barely an identity and an unlikable person. The love plot both gets better and worse at the same time the longer the story goes because more stuff that doesn't feel like it would work even within fiction happens. The only reason to read is for the conspiracy because that is interesting and becomes somewhat like a detective story. It's not great but it's passable at least. Story gets a 6/10 (conspiracy story a 7 and love story a 4)

All in all this is a mediocre manga. It's not funny, the romantic plot isn't interesting but it got a redeeming factor that pushes it up to a 5/10.

This manga has been getting inconsistent translated updates for the uh past 5 years now.
I figured this review would finally seal the deal as I"'m dropping the series as of this moment.

The MC is a good-for-nothing bro who is just very fond of Ero games and happens to save a so-called bully girl.
This setup is common as usual, normally we would expect a classic love development story with bonds and all.

Yeah no that's not the case here, the story is sort of oddly intense which can be off-putting.
There are some detailed disturbing actions and thoughts said by several people in this series.
Sure that sounds typical, ... but it's heavily enhanced by the lack of common sense in the characters.
It is very odd and radically unusual for people to act in a way that is illogical regarding SA here.
This is the only manga I know of that places too much importance on "virginity," which makes it seem like a person is useless because of a state of intimacy.
A lot of story pivots on slow-paced events that somehow hit a scale that should not.

It's even more bothering knowing the MC is useless beyond hope.

I can't recommend people to get into this series as the perspective of SA and intercourse isn't portrayed properly.