Giji Harem

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(TLDR at the bottom, and as always, thanks for reading)

I remember when I read the first 2 chapters and somehow confused myself into believing that this was an actual harem manga, then I put it on hold for the longest minute because I thought it was going to be something I would rather read later. I got back into this because I remembered this only had 4 pages per chapter, still thinking this was a legit harem manga. After re-reading the first 2 chapters, I found out that this was a legit pseudo harem as opposed to a normal one, then continued to fly through ... this at top speeds.

I am happy to say, I am glad I got back into this and finished it.

I won't lie, this isn't something I would then say "10/10 manga, don't be dumb like me", instead it is a little gem that more people need to know about.

The narrative is rather simple. As it says on the tin, it is quite literally a makeshift harem starring two characters within it. I am not too sure who would go to such great lengths to satisfy such a fantasy, but hey, I am not one to shame other people's fantasies, to each their own. And so, such activities revolving around the premise continue on and on into the story.

One thing with romance manga of this kind is that it uses its premise indefinitely for the sake of content, but this story does have a few diverging contents to add to its belt, such as Rin being part of the drama club which in turn the whole premise of the story makes more sense when it can be aligned that acting is essential for a pseudo harem of this kind to work. The story also doesn't seem to miss out on this part of an individual's life too, in a way that most other stories of this kind do where such activities are just a side aspect of one's life. There are multiple references back to the club, I think more than once we see the club in the flesh too. In addition to this, there is also Eiji's life actually being taken into account, he is a senpai soon moving into college/university, the story does make this relevant to every matter currently unfolding, again, not something just on the side only to conveniently show up later. I have to say that the level of detail for this story is not one to be underestimated, although universally this is basic, it should be understood that not a lot of manga like so go into this level of depth, or maybe I haven't seen enough, even so, this has good depth. I wouldn't call it grand worldbuilding, but this universe understands what should take place and where it is placed on how important it is. Makes for a solid story even if the outcome of it is simple on a superficial level.

Characters are good, one thing that does get me with characters is that everyone who isn't an MC pretty much has little to no importance. I can't say the story tried to remotely invest in the time to care about those side characters, it isn't necessarily a bad thing this has happened, however, they exist no matter, and there are quite a small bit this manga deals with. The odd 1 or 2 developed characters here would have made for a nice variety of cast honestly. Unfortunately, it is not here. But as mentioned at the start, the good story allowed for some real human characters with personally and chemistry to call their own. MCs here are really enjoyable honestly.

The art is average, honestly nothing great about it, it looks fine, but you could probably find the same thing within this genre particularly. Standard character design, no moment of showing off what the artist can do, it is really just fine and generic. At least it isn't bad.

I enjoy a lot of things, and yes, Pseudo Harem was one of them. It is quite wholesome with explicit progression you can feed off from, not everyday manga like these come out so it made for a better read, especially with how fast this is to read.

TLDR: Very simple romance manga that does things slightly better than the rest in the narrative aspect.
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At the end of the day, will you get too much out of this? No. Unless you value things highly. But it is a good read one that I would recommend to quite literally everyone I know interested in the genre. It is short too, only having 4-page chapters for each chapter which makes this a <12 hour day read if you are fast, there isn't a ton of text to read anyway. If I can read this with no fuss, you can too. But this just goes to show that the cheesy "never just a book by its cover" is all the more true. Maybe I should add a "get a better vocab understanding and read carefully as to what is happening" on the end of that because I apparently can't do either of the two lol.

But yes, don't be like me. Don't skip this one as I did.

Eiji Harem is a beautifully crafted work of Art... and One that deserves more appreciation.

Sparked by innocence and carried by wholesomeness, it never loses its charm.

Not much can be said about the story, its as simple as it can get. The Characters are also not all that complex, but there is this layer of genuinity that makes the said experience so sweet and adorable.

I was juggling between work, sickness, procrastination, and studying for an entrance exam. So something as comforting as this manga was indeed a need.

While I did flop the exam...

I am glad I read this manga before the exam... ...

This manga may not be a critical masterpiece... however, it is indeed a work of wonder and comfort for the reader <3

This review will include some spoilers (though I think it's predictable).

Firstly, I should say that I'm not the target demographic and I only started reading it because the concept sounded so bizarre. It's a quick read too since the chapters are mostly short interactions taken out of context. But despite the lack of plot, the characters do make strides in their relationship. The art style is cute, and the author does a good job at depicting Rin's "personas". The humor was more of a mixed bag for me, as were the characters.
This manga follows Rin, who is infatuated with her senpai and flexes her acting ... skills on him. This also allows her to say anything to him because she's just "acting". On the one hand, this manga mocks some romance tropes, but on the other hand, it falls into a bunch of others. The author tries to make Rin as cute as possible (she blushes all the time, gets flustered easily and is scared of ghosts), which makes her feel more artificial than Eiji. We also don't get to see much of Eiji's side of the story.
What I like about this manga is that it doesn't end with the characters getting together or with senpai graduating; it follows their relationship for a significant amount of time after that. They have a really nice chemistry when they tease each other, but most of the time it's one-sided. Rin starts to pretend less around Eiji as the story progresses, but she later relapses into it for some reason. She says that Eiji should love "all sides of her", but she literally talks of herself as a different person...

If anything, this manga made me realize that I should read more mangas about acting. It would have been more fun if Eiji was an aspiring actor too because there would have been room for more of their skits. Despite some "questionable choices", most chapters were still pretty wholesome, including the epilogue.