Musume no Tomodachi

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Now that this manga has finally come to an end, I can now write a review on it.

Being reading, I want to address that I absolutely condone such a relationship that occurs in this manga. I didn't read it because I like this type of romance, but because of a controversy regarding it.

MINOR SPOILERS ALONG THE WAY

Despite the story being very controversial, its very tense and gripping. From a very suspicious romance with a big age gap, to an abusive mother and depressed daughter, this manga is for any of those who want to grip onto a pillow so hard, you tear right through it!

I ... don't really have much to say about the story and the characters and the art and etc. itself, but what i really want to talk about is how I got myself interested in this manga in the first place.

Back in late 2019, when the manga started publishing, it got a little bit of controversy and calls for it being canceled due to a "Very problematic" relationship that happens within the story. Two characters, a high school girl, and a middle aged salary man, slowly begin to fall in love, and from there it leads to the mans risk of losing his job, so getting some involvement with the police.

Now I can understand this is a very weird and, as much as I do not like using this word, "problematic" story, It's just fiction. Yes relationships like this can obviously happen in real life, but this one is just in a story, and with that I got interested in it and decided to check it out for myself just to see how creepy it actually would be.


Even though the characters make some really stupid decisions, the manga was actually good and had a good story line. Yes, it's weird, but I enjoyed it. It had some great drama and some really tense bits, such as the high school girls mother finding out about their relationship, and getting the police involved.

Now I know what your thinking: your thinking I liked it and i'm rooting for their love and relationship to continue. No, actually not at all. the main lead had so many chances to walk away and continue life as is, but foolishly kept wanting to pursue his love for an underage high school girl. I honestly wanted this relationship to stop, and because of the stupid decisions being made, I kept reading it to see what happened in the end.

All this being said, its just a work of fiction. I highly doubt its based on a true story, and not only that, before reading the premise and saying "eww, omg that's problematic. Yikes!", take a look at it, read it, and see for yourself.

I'm currently writing this review after reading the entirety of the manga. I'll be upfront, I'm using this as a way to collect my thoughts.

How do the people around you shape who you are as a person? How many circumstances affect who you are? How much have you given up to uphold those faces? And with that, how much of you is really you?

The story is there, it's not great. It's merely there, to be a vehicle for the characters to move through the manga with. If you read this manga, you're here for the characters, how they adapt and react to what's thrown ... at them, how they choose and decide on the things that happen to them.

The art isn't spectacular either, though it is almost perfect for the manga. It brings to life the most important moments in the story, even if it brings you great discomfort while doing so. It is there to enunciate, nothing less and nothing more.

This manga isn't a masterpiece. Far from it, but it does give you a story led by a cast of characters that will make you ponder on the questions it's willing to ask. There will be discomfort, there will be a sense of wrong instilled in you when you read this manga, and after all that you will never get a satisfying ending.

I liked this manga, not for what it has in it's panels, but what it is willing to show me.

Don't you hate too, when adults break and stop adulting? Like when they're not there for you when you needed the most or when they're there for you too much so it becomes suffocating or when they don't know how to handle their feelings in general and become abusive or when they lost their s/os, things happen and they become a pedophile... well, let's be fair... maybe not exactly a pedophile. "Technically speaking, I mean technically speaking he's not a pedophile." * with Gianmarco Soresi's voice * (he's an ephebophile, if you ever wonder... ) If your answer is yes, but still you want to ... feel the anxiety and obnoxiousness of these situations might cause, then get in loser! This manga is for you! If your answer is no... please go and seek for help before doing anything else. 🙏🏼

I came across with this manga randomly and while I'm about to pass it – since it kinda looks like some unholy ecchi stuff – I saw no ecchi tag (non-ecchi unholy stuff, yay!) and despite its ranking, reviews were also quite positive so I just gave it a shot. And I found myself binge-reading chapter after chapter while saying "the best time to end this relationship was right after starting it, the next best time is now." Man, I must say, it was really frustrating, unsettling and painful to read. But I couldn't stop myself from reading it because I wondered who's gonna end up in jail, whose career will have a drastic change, who's gonna win the worst parenting competition and have a golden ticket for a retirement home when they get older and who's gonna commit s*icide eventually?

It was basically a story about people who want to be understood, appreciated, loved, treated with compassion and want to fill the emptiness in their souls in a very wrong way. And they fail successfully. It was a very good reminder to me that the world is not only black&white, humans are so complicated yet so simple beings at the same time and full of oppositeness. While reading it, I remembered how I hate that reality. It was like watching a true-crime documentary and feeling sorry, maybe even empathetic, for the serial killer after hearing their traumatic past. We are who we are because of our experiences and their outcomes, which form our emotions and thoughts that lead us to our choices. Maybe it sounds cruel and unjust in some situations (not in this one, obviously) but no matter what our story is, eventually, we're nothing but our choices in the society's eyes. And naturally, we will judge and be judged based on them. While reading the manga, we're seeing everyone's backstory, their thoughts, their struggles more or less, so I blamed them, got angry with them but I couldn't help but feel sorry for them at some point tbh. But of course in the end, Kousuke had a very inappropriate relationship with a minor and left me with a strong will to punch him in the face and get him in his senses and Koto's mother was so busy with projecting the hatred, weakness, anger etc. she was feeling for her husband and her broken marriage to Koto, which it ended up distancing herself from her daughter and her daughter seeking for that love, affection and compassion in the wrong places. Both at parenting and being a responsible adult, they were a failure and I'm really upset about it. Just go and touch some grass, get a therapy and do some proper parenting you two, 'kay? It was really frustrating and saddening for me to see the lack of capacity of the adults who supposed to guide the adolescents in the right direction and help them make right decisions and have a solid place in the society. I mean, they're no good for themselves as an adult after all and instead, a high school girl helps them to reach how they're feeling deep down inside while she's also so lost, lonely and hopeless. And I think mangaka did a great job conveying these unpleasant feelings to us. These unpleasant feelings probably caused by how real the story can be (the only thing I find it unreal was, the hard effort made by Kousuke to protect the "pureness" of his relationship with Koto). After finishing reading, i felt a lump in my throat and was sick to my stomach. And because of that ending, i wasn't gonna rate the manga but you have to rate to publish your review so...

Before ending my review, i also want to talk about how I didn't understand the unfair hatred for Miya. Like, she was the victimiest victim of all in this story, i think. She lost her mother, then couldn't bare with the sadness and grief and get depressed, didn't leave her room for a year, even though her father was trying his best as a father but he was actually not there for Miya (and for his family when the mother was alive) "to be her strength" (like he promised to Koto 🙄) and right when she got the courage to go out and decides to living normally, she finds about this relationship... She probably felt like she lost both her childhood friend and her dad at the same time. And she's only 15-16 years old. If I was her, i'd lock myself up for another decade ngl. She was an angry, devastated, broken teenager who's probably feeling betrayed by her father and her friend. We can say she was the only person who acted like her age. In fact, she confronted Koto in a very mature way and i think she deserves better.

To sum it up, if you're into contents where you have to explain yourself because enjoying it, you should give this manga a go.