Kakkou no Iinazuke
A Couple of Cuckoos

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This is my first review. I might be biased on my review because I am not a picky person in anime. I just really appreciate the work of the author.

Art 10
10 For the art, I really love Miki Yoshikawa character design I feel nostalgic every time I read the manga. The background is really great. I really feel the emotions of the characters.

Story 8

For me the story is quite unique. I really don't mind the other details but the feels like brought me back years ago when I was reading Miki Yoshikawa's work where I starter to love anime and manga.

Character 8
... Enjoyment 10

The nature of the Harem narrative has always been a complicated one. It has to at once balance the adolescent fantasy of being desired by multiple girls while delivering on the intimacy and sense of connection present within the modern romantic relationship. Needless to say, it is incredibly hard to do both at once for how does a story convince its audience that one relationship is legitimate and intimate whilst the protagonist goes about chasing the skirts of other girls? Perhaps if we were in a culture where polygamy is readily accepted that would fly, but not in this 21st century. Not to mention the ... Harem narrative also needs to play a very delicate act of balancing the development of each relationship while still creating conflict and tension to give a sense of progression to the story.

The only time I've seen such a Harem narrative somewhat manage to do this is in The Quintessential Quintuplets. It manages to sidestep a lot of the trouble of most harem stories by including the presence of the other sisters within the protagonist's conquest of each relationship all while enticing readers to carry on with the story by creating drama through a rather philosophical question: Is a person's identity tied to their appearance? A rather natural narrative progression considering that the conquest female characters are quintuplets. Also, it perfectly fits with the harem narrative premise.

Sadly, despite beginning with a promising premise that questions the nature of blood relationships, Kakkou no Iinazuke fails to live up to its intriguing premise by failing to manage this delicate balance.

The story and characters here are sadly, incredibly messy and unstructured. With plot points and character motivations moving back and forth with seemingly little thought. It was rather believable when stuff like that happens in the early 30-50 chapters or so (I'm being generous), especially with characters who are still getting used to the absurdity of the setting. But when the very same thing continues even after 100 chapters, it becomes incredibly fatiguing.

Not to mention the central theme of Kakkou no Iinazuke does not particularly go well with the harem premise. Its story, which revolves around the opposition of 'destiny' (basically social constructs - blood ties, sibling bonds, family expectations, etc.) becomes diluted by the protagonist's opposition to multiple 'destinies'. As the main boy bounces between each conflict generated by the 'destiny' like a soccer ball, his all-purpose presence diminishes the prominence of these social constructs and the social stigmas that come with them.

Even the central mystery of the manga, (which I shan't spoil) has pretty much gone absolutely nowhere since its first appearance around the 30-chapter mark. This gives the sense that the story is inflating its own narrative and delaying its own progression. Needless to say, this is incredibly frustrating to read. Especially when characters repeatedly knock down their own story and character development for the sake of creating 'tension' in the weird harm square (4 girls now). The latest arc is perhaps the doing this most blatantly - to its own detriment.

All in all, Kakkou no Iinazuke begins with an intriguing premise but its execution delivers little of its initial potential. Still, the female leads are rather charming and their character designs are great. The art is good and the story panelling is clear and dynamic. It is this aesthetical aspect that compels me to continue reading despite the messy story and delayed narrative development.

I am up to date to chapter 39. There will likely be 'spoilers' for what little plot there is.

The art in this series is fantastic. Its very pleasing and there are constant hilarious profile picture- worthy expressions and faces from a myriad of different characters.

The premise is odd but creative and original. Two babies- a boy and girl- are switched at birth, and suddenly at age 16 they are arranged to be married. The boy, whose birth father is a billionare hotel tycoon, grows up dirt poor instead. And the girl, whose birth father is a unemployed cook, grows up with the tycoon ... and becomes a social medial influencer and overall spoiled brat.

However the characters are where it goes wrong.

I dont beleive for a second that any of the 3 main girls in the harem like the MC, Nagi, for his value as a human being. All 3 are extremely toxic in their own ways and it leads me almost feeling bad for the main character of a harem which is not at all supposed to happen.

The worst offender by far is Segawa, the girl Nagi has been crushing on since the beginning of the school year. She likes boys that are smarter then her so he devotes his life to grades to win her affection (and to also get his family out of poverty). He gets #2 in total grades for forever, until he gets #1 once and decides to finally confess. SHe denies him, saying thats because she works at a miko in a shrine and cant marry him. However despite this she keeps deliberately stringing him along as a 'rival', basically treating him as a toy/dog whose only purpose is her own amusement/ motivation to succeed. She says she enjoys his company but not ONCE in the 39 chapters has she had any interaction with him that isnt using him. SHe invited him on a date, but it was to just get a discount. She went with them to a study retreat, only to tease him. She invited him to hangout before school, only to just study, and immediantly invites Erika (his fiancee) whom shes completely enamored with. And through all this Nagi keeps on trying and trying and she keeps on feeding this poor sap scraps that he eats up without realising that she doesent give a shit about him. Thing is, im not sure if this is how i should think. I think shes meant to be portrayed as an uber-driven competetive study freak whose driven and focuses on school, but instead she just seems like a ice-hearted witch woman who treats others as footstools. it doesen't help that she is repeatedly emphasized to be good at literally everything, including sports, socialization, school, and being a perfect good little girl raising her family shrine. She seems like a mary sue, a corrupted one at that. Its obvious she is never going to win and that is a good thing.

Erika, as many rich spoiled millionare blonde attractive teenage girls (sorry if that makes me sound like an incel but am i truly wrong?) is extremely spoiled and frequently voices that in almost any chapter, refusing to eat 'poor food', demanding Nagi cook for her (which he does since hes a simp), constantly incessantly distracting Nagi from studying just to entertain her, etc. This is one of the most forced ships ive seen in a while, they only have around 2-3 scenes of naturally enjoying eachothers company, and many of them already seem kinda iffy in how 'real' and genuine they are, but we are constantly told by other characters how 'perfect' they are together, how amazing of a combination they are. Nagi could whip out a belt and commit domestic violence, and segawa could see that and still blush and say 'Wow, what an amazing couple...'. No they aren't, they dont particularly mesh well nor get along at all. They dont have very much chemistry in the slightest and i dont buy that Erika wants to live the rest of her life with nagi or even wants him to be her one and only companion. Shes just jealous and entitled. While its not as outright toxic and inappropiate like Segawa, it still has a feeling of unnaturality and complete forced-ness

Next is Sachi, Nagi's little sister. Thats all i need to say to say how inappropiate that is. Sachi grew up with Nagi from the day they were born and the SECOND sachi learns nagi isnt related to her she begins to want him. The author keeps on pushing her as a valid member of Nagi's shitshow of a 'harem', but she REALLY shouldnt be. Until like chapter 20 nagi still saw her as a child sister, like anybody with a working brain, and likely still does. Sachi hasnt really given any reason she loves Nagi so much despite being her family member. Its even said she constantly shit talks him at school and even directly shit talks him to his face.

This entire manga is one dudes life being thrown upside down, being dragged to do thigns he doesent want to do by his siter or erika, or being emotionally manipulated by Segawa. Despite the rare, but great, moments of fluff and the great art, this harem is too fundamentally broken to be enjoyable escapism. I dont have a siscon fetish so i dont want to date my sister so i dont want to escape into Nagi to date Sachi. I dont like spoiled brat millionares who get everything on a silver plate, so i dont want to escape into Nagi to date Erika. And i dont like perfect mary sue women who do nothing but string me along like a dead pig so i dont want to escape into Nagi to date Segawa either.