Dual na Kanojo no Taoshikata

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

So this was a really pleasant surprise! I went into this expecting some really cheesy fan-service excuse for a plot, but it really goes a lot further than that. Minor spoilers ahead.

Here's what's good about this manga:
_______________________________________________________________________
-- Interesting premise that is used for more than just gags --

Basically, the main heroine has a split personality. Initially I was groaning, but now I'm not so sure. Essentially, the main heroine is some sort of advanced tsundere, who has developed this split personality because of her insecurities concerning her unapproachable main personality. I actually think this is quite interesting.
_______________________________________________________________________
-- The main character isn't a wet noodle --

Protagonist ... actually goes on the offensive regularly, and pretty quickly. This means we have actual plot progression in a romcom (shocking, I know). We're only 3 volumes in and we're already pretty far ahead in the relationship. Which leads me to the next point.
_______________________________________________________________________
-- No sitting through 10 volumes of filler to see the main relationship develop --

This has to be the biggest one for me. Unlike something like Love is War, or the billion other rom-coms populating the market right now, both heroine and protagonist are active participants in the relationship almost from the beginning. It seems very strange initially that the heroine asks the protagonist out basically without knowing him, but this makes a lot more sense later down the line imo. Point is, things happen at a very nice pace.
_______________________________________________________________________
-- Minimal (pointless) horny --

This one sort of connects with the above. A lot of rom-coms (Uzaki-chan and Nagatoro immediately comes to mind) pad out their volumes with incredible amount of horny. Insane out-of-the-blue sexual situations which somehow still never advance the plot in any way. This manga has basically none of that. The most explicit we got so far is the heroine in a swimsuit, and that's for 2 panels basically. It's really quite bearable, even for someone like me.

Now, the horny that is there ALWAYS advances the plot. That swimsuit scene? It's a CENTRAL PLOT DEVICE FOR THE REST OF THE VOLUME. It doesn't go to waste! It's not like Please go home, Akutsu-san where the heroine gets to be literally inches from the MC's exposed privates and they are still back to square 1 afterwards.
________________________________________________________________________

-- The bad and the neutral --

Very minimal cast of characters. This can be a pro or a con depending on how you lean. I quite like it. Basically the cast is about 4 people. All the attention is spent on them. I think this is good personally, but to each his own.

Art is very basic. I'd compare this to Love is War in terms of the complexity of the art, but sadly this lacks the stylistic artstyle of Love is War, so the end result is just that the art is merely serviceable. But really, it could be worse.

Highschool setting. I hate highschool settings, but I like romance. Sadly the two seem basically inseparable. At least this is one of the better ones.

Dual Kanojo is an average vanilla romcom with a very confusing ending.

The story's pretty simple. There's a girl with split personalities trying to get together with our MC. She's a basic tsundere that has her 'tsun' and 'dere' sides split into two different personalities. The split was apparently caused by her inability to be honest to our MC, which is why she bullied him when they were kids. This is a simple but effective way to create a seemingly dense MC, where the denseness is caused by a past trauma, which makes a lot more sense than the usual autistic MC that can't pick up ... any social cues.

Actually, Dual Kanojo's MC is pretty manly considering the fact that he was bullied by the main girl. He's fairly self-aware and confident enough to take action towards the girl he likes. He's great. On the other hand, the girl is about as basic as a tsundere could be. She's pretty extreme with her soft and harsh sides, that's where most of the comedy comes from. The dynamic between the two is nice and simple. So, overall the story is entertaining enough to have a good score, at least until the ending.

From this point on I will be discussing the ending, so spoilers ahead.

The manga ends with the MC getting together with the two personalities of the main girl and her maid (lmfao). First off, the fact that the girl still has two personalities is very confusing to me. The whole point of having split personalities as a plot device, is for them to ultimately integrate back into a single one at the end. Especially if the split was caused by a flaw in the character's personality that they want to reject. The reintegration is supposed to show that the character has grown to accept who they are as a person, kinda like in the Persona games. So, the girl still having two personalities, despite the fact that she already overcame her fears by confessing to our MC, doesn't make any sense. It just reduces the value of her entire character arc. The other personality is treated as a whole different person, which just means she's qualified to be a patient at a mental asylum.

Secondly, why the hell did the maid join in on the relationship? There was no indication that she was into the MC, besides the one chapter where they went to have some coffee. There wasn't even any romance in that chapter. And the way this whole thing was revealed was just wild. The MC and the maid kissed at the end to shock the main girl enough so that her personality was split back into two. It was at that moment that the maid revealed that she was into him. If that's not trashy, I don't know what it is.

So, I wouldn't recommend Dual Kanojo unless you want to be bamboozled by how a story ends. The whole manga feels a little pointless at the end, with unimpressive characters and unsatisfying arcs. Though I'm not too offended by the ending, just confused. If you want to read a better romcom manga about split personalities I would recommend Uwagaki, though it's less traditional in the way the split is shown.