Joucho wo Mechakucha ni Shitekuru Onna

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

7.3/10


Come on now, you know what you signed up for: A loser, pathetic mc and the classic cool heroine that for some reason likes the mc. These type of stories aren’t the best or most enjoyable to read unless there has been some form of character development or recognition — this manga has only done one of the two.

The plot is somewhat cliche and tropey, and the plot isn’t much different from any kind of psychological romance story; instead, the manga gradual teases each chapter to contrive enjoyment and engagement, which works somewhat well.

The characters are… mediocre. As expected of a typical loser ... boy story, the mc is simply pathetic — though, he isn’t unbearably pathetic, since he has self-awareness and acknowledgement of his rather ridiculous situation. As for the other characters, not much of their backstories are explained, and there have been quite a ton of disposable characters to drive the plot. In other words, the characters don’t undergo much or any progression at all.

This is a pretty typical story for its trope, but it is somewhat entertaining and memorable due to how many red flags there are in the characters. Curious to see how it ends, but this story is pretty shallow overall.


You guys know this is just my opinion, right?

Reading Rankings (Portnoy inspired + A Huang-Teizan Original)
10 - God’s penmanship
9 - Must-read. Drop everything else.
8 - Instant bookmark
7 - Entertaining
6 - Good to pass time
5 - Why are you reading this?
4 - Bad.
3 - Typical garbage.
2 - My head hurts.
1 - Retirement is a thought.
0 - “Did they even give you a story?!”

This manga starts out perfectly fine. It's about some anxious loser guy and a girl who likes to mess around with him. It's not a new formula and it doesn't do much to make itself stand out, but it's gimmicks function on a basic level. It generates enough cute and entertaining content to leave the reader with a pleasant aftertaste, even if there's not a lot of actual meat on its bones. The plot is practically non-existent, it's mostly just characters going on outings together, but one doesn't come to a story like this for a strong plot. The characters are okay, the guy's self ... loathing can get a little annoying (he's very "Oh woe is me I can't believe a beautiful girl would talk to someone like me") and reeks a bit painfully of wish fulfillment, but nobody is outright unlikeable and serve their purposes competently. It's nothing to write home about for the first few chapters.

What makes me write this review is the fact that when the second girl comes in, everything goes down the drain very quickly. The story reveals its true colors as being a love triangle/harem and not a seinen-esque romcom. Somehow, this girl's mere presence in the story brings out its worst qualities. The admittedly somewhat speedrun pace from before slows down to a dull crawl of nothingness. The nothing content worked best when it was being shoveled to you in quick and digestible increments, not meandering and stalling. When the story is no longer able to properly focus on our two main characters, the (increasingly overdone) tropes consume the story whole, and it devolves into the most generic and overdone harem shonen. The trashy parts are a lot more noticeable when there's nothing entertaining to distract you with. It also gets kind of repetitive. This actually made me miffed because it's so easy to imagine what the cute story could have been or continued to be. It's hard not to feel a bit ripped off by it, honestly.