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Final verdict after forcing myself through all 49 chapters:

If I could sue the author into refunding the time I wasted reading this manga, I would.

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Let me be upfront here, this manga was atrocious.

You know these situations when a manga gets axed and the author just does dumb stuff in the remaining chapters to spite the publisher and readers? That's pretty much the experience you'll get here.

... I struggle to name anything good, other than maybe the art.

Characters suck. They are hollow shells devoid of personality, going around making stupid decisions around every second corner.

Story would have been fine up to about chapter 20 if you are just looking for some simple erotica to read whenever you are in the mood for it. But that went down the drain fast enough.
The author's inability to write any kind of convincing story just gets too apparent at this point.

I don't see who the author even wants to cater to. If you like NTR, you won't like the first 30 chapters of this manga. If you don't like NTR stories, you'll feel baited into reading one. And not even a good one.
I at least hoped that the author would have had the balls to work with the dumpster fire he created until the very end. But seeing the actual ending, he literally turned the 4 years I followed this story into a giant waste of time.

Frankly, he should have better focused on the one thing he is good at; his art. Just make some dumb To Love-Ru plotless ecchi manga. That's about how far as I can see his writing skills going.

At least it's finally over. Sure as hell won't be touching anything this author releases hereafter.

Overall, an interesting read with good characters and comedy elements.

It's been a long time since I last read a (harem) Rom-Com that didn't completely forget the comedy part of its genre and actually made you laugh at times.
Characters are interesting and rich in personality, while not feeling artificial or overly forced in action or behavior.

If I had to name a "weakness", it's the MMC and his more supportive/observative role. If you'd like to see the MMC experiencing his own Rom-Com, you'll likely feel let down here. At least as of volume 3. While he surely will experience his own proper romance at some point along ... the line, I doubt it will be anytime soon.

Honestly, I have some trouble rating/reviewing this series.

While it did start out as nothing great or special, it was still interesting enough to read on the side. A great example of the ever common harem LN with a lackluster MMC, decent FMCs, and a setting you can otherwise simply ignore.

Just the usual mix of drama, love rivalry, and an ever indecisive MMC.

At least until you reach about volume 8, where this story just turns into a pain to read. The author keeps trying to build nonsensical climaxes. At this point starting to recycle methods he used already.

Just WORSE. Much worse…

If I could, I’d spoiler the ... hell out of it, just to explain how bad it gets. But that would be me putting in more effort than the author himself does at this point. And while I can sympathize with the author struggling through a slump, I still wish he’d rather made the decision to take a break than release whatever volume 8 and 9 turned out to be.

While never great, this LN was at least decent in the beginning.
Looking up to volume 6 or 7, I’d have judged this series with an overall rating of ~7.

But now it frankly turned into a collection of unlikeable characters, uninteresting plots, and love 'schemes' that reached a level of stupidity that start to hurt mentally.
I’d be generous if I gave the later volumes a rating of ~3.

So, would I recommend this series?
Likely no. While still ongoing, I don’t see any future potential here. But if you are utterly bored or don’t mind some random mental gymnastics, sure, go for it.

As a warning for those that seek drama, unexpected twists, suspense, action, rivalry or anything of the like in a light novel: This isn’t the one for you. Better not waste your time here.

But if you prefer a more simplistic and wholesome romance story (like I, who didn’t even know he did before reading this LN), please read on.

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If I had to sum up what this story aims to be, it would be: Relatable, wholesome, non-exaggerated, and 'caries inducing'. And that it does astonishingly well.

To elaborate a little more, Otonari no Tenshi is a simple slice of life romance, meant to be satisfying to read ... all the way through. Creating a relatable and likeable set of characters, be it main- or side cast. A non-exaggerated setting and background for all characters, as well as starting point of the story.

Something that this LN differs in compared to ‘oh so many’ other romance stories I have read is how bound to earth it is. Just how often did I read stories with the most exaggerated introductions. Be it the MMC saving the FMC from certain death, deeply traumatized characters, with their backgrounds overshadowing the entire story, random cohabitations, and ever so on. Not even to mention how the entire cast always needs to fill the known stereotypes, creating the usual harem setting + the usual ‘unpopular with girls side joke tier male friend’ the MMC must have.

But not here. Here we simply have a normal pair of neighbors. While aware of each other’s existence, still just that, neighbors. Otherwise complete strangers. At least until a small courteous exchange ended up triggering everything this story is going to tell you. Ever so slowly, and ever so peacefully. Taking a relationship from strangers to lovers not with the sledgehammer through the wall, but by simple day by day exchanges and developments.

Frankly, while this LN likely does nothing new or groundbreaking, I doubt I ever encountered a story that was even remotely as satisfying to read as this one.

Only reason why I don’t give a 10/10 is because there is always some minor nagging you can do.

/*Side note: I read both the web- and the light novel (at the time 266 web chapters and 6 LN volumes). Both in Japanese. Therefore, my reading experience might slightly differ compared to those that read either the official- or fan-translations.*/