わたしが恋人になれるわけないじゃん、ムリムリ! (※ムリじゃなかった!?) 5

There's No Freaking Way I'll be Your Lover! Unless… Manga #5

by Musshu (Illustrator), むっしゅ (Illustrator), Teren Mikami

「みんなの天使」瀬名紫陽花による驚きの家出宣言……れな子は彼女のため、その旅に同行する──!
「私、家出することにしたんだっ」
波乱万丈の高校生活も過ぎていき、楽しい夏休みが到来!
仕事で忙しい真唯のお墨付きを得て紫陽花さんの家に遊びに来たれな子は家族と喧嘩するいつもとは違う彼女の姿を目撃することに…。
その夜、電話口で聞いた紫陽花さんの宣言にれな子は迷いつつも一つの決断を下す──!
この夏、二人の少女に何が起こる…? 青春ガールズラブコメ、新章突入の第5巻!!

Genres: Manga, Yuri, Romance, LGBT, Comedy, Comics

192 pages, Paperback

First published March 17, 2023

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a brief side event with Oduka (freaking) Mai, Renako is spending some time with Ajisai, whose normally cute and bubbly side is not quite the same at home. And, speaking of home, Ajisai decides to run away from it and Renako ends up in tow because of course she does.

This is one of those manga that overcomes its own weaknesses to still be very, very enjoyable. Even with its wildly funny yuri take on the harem genre, the hapless Renako once more manages to blow somebody’s mind, it has enough annoyances of the genre along with it.

Let’s start strong - Avery Hutley’s translation work on this is freaking great. I’m not sure how much of the wordplay was in the original text, but the terms ‘Renak-rolytes’ and ‘boylingual’ had me grinning. They should not work, yet they do! These zingers save entire scenes.

Basically the humour is what this story does best anyway. Renako is fine enough, but she has so little confidence and panics so often that it does grate after a bit. She’ll have to admit that she has friends who like her at some point.

Some of her panic is very amusing, it’s just pretty relentless how she beats up on herself. There’s also a hint in all this as to why Mai is so smitten with her - Renako is so incredulous that Mai is her friend that she doesn’t try to use Mai like everybody else does (Renako’s sister’s friends immediately glom on to Renako as a path to Mai).

Ajisai is pretty typical; the bubbly personality who is straddled with responsibility at home and resents not being able to just do as she likes. Her summer is basically babysitting and when her younger brothers interrupt her time with Renako she blows a gasket.

Naturally, rather than discuss this or deal with it somewhat rationally, she bolts and Renako comes with. This involves a lot of amusing ‘bad ending’ versions of Ajisai (the artist clearly had fun with her gyaru version) and Renako having a breakdown because she can’t carry a conversation.

Again, it’s written solidly enough that Renako’s wild internal dialogue carries the day and makes this a lot more amusing than it would be. The girls at least get as far as an onsen and that promises certain escapades for the next volume.

A pitiably lame main character is the hallmark of any harem series and this one follows suit with the bevy of love interests and all the hi-jinx. As with many of those, the clear winner has (hopefully) been decided long ago and is pretty obvious.

Then again, at least this has the writing chops to make it go down a lot easier. Yes, Renako’s default state is panic with a tinge of whinge, even with everybody around here clearly wanting to be more than friends, but a lot more lines here land than they don’t.

3.5 stars - the characters are probably more underwhelming than terribly interesting, yet they work as delivery vehicles for gags and some of the story is good enough. Worth a read for the laughs at the very least.

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

want more mai time!

These moments with her friend are cute, but I miss seeing her relationship with Mai progressing more. I’m hoping to see more of them together in the next volume or so.

[lcvesbooks · Rating 1 out of 5]

this volume was the best in the series considering ajisai isn’t constantly trying to assault renako, but there’s still something about this that doesn’t feel ok. mai is annoying as fuck and she needs to leave renako alone because— anyway this series is probably not finished but i have no interest in continuing it. it’s terrible and i can’t believe i forced myself to read 5 volumes.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely the best volume so far - and can I register a request that Ajisai is endgame? She's the only one who seems to respect Renako's bodily autonomy!

[Anne Bollmann (Annelise Lestrange) · Rating 5 out of 5]

*~.Quotes.~*

"Gosto de promessas. Elas me passam a sensação de uma conexão concreta... e dão a possibilidade de ser leal." - Ajisai Sena, p 34

[starnoodles · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like books 3 and 4 of this series, but it’s almost getting impossible? I feel like I’m literally just sitting here tolerating Mai and Satsuki because I’m more invested in the B plot between Renako and Ajisai. I feel like if the plot just stuck with the Mai plot or had Renako switch to Satsuki entirely, this entire series would have been more cohesive and actually enjoyable. But no, we pretty much just have an entire series dedicated to Renako having no say in literally anything, and more or less getting tossed around like a prized doll between two kids playing.
Not great, kinda dogshit, read something else. Read “Run Away With Me, Girl” or literally ANYTHING else that is written better.
It’s shitty because the first 1-2 books were actually somewhat decent. Sad, don’t waste your time or money.