We Started a Threesome!! Vol. 1

We Started a Threesome!! #1

by Katsu Aki

A sweet and sexy tale about the polyamorous marriage of a woman and two men by the creator of Futari H (Manga Sutra) !

Childhood friends Lia, Suisei, and Emito have protected each other since childhood. Over the years, that friendship blossomed into love, and now they live as a married throuple! This sweet, spicy polyamorous slice-of-life story follows the challenges they face, the risks they take, and the intimate side of their unique three-way bond. First on the after years as the house-husband, Emito wants a part-time job!

Genres: Manga, Romance, LGBT, Queer, Polyamory

176 pages, Paperback

First published September 30, 2019

About the author

Katsuaki Nakamura (中村克明), pen name Katsu Aki (克・亜樹), is a Japanese manga artist best known for his works The Vision of Escaflowne, Futari Ecchi, and Psychic Academy. Mangaka Mine Yoshizaki is one of Aki's former assistants.

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know much about polyamory or throuples, but I'm fairly certain that this isn't a particularly realistic look at either of them. That's fine, because romance fiction is fantasy after all, but something to be aware of going in. Mostly I suspect this because of the reason the three are together - it's less because they all romantically love each other and more because Lia's emotionally damaged and the two men don't want to risk losing her if they try to win her over individually. (Or one of them feels that way; the other is a little more understated right now.) It may eventually head in the direction of them all forming mutual romantic and/or sexual attachments to each other, but I'm not invested enough to necessarily find out if that's true and I frankly got tired of everyone telling them that their relationship is weird and wouldn't last.

[Johnny SkullTek · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty realistic feeling story about a MFM polyamorous triad that I’d round up to a 4-star rating for a relatively unexplored subject (in manga, in particular) with likable characters and situations I’d like to see explored more.

I found it interesting that at least part of the triad still has some uncertainties about the arrangements, and I suspect (hope) the series will continue to explore his deeper feelings on the situation. Personally, I'd love to see him land at "this is how I *want* things to be" instead of "this is how things *have to be*, if I want..." but we'll see how it goes.

One minor nitpick is that while a lot of the situations and questions asked feel somewhat true to life, the rate at which they happen feels a little… compressed. Some characters just bluntly say or ask stuff outright instead of dancing around it or working up to the subject over time like you might expect to happen in regular life.

If these events happened over 2 or 3 volumes instead of 1, I think it would have given the situations a bit more room to breath — but maybe more time is passing in-world than I assumed, and I suspect this isn’t going to be a 12 volume series type thing, in which case it probably makes sense to pack in ‘common situations’ a little denser timeline-wise.


I’ll definitely be picking up volume 2 to see where things go.

Edit: Finished the story, and it was ultimately “clunky in places, but worth a read if you’ve got an interest in polyamory and queer relationships”

[Alysses · Rating 3 out of 5]

For all of those readers that claim this is not a good representation or that they are not familiar with poly but don't think this is a good representation... you clearly have never dipped a toe into the Poly Subreddit. Poly can absolutely look like this. Just say you don't like how messy it was and be done with it. I'm curious enough to see where this series goes because it can go in so many directions and that cliffhanger! Sheesh.

[Autumn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a fan of the art style or story. It is a very poor representation of polyamory. The communication between the 3 is terrible and none of the parties are in it for the right reasons currently.

[Kay ☾ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Micro review: I normally love weird. This was bad.

[Emma Patterson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this book based off a review on YouTube as it was being sold as this cute slice of life with a polyamorous couple. So, I decided to give it a try (despite the clickbait title)
I’m not sure if we read the same book.
First, in the main relationship between the 3 of them, there was a LOT of jealousy from one character. That just felt very off to me. If you aren’t happy, tell your partners instead of telling your bartender.
This book was also FULL of predators. People not only trying to shove their way into the relationship but also refusing to stop. And a couple of them were the characters’ bosses.
This book isn’t really that spicy (which is good for me) but every heartfelt conversation was done during sex? Idk, it rubbed me the wrong way.
Overall, I’m not sure if I would pick up the second volume

[Mehsi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh wow, I thought this was just going to be a cute romance featuring poly, but instead it goes much deeper. We get to see from Lia's POV, Suisei's and then Emito. Emito was by far the least favourite though because was so whiny. I loved finding out more how these three got together, and yes there were some moments that I was tearing up, especially with what happened to Lia. And it was interesting to see how everyone who knew about their poly situation reacted. I am curious how this one will go given the cliffhanger at the end!

[Adam Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as salacious as the title sounds, this is actually a sweet story about a polyamorous marriage. And while outside characters in the story try to fetishize their relationship the characters in the relationship and the book itself does not.

[Calista · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, this was different. We do see some of what this thrupple deal with, yet, this is mostly about how other people see them. Either deviant, gross, or salacious. Each of the people in this relationship has to deal with some sort of person telling them about their relationship.

The three were all childhood friends. One of the guys is a homemaker while the other two have jobs and earn the money. One guy is in love with the girl and is jealous while the other guy seems very bi.

This was interesting and it has room to grow. I didn't think it was great. It is more domestic and mundane. I thought the three main characters were very unique.

The whole backstory of the girl is that she doesn't like having to choose. She wants both of this toy as a child and she hates her parents making her choose. So that's the seed for this relationship. Simple.

[Kat · Rating 2 out of 5]

not what I was expecting....yes this is a polyamorous relationship, but really it's just the two guys both being with the one woman. one of them literally thinks multiple times about how he is only doing it because he wants to be with her only forever, and otherwise he'd lose her. he gets extremely jealous and doesn't want to even see her being loving with the other guy. on top of how problematic the main relationship is, the rest of the side characters are terrible!!! literally all the other men in this story are predatory and sexually harass/assault the female characters.

there are the bones of a good story here...or at least a good idea. but the execution is NOT good.

[Bentgaidin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing; love the idea of more poly romance, but this was just not what I was looking for. Despite being (supposedly) adults in a committed relationship for years, everyone's enmeshed in such basic first-relationship drama. Also, the plot features two different predatory sex-pests. If you're looking for extremely heightened drama, over-the-top emotional twists, and basically the most exaggerated messy people, this is probably what you're thinking of; for me, I wanted something more grounded and positive.

[Zian B. · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was just so much unhealthy communication and, inappropriate behavior from coworkers in some form that was absolutely unacceptable. The specific way that this volume ended especially gave me an intense gross feeling and I’m sad that this is how polyamorous relationships are being represented.
I feel like this was a good idea but had pretty bad execution.

[Saidah Gilbert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read it for the novelty. It was the first polyamorous triad I'd ever read in manga. The story was not well done but I still found it interesting. At least, from now on, this would be the baseline for polyamory in manga for me.

[Aurora · Rating 2 out of 5]

I…wanted to like this very much, because we so very rarely see polyamory in manga, but it’s just soooo over-dramatic and unrealistic that I can’t. I’m going to try to push through the remaining two volumes but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to last…

[MissHalo227 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would give a 3.5. It handles the stigma around poly relationships being temporary well but it adds in a layer of trauma bond on Lia's part that weighs it down a bit. Overall done well though.

[Corinne · Rating 1 out of 5]

wish it wasn’t such a toxic portrayal of polyamory, lol. 1 1/2 stars rounded down

[Laura Sanner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not poly, so I am unsure if this is an accurate depiction of that relationship.

Overall I did enjoy it, but worry for the thruple!

I will be reading more of this series.

[Pata · Rating 3 out of 5]

2,5/5
No es nada del otro mundo, la verdad es que es algo bastante tonto para lo que podía ser, pero al menos se lee tan rápido que no lo sientes una pérdida de tiempo.

[Ashleigh Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I struggled with this one a bit. This very much seemed like a relationship between Suisei and the FMC and he’s there because he wants to be with her and can only be with her as long as he accepts Emito. Emito is there because he wants to be, but he seems very child-like and naive. I wanted to like this more, but this isn’t how polyamory should work. It’s just...off. I’ll keep reading to see if it gets better, but I’m a little disappointed by this.

[Amanda Grim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute, but i can already see the toxic misconceptions of poly relationships coming in, and I can see where it's going. I hope there's healthy communication later, but we'll see.

[Violet · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's fine, it's just very... straight poly.