When she doesn’t feel well, when she doesn’t want to go to school... I take her place. I’m her replica, and I solely exist for her. But it all changed when he came into my life. Now I wear my hair up so the boy I fell for knows it’s me. I may be her replica―but my heart is mine.
I think the moral of this story is to not give a moody teenager the powers of a god, but it’s a little murky. In fact, being a little murky is probably a lot of what makes this story less than it could be.
Second, as we’ll call her, was torn from the thigh of Zeus… wait, wrong mythology. No, she popped into existence as a coping mechanism when Sunao was 7 years old. Now Second can be summoned and dismissed on a whim and is used by Sunao to avoid things she’d rather not deal with.
Despite being physically identical to her creator, Second likes the things that Sunao doesn’t and that includes getting chummy with a boy in her class. So now Sunao is dealing with her rebellious replica, who is enjoying the springtime of her youth. Or Sunao’s.
This is a romance and it should be a horror story. It sometimes realizes the nature of what it’s indulging - that a sentient being can be switched on and off at the whim of somebody with the emotional maturity of a hacky sack. Mostly it’s more concerned with the burgeoning relationship with Second and Sanada.
Genuinely, I think this is the least interesting route this could have gone. Second begins living Sunao’s own life more fully than the original, again, horror story, even though Sunao has all the experiences of happier times in childhood, etc, that Second only knows of as part of her memories.
There’s a brutal mental health story here, but… not so much. The romance is slightly underbaked; I don’t feel that the chemistry was amazing. I did like Sunao’s best friend though - again, why not explore how Sunao has been living a lie with said friend for over a decade?
I’ll give you that the zoo visit is terribly cute, but that’s more down to Second’s enjoyment. Sunada is a bit dull, with a seemingly grim backstory that pulls a curveball at the end that I think was a wildly poor choice. Oh, it makes sense, but it adds stakes the story doesn’t need.
And the whole replica thing is very poorly explained. It has some rules, but nowhere near enough for what’s going on here. This is not meant to necessarily examine the moral or ethical repercussions of what’s going on, but it really should.
Second has no control over what isn’t even her life and there’s a ton of drama in that. I mean, Sunao can barely keep her life together without her and even when she wants Second gone it doesn’t last long. There’s so much more here to be explore than we actually get.
I mean, if you just roll with it and look at the romance angle, this is fine. I don’t think it’s great, just okay, but I have read worse. The issue is that it has this hook and neither considers nor explains it to my satisfaction.
From what I can glean, later volumes apparently reveal where the replicas come from or what they are, but this opening salvo doesn’t tease out the mystery or provide enough context to make this work really well. If this improves in hindsight, fine, but the original interaction needs to stand on its own.
3 stars - nearly a 3.5 because some of the interactions at the zoo and with the best friend are really well done, but I felt this needed a lot more to make enough sense to me. Maybe the light novel dives into it better, or the next volume.
This is going to sound dramatic, but I am devastated I read this so quickly!!
I don't know what it was about this volume, but I was completely sucked in and could not read fast enough (even if I do wish I had read it slower LOL)! I got to the end and wanted more, not only because I loved it, but also because of that plot twist!
Funny enough, the manga starts out really wholesome! I was super digging the romance with the little glimpses of something that isn't quite right, and how we don't know why our FL is a replica, but the romance was cute, and it made me happy!
However, when the ML starts picking up on the differences between how she acts with her down and with her hair up, the "real" FL makes a declaration of sorts, and then, to have the plot twist at the end, I felt I went from giggling to quickly sitting up on my couch because WHAT?!
I have no idea where the manga is going to go, but I'm definitely seated! It was an easy-going read, and I deeply enjoyed my time with it! I look forward to reading volume two!
•When she doesn’t feel well, when she doesn’t want to go to school... I take her place. I’m her replica, and I solely exist for her. But it all changed when he came into my life. Now I wear my hair up so the boy I fell for knows it’s me. I may be her replica—but my heart is mine.
•Even a Replica Can Fall in Love is the manga adaptation of the bittersweet and dramatic supernatural light novel series Even a Replica Can Fall in Love.
This was a fun supernatural, slice of life volume that has darker undertones that slip in to hint at future conflict. The characters were adorable without being overly immature and it moved at a really steady pace. It’s a very interesting concept since a replica is essentially you but if your choices were made flesh and able to be punished, how would that affect you? The love story is very sweet and taking its time and respects boundaries which I adore.