No Longer Heroine, Vol. 1

ヒロイン失格 [Heroine Shikkaku] #1

by Momoko Koda

Enter: Hatori Matsuzaki, the heroine of this love story. And her hero? Rita Terasaka, an infamous hottie with a (hidden) heart of gold. Sure, he might be a notorious playboy, but she's got nothing to worry about—after all, he's never serious about any of his paramours. Besides, she knows him better, has been by his side longer, and loves him so much more than anyone else possibly could. Okay, so she might not be dating him just this second, but what's the rush when destiny is on her side...right?

Genres: Manga, Romance, Shojo, Young Adult, Graphic Novels, Comics, Comics Manga

192 pages, Paperback

First published August 25, 2010

About the author

Name (in native language):幸田もも子

Associated Names:
幸田桃子
幸田百子
KOUDA Momoko

Reviews

[Aya · Rating 1 out of 5]

Manga: No Longer Heroine.
Volumes: 10.
Chapters: 36.
Status: Completed.

*Finished reading the whole volumes. (Don't know why I didn't give up earlier!).
And this review is for the entire manga, and it has spoilers because I can't help it! I have to talk about how much I hate this manga.

First, we meet Hatori. She always thinks of herself as a "heroine" in a manga! (Are you stupid?)


She discovers that she is in love with her childhood friend, Rita! But she never confessed to him.
He never was serious about his girlfriends. Until he became with Adichi.


A very ridiculous love-triangle begins. She tries to snatch Rita for herself. She confesses and she is rejected. (Why don't you give up now?! Stupid again!)



Then the perfect Kousuke appears. Hatori thinks he is cool. He wants her to be his girlfriend.


YAAAAY! The love-triangle ends? HAHAHAHA. NO!



And this becomes an endless cycle!!

From this plot, you figure out that the whole concept is ridiculous. The characters are so childish and stupid, except Kousuke (He is the best.. he is so smart).
And I didn't like the end of it. SO STUPID!

[Laura A. Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was hilarious!!

I came in really nervous because I saw SO many bad reviews of it from people who I guess read scans(?), but when I was at the bookstore today, I decided to flip through it and genuinely liked what I saw. I'm SO glad I purchased it because its definitely unlike any other romcom shojo I've read!

I feel typically in contemporary shojo titles, the heroine is considered and/or is very wholesome. Hatori not so much. She's an internal snob who is also rude and mean. However, while that might sound like a turnoff to read this, I LOVE how as the story progresses, she KNOWS she is these things and WANTS to change. What makes her relatable is that she finds out quickly it's A LOT harder to change in the ways we want, *especially* when in high school when jealously can run rampant.

I also liked Rita quite a bit! I feel bad for the tough spot he's in, but I like how he's there for Hatori. I won't say more, but he's an interesting hero, especially through the lenses of Hatori.

I will mention too that Nakajima is an INCREDIBLE friend! I don't know how she can get up with all of Hatori's antics and/or shengagins. LOL!

Overall, this was a really fun and surprising read! I found it refreshing in that even if I wouldn't WANT to relate to Hatori (and can't with all of her actions/thoughts), I still can relate with her desire to change and grow. I'm bummed that the next volume doesn't release until January because I'm already wanting to read the next volume!

[Phoenix2 · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really funny and cute shoujo manga with a sassy heroine. Loving the love triangle

[Arpana Ahari · Rating 1 out of 5]

Many people didn't like this manga very much but i thought about giving a chance(big mistake.
At first i thought it was good and kinda liked Hatori(Shoujou) but her character get really messed up after awhile and get's on the nerve.In the first 10-15 chapters people thought that Adachi was really annoying but Hatori is like suuuuuuuuuuuuuuper annoying and if there was a way for anyone to teleport to the world of this manga I'm quite sure that Hatori would have been killed by all the reader of the manga who bothered to read it through to the end.(I only read because for some reason curiosity got the better of me)

All in all i would never recommend this manga to anyone and it's wast of time anyway.
There's a LOT of drama,crying.drama, trying to get back the childhood crush,drama,trying to make the childhood crush regret not choosing her(and he actually does regret it after awhile),new boyfriend,drama,childhood crush trying to get her back,drama, boyfriend problem,drama and finally the good guy ends up becoming the forever alone guy(feel really bad for him though he did deserve better then hatori)

[L · Rating 1 out of 5]

Basically its about a childish girl somehow wishing the world to revolve around her thus wanting to be a 'heroine' of the story. She's immature, has an ugly crying face, over-reacts to things and just annoying.

[Paola · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the art, the sobbing faces were the best, but Rita annoyed me so much, the guy was such an a-hole, and Hiromitsu was so cute as the manga progressed, I don't really get why would anyone choose Rita. Anyway, it was funny and the art was great.

[Jinghay (these.blank.pages) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This so called "heroine" is so annoying god

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is fun twist on Shojo manga tropes. If you're unfamiliar, the "heroine" is usually the quiet pure-hearted girl who goes unnoticed, is envied by all others, and inevitably wins the heart of the "hero." The lead in this is convinced that is her role in her story and that her childhood best friend is the hero. But when another girl shows up who fits into that heroine role, she doesn't know how to react. I know a lot of the criticism around this is about the main character herself. She is pretty self-absorbed and can be a little mean. But I honestly find that refreshing, and often, hilarious. I'll take this series volume by volume and see how it goes.

[Nur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gayet tatlı ve eğlenceli başladı. Uzun zamandır manga okumuyordum, bu tarz mangaları özlemişim. ☺

[Laura A. Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was hilarious!!

I came in really nervous because I saw SO many bad reviews of it from people who I guess read scans(?), but when I was at the bookstore today, I decided to flip through it and genuinely liked what I saw. I'm SO glad I purchased it because its definitely unlike any other romcom shojo I've read!

I feel typically in contemporary shojo titles, the heroine is considered and/or is very wholesome. Hatori not so much. She's an internal snob who is also rude and mean. However, while that might sound like a turnoff to read this, I LOVE how as the story progresses, she KNOWS she is these things and WANTS to change. What makes her relatable is that she finds out quickly it's A LOT harder to change in the ways we want, *especially* when in high school when jealously can run rampant.

I also liked Rita quite a bit! I feel bad for the tough spot he's in, but I like how he's there for Hatori. I won't say more, but he's an interesting hero, especially through the lenses of Hatori.

I will mention too that Nakajima is an INCREDIBLE friend! I don't know how she can get up with all of Hatori's antics and/or shengagins. LOL!

Overall, this was a really fun and surprising read! I found it refreshing in that even if I wouldn't WANT to relate to Hatori (and can't with all of her actions/thoughts), I still can relate with her desire to change and grow. I'm bummed that the next volume doesn't release until January because I'm already wanting to read the next volume!

[Naomi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decidí leer este manga, porque ayer vi la película que adaptaron en 2015, y aunque se conservó la idea original del manga ¡son muy distintas!

Rita es un poco más patán en el manga, aunque aún así esta muy por debajo del promedio en los shojo, así que eso ya es algo a favor.

Hatori también tiene algo de "chica promedio" en lo shojo, pero al menos ella es bastante consiente de que es linda y no tiene ese aire de victima que también suele manejarse mucho en este genero.

Aún así en este primer tomo no sucede nada memorable, bueno, si sucede algo importante pero sería tremendo spoiler.

¿La ambientación? Instituto japonese promedio, lo de siempre.

No quiero dar un jucio tan pronto, pero creo que de momento prefiero la película.

[Hiromi · Rating 1 out of 5]

I dodn't know why Hatori has confidence to be a girlfriend of Rita. She has benn in a one sided relationship with him for a long while. They grew up together and she is always looking at him so it is hard for her to see relationship between Rita and Adachi san. I think I will not read next volume because I didn't find characterization attractive.

[Lissa Hawley · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the fence about this one. I want the FL to find her happy ending, but not sure if I want that to be with the ML? Or someone we haven't met yet.

[bow down to our ace king victor vale · Rating 3 out of 5]

shes kinda cray but i respect it lol
im rooting for her to end up with rita but mostly, i want her to undergo some good development

(also the authors so funny XD)

[Tip Mack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hatori is really giving off stalker vibes the whole time. She was like a flea on a dog when it came to Rita. I enjoyed reading this and look forward to reading more.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was cute but I don't think I'll be continuing it. It's just a run-of-the-mill high school romance. If you like those kind of manga then this would be perfect for you.

[Misato Sato · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of shojo manga. I like this manga because this includes comedy a lot so I thought we can enjoyed more than others shojo manga.
I thought Hatori is stupid because she continue to love Rita who make girlfriend in the opening. If she choose Hiromitsu, she became more happy life.

[Katie (Katie's Corner Blog) · Rating 4 out of 5]

see full review @ Katie's Corner

I have never read a shoujo manga with such real approach to things. There is a saying in my country, which describes this manga perfectly. It is something like this: “it would have been funny, if you didn’t have to cry over it.” This manga shows this side of life which we all want, but it is described in such words that you don’t really want to experience a relationship now. The title which is “No Longer a Heroine” is just amazing. It already shows that something is not just right with the heroes we are going to deal with.

I remember that I actually dropped this manga because I had to study for exams and then even forgot about it for the next two months, because I found something more exciting to read. But here I am now covering this manga. It has an amazing amount of comedy and even bigger amount of drama. The main characters are so … , I guess I can’t even find a word to describe them. They are just people. They are not similar to other typical shoujo manga characters, who make their choices and know what they want to happen (not every shoujo manga character is like that, but at least 80% of them are). This characters show us the turmoil of their hearts and minds, which are actually in every one of us.

I cannot just omit the art. The art here is just crazily spectacular. And I mean it, I’ve seen such close ups which just show you the ugly way of crying or getting shocked in only a Korean manhwa called “palace Story”. and even though they are ugly, you just can’t not to enjoy such moments. And let’s face it, the whole manga is just full of such moments, and it’s them that make you laugh out loud in the middle of the lecture or night. Yep, happened to me, thankfully, my lecturer shared this passion to read manga, so I was not scolded a lot.

I was really excited at the end, however it didn’t really satisfy me that much, I mean, she just had to be left with the other guy. But the last chapter was a lot of fun, which was just to the point. And definitely the last pages make you really think about your life. Are you the heroine of your love story or just a supporting character? No matter which you are, remember that it’s you who created the story and you will definitely get the main role, sooner or later. Well, we all do hope that we get the leading role sooner than later. But that’s just life.

I do hope, that’ll you take up this manga to read. It may not be as romantic as any other shoujo manga, but it sure is an amazing story to read, when you are having a problem in your relationship or just want to relieve a bit of stress and indulge yourself in reading. You will have lots of fun and you might even cry sometimes. But you will definitely be shouting at the characters because of their stupidity or that they did something totally irrelevant. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. Hope to hear your thoughts on it.

XOXO

Katie

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hatori has decided long ago that she will be the heroine of a love story with her childhood friend, Rita. (note: Rita is a boy. this is a Japanese name). Somehow she never makes her way into the heroine's spot while Rita carries on short-term relationships with girl after girl. Easy enough to not take those seriously, but when Rita shows signs of finally developing a long-term relationship with someone, Hatori is thrown into turmoil.

Hatori hasn't quite figured that her determination to be Rita's heroine will only bear fruit if he is willing for her to fill that role, and he absolutely is not. This means she goes through a couple of cycles where she makes plays for Rita, is solidly rebuffed, and bawls. Enjoyment of this series would entirely depend on how well the reader can tolerate this foolish, over-the-top girl making the same mistakes over and over while Rita pretends he has no idea what effect he has on her.

I like Hatori's expressions, which make me half-sympathize with her despite how one-note and annoying she is, and Koda's short autobiographical pieces at the end of the book made me chuckle at least twice. I'll keep an open mind, since I'm genuinely curious where things will go from here.

[Moni · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the ultimate conclusion may irritate you(it bothered the heck out of me), the storyline does a fantastic job of pointing out the fallacies of the typical shoujo story though the fantastic romantic heroine's journey through the comically shoujo storyline obsessed Hatori whose desired relationship with the "perfect boy" is destined to be an unhealthy one while ironically the "bad boy" is the one that actually treats her right thought she ultimately can't give up on her feelings for the "perfect" one. In my opinion, Momoko didn't want to have Hatori to have a simple happy ending but a enlightened new beginning of sorts where she can look at her life with a clear vision and sense of herself. I think she also wanted the reader to be angry with Hatori's ultimate decision.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Estado: todos los tomos leidos.
En general me pareció divertido y de rápida lectura. No me molestó que Hatori fuera la roba novios o la rival, ya que desde el principio deteste a Adachi (de ninguna manera querría leer un shoujo donde ella fuera la protagonista), y en realidad Hatori no fue tan malvada como lo han sido muchas Kurimis o Saes. Además las expresiones de Hatori son épicas! !
Por otra parte, hubieron muchos momentos en los que deseaba poder sacudirla y gritarle que observara adecuadamente.. es en esto donde me falló el manga: un final predecible.

[Madalina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful, just awful. This is the worst main character I have ever seen. I can honestly say that there is absolutely nothing that you can admire at her. She is mean, she has a big ego, she victimises herself... The story has potential but the main character has major flaws, I could hardly finish the first volume because of her. I can't bring myself to read the other volumes..

[Rhea Rani · Rating 2 out of 5]

As the manga progresses we just start to dislike the protagonist. But still the drawing is great and comedy scenes are nice.

[Liliana · Rating 1 out of 5]

Why am I still reading this.....

[Online Eccentric Librarian · Rating 2 out of 5]

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

This is a play on shoujo manga clichés that somehow never gives us characters we like or want to see happy. The female lead is shallow, narcissistic, unpleasant, fake, and lacking a good grounding on reality. The male lead is humorless, uncaring, and unlikable. Yet we are supposed to want to see the two together? Ordinarily, I would expect to see character development bring out the better parts of each person as they mature. However, after reading the synopsis of upcoming volumes, that clearly isn't the case.

Story: Hatori is sure she is the heroine of a love story that involves childhood friend Rita. Childhood trauma means he never gets serious about any girl, so Hatori is fine with a close friendship and the knowledge that they are meant to be together eventually. That is, until Rita forms a relationship with an 'uncute and socially inept' girl that looks like it is going to last. Suddenly, Hatori realizes that her dream of being the heroine of an epic Rita love story may not happen after all.

So, I've seen this trope done beautifully in the series Blue Flag - and with far more pathos and compassion. For most of this book, Hatori manipulates, mankes unpleasant judgements on others, and daydreams about a Rita relationship. Several reviewers may think this book is more 'realistic' because we don't get an idealized shoujo character who is too-good-to-be-true. But honestly, this is as zany and over-the-top as one would expect from a very unrealistic and highly stylized manga shoujo story. Hatori thinks very unpleasant thoughts about others, puts down anyone who gets close to Rita, and is smug in her close friendship. It makes for a very unlikable person. Rita, meanwhile, can't be bothered to care and even walks off when given a confession. The constant 'leading on' of Hatori, even when he is currently in a relationship, feels very unpleasant. Even Rita's new girlfriend feels manipulative and disingenuous.

I read through the entire volume and had a hard time caring about anyone. If anything, I wanted the two leads together because they deserved each other - in a bad way. That doesn't really recommend the story to me. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

[Марија · Rating 3 out of 5]

E ova manga stvarno odskače od ostalih u ovom rangu (mislim na shoujo naravno). Crteži ponekad dobijaju 3. dimenziju, a sarkazam i humor prosto zaslepljuju.
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Baš je dobra! Sam način pripovedanja je nekako jedinstven - glavna junakinja sebe baš tako i zamišlja → ona je glavni lik rom-kom mange, u svojoj glavi ima već ispričanu romansu sa svojim drugom iz detinjstva i živi u tim maštarijama. Bukvalno sve druge naziva sporednim likovima (da, misle da je lujka), sve dok se ne desi da njen suđeni postane nečiji drugi dragi i realnost pokuca na vrata.

Zaslužuje ona 4*, ali me je kraj toliko iznervirao da sam odlučila da joj oduzmem jednu. Moj review, moja pravila.
Najjači momenti:
ili kad vrišti:"Stupid Nakajima!" → odnos glavne junakinje i njene najbolje drugarice toliko me je podsetio na još jednu dramarušu i dizačicu panike da se razmišljam da vratim onu četvrtu *...

Ne, ipak sam ljuta! Kako to da nije po mom?

[Dilenny Feliz · Rating 2 out of 5]

honestly.. this manga is a guilty pleasure of mine.

a lot of people hated this manga, specifically the ending (rightfully so) but i had to give it a two star bc this shit... is...

FUNNNNY ASFFFFF

when i tell you i was dying laughing at almost every single chapter.. lmao, the humor in this is top tier. HOWEVER, the plot.. is literally the worst thing ever and what sucks is Hatori's characters trope is my favorite that it would've really ate down if the story was done right.

I feel like what people don't understand is that Hatori isn't supposed to be liked, she's flawed and that's the whole point. In shoujo manga's we always get the ditsy, girly type of girls as main characters that it felt good to finally read one with a girl like Hatori. In all honesty, I really enjoyed her character (till the end) the only thing I hated was how obsessed she was with that...

TRASH(rita)

Despite it all, I think it was a fun read. I never really ended up finishing it fully just kinda spoiled it for myself since I was annoyed with the way it was going.

I feel like.. if it was done like Switch girl, this manga would've been a 10/10 in my eyes but.. it wasn't so..

[Juana Argaez · Rating 2 out of 5]

La premisa inicial es bastante interesante, sin embargo, la autora no supo desarrollar la historia ni a sus personajes. Las situaciones que plantea terminan volviéndose ridículas, inconclusas e irreales. Todos los personajes resultan detestables, odiosos y planos.

En particular, la protagonista no tuvo ningún progreso a lo largo de la historia, resultando en que la niña inmadura, torpe y graciosa del inicio siga siendo la misma al final. En consecuencia, esa personalidad que tanto me agradaba terminó siendo bastante irritante.

Finalmente, recomiendo que mejor vean el live action si quieren disfrutar de esta historia (el final no me gustó pero los personajes y situaciones resultan más simpáticos). A pesar de todo lo anterior debo reconocer que cumplió con el objetivo de entretener, sin embargo, no lo recomiendo.

[Ivy Blues · Rating 2 out of 5]

Came here after watching the movie adaptation. The heroine, is obsessed about living her life like a shoujo manga, I read up to the fourth volume expecting her to have character development, of ANY kind, but to no avail.
It showed the story of a girl obsessed with her childhood sweetheart/best friend, who allegedly has no feelings whatsoever, and is in a relationship with another girl.
While I did feel sympathetic for the female lead at the beginning, it slowly drained away from me from page after page, when she just couldn’t get a clue that the male lead rejected her.
It’s confess, get rejected, cry, and the cycle is on repeat.
This is not to say the guy is a good person either. He despite knowing that his best friend has a huge ass crush on him, enough to bully his girl friend with malicious rumors, would lead the female lead on

[Veronica Pappolla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ciò che attira di questo volume è in primis la trama, i disegni sono gradevoli ma non eccellono rispetto al panorama manga (anche se almeno non sono simili a qualche altra autrice).
La storia parla di Hatori, una giovane ragazza innamorata del suo amico che è convinta di riuscire a fidanzarsi col ragazzo nel momento giusto e invece a complicare le cose arriva una ragazza che, a differenza delle altre, si impegna davvero a diventare la ragazza di Rita e Hatori vedrà in lei la prima vera rivale. Il manga tratta una tematica poco trattata nei shoujo manga, l'amore non corrisposto, e in qualche maniera, mentre leggi, ti sembra di leggere la storia di una persona comune, di una tua amica e questo riesce a coinvolgerti pienamente. Sarà che io sono di parte ma è davvero bello. Le gag e i riferimenti non mancheranno, proprio come nella vita reale =)

Ha raggiunto le aspettative.