SPOILERS

I think Yotsuba or Itsuki have the best chance of nabbing the MC, if my genius, third eye romcom sensors are correct. Rn Yotsuba's my favourite with Itsuki a close second but I also would rather have Itsuki as a friend to the MC than suddenly liking him.

Rooting for Yotsuba tho

Before I begin ranting, lemme just say I AM A FUCKING GENIUS. WHAT DID I TELL YOU I KNOW MY SHIT WHEN IT COMES TO THIS STUFF. I LITERALLY DON'T MISS. (Except that Ookami manga where Botan got the sneak on me but we don't talk about that)

To start off, my thoughts on Itsuki turned out to be dead on and she ended up being my favourite of the 5 by the end of the story. Mainly because I don't think she fell for the MC. I thought that was really nice and true to her character. She found out what she wanted to do and who she wanted to be and strived to reach that goal. It's clear that Negi definitely gave her more attention and nuance than the others. Good stuff. Ironic the best character in a harem manga is the one that didn't fall for the dude. Unless she did love him romantically and I missed something. Don't tell me I'm wrong, I wanna live in beautiful ignorance.

Other than that, it just fell apart as it got closer to the finish line. Not that it was that good to begin with, but it was atleast palletable and had some really nice moments. Yotsuba's backstory was a highlight for me, along with a few other scenes but all in all it was a pretty cookie cutter harem (which is a huge negative)

So it already wasnt great, but it just started to get so much worse later on. One thing that I will commend the author on is how seamlessly he moved the spotlight from one Nakano to the other. It all felt cohesive and flowed really nicely cuz it all felt like one big interconnected narrative within a family, instead of just trying to appeal to each individual sister. It was one of the main appeals to me in a manga riddled with cliches and basic character arcs. See, later on in the story what theyd do is just have a character go through some problem during a school festival and then at the end of the chapter they would kiss the MC. All of them. Well, other than Itsuki cuz she goated. The problem with this is the writing went from being pretty unique where each sister's characteristics, flaws, strengths and personalities would clash with and bounce off each other. They would have their own unique way of shining that would come in a surprisingly natural way. But later on Negi just fuckin gave up on that cuz its a lot of work and just went the usual harem manga route. Which is just have each individual sister do their own individual thing to cheaply satisfy the readers rooting for their best girl.

Next up i wanna talk about what i read on the top reviews. Mostly positive, with their main points being Gotoubun had great characters that had fleshed out arcs and a refreshingly different MC. And I'm here to tell you that that's a load of bs. There are one or two of the Nakanos that actually have decent character arcs, with the rest just being the cliches we find in usual romcoms. I hate to break it to everyone, but Nino is not a good character. She has so little fleshed out about her and her so-called "development." Her whole character arc boils down to being a dick to the tutor, then falling in love with him, and now she's aggressively trying to make him love her. Her character archetype (like many others) is very weeb-targeted if you get what I mean. And it makes me feel like a loser while reading sometimes. A girl who unapologetically and openly expresses her love for you even though she knows its unreciprocated?? That girl isn't real 🎶.

Miku and Ichika are also underdeveloped. Ichika is just a fuckin snoozefest, such a boring and cliche character. I dont even have nothing to say, she isn't necessarily bad but like I've seen that type of character so many times. Easily my least favourite of the 5, mostly because there is nothing to say about her. She is nothing. Atleast Miku had potential. She had this side arc of learning to love herself and be confident, which is a great and relatable character arc. Sure, we've seen that before but it still makes for a good storyline when done well. Unfortunately, the problem is that it's simply a side plot. An afterthought. Scenes with Miku are mostly comprised of trying to woo Fuutarou or her blushing because of some small thing he did. Listen man, I get that it's a romcom but if you're gonna be a cheap romcom then stick to that i guess, don't try to half ass it like u did here. You barely even explored Miku's self doubt before you said she overcame it, cuz u were too busy shoving dumb melodrama and shitty harem tropes into the mix.

Ok, now let's talk Fuutarou.
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I have nothing to say he is just generic MC #1267. Slightly funny/witty, all serious, doesn't care about romance, we get it. He is built to be THE harem protagonist. Also his love for Yotsuba was barely developed or explored cuz Negi needed it to be suspenseful for who he's gonna pick. Yotsuba was probably the best choice for him since Itsuki is more of a friend, so I'm not mad over that but like they barely got any sort of romantic interactions. Fuutarou never shows he likes her like that until its revealed in the climax. It could've been a satisfying ending had they built up more Fuutarou x Yotsuba, but that never happened. It's so...stupid man, it's all so stupid. How do you mess up the Yotsuba route. That was literally the best option, and you still managed to underacheive.

So now I'm thinkin to myself, why did I do this. Why did I break down all the stuff I disliked about it. Well, it's because complaining about stuff is fun. But usually I'd just say a few sentences and call it a day. Plus, all things aside, this is simply a measly harem romcom meant for dudes who get no game. Why am I uncharacteristically dissecting it, it's clearly not that deep. And thats because this had so much potential to be a fun, interesting take on the god awful harem genre. It had the right pieces in place but just couldnt execute. They had rather go the usual way a harem goes than actually flesh out their characters. More focused on dumb tropes that make their heroines blush than actual good writing.

5/10
Only great characters were Itsuki and MCs little sister. Yotsuba was good too, even though her potential was a little wasted due to minimal screentime. In terms of screentime with the MC, that is.