If you're wondering why I'm taking the time to write a review for a 4 page per chapter slice-of-life romcom that's almost exactly like most of the other slice-of-life romcoms out there, then we both have the same question. I guess you could just say that you can find meaning in all the little, unexpected things you come across right?

Giri Harem (Pseudo Harem) is a cute story about a girl, Rin, who is good at acting who likes an older guy in her acting club. To get his attention, she acts like different sterotypes to get his attention and to have fun with him, giving off the feeling that he is in a harem of sorts, which explains the title of the manga. As the two spend more time together they end up like each other more and more, and more developments happen, etc. It's a plot that everyone who has read any sort of harem or slice of life romance has seen before. Though I will say there is at least a sense of progress that's decently well paced, which not every manga can say it has. There's pretty much no other characters besides those two, and they stay fairly consistent throughout the manga. So, if everything about this sound so typical besides the 'pseudo harem' hook, what is there to say about it?

Well, upon first reading I didn't think that this was a very cute and happy manga. In fact, I actually found it to be really sad for some reason. I couldn't figure out the reason why until the manga changed up its pacing a little bit. The reason why the story never felt right in the beginning to me was because Rin was trying to win her senpai over by being everyone but herself. She creates all these different characters and personas in order to make him laugh, to get him to notice her, but in the end, he will never look at her, only the different personalities she creates. It is only when she begins to drop the act and start to say and do what 'Rin' actually wants does her relationship with her senpai advance. And when it does start going, she moves surprisingly fast. It's only at this time where we see the senpai actually start to develop feelings too, showing that Rin's honestly with herself is duly rewarded. It's only then when I saw this manga as the cute and fluffy story it was meant to be.

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Now, I know that this isn't anything that is new to the world of anime and manga since I'd say it's actually explored a lot, but what made Pseudo Harem stand out was both how unexpected it was and how hard Rin tried with her multiple personas that felt like they were being liked way more than she was. It's always discouraging to see when the person you try to be is more liked than the person you actually are (at least from your point of view), which is something that is more common than you would think in the world. A lot of people tend to use their online personas to be better versions of themselves to people they don't even know. People only post the things that make them look the best and say things that they normally wouldn't say, all to get known and noticed by others. But all this is at the cost of not being who you actually are.

If there's one thing that I've learned from Pseudo Harem, this pseudo generic slice-of-life romcom, is that we have to be honest with who we are since that honestly will be rewarded. Those personas we make can still be a part of us, but they are not us. Who would have thought such a small story could leave such a large impact.