Girlfriend, Girlfriend (2021)

[カノジョも彼女]

Volume 4

Author/Artist: Hiroyuki
Publisher: Kodansha Comics Magazine

Synopsis:
Naoya, Saki and Nagisa go on a trip to an onsen together, but complications emerge when Milika and Saki's friend Shino show up as well.

Story/Characters:
This may sound odd, but when I started watching the anime adaptation of this series, Shino caught my interest and my impatience to see her have a more prominent role in the story was a big part of the reason I went ahead and picked up the manga. I bring this up because this is the first volume where she has significant screentime. At first, it seems fairly straightforward. She's Saki's friend and she wants to protect her from being taken advantage of. I like the way she confronts Naoya, bringing in a lot of real-life practical concerns that come with a poly relationship, which isn't the sort of thing you'd expect from a comedy like this. Before that, we actually have a halfway decent moment with Milika where she drops her usual shenanigans and just has a simple conversation with Naoya. If she'd actually move more along these lines, she might actually be good for more than just being a [Sierra]-stirrer.

After Naoya and Shino's confrontation gets interrupted by Saki and Nagisa, we then get some time with the two girlfriends that dig into Nagisa's backstory. On the one hand, you see how much she struggles and perseveres in the face of all these challenges, which reflects positively on her. On the other hand, we see that she knew about Naoya and Saki, which means she was deliberately moving in as a homewrecker, when combined with other negative aspect of hers like her propensity for blackmail as a go-to method for dealing with people, has quite the opposite effect. Even her acts of self-sacrifice in favor of Saki are strongly motivated by her own interests, as she stands to lose everything if she moves to edge out her rival. However, hashing things out with Naoya prompts her to be more assertive, which in turn encourages Saki to take her head-on. This could lead to interesting developments (but I wouldn't count on it too much).

We close on a little meeting at Shino's place where she tries to get to the bottom of things with our core trio. She has her work cut out for her. Once the gang leaves, we learn about the other side of her motivation, which I'll discuss more when it comes up in upcoming volumes. It's another big part of why I find her character so interesting.

Art:
As the bulk of this volume is an onsen trip, expect to see the girls in bath towels a lot (and often less). It's funny how largely unaffected Naoya is to the sight of any of the girls being naked. I also like Shino's intensity when she's facing down Naoya. Nagisa's design from her middle school days is nice, but I've always been partial to girls with glasses. The two page spread for the climax of the onsen arc is also quite good.

Conclusion:
I'll admit that my fondness for Shino is a big part of why I like this volume so much, but there's good character stuff all around, even with Milika. And as much as I like the stuff with Shino, getting Nagisa's backstory is also good stuff and nudging her into a more assertive role in the relationship bodes well for future developments. I know I haven't rated the past two volumes as highly, largely because of Milika, but now, largely because of Shino, I'm going to recommend this one for the collection.

Rating:
Own It