Girlfriend, Girlfriend (2021)

[カノジョも彼女]

Volume 8

Author/Artist: Hiroyuki
Publisher: Kodansha Comics Magazine

Synopsis:
To prove he can resist the temptation to do anything, Naoya agrees to sleep with the each of the girls on alternating nights.

Story/Characters:
While we know this series barely cracks into PG-13 territory as far as raciness is concerned, if it weren't for Naoya being Naoya, it'd be hard to keep things relatively tame with the latest plot development. Shino's turn comes up first and she ends up being the boldest of the bunch, a combination of her warming up to the idea of making a genuine effort to toss her hat into the ring and her pride being bruised by Naoya's lack of response. This leads to an inversion with Milika that then gets double-inverted and ultimately subverted because, after all, the target is Naoya. Nagisa's turn has her prioritizing an ailing Naoya's health, which reflects well on her (and I admit she has my #2 slot). Then comes Saki... Just as Naoya is Naoya, Saki is Saki. She clumsily tries to indirectly stimulate his libido and it ends up a mess for both of them.

With this first round complete, Milika flaunting her delicates prompts a bra competition. Yes, really. Afterward, we get quite the cliffhanger, which I'm going to have to spoil or else I can't talk about the subsequent two chapters. Naoya's parents show up and they respond about as you'd expect. His dad is furious with jealousy and his mom isn't going for any of it... until she's sufficiently convinced to withdraw so the status quo isn't upset too much. Frankly, it would've been interesting seeing how the gang would manage living under the same roof with the folks involved, but Hiroyuki clearly doesn't want to deal with the complications that would bring.

Naoya makes an unrealistic challenge for himself by pledging to take the #1 spot in his grade on the next big test. (I can imagine how it's going to play out, but we'll see.) Before we get to some hardcore studying, we've got a trip to Okinawa, which means we've got to do some swimsuit shopping first. As Shino is brought along for this as well, she ends up getting targeted by Milika, who susses out that she's a fellow competitor for Naoya's affections and twists her into forming an alliance. I can't say I'm too happy about this, but I'm hoping Shino can use that big brain of hers to get one over on Milika. There is the power of the Aho Field to consider, though. Needless to say, I have my concerns.

Art:
You get the sight of Shino in a babydoll and Nurse!Nagisa, so that will probably satisfy the fanservice quota (not that it stops with that in this series). I'm surprised Hiroyuki resisted the temptation to show off the girls modeling swimsuits during the shopping trip, but I suppose we'll be seeing them in swimsuits enough during the Okinawa trip. (I hope for Shino's sake she doesn't end up in the microbikini Saki wants her to wear.) I do like the look of dead-eyed contempt from both Shino and Saki when they see the bra Milika's hung up to dry. It's one of the better reaction shots in this volume.

Other:
We get an afterword comic of Hiroyuki celebrating the end of the first season of the anime and thanking everyone involved, while revealing the Okinawa arc is just a bid of his to go on vacation and write it off as a business expense. We also get a couple illustrations for the anime that had previously been published in Shounen Magazine.

Conclusion:
The co-sleeping arc had some interesting character moments, but the appearance of Naoya's parents felt like a bit of a missed opportunity for not taking the chance to shake things up more dramatically. The prelude for the Okinawa arc has me fearing derailment of my favorite character, so while I don't regret purchasing this volume myself, for the general audience I'm not going to give it a stronger recommendation than encouraging you to give it a read.

Rating:
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