This review on Kanojo mo Kanojo contains spoilers. If you haven't seen the chapters, we recommend that you do so and then go back to read the review.

© ヒ ロ ユ キ ・ 講 談 社 / カ ノ ジ ョ ョ も 彼女 製作 委員会 2021

Kanojo mo Kanojo - Chapter 3: A place for three

Although they want to keep their relationship a secret at school, they cannot completely let go of Nagisa. So she took advantage of the fact that she had prepared lunch so they could eat together. Looking for a place to do this without being discovered by others, they go from one place to another. From one bathroom to another. Until it ends up in a closed warehouse, penetrates through a window and houses the square.

As her days at lunch at the warehouse progress, Saki begins to worry because, unlike Nagisa, she has contributed very little to her relationship with Naoya. So he tries to compete with Nagisa in the kitchen, but in the end he burns the food. Saki finds no other occupation and decides to pay Naoya a nightly visit. But rejected by him because of the promise he made to both of them, Saki returns home.

Naoya worries that Saki will leave the house. Feeling guilty, Naoya looks for a way to talk to her and get her to come back to him and Nagisa. She writes her a long love letter, including spending money on Saki's favorite game. Which in turn worries Nagisa because Naoya takes so little care of herself and needs three days without sleep. Using a tactic with her body, Nagisa manages to grab Saki's attention, enough to jump from her room to the balcony from which Naoya screamed her love every day.

Kanojo mo Kanojo - Chapters 3 and 4
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Kanojo mo Kanojo - Chapter 4: Girlfriend and Girlfriend

Naoya takes the opportunity Nagisa gave her to talk to Saki about why she left the house. Saki made it clear to him that she also wanted to do something for Naoya, something that Nagisa would help her with, since Naoya would always stop her if she tried to help him. After talking about it, they achieve a reconciliation and the return of Saki to the house.

Despite being in tune with Nagisa a few hours earlier, Saki still sees her as her rival. Although he wants to get along with her too, he suggests they play a video game together that Nagisa has some experience in. However, Nagisa is still very bad at the game, which makes Saki happy and in turn unites them. Hoping to play together again, Nagisa finds a video from a content creator for the game on a video platform. When they see the thumbnail of one of his videos, they realize that his uniform is identical to his.

The next day they are discovered at lunch by a girl who also enters the gym. By accident, this girl finally learns of Naoya, Saki and Nagisa's relationship, but also of her identity as 'Mirika', the MeTuber. Which leads to Saki taking it out on her for her previously shown attitude of keeping their relationship a secret. After that, they decide not to reveal their identity to anyone, as long as she keeps the secret.

Kanojo mo Kanojo - Chapters 3 and 4
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The fear of not being enough

From the beginning the story of Kanojo mo Kanojo it might be thought of as "fantasy" rather than "reality". This compared to the immense amount of anime that one romance school, including those with pronounced indications harem. Leave only the animes that do not contain anything imaginative, such as making it possible to build a harem, Ru love.

As the chapters passed, that's what I took into account Kanojo mo Kanojo it is in an intermediate line between the two "types". Thanks to the style and the great comedy it contains. So I would have initially thought of comparing some of the situations portrayed in the plot to a much more serious anime in terms of romance. But in Kanojo mo Kanojo - Chapters 3 and 4 showed me that there can be realistic circumstances in so much comedy. In this case, Saki's concern is about her contribution to the relationship.

Personally, I don't have a lot of experience with dating relationships and the few I've had didn't end with happy endings. So my words could be empty for many people. But within my few relationships, I've come to believe that a "relationship" includes its "participants". Your contributions must be balanced, one part shouldn't give a lot while the other just receives. In a relationship, they are supposed to take care of each other.

So I can understand Saki's fear a little. Unlike Nagisa, Saki is only pampered within the relationship between the three of them. I also felt the desperation in the method of changing his situation. Not only when visiting at night, but also when trying to measure yourself against one of your opponent's strengths, in this case eating. Mind you, I'm not blaming her either, as not only do I see her natural behavior for a teen, but Naoya hasn't helped her either. His own thinking about the responsibility / guilt of establishing a relationship was the biggest obstacle. And also one of the reasons why Naoya's character bothers me.

© ヒ ロ ユ キ ・ 講 談 社 / カ ノ ジ ョ ョ も 彼女 製作 委員会 2021

I accept that I liked this somewhat "dramatic" and serious situation that you were involved in Kanojo mo Kanojo - Chapters 3 and 4. There was a fitting moment in the series before the relationship expanded further and felt the lack of such a moment. This gives the characters a great opportunity to develop well, both Saki as the main actor and Naoya and Nagisa. Although I obviously have a feeling that Saki is the one who has done the best.

But not everything in this arc seemed perfect in terms of the plot. Well, Naoya's personality seems more and more forced and a little more absurd to me. Although I sometimes share the mindset, I gradually get the feeling that this character is trying to bring out other "ideals" than the normal ones, but he doesn't do it the right way. Just like me right now, hoping to get my point across. But in Naoya's case, I feel like it's been constant throughout the series, both in previous chapter as in Kanojo mo Kanojo - Chapters 3 and 4.

A new girlfriend?

Like the comedy in Kanojo mo Kanojo, which doesn't stop even in serious situations. Neither does the advancement of the story, which does the increase in potential girlfriends within this relationship. This time with the arrival of 'Mirika'. The character of 'Mirika' had already appeared in previous episodes, although it was more of a cameo and showed small fragments of her videos or just the miniature of it, i.e. the presentation of the character behind that MeTuber is still unknown in the series. Until it is officially presented. Odd, considering she'd already proposed to be Naoya's third girlfriend.

Well, as the story became clear, at the sight of advertising images or even the opening and / or the ending, the harem was expanded. Be at least 4 women incorporating it everywhere Kanojo mo Kanojo. Although one only takes into account what has been shown so far in the animated adaptation, one can guess that each of them will have a different personality that will stand out from the others. But more important than that, in my opinion, would be his mentality when he tries to belong to the harem.

'Mirika', from the little she has shown, it seems that she was interested in Naoya because she was very concerned about her as a person and not as her. MeTuber. Although I don't feel that's why he decided to be the third girlfriend.

Kanojo mo Kanojo - Chapters 3 and 4
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By the way, for those distracted who didn't notice, 'Mirika's' voice is the same seiyuu that gives a voice Nino Nakano (Gotoubun no Hanayome), Ayana Taketatsu. As soon as the character is officially launched, I'll provide more details on it.

Changes in Kanojo mo Kanojo - Chapters 3 and 4

Unlike the previous episodes, in Kanojo mo Kanojo - Chapters 3 and 4 I've seen many signs of a decrease in animation quality. Especially in the last chapter. Most of the movements didn't seem fluid to me and the design of the drawing left a lot to be desired in more than one scene. "Acceptable" and / or good in animation are above all the moments with ego shots, which show the characters' different facial expressions, such as Saki's malicious smile or 'Mirika's' pout of frustration, quite well. However, there were scenes with pretty close takes that I thought were a bit deformed.

© ヒ ロ ユ キ ・ 講 談 社 / カ ノ ジ ョ ョ も 彼女 製作 委員会 2021

Although some of these deformed moments included movement in the animation, this was not the case for all of these scenes. Some even only had the movement in the character's mouth, but with poor implementation in my opinion. For example the scene where Nagisa tells them that 'Mirika' replaced the thumbnail of their video with one in which the uniform was not visible. In this scene I only see three constant movements: Naoya's mouth, Nagisa's hand that adjusts as if using her phone, and Nagisa's own mouth. Of these three sentences, I found Naoya's most acceptable, as it is also the most basic of the three.

The general movement of the characters also had its declines in Kanojo mo Kanojo - Chapters 3 and 4, as they seemed pretty "robotic" to me. As very square movements and with little fluid. As if they wanted to skip frames or even try to add more frames to the animation to add movement to a moment when it might be too much. I'm not an expert in this field so it's just my way of seeing things that are guided by my intuition.

Fortunately, these details in the animation are still within acceptable limits. However, I worry that they appeared so early on the series as they barely Kanojo mo Kanojo - Chapters 3 and 4. Although it can be assumed that a third part has already been published, I would not expect these details until two thirds have been published, e.g. through Chapter 8 or 9.

I hope the animation quality doesn't decrease further in the next few episodes because although this is an anime by comedy, I prefer to laugh at the sentences the characters say about it because the animation is inconsistent and ends up showing a strange facial deformity in a character. Something that wasn't even in the original work.

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Sweety Otaku

One of the best parts of watching anime is how many times a show can surprise you. Sometimes for good, sometimes for bad. But if the Otaku know one thing, it's that anything is possible.

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