Hope You're Happy, Lemon - Ch. 10

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Every chapter I think maybe things will clear up a bit but the trainwreck keeps drifting on more tracks before fully derailing.
Multi-track drifting?!
Seems to be a bunch of people who hate this (but still read it for whatever reason). Personally I think it's dumb but fun
 
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Fun lil manga, I find its misunderstandings filled comedy of errors kinda similar to another ongoing manga, Boku no Suki na Hito ga Suki na Hito (My Crush's Crush).

I'm surprised to find out it's so hated around these parts, though. Curious to find out why Lemon broke up with the guy with a lie; I'm guessing, since she was a pushover back then, she was kind of made to do it by someone else (though, why would she come up with such an over the top and weird lie to do it is definitely strange).
 
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I think I've managed to figure out why this manga is so shit, besides the mc being a waste of oxygen. Basically the two side characters are pursuing the two mcs, but the two mcs have no agency. As in, the mc is doing nothing to hook up with the brunette, and lemon is doing nothing to hook up with mc. So what the heck are we even reading? The reaction of two clueless presumably straight MCs to people of the same gender hitting on them (who are being catfished).

The plot devices of mc going after the brunette, of his 'being cheated on' past, or lemon wanting to get back together with him, have been absolutely discarded.
It's not just lack of agency that's the problem. The agency wouldn't matter if it wasn't for the main issues being ignored...

The "my childhood friend/girlfriend betrayed me" is a pretty serious topic and yet is brushed aside.

We get very little development in the 2 main character's relationship.

There is not enough focus on their feelings and emotions...

Honestly, if this was just estranged childhood friends instead, that would remove a major issue with this series...

The background for this story is too emotional, yet there is no emotional focus....

Like, sure, the comic romcom element should be there.... but when a serious trauma or issue is a part of the plot as well, that needs to be worked on...

If their dating arc never existed (maybe even changing it to a misunderstood rejection) that would fix 90% of this story...
 
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How can Lemon do all that and be close to another girl. Holding hands, asking out on a "date" being close conversationally.
She really doesn't care what she does to his social life at all
 
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My bro is too assertive, that's why he isn't a romcom protagonist :fml:
 
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The "my childhood friend/girlfriend betrayed me" is a pretty serious topic and yet is brushed aside.
100% agree last chapter when the male side character started talking about lemon and male mc just didn't mention the cheating at all, it made me so mad. Why include such an important pivotal point in chapter 1 only to pretend that it just doesn't exist. The conversations between the two mcs are so casual that it becomes infuriating.
 
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It's not just lack of agency that's the problem. The agency wouldn't matter if it wasn't for the main issues being ignored...

The "my childhood friend/girlfriend betrayed me" is a pretty serious topic and yet is brushed aside.

We get very little development in the 2 main character's relationship.

There is not enough focus on their feelings and emotions...

Honestly, if this was just estranged childhood friends instead, that would remove a major issue with this series...

The background for this story is too emotional, yet there is no emotional focus....

Like, sure, the comic romcom element should be there.... but when a serious trauma or issue is a part of the plot as well, that needs to be worked on...

If their dating arc never existed (maybe even changing it to a misunderstood rejection) that would fix 90% of this story...
Thing is, we CAN'T explore the main character and Lemon's internal thoughts too much, because nothing they do makes any sense.

MC could solve all his problems by literally just talking about his feelings to any of these 3 other characters. If he talked to his love interest about his feelings he'd have a girlfriend and there'd be no story. If he talked to Lemon about his feelings she'd know to get lost/confess she made up the story about cheating and then there'd be no story. If he talked to his friend about his ex then his friend would either respectfully distance himself from Lemon and no longer be part of this love web, or he'd lose his friendship and basically be out of the story. The only move the MC can make to keep the story going is none.

And Lemon acts like a complete idiot, else there'd be no story. She has to invite her friend along, despite it being obviously an unnecessary and fruitless risk, else there wouldn't be a story. The same for inviting MC's friend.

None of the characters have agency because if they did, it would break the story.

You're right, the fundamental problem is that the writer has written themselves into a corner with the cheating thing. If Lemon were just an ex and they broke up on bad terms with, then the story doesn't look anywhere near as bad. Could even be an interesting, 'walk a mile in their shoes' type of story. As is, the MC treats having to be his cheating ex and having to watch as his ex fucks up his love life as a slight inconvenience. None of the characters have any depth. Their relationships are stagnant. The plot is contrived.
 
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people comparing this to rent-a-girlfriend is crazy. this has more development now in 10 chapters than rental did in at least 40. hatereading is a hell of a drug i suppose

im also convinced 80% of mangadex commenters are the "why didnt they just fly over mordor and drop the ring in?" (or however it goes) types
 
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Well, I end up liking the story because of the following:

- Sunao is the typical man who doesn't understand other people's feelings, much less his own.
-Lemon is almost the same, but he at least knows how to socialize better.

When I started reading the story in the first two chapters, I thought "it's going to be one of those stories that you both learn from each other under the other skin". But Sunao is very selfish with his feelings and Lemon apparently still doesn't deal well with his own feelings, hence the "I don't care" attitude that generates the story's confusion.

The fact that the first chapters focus a lot on Sunao at least made me understand the protagonist. He just wanted a nice girlfriend (and he saw her in Natsumi, given that Sunao was "traumatized" by Lemon), but he thinks too much and that pushes him away. Lemon (when in Sunao's body) ends up being "more direct" as he deals with her as a friend and thus ends up making Natsumi fall in love with Sunao (which he hasn't realized until now). In the case of Sunao in Lemon's body, he unintentionally made Suzuka fall in love with her too.
 
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How can Lemon do all that and be close to another girl. Holding hands, asking out on a "date" being close conversationally.
She really doesn't care what she does to his social life at all
I think it was made clear pretty early on she's just a dumbass.....

Thing is, we CAN'T explore the main character and Lemon's internal thoughts too much, because nothing they do makes any sense.

MC could solve all his problems by literally just talking about his feelings to any of these 3 other characters. If he talked to his love interest about his feelings he'd have a girlfriend and there'd be no story. If he talked to Lemon about his feelings she'd know to get lost/confess she made up the story about cheating and then there'd be no story. If he talked to his friend about his ex then his friend would either respectfully distance himself from Lemon and no longer be part of this love web, or he'd lose his friendship and basically be out of the story. The only move the MC can make to keep the story going is none.
The fact that he isn't talking about it makes sense.

It's normal not to confess your feelings right away and he probably wants to avoid the issue.

The problem is that we aren't having any focus on the feelings... no tears, no hate, no uncomfortableness.

Like, it's almost like the author almost forgot what even happened...

The entire issue dragging everything down is the "cheating".... if that was taken away, this would just be a classic romcom and everything would make sense.

Hell, if we just had more of his internal monologue and the 2 of them actually properly interacting, that'd be one thing....
 

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