Hope You're Happy, Lemon

[JTMad]

2) Parents divorced, she had to move to Germany..........But something happened and she stayed but it was too late.

My money is on that

 

[Andasen]

Let's all be honest, the winning girl is already Lemon, and toward the end the author gonna do some writing gymnastic and try, emphasize on try, to fix all the loose plot in just 2 chapters. I know these types of story

 

[Kampfarsch]

I find it real difficult to tolerate lemons presence on the page when she is such a gigantic piece of garbage
Ruined this mans life for absolutely no reason and now she goes "tehe I have a crush on him" fuck off vermin
For once I am thankful that ShitPlus forces me to stop reading this absolute sewage

 

[littleGTZ]

Great art, cute but getting trashier and more complicated with every chapter. I really WANT this to turn out good honestly.

Still not nearly as bad as most people here, who can't stand complex relationships whatsoever cause they've never been in one, make it out ot be. Christ people give it time. I swear isekai trash has done the same damage to peoples attention spans in manga as tiktok has done in any other media. Not every series needs to have it's complex matters resolved in like 10 chapters (I love isekai trash). That being said, the love triangle has gotten a bit annoying. Lemon is clearly gonna be the winning girl. Sunao's friend being in love with Lemon after he finds out that it was a body switch makes 0 sense, Raika being enamored with lemon is annoying and unneccessary, and the other main girl is a nothing character, she's a generic love interest so far.

 

[LeBronBron]

I really love the art style but I have mixed feelings since I love both girls and only one will get him probably

 

[Lisa-Nasa]

I feel like this manga is getting reviewed bombed by certain kinds of people. It's got a pretty solid, if already done premise and the comedic timing is pretty good. By all accounts, this should be gravitating towards the "average" of an 8.0 that most manga on the site will end up within 0.1 or 0.2 points of (usually upwards). That this is nearly 0.4 points below that despite being significantly better than plenty of others sitting at or near 8.0 is baffling.

This frequently happens to any manga prominently featuring a female character that so much as dares not being a pure, pristine cardboard cut out. Any sort of negative complexity (you know, something that actually gives character or texture to someone) in women just draws out the worst from some people here. They're so afraid of women having flaws or making mistakes or doing something wrong. Just look at all the comments here that only focus on hating Lemon (a character who otherwise seems very nice and outgoing and even admits to herself that she made a mistake) and you'll see what I mean.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think this is a 10/10 by any means, but it's WAY better than a 7.66 (which is where it's at at the time of this post). Really only posting because I'm fuming at the thought of how many GOOD manga likely end up buried because some people hate on one character (typically a woman) then bomb the manga's rating to way lower than it should be.

What??? So, telling your S.O. that you cheated on them with three different guys is okay because they have a complex personality and might've had a reason to do so??? That's not how that works.

While I disagree with the framing, I kind off agree with you. Are there going to be incels that don't like FMC because her not being pure? Yeah. But that's obviously a vocal minority. Certainly not enough to reviewbomb. I feel like the overwhelming of people that are disliking the manga are like that because of the HUGE outlandish lie that FMC told the MMC. Because, in my own personal opinion, telling the person you like that you cheated on them with multiple people is insane. Like, I don't care what the reason why she did it is, there were better ways of breaking up than telling the person that loves you some that would stick with them for the rest of their life.

Ultimately, I don't believe that this manga deserves the rating that you think it does. The FMC could've ended this entire thing by telling him from the beginning of the manga that she lied, and then the story could follow her trying to tell the now disillusioned MMC the reason why so lied. But that not what happened. She just continues to beat around the bush and not tell him even when she has many opportunities to do so. And when you consider that she is probably the reason why they are bodyswapping in the first place, I think that she completely missed the window of opportunity.

Do I think that Lemon deserves all the hate that she is most likely getting? No. Do I think that this manga deserves more than a 6 out of 10? NO

 

[BULLETTIME11]

simp and an incal.

Yummy I love buzzwords

 

[Zurikishifannumber8008]

I saw the first chapter and was curious enough because I enjoy a good "picking yourself back up" story, dropped it as soon as the bodyswap happened. Ugh, why did the author have to add that in? couldn't they have just made a nice story about a guy moving on from his crappy ex?

 

[Pibata]

i've just started reading this and it hurts

how can a person dig your own hole so much

 

[Pibata]

I really love the art style but I have mixed feelings since I love both girls and only one will get him probably

probably

 

[CanisLupusArctos]

Author is walking on thin ice here.
He better have a good excuse to let Lemon win, otherwise this is just gonna be full of shit.
Kogahara better win, she better does.

 

[Aslandic]

This is so dog bro 😭

 

[Robinisback]

Started out absolute trash but it has started getting good.

 

[Phelgming]

What??? So, telling your S.O. that you cheated on them with three different guys is okay because they have a complex personality and might've had a reason to do so??? That's not how that works.

While I disagree with the framing, I kind off agree with you. Are there going to be incels that don't like FMC because her not being pure? Yeah. But that's obviously a vocal minority. Certainly not enough to reviewbomb. I feel like the overwhelming of people that are disliking the manga are like that because of the HUGE outlandish lie that FMC told the MMC. Because, in my own personal opinion, telling the person you like that you cheated on them with multiple people is insane. Like, I don't care what the reason why she did it is, there were better ways of breaking up than telling the person that loves you some that would stick with them for the rest of their life.

Ultimately, I don't believe that this manga deserves the rating that you think it does. The FMC could've ended this entire thing by telling him from the beginning of the manga that she lied, and then the story could follow her trying to tell the now disillusioned MMC the reason why so lied. But that not what happened. She just continues to beat around the bush and not tell him even when she has many opportunities to do so. And when you consider that she is probably the reason why they are bodyswapping in the first place, I think that she completely missed the window of opportunity.

Do I think that Lemon deserves all the hate that she is most likely getting? No. Do I think that this manga deserves more than a 6 out of 10? NO

You either did not understand my arguments or are misrepresenting them. I didn't say lying is okay if a character has a complex personality; I said character flaws are a key component of making a complex character. I never said what she did was okay; just that a lot of grown men are getting REALLY angry about a young woman making a mistake and completely missed the point (that her doing something wrong IS supposed to be a bad thing and that's not a flaw of the manga, but of the character) because they can't get over a female character not being a perfect, little girl.

Incels are a minority, yes, but not so much here. In the greater population, incels are MAYBE 1%. On the internet? In the anime/manga community? On forums? Much bigger demographic. I'm not saying it's everyone here (not by a long shot), but incels or incel-esque personality traits are much more common. Even here, you can go into just about any thread about a manga with a flawed female character and find them in droves, hating the subject matter, hating a character, and disparaging any discourse to the contrary because they can't face anything short of pristine female archetypes. It's why so many of the highest rated romance manga on MangaDex are shallow, poorly-written fantasy fulfillment where the girls are either perfect or their character "flaw" is something that's cute or endearing as opposed to an actual flaw. Female characters aren't allowed to make mistakes here. My biggest, most intentional point is how fucking frustrating that makes finding GOOD romance manga. THIS manga that we are talking about here, right now, is NOT a good romance manga, yes, I give that (I also don't think it's a bad one; it's just fine), but, it is nowhere near as bad as its rating would make you believe when compared to other, very highly rated shlock and garbage that have 8s or 9s and are hailed as genre-peaks when all they do is appeal to readers with zero interest in character depth.

If this manga is a 6, then so are many of the supposed "9"s here (if not worse). The Russian-speaking girl one, for example; I tried for multiple chapters to find out why people rate it so highly and it's just wish-fulfillment garbage. I don't know if I'm the meme where the guy stops mining just before hitting diamonds, but wow is that manga shallow and boring.

My point wasn't "this manga is an 8" my point was "if most other manga on MangaDex are 8s, then this should be, too". If anything, I should amend my statement and say "most of the manga on MangaDex are 6s, but people have such poor taste or are so insecure that this is one of the few manga that actually reflect its correct rating." How's that?

 

[Monn12]

You either did not understand my arguments or are misrepresenting them. I didn't say lying is okay if a character has a complex personality; I said character flaws are a key component of making a complex character. I never said what she did was okay; just that a lot of grown men are getting REALLY angry about a young woman making a mistake and completely missed the point (that her doing something wrong IS supposed to be a bad thing and that's not a flaw of the manga, but of the character) because they can't get over a female character not being a perfect, little girl.

Incels are a minority, yes, but not so much here. In the greater population, incels are MAYBE 1%. On the internet? In the anime/manga community? On forums? Much bigger demographic. I'm not saying it's everyone here (not by a long shot), but incels or incel-esque personality traits are much more common. Even here, you can go into just about any thread about a manga with a flawed female character and find them in droves, hating the subject matter, hating a character, and disparaging any discourse to the contrary because they can't face anything short of pristine female archetypes. It's why so many of the highest rated romance manga on MangaDex are shallow, poorly-written fantasy fulfillment where the girls are either perfect or their character "flaw" is something that's cute or endearing as opposed to an actual flaw. Female characters aren't allowed to make mistakes here. My biggest, most intentional point is how fucking frustrating that makes finding GOOD romance manga. THIS manga that we are talking about here, right now, is NOT a good romance manga, yes, I give that (I also don't think it's a bad one; it's just fine), but, it is nowhere near as bad as its rating would make you believe when compared to other, very highly rated shlock and garbage that have 8s or 9s and are hailed as genre-peaks when all they do is appeal to readers with zero interest in character depth.

If this manga is a 6, then so are many of the supposed "9"s here (if not worse). The Russian-speaking girl one, for example; I tried for multiple chapters to find out why people rate it so highly and it's just wish-fulfillment garbage. I don't know if I'm the meme where the guy stops mining just before hitting diamonds, but wow is that manga shallow and boring.

My point wasn't "this manga is an 8" my point was "if most other manga on MangaDex are 8s, then this should be, too". If anything, I should amend my statement and say "most of the manga on MangaDex are 6s, but people have such poor taste or are so insecure that this is one of the few manga that actually reflect its correct rating." How's that?

Hey you know what I partially agree with you, i dropped Russian speaking girl even faster. This one i tried to endure.
Like he said majority a vast majority dislike her for her lie. It's not a "flawed" personality look up Asper girl (also manga) now that's complex. She on the other hand did something scummy with long lasting damage.

You know what isekais i like? That either do not contain romance at all (even mentions of it) OR where MC builds a family with one girl and their relationships flows in one direction without any typical love triangles that happen in live but not as often as we see in media.

Gonna tell you this, if you wronged a person (maliciously) don't fucking go near them unless they come to you themselves and even then think if it is healthy for them. What you can do come to them say "Sorry. Explain then leave". But i do not expect that behaviour from a teenager but I sure as hell expect that from someone in college.

Also her "flaw" is a poorly thought through malicious action that had long lasting effects on a person. I really don't know about you, but i wouldn't my ex-girlfriend near me even after 20 years if she cheated on me. Even though i might not feel anything bad anymore the fact stays she betrayed me, why would i want to surround myself with people who i cannot trust fully?
Trust that is broken can never revert back to it's "pure" form it will always be stained with filth of the past.

As an extreme example, I was drunk and hit my neighbors wife/husband i don't fucking expect them to forgive me nor will i ever show up in their lifetime except my apology, compensation and explanation if i have a decent one. A real example: If i did the same as her, i would only say sorry, explain why I lied and leave EVEN if a girl forgave me and would accept me back I WOULD NEVER go back to her, nothing good will come out of this.

 

[PogChampClap]

You either did not understand my arguments or are misrepresenting them. I didn't say lying is okay if a character has a complex personality; I said character flaws are a key component of making a complex character. I never said what she did was okay; just that a lot of grown men are getting REALLY angry about a young woman making a mistake and completely missed the point (that her doing something wrong IS supposed to be a bad thing and that's not a flaw of the manga, but of the character) because they can't get over a female character not being a perfect, little girl.

Incels are a minority, yes, but not so much here. In the greater population, incels are MAYBE 1%. On the internet? In the anime/manga community? On forums? Much bigger demographic. I'm not saying it's everyone here (not by a long shot), but incels or incel-esque personality traits are much more common. Even here, you can go into just about any thread about a manga with a flawed female character and find them in droves, hating the subject matter, hating a character, and disparaging any discourse to the contrary because they can't face anything short of pristine female archetypes. It's why so many of the highest rated romance manga on MangaDex are shallow, poorly-written fantasy fulfillment where the girls are either perfect or their character "flaw" is something that's cute or endearing as opposed to an actual flaw. Female characters aren't allowed to make mistakes here. My biggest, most intentional point is how fucking frustrating that makes finding GOOD romance manga. THIS manga that we are talking about here, right now, is NOT a good romance manga, yes, I give that (I also don't think it's a bad one; it's just fine), but, it is nowhere near as bad as its rating would make you believe when compared to other, very highly rated shlock and garbage that have 8s or 9s and are hailed as genre-peaks when all they do is appeal to readers with zero interest in character depth.

If this manga is a 6, then so are many of the supposed "9"s here (if not worse). The Russian-speaking girl one, for example; I tried for multiple chapters to find out why people rate it so highly and it's just wish-fulfillment garbage. I don't know if I'm the meme where the guy stops mining just before hitting diamonds, but wow is that manga shallow and boring.

My point wasn't "this manga is an 8" my point was "if most other manga on MangaDex are 8s, then this should be, too". If anything, I should amend my statement and say "most of the manga on MangaDex are 6s, but people have such poor taste or are so insecure that this is one of the few manga that actually reflect its correct rating." How's that?

The issue I have with the FMC is despite causing such trauma to the MC, she pretends to act like everything is all normal when they meet up again and then proceed to hide the truth dragging out the series. You can say her lying about that incident is just a character flaw, but clearly the way she follows up afterwards show an even worse character despite how much the manga tries to paint her as good.

You can say what you want about Alya but a lot of people enjoy that series because the characters are all likable, from the MC, his sister, his love interest etc. Here we have an MC that doesn't confront the FMC for an answer for some reason and continues to try to get along with her which is just bizarre and clearly not something a normal person would do, let alone a traumatized one.

 

[ameraldas]

IDK about you guys but I have just been really enjoying this manga.

 

[Phelgming]

Hey you know what I partially agree with you, i dropped Russian speaking girl even faster. This one i tried to endure.
Like he said majority a vast majority dislike her for her lie. It's not a "flawed" personality look up Asper girl (also manga) now that's complex. She on the other hand did something scummy with long lasting damage.

You know what isekais i like? That either do not contain romance at all (even mentions of it) OR where MC builds a family with one girl and their relationships flows in one direction without any typical love triangles that happen in live but not as often as we see in media.

Gonna tell you this, if you wronged a person (maliciously) don't fucking go near them unless they come to you themselves and even then think if it is healthy for them. What you can do come to them say "Sorry. Explain then leave". But i do not expect that behaviour from a teenager but I sure as hell expect that from someone in college.

Also her "flaw" is a poorly thought through malicious action that had long lasting effects on a person. I really don't know about you, but i wouldn't my ex-girlfriend near me even after 20 years if she cheated on me. Even though i might not feel anything bad anymore the fact stays she betrayed me, why would i want to surround myself with people who i cannot trust fully?
Trust that is broken can never revert back to it's "pure" form it will always be stained with filth of the past.

As an extreme example, I was drunk and hit my neighbors wife/husband i don't fucking expect them to forgive me nor will i ever show up in their lifetime except my apology, compensation and explanation if i have a decent one. A real example: If i did the same as her, i would only say sorry, explain why I lied and leave EVEN if a girl forgave me and would accept me back I WOULD NEVER go back to her, nothing good will come out of this.

I actually don't disagree with much that you've said here. For what it's worth, my original argument started in and is based on the very beginning of the manga as I believe only two chapters had been released at the time. Things were still tense and awkward between the two main characters. It was written fairly well (not great, but not enough to warrant the review bombing which was my point) in that regard. Many things would have played out different save for the core plot device (which exists to force them into interacting). I will also say that kids in college are still really fucking stupid and our characters are only freshmen. As far as I'm concerned, college kids are just as dumb as high school kids, but just happen to be legally considered adults. It's been 15 years and my friends and I still joke about the asinine and cringe stuff we did has college kids (and not just as freshmen, either). They also have a history and histories are often worth fighting for (I've had big fights with all my friends, but we've come through. That's not to say every relationship can be salvaged, but many can be).

I guess for context on my preferences, I don't mind love triangles or what have you. I don't really crave them, though. I just like relationships that form over time and hit various obstacles along the way. It doesn't have to be super dramatic or anything, but, in real life, the strongest relationships are the ones that have overcome adversity. I very much do not like romantic plotlines where two characters are just magnetically drawn to each other immediately from the start and just act sweet and lovey dovey the whole time. That's not how relationships tend to work. Enemies to lovers is a big trope I like. Childhood friends is also a big one for me since it implies a lot of history before any romantic feelings come to fruition. Love at first sight is basically anathema to my tastes. Many of my favorite romantic manga/plotlines feature characters who end up with someone completely different to who they were looking for at the start. Some of my absolute favorites even end with a break up because they learn they weren't good for each other, but their relationship with each other was important for their growth as people.

The issue I have with the FMC is despite causing such trauma to the MC, she pretends to act like everything is all normal when they meet up again and then proceed to hide the truth dragging out the series. You can say her lying about that incident is just a character flaw, but clearly the way she follows up afterwards show an even worse character despite how much the manga tries to paint her as good.

You can say what you want about Alya but a lot of people enjoy that series because the characters are all likable, from the MC, his sister, his love interest etc. Here we have an MC that doesn't confront the FMC for an answer for some reason and continues to try to get along with her which is just bizarre and clearly not something a normal person would do, let alone a traumatized one.

I don't disagree with your take on this manga in particular. This manga is far from perfect. I just don't think it's any worse that any of the other romance people flood to.

That said, and I'm sorry to restate this, but the Russian-speaking romcom just flops for me. I'm sure a lot of people like the characters (like, actually, I am 100% sure of it because it's wildly popular and I can never get away from it), but, from the effort I put in to read it, not a single character landed well for me. They were just too flat and the premise struck me as way too wish fulfillment-y. It's just subjective taste. If me calling it garbage offended you, I am sorry. That said, I will not rescind my statement nor my opinion. That also said, my negative opinion of it should not impede your enjoyment of it. By all means, please continue enjoying it.

 

[Lisa-Nasa]

You either did not understand my arguments or are misrepresenting them. I didn't say lying is okay if a character has a complex personality; I said character flaws are a key component of making a complex character. I never said what she did was okay; just that a lot of grown men are getting REALLY angry about a young woman making a mistake and completely missed the point (that her doing something wrong IS supposed to be a bad thing and that's not a flaw of the manga, but of the character) because they can't get over a female character not being a perfect, little girl.

Incels are a minority, yes, but not so much here. In the greater population, incels are MAYBE 1%. On the internet? In the anime/manga community? On forums? Much bigger demographic. I'm not saying it's everyone here (not by a long shot), but incels or incel-esque personality traits are much more common. Even here, you can go into just about any thread about a manga with a flawed female character and find them in droves, hating the subject matter, hating a character, and disparaging any discourse to the contrary because they can't face anything short of pristine female archetypes. It's why so many of the highest rated romance manga on MangaDex are shallow, poorly-written fantasy fulfillment where the girls are either perfect or their character "flaw" is something that's cute or endearing as opposed to an actual flaw. Female characters aren't allowed to make mistakes here. My biggest, most intentional point is how fucking frustrating that makes finding GOOD romance manga. THIS manga that we are talking about here, right now, is NOT a good romance manga, yes, I give that (I also don't think it's a bad one; it's just fine), but, it is nowhere near as bad as its rating would make you believe when compared to other, very highly rated shlock and garbage that have 8s or 9s and are hailed as genre-peaks when all they do is appeal to readers with zero interest in character depth.

If this manga is a 6, then so are many of the supposed "9"s here (if not worse). The Russian-speaking girl one, for example; I tried for multiple chapters to find out why people rate it so highly and it's just wish-fulfillment garbage. I don't know if I'm the meme where the guy stops mining just before hitting diamonds, but wow is that manga shallow and boring.

My point wasn't "this manga is an 8" my point was "if most other manga on MangaDex are 8s, then this should be, too". If anything, I should amend my statement and say "most of the manga on MangaDex are 6s, but people have such poor taste or are so insecure that this is one of the few manga that actually reflect its correct rating." How's that?

I agree with you on the incel point. There are men out there that live in a "bubble" so to speak where they set impossibly high standards on women, and when they read Manga and watch anime, they are vindicated in their beliefs. So when a female character that breaks the mold and deviates from that perfect girl with no flaws archetype, they get frustrated and begin to hate her.



But not Lemon.



My main frustration with this her is not only is the reason for the lie she told has been unexplained from the start, but that she was still in love with him when she told it. Everything went out the window the moment the author revealed that, because it comes into question as to why she told the lie in the first place. It's hard to accept her flaws with that piece of information, especially when she still refuses to change from the moment that they were middle schoolers to when they are actual university students. You're telling me, that since she was a pre-teen, Lemon is still unconfident, in spite of the fact that she's the popular girl, and she still can't communicate with someone she supposedly loves, to the point that she can't let him go.



The lie she told in the beginning isn't the problem. If she told Sunao from the beginning that she lied about cheating on him in middle school and the story then revolved around her trying to convince him that she's changed while using to confidence that she would undoubtedly have as the popular girl, that would've made for a much more enjoyable story about moving on from your past relationships. But she hasn't, which is my main issue. She made the wish on the star to reinsert herself back into Sunao's life, which is the worst thing that she could've done in her position; she's taking advantage of all the situations they're finding themselves in order to get close to him, and she, while knowing that he likes someone else, wants to be his partner. These flaws of hers are not being addressed in a satisfying manner and are instead exacerbated by her consistent avoidance to address the main problem at hand: the fact she still hasn't told him she lied.



What makes everything even worse is that she's trying to get back with him while knowing that he likes her best friend. She has a feeling that her best friend might have feelings too, but she's throwing her under the bus for somebody that she has spoken to in years.



I know that there are people in the audience that can't stand the idea of a flawed woman but I can't help but feel that they are vindicated by the fact that Lemon is too flawed even to the point that it's far too unrealistic. How is Lemon, who is characterized as being on top of the social hierarchy and Sunao, the character who is portrayed as being completely average besides his above-average physique, have conflicting personalities? She can't tell him the truth, sure, but after this long she should've. She's had many opportunities but hasn't taken any of them. She keeps beating around the bush on why she lied to Sunao and is trying to get back with him in spite of the fact that she knows he likes her roommate. What's worse is that if she just told him about her lie, she would've had a better chance to get back with him. We know that it's been at least 10 years since she dumped him back in middle school, so why in that time didn't she take the initiative and try to get back with him the proper way instead of all this wishing upon a star nonsense?

 

[Phelgming]

I agree with you on the incel point. There are men out there that live in a "bubble" so to speak where they set impossibly high standards on women, and when they read Manga and watch anime, they are vindicated in their beliefs. So when a female character that breaks the mold and deviates from that perfect girl with no flaws archetype, they get frustrated and begin to hate her.



But not Lemon.



My main frustration with this her is not only is the reason for the lie she told has been unexplained from the start, but that she was still in love with him when she told it. Everything went out the window the moment the author revealed that, because it comes into question as to why she told the lie in the first place. It's hard to accept her flaws with that piece of information, especially when she still refuses to change from the moment that they were middle schoolers to when they are actual university students. You're telling me, that since she was a pre-teen, Lemon is still unconfident, in spite of the fact that she's the popular girl, and she still can't communicate with someone she supposedly loves, to the point that she can't let him go.



The lie she told in the beginning isn't the problem. If she told Sunao from the beginning that she lied about cheating on him in middle school and the story then revolved around her trying to convince him that she's changed while using to confidence that she would undoubtedly have as the popular girl, that would've made for a much more enjoyable story about moving on from your past relationships. But she hasn't, which is my main issue. She made the wish on the star to reinsert herself back into Sunao's life, which is the worst thing that she could've done in her position; she's taking advantage of all the situations they're finding themselves in order to get close to him, and she, while knowing that he likes someone else, wants to be his partner. These flaws of hers are not being addressed in a satisfying manner and are instead exacerbated by her consistent avoidance to address the main problem at hand: the fact she still hasn't told him she lied.



What makes everything even worse is that she's trying to get back with him while knowing that he likes her best friend. She has a feeling that her best friend might have feelings too, but she's throwing her under the bus for somebody that she has spoken to in years.



I know that there are people in the audience that can't stand the idea of a flawed woman but I can't help but feel that they are vindicated by the fact that Lemon is too flawed even to the point that it's far too unrealistic. How is Lemon, who is characterized as being on top of the social hierarchy and Sunao, the character who is portrayed as being completely average besides his above-average physique, have conflicting personalities? She can't tell him the truth, sure, but after this long she should've. She's had many opportunities but hasn't taken any of them. She keeps beating around the bush on why she lied to Sunao and is trying to get back with him in spite of the fact that she knows he likes her roommate. What's worse is that if she just told him about her lie, she would've had a better chance to get back with him. We know that it's been at least 10 years since she dumped him back in middle school, so why in that time didn't she take the initiative and try to get back with him the proper way instead of all this wishing upon a star nonsense?

I don't want to get too into it since, as I said to someone else in my last post here, my argument started back at and is based on the start of the manga when there were only 2 chapters released (and it was still very strongly review bombed).

Based off the first two chapters, none of your arguments particularly hold water (unless you expected the story to have a blazing fast pace and last less than 10 chapters because at that point many obstacles get removed and any remaining ones would need to be resolved pretty quickly). We didn't (and still don't) know why she lied. It's quite possible she had (has) a good reason for it. Despite that, a lot of guys immediately jumped to hating her. No time for character development. No excuses. No leeway. "She's a bitch, fuck her, fuck this manga." God forbid plot seeds are planted for later harvest. God forbid a romance has no drama. God forbid a woman isn't immediately perfect.

Also, popular people are allowed to be unconfident. It's the entire point of almost-universally beloved, currently running, and soon-to-be-considered classic Komi Can't Communicate (I think it's just alright, but it's popular and beloved enough with a good enough message that I feel I can bring it up). This is especially true for teenagers and especially in situations with aggravated circumstances. Even confident people can have moments where they lack confidence or have people they can't properly communicate with. If anything, I'd think it would be pretty weird if someone I had known for most of my life did me wrong, basically vanished, and then returned only to apologize and love bomb me. I'd feel gaslit and like that person might be a secret sociopath (which I guess is all of them, but whatever). If anything, her not immediately coming out and saying something is more believable AND proper because it shows she cares about how he'd respond and what it would mean for their relationship (I'm not at all saying the manga tackles that perfectly well; she does still approach him in a very blase manner). I'd be afraid to broach a rough subject, too. Hell, I have been. People don't just blurt apologies for their sins all the time. They fester and smolder. It's scary opening up to someone you really care about after you hurt them. Sometimes, nothing EVER gets said and you just have to deal with that and carry it for years. I'm not saying it's right, but to say it should be expected and to happen quickly shows, what I feel, is a serious misunderstanding of basic human nature. I'm not saying that couldn't have happened, but it seems plainly obvious that her reason for lying would/should remain a pretty big mystery for a pretty good chunk of the story at the very least. From a literary standpoint, you don't just out secrets; you build them up and develop intrigue (not that this manga has succeeded in doing that... Speaking of which...)

That said, that was the beginning of the manga. I don't have much defense for it at this point. I have many of the same complaints some of the people here have. I don't feel nearly as strongly as they do, though, and I believe a major cause of that is still lingering resentment that Lemon isn't just a flawed person, but a flawed woman. As far as I'm concerned, this is still a perfectly average, entirely inoffensive manga (which tend to be rated around 8/10 on MangaDex). I have no idea why anyone would take as much offense from this manga as they have save for the reasons I've outlined.

Regardless, my original intent was never really to defend the manga and more to call out all the (assumed) incels attacking a character who'd had virtually zero time to develop any sort of character beyond an introduction. It just happens a LOT (like a LOT a LOT (a LOT a LOT a LOT)) that a bunch of dudes hate and review bomb a manga hosted on MangaDex for no other reason (at least no other spoken reason) than because of a specific character who happens to be a woman who doesn't fit what they find acceptable. I frequently hit the forums of various manga to find it's all a bunch of dudes hating on a woman and, occasionally, hating a male character for caring about that woman (because God forbid a man cares less about what society says he should care about than he cares about a woman in his life). It's not even a coin flip. It's very easy to know what comments to expect under some manga.