Tsukkomi-machi no Machino-san - Ch. 4 - Machino-san looks too good in as a maid

[goobersloobler]

I want to see more back and forth between the leads, I was promised banter

I want to see them do bits together

 

[UdenEmpati]

I want to see more back and forth between the leads, I was promised banter

I want to see them do bits together

this is the part that kinda bothers me, especially after the 3rd chapter (I think is where I left a relevant wall of text in the discussion forum).
It felt like it was being set up as "The Straight Man vs. the Extrovert", and did it reasonably well in the first chapter.
But the moment she dragged him out of the room and pushed him to going to the afterparty thing, it felt like the premise and the potential was immediately abandoned in favor of the generic tropes of "pushy FL overwrites the introvert ML's personality and he loses all agency for the rest of the story as he slowly falls for her, Generic Romcom Style".

And I still hope that's not the case, but he barely got a word in edge-wise this time, and it took having a third person there to even get her flustered over the "are you dating" question, and the ML didn't even react to it, just got dragged along by a fourth friend to the maid hunt thing.

I admit I really wanted two characters going at it in a banter of wits for as long as the author could make it work before introducing other characters and just deciding the Dominoes Boy needed to be veto'd on his life choices by the "Definitely Not Formulaic Cute Smart Active Extrovert FL", but I might just have to resign myself to what this clearly is set up to be and try to enjoy it as best I can.

 

[RiffRaffROTFL]

I don't get the fascination with maids. I don't want a servant.

 

[Blackspace_2]

okay i just realized this, but why is there hair growing out of her ears?

 

[charlie987]

It'd honestly be amazing if it never happened.

Have an actual platonic friendship between the ML & FL where he's just happy having a friend but doesn't develop romantic feelings for her. Just has his eyes opened to the world beyond the four walls of his club room, one maid hunt at a time.

considering the manga literally labels itself a rom com in the first chapter there’s no way they don’t get together.

 

[UdenEmpati]

considering the manga literally labels itself a rom com in the first chapter there’s no way they don’t get together.

Yep, I too can read.
It's just sadly an angle that I've not really seen explored between two mains in this sort of setting, at least all that often.
And in a sense, the setup would have been great for it - he's just always in the club room playing with his dominoes on his own, and she shows up each chapter to fire off some insane thesis or scenario, they banter, then she leaves at the end of the chapter with him reflecting about some allegory or metaphor found within the interaction and how it applies to life or the universe or whatever
Maybe one of them does like the other, but it never goes anywhere beyond strengthening friendship as they come to find the vibe is perfect as-is. Something like that, hypothetically.

Also it's largely because I had hoped he wouldn't fold to her pushiness by the 3rd chapter, given the concept at the start was "he gives as good as he gets with her" and they did a lot of verbal sparring/volleying only for that to almost be completely absent this quickly.
So it really just feels like......all the other "pushy extrovert FL reprograms timid introvert ML" stories out there at this point, which is a bit disappointing if I'm honest.

 

[MaCl0wSt]

Thanks for the chapter!

 

[Lunkli]

Wha— a black & white maid outfit?! Is she cosplaying as a domino???

 

[wallsg]

She just confessed she wouldn't hate Dating MC but MC didn't say shit..............

BROTHER...........

"I can't let myself get the wrong idea. I'm sure she didn't mean it that way. When she said she wouldn't hate to date me I'm sure she just meant going places a good friends."

Edit: can -> can't, would -> wouldn't. That mistake completely reversed what I was trying to say, damn it.

 

[wallsg]

okay i just realized this, but why is there hair growing out of her ears?

She's really an old man doing undercover work.