Yugami-kun ni wa Tomodachi ga Inai - Vol. 16 Ch. 81 - Yugami-kun Doesn't Have Any Friends?

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It was fun and enjoyable Slice-of-life series. Probably my favorite aspect of the manga is how it isn't your typical SOL story. It doesn't follow tropes/cliches. The characters aren't generic and have their own unique traits that makes them likable, as opposed to the dumb harem protagonists and their common tsundere partners. Yugami is also a well-defined character, the same can be said about Chihiro and the rest of the cast.

HOWEVER, I made the dumbest mistake thinking that this was a romance manga, instead of a slice-of-life story. I waited patiently for more fluff and before I realized it, I was already in the endgame chapters. So I feel like the manga was really lacking from romantic interactions.

The final chapter was great tho. Both main characters have really grown and are now much closer than who they were before. The author didn't sacrifice Yugami being out-of-character just to satisfy the fans that wanted more fluff and I respect the author for that. But technically, Yugami basically did propose to Chihiro and he also did said how she is a person dear to him, albeit in Russian. I guess knowing that will satisfy my demands for romance.
 
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There's an excellent analysis of the whole situation in the tvtropes page for this manga:
"The final chapter takes the cake; as far as "more than friends but less than lovers" goes, they have pretty much achieved it.
  • It's not even less than lovers at least for Yugami. The whole last scene was already equivalent to a love confession. It's a bit Lost in Translation due to cultural imagery. The whole last scene was pretty much the Japanese imagery of the old-fashioned way of saying "I love you". Yugami still kept giving Chihiro a ticket, even after accomplishing his objective of showing her that he has become one of Heiraku's protagonists. When Chihiro asks why, she asks is it because they were friends? Yugami replies he doesn't consider her as a friend, but he says they'll still go together. Couple it with the Japanese imagery of a beautiful full moon, and anyone who's a bit knowledgeable of Japanese literature, you'd pretty much get the reason why Yugami insists they're not friends. Note, the old-fashion way of saying "I love you" in Japanese is "the moon is beautiful, isn't it?"
  • Bonus points, Yugami told Chihiro when he spoke in Russian, according to Japanese fans, was "You're important to me", which is already a straight up confession for Yugami considering his personality.
  • They're shown post-graduation and while Yugami is still insisting they're not friends, he's repeatedly taking Chihiro out to rakugo performances and at the end says that he wants to go to them "together".
  • The final rakugo performance that they see is one based off of their relationship. The performer, Heihachi, was inspired after meeting them during high school and mistaking them for a couple. During the story, Heihachi even goes over a part where the story's protagonist is asked if his personality will change once he takes a wife, to which he says no woman would want to take the opportunity; this is still juxtaposed with Yugami and Chihiro hanging out, and Yugami says himself that the nature of rakugo stories change, so the outcome of this one will too.
  • Yugami is the one who keeps buying Chihiro the tickets. Earlier in the chapter there's an offhand mention of Yugami saving money by reducing haircuts for what he claims are "living expenses" after Chihiro noticed his hair growing out. The same Yugami who, earlier in the series, demanded repayment for buying a rain-stranded Chihiro an umbrella.
  • Sometimes they go out to eat after watching it, and a panel is shown of Chihiro and Yugami eating together with the former laughing happily—looking exactly like a couple on a date."
 
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best closure you can ever ask for
very fitting for the manga
 
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Love this series soooooo much. I'll be chihiro and yuuji's friend even if he doesn't want it!!! Thanks for translating this series! It was a very attentive and thorough effort. I hope I can do this for someone else someday! Have a great day!
 
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The performer, Heihachi, was inspired after meeting them during high school and mistaking them for a couple. During the story, Heihachi even goes over a part where the story's protagonist is asked if his personality will change once he takes a wife, to which he says no woman would want to take the opportunity; this is still juxtaposed with Yugami and Chihiro hanging out, and Yugami says himself that the nature of rakugo stories change, so the outcome of this one will too.
It's Heiraku, not HEIHACHI MISHIMA bro 😭 😭
 

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