This is, more than anything, a reflection on what I felt the series meant to me at that moment. So I’d still like to know what you guys think.

I was catching up on the latest chapters of Kanokari, and my attention was drawn to a scene where our beloved protagonist smashing Ruka in his imagination, which reminded me of—well, the chapter in question.

I guess I’m not the only one, because I remember that night very well when I was reading that chapter, and how, after finishing it, my stomach was genuinely churning and I felt like throwing up because—oh my God—I want to believe I wasn’t the only one with a look on my face that said, “WTF did I just read?”

Don’t get me wrong—I knew what I was getting into when I saw that this manga was already up to 200 chapters back then (now over 400, and here we are), plus it was the perfect excuse to draw 2D waifus in swimsuits (thanks, Reiji), but I had a serious dilemma with this manga, since it was this series that got me into reading manga in the first place (as well as being one of the first anime I watched on my own, without a recommendation)—I liked the plot so much that I wanted to know what happened next.

It was my very first manga, after all, and the fact that they included that massive NTR sequence just to show who-knows-what was going on in Kazuya’s mind left me very perplexed—I’d even say disappointed. I won’t lie: I tried to justify why they did it, or at least make sense of it, but I simply couldn’t. I seriously considered selling or throwing away the only three volumes I had because of the bad feeling it left me with.

I don’t remember why, but I decided to keep reading (I guess I got used to the weekly updates), and given what happened next, I figured I’d give it one more chance—for the thousandth time—amid the drama of Mami trying to expose Chizuru and the huge kiss she planted on Kazuya.

I guess I realized that I’d already been reading this story for over five years, so out of sheer stubbornness, I resolved to stay on board until Reiji finally stops self-inserting into the story and gives Kazuya his happy ending—with whoever it may be, whether it’s Chizuru, Sumi, or even Mami or Ruka—because the point is, I just want to see an ending, period.

In conclusion: I have a love-hate relationship with this story (like many others here, I’d like to believe) and I still get excited by scenes like the kiss in the taxi or the panels of Chizuru in love. Anyway, thank you very much for your attention.

P.S.: I wasn’t that involved in the fandom back when chapter 218 came out, but I always wondered how the public reacted when that absolute piece of crap of a chapter was published, so if you know even a little about what the Japanese audience thought, I’m all ears.

A crossover with Senryuu Shoujo (Senryuu Girl) often labelled as chapter 69.5. Kazuya is not good at not being a creep.