The girl who can’t get a girlfriend [Manga Review]

Real life is not like the movies or, in this case, shojo manga.

In real life, the story does not end in black after a passionate confession under fireworks. Relationships are complicated and messy affairs, a give and take situation that is not always balanced. When a relationship is going well, we can’t imagine it ending, nor can we imagine the emotional damage it would cause.

Hiranishi Mieri’s autobiographical manga Kanojo ga Dekinai Onna (The Girl Who Can’t Have a Girlfriend) is hilarious, self-deprecating, touching, and heartbreaking. From her humble origins as a webtoon posted online as a form of self-therapy, Hiranishi’s brutal honesty and her online engagement via Twitter and YouTube connected her experiences to a wide audience that she understood. exactly how she felt.

Now available in a beautiful 200-page standalone volume, The Girl That Can’t Get a Girlfriend spans a wide range of emotions, from the ups and downs of new love to the crushing lows of breakups and the growth that comes after moments. more difficult. moments

Join us at Honey’s Anime today as we revisit The Girl Who Can’t Get A Girlfriend!

We follow Mieri, a self-proclaimed otaku, through her college years and up to her graduation. This is a transformative moment that takes our nerdy girl from “always alone” status to landing the androgynous girlfriend of her dreams. After struggling to find a partner in the US, a trip back to her homeland of Japan results in her finding Ash, a tomboy girl who’s almost too perfect!

Determined to live up to Ash’s beauty and the standards Mieri has set for herself, she slowly begins to change and improve. From first dates to awkward handshakes, Hiranishi’s story weaves together the touchier and awkward parts of new relationships with a comedic skill that she often made us laugh about.

Unfortunately, as mentioned above, real life isn’t the perfect romance, and when Mieri returns to the US, it triggers a rift that will take four years to get over. Anyone who has been through a breakup, particularly one that you feel was one-sided, will know the emotional and physical pain that Mieri goes through.

This is where Hiranishi’s autobiography really excels: the raw, unbridled truth that comes from someone telling their own story. Fictional characters always exist behind a veil, like actors on a stage: we identify with them, but we understand that they are a construction. The Girl That Can’t Get a Girlfriend reads like a picture journal, bringing out the nether parts of Mieri’s journey, before piecing it together again in a beautiful and uplifting finale.

1. The reality of queer relationships

We’ve seen more LGBT+ stories in manga and light novels in recent years, but there’s something extra special about having real people tell their own stories. From iffy dating experiences on Tinder to the various ‘common’ pairings of lesbian archetypes, The Girl Who Can’t Have a Girlfriend is refreshingly honest.

It’s important that we have all kinds of queer narratives available to help readers find themselves on the pages, and Hiranishi’s exploration from clueless virgin to heartbroken mangaka is just as important as any fictional couple.

2. Love sucks, but you don’t!

If it’s not obvious by now, The Girl Who Can’t Get a Girlfriend isn’t a terribly happy story. It’s funny and raw, but Mieri’s experience from first love to heartbreak and finally self-acceptance is heartbreaking and often bitter. And we loved that!

A crucial part of Hiranishi’s self-examination is realizing that trading yourself for someone else is the worst possible way to approach a relationship. Mieri’s story reminds us that life is big and complicated and ultimately only you can figure out how to live your best life!

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Relationships aren’t always perfect, and The Girl That Can’t Get a Girlfriend teaches us an important lesson about embracing the best parts of ourselves and knowing that love is only a small part of life, one that should make our lives better. , not do them. we wretched.

It’s possible to be a successful manga artist living your best life without a partner, and if the right person shows up, you’ll be better able than ever to embrace romance, including the bumps and bumps!

Are you going to read The Girl Who Can’t Get a Girlfriend? Let us know in the comments below, and as always, thanks for reading!

Author: Brett Michael Orr

I’m a manga and light novel writer, gamer, and reviewer from Melbourne, Australia. When I’m not creating a new world, I’ll be engrossed in a good JRPG, watching anime, or reading up a storm.

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