By Takibi Amamori and Imigimuru. Released in Japan as “Make Heroine ga Ōsugiru!” by Gagaga Bunko. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Matthew Jackson. Adapted by Acro.

I had better get used to these books being backloaded in the second half, because I had the exact same experience with this volume that I had with the first. The start of this volume is packed with scenes designed to make the main characters annoying in a funny way, but I mostly found them annoying in an annoying way, particularly our narrator, who may be trying to contrast with the usual light novel romance narrators, but not by much, because like all of them he’s emotionally sensitive to everything but his own mind. As the book goes on, and it delves into the ongoing issues of Losing Heroine #2, and the way that sometimes even after you’ve been rejected you still have to see the guy you like every day, it gets a lot better. When he’s dealing with other people’s love lives, Nukumizu excels. When he’s dealing with his own inability to know what love feels like, you find yourself rooting for Anna. And I hate rooting for Anna.

As mentioned, our three losing heroines have all been rejected, but life still goes on. Anna attends a reunion and is horrified to discover her childhood friend and his new girlfriend acting like they’re already married. Chika is still in the same literature club with the girl who is now dating her crush, and is still being very smug about it. And then there’s Lemon, who seems to be… walking around town with Ayano? What? Is he cheating on his new girlfriend? Is Lemon trying to horn in on a brand new relationship? Nukumizu absolutely does not want to get involved, but he and Anna are forced to when they run into Ayano’s actual girlfriend, Chihaya, who also worries that something is going on between them, and decides to solve the problem by planting tracking devices on her boyfriend and following him around. This is a bad idea, FYI for new couples.

Lemon, frankly, has always given off the impression that she’s supposed to be the dumb one in our cast, but that’s mostly because the characters are all varieties of trope because this book is trying to be a deconstruction (which it succeeds at roughly 1/3 of the time). In reality, she studied hard with her childhood friend and crush so they could go to school together, and concentrates so hard at track because her family are all known for their brains and she doesn’t want to disappoint them, so plays to her strengths. She’s pretty emotionally mature here once she stops literally running away from her problem. As for Anna, who is clearly the secondary protagonist in these books, she kinda likes Nukumizu, and would be amenable to dating him, but she’s still too hurt by her previous relationship. so she needs him to do the job of asking her – and he’s NOT emotionally mature, so that’s not happening. I expect it won’t be happening anytime soon.

All this plus a very funny parody of Villainess isekai which, frankly, could easily be one – Chika should take that to a publisher ASAP. A combination of really irritating and quite heartwarming. In that order.

By Takibi Amamori and Imigimuru. Released in Japan as “Make Heroine ga Ōsugiru!” by Gagaga Bunko. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Matthew Jackson.

Hoo boy. This is one of those books where I have to issue a warning to the newbie reader who knows nothing about it: keep at it, plow through the first half. I get it. The second half has a good payoff. But oh, that first half. When I started to read it, I felt like I was reading an author who had gotten really mad about Nisekoi and The Quintessential Quintuplets and decided to write the romcom equivalent of “guy gets revenge on his high school bullies”. But no, with only one exception, the actual “winning” couples barely get any focus in this series. It’s all about the girls who, while seemingly popular and/or cute, end up on the wrong end of a love triangle. Fortunately, they all have our protagonist, a friendless guy who likes to read bad light novels and snark at his little sister. Surely he can be there to heal their wounded hearts. … Or not, because this whole book is here to get really mad at him too.

Nukumizu is the aforementioned protagonist. One day, while at a family restaurant, he overhears two classmates. The cute, popular girl Anna is telling her friend Sousuke to go chase after the new transfer student, Karen, who he has feelings for. Except, of course, Anna clearly also likes him. And once he takes off, she goes into an anger (and junk food) filled binge… then sees that Nukumizu overheard everything. About a week later, another of his classmates, the dumb-but-athletic and popular Lemon, confesses to the smart, studious guy she likes… but he just got together with his cram school partner. Then Nukumizu is reminded that he needs to actually attend the literature club that he joined… and finds a love triangle there as well, with the small, squirrel-like Chika clearly crushing on the club president, who also clearly is… in love with someone else. Why is he surrounded by losers?

Sometimes I go looking at the novel-updates site to see what comments are on a new license, and I saw a lot of “beta male” chatter from the usual sort who use that term like they would a comma. They’re full of it, of course, but it really is remarkable how much our hero kneecaps himself in this book. He’s terrible, being filled with snark and a grotesque determination to not get involved, despite clearly being the shoulder to cry on that some of these girls need. The “surprise” in the book is that, so far, it’s not actually a romcom – none of the so-called losing heroines have gotten over their first love, and they’re not looking for a rebound but just simple empathy. This comes out much better in the second half, in which the literature club goes on a field trip that turns into another romantic mess, and Nukumizu can’t even realize when someone is asking for a sympathetic hug.

The payoff comes in the last fifth of the book, when everyone makes their own decisions about what is best for the others, and Nukumizu snaps and actually has empathy for another person. Even if it’s accidental. But yeah, this is a guy with an idea of himself that’s so set in stone he has to be told that he’s already friends with someone. Who thinks in light novel cliches, but, unlike, say, Hachiman (and boy, I bet the author loved that series too), does not throw himself at problems like a bomb to sort them out, but actively runs away from them. As for the three “losing heroines”, the book makes it very clear why they got rejected. Each one has a bundle of eccentricities and neuroses, which would make for a terrible girlfriend but which make for good comedy. The main reason you can get through the first half of the book is that they’re goofy and silly, and yet still MUCH better at life than the “losing hero”.

This is currently 6 volumes and counting, so probably will eventually get some rom in its com. For the moment, though, the girls need to have time to recover from their heartbreak, and the guy needs to understand how to interact with others without it being a trope. I was going to recommend this reluctantly, but by the end it had won me over. Provided we keep up the character development. Also, totally abstaining from the “Makeine vs. Roshidere” social media wars, thanks.