Girlfriend, Girlfriend (2022)

[カノジョも彼女]

Volume 11

Author/Artist: Hiroyuki
Publisher: Kodansha Comics Magazine

Synopsis:
After the Okinawa trip, Shino has to answer for what happened between her and Naoya.

Story/Characters:
Poor Shino. As if she hadn't been through enough, she has to tell Saki what happened on the beach. The whole kissing Naoya would be enough, but when you add the whole naked factor and her being the one who initiated, well... (Saki gets over it fairly quickly because, well, she's Saki.) This leaves Nagisa with the unhappy realization that she's the only one who hasn't kissed Naoya yet. We have Saki and Shino (poorly) trying to cheer her up, while Milika takes advantage of the opportunity to needle one of her rivals (because she's Milika). Speaking of Milika, she later realizes that her position hasn't improved any. In fact, it's gotten worse now that Shino is an active player. She tries appealing to Naoya with mixed results because, well, it's Milika. That's pretty much her schtick. Next we have Naoya come home for find his girls all drunk on alcoholic chocolate. You can imagine the comedy that ensues once the inhibitions go down.

We then have Naoya and the Saki in the park together. She wants to kiss but it takes a bit for her to get through to Naoya. (His misinterpretations of what she wants are pretty funny.) We then have Nagisa agonizing over how to set up the right conditions for her to get a kiss with Naoya. Next is Shino's turn, where she's helping Naoya study but having trouble keeping her focus (and Naoya being oblivious). As the end to summer vacation approaches, rather than focusing on getting her homework done, Saki decides she's going to abandon academic pursuits and seek a career as a Metuber, and so she convinces Milika to let her do a collab to kickstart her career. It develops in ways you wouldn't expect. We close on Naoya looking to the start of the second term and his goal of becoming the top in the class. As Naoya's success is tied to him justifying his two-timing (and potentially opening the door to three-timing, as dear Shino hopes), Milika immediately moves to sabotage his efforts, but he manages to turn things around by promising the girls a full-day date for each of them if he succeeds. That bait is too tempting for Milika to pass up, so now we've got all hands on deck. It'll be interesting to see what happens next.

Art:
There are some great reaction shots as usual, but not really big stand-out moments like last volume.

Other:
We have an afterword comic where Hiroyuki reflects on having turned 40.

Conclusion:
While these chapters are amusing enough, there's nothing that's incredibly compelling, especially after the previous volume. It's mostly setup for the next arc of the story. It's worth a read and dedicated fans won't want any gaps in their collections, but strictly on its own merits, I can't quite call it a must-have. Hopefully we'll have an episode or two with a little more punch next time.

Rating:
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