Girlfriend, Girlfriend (2022)

[カノジョも彼女]

Volume 12

Author/Artist: Hiroyuki
Publisher: Kodansha Comics Magazine

Synopsis:
Nagisa agonizes over her career path.

Story/Characters:
Not being a good student and having no real ambitions besides being with Naoya, Nagisa has a lot of trouble when she has to fill out her post-graduation questionnaire. Naoya tries to be supportive, but this just makes her want to be his sugar baby. Next, we have Risa show up to inform the gang of Milika's poor academic performance and that's she's at risk of being held back. Milika thinks of just dropping out, banking on her MeTube success, but Shino gives her a dose of reality to bring her back down to earth. (However, it takes her suggesting that studying with Naoya would give her an opportunity to get closer to him as the motivation she needs.) Because Shino is best girl, she even prepares study materials to help, even though assisting Milika doesn't do a thing for her. Next we have Naoya take Shino aside one day to warn her that he can see down her shirt when she bends forward, triggering her complex about her bust size. Ridiculousness follows, but I suppose all's well that ends well since she ends up getting a confident boost in the end (though the post-chapter panel has her being subjected to Saki's usual sexual harassment).

We then have Saki getting limited edition gummies that get distributed among the girls while she's away. To atone for their sins, the girls have to endure molestation from Saki. I can't say I liked this chapter. If Saki keeps it up, she's going to drop below Milika in my ranking. Moving on, we have Naoya being worn down by all his studying. While he's been making progress, he's up against Shino, who regularly gets perfect scores on her tests and is even #1 in the national mock exams. You can imagine what Shino might be thinking, but Naoya in his honesty doesn't want her to pull her punches. He wants to rise to her level, so the girls commit themselves to supporting him. Now, Shino's the one doing the vast majority of the work, so the others realize that she's going leapfrog them and they try to make their own contributions. They are very silly, but you can't argue with the results. However, we get a cliffhanger of Nagisa receiving a text from her mom. You can imagine her mom's reaction as current events come to light, but she ends up finding an unexpected ally in Naoya, who refuses to let Nagisa simply blow off her mom's concerns. It takes Nagisa showing off her new cooking skills to allay some of her concerns (as a sign that she has managed to foster a talent that has potential application for her future), enough for her postpone a discussion of Nagisa's romantic situation. Naoya then wears himself to the bone hammering away at his studies up to the last minute. With a little encouragement from Nagisa (going in for her first kiss with him), he goes in for his tests with a little more spring in his step and... well, I can't spoil everything in these reviews, now can I? We'll talk about the fallout next time.

Art:
The art is as good as ever. Poor Shino gets put through nonsense as usual (though I have to ask what possessed her to wear that micro bikini Saki bought for her). Nagisa's mom is pretty cute (just a slightly older Nagisa with short hair). The one and a half page devoted to Nagisa's kiss is nice, too.

Other:
In the afterword comic, Hiroyuki announces the second season of the anime and looks forward to seeing more Shino, as she didn't get much screentime in the first season.

Conclusion:
The best thing about this volume is the stuff with Nagisa's mom. It's a nice way to show how Nagisa has grown. Chapter 103 seriously damages my regard for Saki, which is unfortunate, but Hiroyuki has a bad habit of taking his characters' bad habits too far. I'm glad this whole test arc is over and I'm eager to see what comes next. As for this volume, there's not enough to make it a must-have, but fans will want to give it a read.

Rating:
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