ふたりで恋をする理由

FUTARI DE KOI WO SURU RIYUU

MANGA

STATUS
COMPLETE
VOLUMES
12
RELEASE
December 5, 2022
CHAPTERS
74

DESCRIPTION

In her first year of high school, Urara Andou fell in love at first sight with the kind stranger who saved her on the train. Too flustered to ask for his name or contact information, she swears to take action the next time she falls in love. But it turns out he's a senpai at her school!? Reunited, Urara believes it must be fate. But before she can take action, his childhood friend Misono-kun tells her "I won't hand Aiji-kun over to you." What will she do?

Note: Includes 2 extra chapters.

CAST

Jun Misono
Urara Andou

CHAPTERS

REVIEWS

RoseFaerie
78/100
A flawed but enthralling high school romance series that makes you invested in not one, but two love triangles.
Futari de Koi wo Suru Riyuu, or FutaKoi, is everything the average person thinks of when they think of shoujo. It's got the love triangles, two of them actually, and, combined, they take up a solid 10 volumes. There are a lot of issues with this manga, but it had me hooked from the beginning. This review will contain spoilers since it's difficult for me to talk about this manga at all without spoiling it.

FutaKoi's protagonist is Urara Andou, an ordinary high school girl. One day, on a train ride, a kind young man helps her out. She discovers that he's actually one of her upperclassmen. However, his best friend, Misono, isn't particularly interested in letting the two of them date.

I'm going to cut to the chase. Urara is pretty bland. Outside of some general traits like having a strong will and being nice, she really doesn't have much going for her. We don't know much about her outside of her love life. She's more of an audience insert, where you want her to choose the guy you like. Yet somehow I was never annoyed with her or bored with her like I was with Yuki from Vampire Knight for example (and Yuki had more going on than Urara does). I don't quite understand why I didn't dislike her, but I think it was because she felt more normal and realistic, as her love struggles are more grounded.

I quickly became way too invested in the love triangle. From the beginning I was more attached to Misono than Aiji, since Misono had more chemistry with Urara and seemed to challenge her and encourage her growth more than Aiji did. He also seemed to actively be looking out for her. Aiji just gave me a strange vibe, and his interactions with Maaya, Urara's coworker and Aiji's ex-girlfriend, really cemented it in my mind.

I genuinely was not surprised that Aiji was leading Urara on. I think the comment that Maaya had about regretting dating Aiji definitely made me more aware of what he was doing. He just seemed way too wishy-washy to be seriously interested in her. That said, I don't think he was a terrible person. At the end of the manga he definitely showed resolve to change and was making steps to repair his relationships with Urara and Misono. I actually think this love triangle at the beginning was one of the strongest parts of the series, and I wish they had focused more on these three character's relationships instead of introducing Obi. I really appreciated how Urara's first love didn't work out. Many shoujo mangas have the "marry your first love" trope, but I think this approach is more realistic. In general, I think I enjoyed the manga the most when it focused on the relationships between Misono, Aiji, and Urara. If it had continued down this path it would probably be in the 8/10 range.

The second half of the series is about Urara figuring out her feelings and what dating is like. We have a replacement male lead, which just felt way too fast. It didn't feel as natural as the rest of the story. Obi, the new male lead was sort of pushy, but he never felt entitled. It's In general, I felt like this was the weakest part of the story, since it felt less realistic and natural. Just something about it didn't click the same way. However, I never disliked it.

The art is gorgeous. I have found so may breathtaking images of the characters, particularly Urara. Urara's eyes are bigger than eyes usually are in art I gravitate towards, but I still adore the way they look. The eyes in general are just super sparkly and detailed, and Urara's outfits are adorable.

Despite having some issues with it, FutaKoi was truly an enjoyable experience. It was so engaging, and I'd actually want to physically own the series if it ever got licensed in English. I appreciated the way it approached dating, even if it was so romance focused nothing else was going on.
Continue on AniList