Her only ‘development (if you can call it that) involves coming to terms with her stupidity and reliance on Naoya for a purpose.
She is horny all the time, unconditionally in love with Naoya, masochistic and satisfied with being his side hoe. She has no backstory, no family, no friends, no aspirations aside from her boyfriend, and very little character depth. Nagisa is perhaps the most disturbing of the five characters. All manner of sexual desire and insecurities crawl to the surface-creating some truly cringe-worthy moments. Watching her personality unravel as the straight man to Naoya’s dense behavior never got tiring.
Behind closed doors, where she lives with boyfriend and girlfriend, her id manifests itself. In her daily life, she presents as a confident, upstanding student. She could easily dump both of them and date a woman instead. Like a sister-wife! Saki finds herself in these precarious situations because of her naivety. Nagisa understands why Saki is defensive of Naoya.
After all, Nagisa is a plus one who they may eject at any moment. She feels an innate sense that Naoya is rightfully hers. Saki’s envy for Nagisa’s curvy body, bodacious breasts, and attentiveness stifles her self-confidence. Either girl has an objective to seduce Naoya, but their fatal flaws prevent them from achieving their goals. These netorare moments are more self-aware than the banal cuckoldry in Domestic Girlfriend. Doubtlessly, this explains why she finds an odd excitement in watching Naoya and Nagisa be romantic. Saki expresses attraction for Nagisa in a way that insinuates she is bisexual. All of a sudden, her ideal boyfriend proposes an idea-what if they date another girl? Though she detests the idea of competing for her boyfriend, she is fascinated. She is the heroine in a seemingly average romantic comedy. One bold harem author asks, what would happen if everyone wins? Saki’s plight is all due to his intervention. Before avoiding it, you should take a look at every other harem anime and male-power-fantasy then ask yourself, isn't this the same tripe you’re used to, except amplified? I’m asking you to peek under the hood of this dumpster fire with me. I’m guilty of judging this anime before watching it-I called it garbage based on the trailer. While I could pick apart the anime’s many flaws, like cinema sins, then pat myself on the back for being so above the latest trashy harem, that’d be doing it a disservice. This circle of painfully obvious miscommunication fuels both the plot and our frustrations with the characters. Nagisa wants to advance her relationship with Naoya, but she insists on giving Saki a head start. Saki wants Naoya to herself and fears he might cheat on her, yet she allows him to date another girl as soon as he begs. Naoya wants to protect his girlfriend and give her unconditional love, yet he refuses to reject another girl and becomes a ‘two-timer’. The characters are archetypal, seemingly generic, and they make illogical decisions that conflict with their interests. It’s easy to write it off as another crappy harem anime. It leans into the cringe, and that’s why it works. Girlfriend, Girlfriend fully commits to being idiotic and humiliating to watch. More accurately, it is a perversion of the harem genre that will appeal to those willing to read between the lines. To call KanoKano a “deconstruction” would be cliche. Though it panders to harem fans with excessive fanservice, it works to bait unsuspecting viewers. You can’t help but gawk at it with morbid curiosity. It is like witnessing a violent car crash. KanoKano does not pretend-it digs deep into the recesses of your desires and pulls primal emotions kicking and screaming to the surface of your subconscious. But they cover this fact with melodrama and superficial depth. Most of them are testosterone-induced fantasies written by men. Of course, it is cringy, degenerate, and trashy-harem You haven’t figured out something that isn’t obvious. It would be easy to write off KanoKano as cringe, degenerate, and trash, as so many already have, but don’t be so hasty.Īccusing Girlfriend, Girlfriend of being cringe is like saying Gintama isn’t historically accurate. Or they can become punching bags-a joke to the whole community. These anime can become successes and get praised by fans. Once in a while, controversial anime like Kanojo mo Kanojo come along and strike a nerve with the audience. A man and four women become entangled in a web of jealousy, shame, and cuckoldry…