149 chapters, 14 volumes and I dropped it. I'm just letting you know that this is NOT an unbiased review.

Positives first: it's very rare for a comedy harem series to have all of its cast be equally "best girl" material but Bokuben (this series) has that. Every single girl has not only a trait (sporty, brainiac-like, teaser-master etc) but has an overarching arc and good chemestry with the main character. Aside from fandom banter you can't say that any girl is worst girl.

Also, the soft lines help a lot to impart characters feelings and blend well with the many many funny faces these people make. It's actually amazing how most of the comedy in this manga flows so well, visually speaking. It relies on tropes but not in excess - yes we have the classic lingerie-oriented, wardrobe malfunctions and misunderstandings from bystanders but it works. In my opinion, it works because we are connected with these characters thru its blend of nice and fluffy comedy and please-cry-now drama.


WITH ALL OF THAT BEING SAID, SPOILERS FOR THE "WHO GETS THE BOY" BIG QUESTION BELOW.


I'm a osanajimi type of person and kinda dislike that outside of porn we don't get a lot of good endings for them. I like the idea that a love can grow from simple and familiar settings and be shown in small but meaninful gestures and, for the most part, childhood friend characters go well with this kind of history (hello Tamako Market).
It pains me but I was team Furuhashi on this one and I lost. Rather, I did not win~

You see, the main story ends with Yuiga (our MC and best boy) getting together with his childhood friend. Despite the fact that she gets in a plane to travel abroad to perfect her talents and leaves him there (which was a good decision fight me). So, he rejects all the others to... not be with any of them. Huh.
Bold decision by the mangaka, I'll concede that.
Bold decision that gets smashed by the decision of "now I'll make alternative endings for each of the girls!". This is NOT a light novel. Those characters got arcs, beginning and end. They grew, they learned, they loved and got rejected, one by one. You don't get to do a VN pro move, mangaka.
Ok, you get to do it since you ARE doing it but it doesn't fit on me, sorry.

I won't make it a Furuhashi defense piece here, tho. I'll just say that not owning their decision makes the ending a tad weak, imo.

It's NOT a BAD story, at all.

But I do feel betrayed, somehow.