So, let's get this out of the way: polyamory is an ethical and responsible romantic relationship based on the consent of everyone. Right off the bat, the husband already is a cheater - even if they transition to polyamory after some discussion. Doesn't matter if the affair partner is a man or a woman...it's not right and you're scummy for it. The husband is such a coward that I am not sure how he even bagged his wife and this guy. Who, by the way, IS A FORMER STUDENT OF HIS WIFE. And this affair partner student 1) claims he fell in love with the FL as her student so he 2) seduced her husband hoping to break up their marriage. Lol. Okay. So, you as a normal human being, man or woman, would say f*ck off to both of these weirdos, right? Nope. Ugh. So that's how this mess starts. Now that is out of the way, here's the summary of the love zig-zag so far:
- The husband says he likes Shuhei (the "husband's boyfriend" in the title) and his wife.
- Shuhei likes Misaki and the husband.
- Misaki likes her husband.
So the husband and Shuhei love each other and supposedly they both have some feelings toward Misaki, but Misaki is a one-way street. BUT come ON! The husband is just gay, 100%, and he's such an ass for stringing Misaki along. And frankly, she's pathetic because it's beyond obvious. When Misaki hugs her husband, his reaction makes it clear he doesn't care about her. Then he turns around and wants affection from Shuhei every time. At first, I thought Shuhei was the worst character - he's openly manipulative, but for one thing, as the story goes on, he actually has somewhat of a backbone and frankly, he's not a part of their marriage. THEY are. The husband is the one that cheated, he's the one that's going along with a plan that isn't gonna make him happy, and he's the one that caused this WHOLE mess. No one can destroy your marriage except you, just like no one can force you to cheat. That's 100% a choice. I like to read manga about this topic to see the sort of ways it's portrayed - sometimes you see a character where you "get it" - they shouldn't cheat and should just end their relationship, but the story helps you understand the conditions that led them there and the author (if they're any good) shows you the relationship is all but over anyway (unless the cheating is the catalyst for everything falling apart to be rebuilt). This manga did not do a good job of this for me. The husband refuses to communicate and he's closeted. That's all? Please.
I could have stomached this more if the husband had come to her first and said "I'm gay" and he declared his intention to seek another relationship/asked for a divorce. I could have stomached the pathetic FL if she clearly wasn't holding onto some sliver of hope that he's 1% bisexual or something. I could have stomached her saying "being a divorced woman in this country is not a hot place to be, so let's stay married on paper and make this work." But noooo, she's in love and wants to be by his side forever. I could have even dealt with this manga with more nuance - if the husband was * truly* hetero- and homo-romantic but only homosexual. It would have been nice to see them navigate those nuances as a truly polyamorous trio. If this focused less on the ridiculous drama between the FL and the ML, it could have been a really nice manga about growing in your relationship (for instance, how would the husband react to Shuhei fulfilling the FL's sexual need? How would the FL come to terms with the fact her husband, who she loves, doesn't sexually desire her and fulfills that with someone else?)
This isn't a manga about a couple growing nor is it about polyamory. It's a cautionary tale about people clinging to false hope and not understanding that polyamory is built on strong trust and communication. There are three things that won't save your failing relationship: a ring, a baby, and/or opening it. Either learn to talk to each other openly and vulnerably or just end it.
Geez. I can't believe this is ongoing - they're all so childish. The feeling I would describe having while reading it would be like: imagine you're helping a someone with a problem, but they aren't taking advice, they aren't doing anything to help themselves, and anytime you try to help them, they get angry at you but they want you to listen to them complain about the problem everyday, all day. That's what this manga feels like. Just exhausting. No one is happy. They have no solutions. They don't communicate. Just going around in circles. I am not even sure anyone genuinely loves anyone at this point. JUST BREAK UP. Giving it a 6 because I do think the beginning has a lot of potential and I appreciate the author trying to address this topic...maybe the end of the manga will show the author's intentions were "this is how not to do polyamory, lol! Thanks for reading!"
(+7)
