The story seems to have potential, but I'll be frank: there are MAJOR stumbling blocks that drastically reduce how palatable this is. I'll start off with the Cons, because you have to get through them in order to find anything good about the story later on (and there ARE Pros, just... again, you have to get through the cons first).
Cons: There are 2 primarily, one major, one less so (but still not 'minor' per se)
One of the main cast is the ChildHood Friend (henceforth CHF) The author really went all out on this thot, and made her an airheaded, big-breasted and dresses showing cleavage, yet is anti-lewd, tsundere, prejudiced, annoying, and cckblocking thot. Words cannot describe how much I hate her. Honestly, her character is full of contradictions and makes no logical sense. She's literally a bag of tropes jammed together with no way to reconcile them. She's an annoyance and gets in between the main couple (and they ARE a couple, legit already dating) and straight up says to the MC that he should date her instead. Even after being shot down, and admitting her loss... she keeps doing it. Keeps interfering, keeps harassing the couple, keeps inviting herself into their dates and trips. Also worth noting is that she, despite being educated on the topic multiple times, defaults to calling ANYTHING remotely otaku-related being lewd. Cosplay? Lewd. Video games? lewd. Etc. Regardless of whether it's actual lewd cosplay or an eroge or not, it's all the same. She's legit prejudiced against all things otaku, despite supposedly being best friends with the main character, who has been an otaku forever. Even if I didn't hate her anyway, the rampant bias would make me do so.
*Other Con: The Main Character. This is less of an annoyance than the CHF because it's his story and part of the journey is him improving and growing as a boyfriend, to be sure, but he's that uber-typical beta Japanese male that everyone hates, DESPITE him being genre savvy about it. In one of the first few chapters, he straight up admonishes himself to 'not be a beta male'. Except then he does virtually the entire time. Case-in-point, when his childhood thot I mean childhood friend has been harassing them, he actually notices that his girlfriend is getting annoyed. Points for not being dense, but then the CHF asks him if she's being an annoyance and he tells her no, and that his girlfriend thinks the same! Which is a flat out lie. It's not even him being dense, he notices his girlfriend's unhappiness, and then this happens. Not going to lie, it was incredibly hard to continue reading.
*Another incredibly difficult stumbling block was only a few chapters in. The MC apparently loves playing Molestation (Chikan) Eroge. Ok, I lose respect for that, but that's just an opinion, I know everyone has likes or dislikes. That being said, his girlfriend WANTS to playthrough eroges with him, but he kinda forces her to play one of these... then he finds out that the reason she fell for him a year or so back was because he saved her from being molested on a train. Ouch. Scum move. He angsts out over that, rightfully so.
Side note to that: That plot point is promptly dropped and it's never mentioned again, frankly without proper resolution tbh. What a waste
Pros:
So, if you can set aside the thot and the MC, you can begin to appreciate what this story does right. The girlfriend is a great character, and is fairly good at acting towards what she wants (I'd say she's 'aggressive' in pursuing happiness, but that might be taken the wrong way - she's not like a dom or anything, she's just willing to work for their happiness). It's fairly refreshing tbh. She's a bit naïve, and much of the early ecchi (ignoring the thot) comes from her trying to act out eroge to try to appeal to the MC.
*The MC does improve, kinda. Kinda? Hmm... Well, he changes. He starts off and does get introspective, willing to improve upon both himself as a person and as a boyfriend. Major points. Too bad that as the series goes on, it seems to fall back onto tired beta-male harem tropes. Even after he has a very nice scene where he flat out rejects the CHF who's trying to get him to breakup with his girlfriend, he still bends over backwards with said CHF and never actually does anything about her intruding. It's like the author wanted to have an improving male lead, but then got sidetracked and went right back to harem tropes. And as the story continues, he continues to be a beta-male in the worst kind of way. So yeah, he improves, but it doesn't really change the story. Honestly I blame the author for this one. The MC does improve, but the author is determined to have the setting stay the same.
*The other member in their club, the president, is a great character all around. I can tell she's in the 'false harem' (because, you know, she's female... and gets involved in ecchi accidents sigh) But she's good at being a wingwoman, and good writing/character all around.
*The story briefly (I'm sure the LN gets into it more) gets into the aspects of eroge that make it such a compelling art form. Not just for the sex scenes - the MC is openly disparaging of Nukige (the ones that are pure sex, with a thin film of plot, if even that) and talks about other aspects that can be great. There are some famous and some infamous eroge/VN that make appearances and are referenced, so it's nice to see that. Also the very fact that we have a blatant prejudiced 'Normie' who complains about everything otaku means that he can instantly riposte with the fact at how wrong she is to appeal to the other non-lewd stuff.
*The fact that the main female lead becomes girlfriend in chapter one means that there are many aspects of harem rom-coms that are skipped/avoided/sped through, and there can be some nice romance when the main couple are on top of their game. Again, this is mostly dependent on the MC. The main female, while not perfect by any means, at least is trying at all times and improving. The MC... not so much. Then again, if the thot left, he'd have a ton more time to actually do what he's trying to do without constantly being interrupted. So not entirely his fault (though it is for allowing her to third wheel EVERYTHING).
So yeah. As of this review, I've read through the start of volume 6, where it apparently ends, so only a few chapters remaining. The LN continues on much further, and I'm going to assume there's a good stopping point coming up, but for now it's a story with pretty good potential but some SERIOUSLY annoying flaws. If I remember to I might update this after the last few chapters, but please bear with my warnings. If you can't stand annoying CHFs or thots (or both) avoid this. If you can, you might find some enjoyable aspects.
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