u/EyeDeeAh_42

Hey all, I'm looking for a very specific trope in romance. You know stories where there's a rude, bratty, kind of bully-ish childhood friend as a love-interest, who has a poorly hidden crush on the female lead, but it's obvious his crush will be unrequited because the FL only has eyes on the actual male lead (who's portrayed as so much better and understanding than the bratty childhood friend)?

I'm looking for any stories where that childhood friend is the endgame. I don't care if he's is extremely flawed in the beginning, but I want to see the developement go in an unlikely direction.

One clarification: I'm not looking for plain ol' love triangle where both love interests are given equal consideration from the beginning, AKA the usual black-haired mysterious guy and the blond/red haired rude guy trope.

What I'm looking for is an extremely skewed love triangle, as in the story heavily paints the nice guy as the endgame at the start, but the childhood friend gradually steps into that role as he gets developed.

IIRC, the only story I remember which has this plot was >!Chihayafuru!< (which is josei I think?). I'd appreciate any recommendations for a trope like this, even josei would do!

Thank you in advance!

Ever since episode 5 dropped, I keep seeing these posts and comments about the apparent "dissonance" between-- Kagemori clan's introduction with the Higashi village massacre, and their current potrayal as quirky/goofy/expressive people with some occasional comic relief.

3 main points of complaints I have noticed so far:

1. Why is Yuru acting civil towards Asa and the Kagemoris instead of being absolutely furious at them about the massacre of his village. Or in similar vein: Why didn't he start demanding answers about the massacre right away... "does he not care about the village (and fake Asa) at all??"
2. Why is the show not holding the Kagemoris accountable for their acts? Or in a similar vein: Why is the tone/direction of Ep5 framing them in a likeable way (with the goofy and cutesy behaviour) instead of addressing them like the murderers they are?
3. Who are we supposed to root for? (not a complaint, but a general confused sentiment I've seen a lot in most of the episode discussions)

My question is to the manga readers: Did you have any of the above complaints/confusion/dissatisfaction about the Kagemori's potrayal when you were reading the manga? When you did not yet have the complete info regarding Higashi village and the plot started following the supposed "villains"? Did you feel at any point that the story should have been more strict about the Kagemori's moral greyness?

I'm aware that watching anime and reading manga are completely different experiences. Still, as a manga reader, I never thought too hard about who I was supposed to root for. Part of the reason is that-- we don't spend too much time seeing Yuru's actual bond with the Higashi village, so I never really cared about the past connection there.

Not saying that anime-onlies are wrong to have complaints, just want a different perspective from fellow manga readers, because I don't remember this being such a controversial topic before the anime started airing.