- Mangaka : Shin Suyama, CHuN
- Publisher : Yen Press
- Genre : Harem, Fantasy
- Published : April 2016
It may sound egotistical, but it’s nice fantasizing about getting our own harem or maybe reverse harem. The idea of being coddled by a group of aesthetically pleasing romantic partners is a piece of paradise, and who doesn’t want to experience paradise in this hellhole we’re living in. Of course, we understand that having a harem in this day and age is highly unlikely and frowned upon, but it’s our imagination, so we’re free to think what we want.
Contains Spoilers
Discussion Time
Grim Reaper and Four Girlfriends follows the story of Kaoru Minaguchi. Unlike us lot, he wants nothing of that harem mumbo jumbo. Instead, what he wants is a fateful meeting with his soulmate like that in shoujo manga. Yes, he’s a fan of that genre and is often referred to as a pansy. When a Grim Reaper appears and collects his no-life life, he barely hangs on to life after spouting he wants to try giving meaning to his life. That’s when his peculiar story begins.
1. An Unwanted Harem
In order to give meaning to his life, he figures and confirms that being in a relationship is the fastest possible way. After all, the Grim Reaper threatens to take his life once 24 hours have passed. Since he’s a literal nobody, he figures everybody will just be ignoring him and rejecting him should he confess to anybody, so he sends four confession letters to four different people. Since he doesn’t know anybody, he only knows the name of the four most famous girls in school. In an unexpected twist, they all agree to date him.
2. A Cacophony of Characters
After being turned into an unexpected four-timer, Kaoru is forced to live the life of a playboy without letting the cat out of the bag. After all, his life literally is hanging on the line on this one. On another note, that means he actually needs to be the boyfriend of four different girls, who each has a unique personality. By that, we mean we have the secret sadist, game otaku, secret ero, and the secret yandere type. Since he’s not really a bad guy, it’s interesting to see Kaoru act like a good boyfriend to each and every one of them.
1. It Soon Starts to Become Dry
Honestly, the series has a very interesting premise. It’s also quite funny seeing the characters reveal their true selves, as well as the protagonist to hide his relationship with them. However, the manga turns a bit dry partway through. It feels like the same formula is being used for each girl, and even the funny bits soon become less funny. There are even points when it feels like the series is trying to milk a dead cow.
Final Thoughts
Grim Reaper and Four Girlfriends offers a very interesting setting. Funny enough, we’re not sure whether or not we’re jealous of Kaoru’s position. After all, his death depends on whether or not he can keep up being in a relationship within the next three months. Not only that, he is in a relationship with four different people. Each one is popular enough to throw him back to his no-life life if it goes out that he’s been technically cheating on her.
Author: Christian Markle