@hACAppy_2025's comment on 'Based Japs :marseykamikaze: do it again :marseyxd:. Manga author mindbreaks :marseymalding: weebs by baiting them with a fluffy romcom :marseyfluffy: and flipping it into a depressing NTR (cuck) story :marseydisgust: . Huge meltdown on reddit and mangadex :marseylaugh:.'

The manga in question is "It's a Little Late, but I've Fallen in Love with My Childhood Friend" (imasara desu ga osananajimi wo suki ni natte shimaimashita).

The story initially :marseysmug3: starts out as this extremely cutesy story of a highschool girl realising she's fallen for her childhood friend and her subsequent efforts at getting closer to said childhood friend. Now, when I say this starts out cutesy I'm not exaggerating. It's very cutesy :cryingatcuteness: and full of fluff :marseyfluffy: . It feels like the type of manga where the MC and her crush holding hands would be treated as a major romantic development.

But come chapter 21, disaster strikes.

It is revealed that one of the side characters had been fricking our MC's object of affection :marseynice: . Yep, this is no longer a manga about two cutesy virgins getting closer to each other. Then the POV entirely shifts towards the side girl and it becomes a depressing story of how this girl is fricking our guy in order to distract herself from her fricked up family situation :marseydoomer: . This is a complete tonal shift from how the manga was for the past 20 or so chapters.

Suffice to say the fans were not pleased :capymad: ( as you can guess from 10x increase in comments on mangadex for chapter 21 :marseyxd: ). The show gets bombared with negative reviews taking its ratings from an impressive 9 to a 6 with people making accounts just to shit on the author :marseylaugh: .

Some comments from the chapter 21 meltdown thread. :meltdown

WHAT THE FRICK

Hey, I just said that.

Why would you introduce conflict in an already perfect wholesome series? Wtf author?

Oh wait, it's the same fricking author who did white album 2, no surprise.

Apparently, this author has done it before :marseysmug2: .

The Maruto classic

Bro, frick this guy

Everytime a manga post gets like 100 comments in 2 hours it's either the death of a shonen jump character, someone confessing, or problematic shit suddenly happen outta nowhere lmao

Lmao I saw the post at 3 hours and over 700 upmarseys and thought, "oh shit she must've confessed this chapter." Boy was I wrong

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uhhh, was this really necessary?

The short and simple answer is no. Of course it's a common route for romance to take, though common shouldn't be conflated with good. Fricking heck it just sucks.

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Is she actually a girlfailure if the world (author) actively shits on her?

She is now a girlsurvivor

Put thru the bs of her friends and the author

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Well, was nice while it lasted, will drop it here. What a shit development. Throwing a wholesome story out the window with just an unnecessary love triangle drama. Sad to see.

Exactly. On top of it the premise didn't hint any of this. Rather the premise had been set on a short wholesome romcom. So the drama was really unexpected and this chapter is so sudden.

The seethe continues into subsequent chapters months afterwards. :marseyoverseether:

If the author wanted to write this story why did they bother with the first 20 chapters?

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We've gone off the rails but I'm committed to seeing where we are going

Surely not a train wreck... right?

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I guess joke is on me for expecting a romcom???

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Somehow, it keeps getting worse. I'm hopping off. This isn't even a train wreck I want to see.

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I feel like I've been NTRed out of a wholesome story. I'll never trust again.

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this is some hot trash

Like I've read through a lot but this tonal shift into some bootleg Boy's Abyss (surprising since Boy's Abyss was... something too) is so butt. How do you pivot something this badly.

From chapter 25 discussions :marseyshook: .

All these just makes me feel awful for Hikari, darn

She deserves better. Mangaka cooked and burned down the kitchen

Shouldve drawn hentai tbh

Normally I'd be appalled by the suggestion.

But for once I agree completely.

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It's over

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Hikari bros, our cope?

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I genuinely believe the author's intentions partly included setting fans on fire about whom to support.

From chapter 27 discussions.

Author is cooking, but its kind of indian street food.

He's using gutter oil.

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This has turned into a whole different story that the title don't fit anymore

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I'm a little late here but I just started and caught up to this manga in one fell swoop and I'm fricking fuming. somebody, anybody, give me spoilers... there's a light novel right? someone has to have read it right? won't anyone put me out of my misery?