YMMV / Girlfriend, Girlfriend

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Naoya. Is he really the completely idiotic Determinator we see him as? Is he actually a more toxic Covert Pervert who's Obfuscating Stupidity and manipulating Saki, Minase and the other Love Interests to live out some harem fantasy? Or is he actually not actually that dumb, but has a bad tendency to jump to the first idea he thinks up in a panic and goes all the way with it in a vain effort to not look like an idiot? Some combination of any/all of the above? In later chapters, it seems to point mainly to the former, as he keeps rejecting Mirika and Shino's affections and desire to date him.
  • Saki's reasoning for letting Naoya two-time. Did she allow it due to being weak to pressure or did she do so in the hopess of getting together with Nagisa? Shino hints at the former due to Saki's simple nature, while later chapters point to the latter with her being in denial.
  • Naoya's reasoning for having Rika move out of his house. Is he genuinely growing feelings for her like he did with Nagisa and didn’t want to start three timing; or he is overly paranoid and doesn’t want to take any risk of ruining his two timing relationship? As the series goes on, while Naoya admits to admiring Rika's determination and video skills, her actions (especially illegal ones) are a bit off-putting for him.
  • Naoya rejecting Shino's confession. Did he do so cause he doesn’t have feelings for her or because since Saki was in front of him, Naoya rejected her as not to break Saki’s heart? In later chapters, the two are getting very close to one another, to the point that Saki and Nagisa can pick up on it.
  • Saki not giving an answer to Shino wanting to be Naoya's girlfriend. Is she in so much shock that she needs more time to think about it or does she secretly want Shino to join them? It doesn’t help that Saki continues to allow Shino to live with them, doesn’t look that jealous that the two are getting closer and even invited Shino to a threesome when drunk on chocolate. There’s also the theory that, like Nagisa, Saki wants to date Shino as she was disappointed that the confession was for Naoya and not her.
  • Saki realizing that she's attracted to girls. Did she realize it when she saw Nagisa and Shino kissing Naoya and got jealous? Or did she always know and was just hiding it out of being insecure about her sexuality until she no longer could keep her emotions in check?
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Naoya has polarizing opinions from audiences, with some viewing him as an absolute stud and an icon of manliness due to his earnestness, directness, hilarious and uncompromising morality in stating exactly what he wants and doing whatever it takes to get it without having any intentions of being dishonest. Others, however, see him as a childish and selfish scumbag who is basically forcing Saki into a polyamorous relationship that she does not want. Naoya also will not take no for an answer, becoming extremely persistent at getting what he wants, and it doesn't help that he repeatedly doesn't notice his girlfriend(s) outright begging him not to do something dangerous or stupid.
  • Rika continually comes up with (often illegal) schemes to break up the relationship and steal Naoya herself, only to fail spectacularly. As a result she tends to be either hated for being an obnoxious homewrecker or thought to be downright hilarious for her constant embarrassing failures and how over-the-top she is. The fact that she has a lot of the same traits as Naoya also plays into how fans feel, with her either being just as obnoxious and problematic or they see her as some form of Laser-Guided Karma, in that Naoya gets plagued by the same unrelenting personality he has.
• Broken Base: Regarding the love situation in general. Some are fine with it exploring how much of a headache a romcom harem would actually be, but think that Hiroyuki's madcap comedy is not the right approach for it and has to trivialize everything to make it work like it does now. The other half of the fandom enjoy it for the farce it is, and think the people who expected a more nuanced take on harem or the characters are taking the series way too seriously, and find that the miscommunication works for the comedy series that it is.
  • This is how some people felt after the drama bomb after chapter 124, including Mirika finally joining the harem near the end of the series. While everyone becoming his girlfriends was pretty much the end goal of it all, the issues mainly come from not only how the bomb took a realistic approach to the whole situation, with the argument that it shouldn't have been a thing in the first place due to it being a comedy, but that it also had a huge roadblock with Mirika's stance on remaining monogamous up until the end. It got to the point that some felt that she shouldn't join due to said stance and her being the "villain" of the series and should've just left and went her own way after the 5 month period was up, since it would've not only stuck to her character, but she probably would've been happier that she did try her absolute best and with her realizing that getting the guy isn't always the best outcome. It didn't help that it brought up Naoya's worst trait of being stubborn to practically forcing the multi-timing to happen, and that Mirika deliberately sabotaged her Youtube career for him while Naoya didn't give up anything of his own^note She gets some popularity back, but still.
• Captain Obvious Reveal: Saki coming out as bisexual after 130 chapters of many, many hints that were about as subtle as a brick to the face.
• Catharsis Factor: For Naoya's detractors, seeing him get humiliated or injured, mostly by Saki, can be satisfying to watch.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • In the Western fanbase, Shino has been proven to be very popular for her serious personality, trying to get Naoya to stop the two timing in order to help Saki despite being in love with Naoya herself and humorous interactions with Naoya and Saki. Her popularity grew more after she confessed her feelings for him, becoming a lot happier and willing to help the cast out more.
  • Saki's unnamed classmate friend for being very chill about the two timing relationship, believing in the "age of diversity," poking fun at others for their insanity but ultimately doesn't care enough to put her nose into their business. With some of the fanbase wanting her to join the group at some point.
• Growing the Beard: While the series is still a Broken Base for others, those who stood by it generally agree that the moment Rika and Shino join the cast, the series got a lot funnier, by adding people who challenge Naoya and his two-timing relationship so it can grow and provide new kinds of jokes.
• Jerkass Woobie: Despite her abrasive, obnoxious, and sometimes illegal actions, it can be easy to feel sorry for Rika in the face of her constant failures to get closer to Naoya.
• Memetic Mutation: This panel◊ of Rika from Chapter 116 saying "You slut!" is an often used reaction meme to lewd situations, or mundane ones like "hand holding".
• Superlative Dubbing: The English dub has received a lot of praise for its hilarious script, punched up dialogue, and for fully embracing the show's premise to the point where the sexual jokes are made much more blatant and direct. Many particularly love Brittany Lauda's performance as Saki and all the names she comes up with for breasts, such as "mammary foam pillows" and "mommy milkers" (yes, these are said out loud).
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Pretty much every major character save for Rika and maybe Shino, whose actions are supposed to be seem as rather dubious, can potentially come off as this.
  • Naoya is an otherwise earnest and Nice Guy who wants what's best for those he cares about, but his stupidity and inability to take no for an answer can earn a lot of ire. One of the major reasons why he's pursuing the two-timing relationship because he wants to make both girls happy, but by doing so he's effectively forcing Saki to take this option, putting them at the risk of suffering severe social stigma in the process and making them Insecure Love Interests. Even though he claims he doesn't play favourites, some could argue that he favors Nagisa over Saki at times (could be because she's new, but still not completely fair to Saki). Even his inability to take "no" for an answer can make him come across as selfish beyond Hypocritical Humor.
  • Some tend to see Nagisa in this light. While she doesn't come out of entering the relationship unscathed, with her own issues and insecurities, she can be seen as either someone suffering the consequence of her decision to go along with a two-timing relationship, or a blatant homewrecker who, like Naoya, is forcing Saki into the relationship so she can be happy (despite her genuine desire to support Saki being the favorite/first to receive moments). Her tendency to resort to shady means to keep the relationship from being exposed also doesn't help. Then there's the fact that she fell for Naoya because she was inspired by him trying his hardest...to confess to another girl entirely, which either adds to the "homewrecker" reputation, or makes her stupidity seem on par with Naoya's.
  • Saki, at times, doesn't escape from this either. While there are quite a few fans that sympathize with her for her anger over the whole thing, there's also a number of fans who believe that her hair-trigger violent reactions can be off-putting. It's been made clear by Naoya that he would stop if Saki committed to a firm "no", but at the same time it makes both of them unsympathetic because he's putting responsibility for his actions in her hands, and she could end this nonsense any time she wants but won't. It should however be noted that Saki says multiple times that she wants the arrangement to work and for her to get past her insecurities regarding it, rather than end it. And eventually she reveals she is in love with Nagisa and Shino herself and wants them to see her like they do Naoya.
• The Woobie:
  • Saki, at the start of the series, is in a happy (if eccentric) relationship with her Childhood Friend Naoya and, in spite of his oddities, is very much in love with him. Then one day, completely out of the blue, Naoya approaches her with a girl named Minase, who's nice, sweet, has a more curvaceous body, and is a Supreme Chef, and says he wants to date the both of them. She gets understandably upset by this, but in the end, she's effectively made to go along with it (something her friend Shino states is something that's easy to do with enough persistence due to her easy-going nature). Saki becomes a major Insecure Love Interest over her perceived lack of curves compared to Minase and Mirika, and being unable to do anything to help around their share-house, with all her attempts at doing so ending in Epic Failure. This all culminates in her resorting to Be a Whore to Get Your Man, only for Naoya, out of a sense of fairness towards Minase and realizing something is wrong, to turn down her advances, causing her to briefly drop out of the relationship and go back to her house. Saki, however, does ease up into the situation a bit, but remain jealous against Rika.
  • Nagisa, before meeting Naoya, had an extremely difficult time finding what she's good at. She required more time than others just to memorize basic knowledge. It got to a point where her mother is worried about her future despite how much hard work Nagisa put into them. It gets so bad, Nagisa was close to quitting until she discovered Naoya—and his actions inspired her to work on herself and inadvertently makes her fall in love with him in the process.

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