YMMV / The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • When Rentarou promised near the start of the story to commit Seppuku if he couldn't be a good boyfriend to his girlfriends, was he trying to invoke the soulmate death clause on himself or would he have done so even without the knowledge of what his fate would be without his girlfriends?
  • Soulmates who are unable to be together are doomed to die, which raises questions about Hakari’s father. It’s not impossible for people to have more than one destined soulmate, so he could’ve been Hahari’s soulmate in spite of her being one of Rentarou’s soulmates. However, it’s also possible that he was a False Soulmate, as he died despite not losing Hahari. It’s not known if a person with multiple soulmates dies after losing one of their soulmates or if they’re only doomed if they lose all of their soulmates, so whether Hakari’s father was a False Soulmate or not is up for debate.
  • During the beauty seeking contest with Mimimi, Nano fails to list any beautiful qualities about Shizuka, only coming up with cute qualities. However, considering that Rentarou was the judge for that round, and Nano winning the round would've made victory inevitable for her, was Rentarou truly being unbiased as a judge, considering that the contestants were competing to remain in the harem?
  • Shizuka’s mother:
    • She was convinced that her daughter had to be able to communicate verbally with other people in order to be able to function in the real world, and thought that using a text-to-speech app to “talk” for her was hindering her development. While Shizuka has no trouble using a text-to-speech app to talk and none of the other haremettes give her grief for doing so,^note Even in her orientation chapter, Chiyo was more upset about Shizuka's messy hair than the fact that she was communicating with a text-to-speech app, and Himeka considered her near weightlessness to be more abnormal than her communication method was her mother right that there would eventually come a time when someone would give her grief for using her text-to-speech app to communicate?
    • She asks Rentarou whether he's "ever once seen a grown, productive member of society talking with a text-to-speech app". This implies one of four things: 1.) Stephen Hawking doesn't exist in this story, 2.) she doesn't know of him, 3.) she doesn't think he's applicable in Shizuka's case since he was physically incapable of verbal communication while Shizuka isn't, or 4.) she doesn't consider him a grown, productive member of society. (To be fair, he died on March 14, 2018, so she could've been talking about current-day society.)
• Archive Panic: While the main draw of the manga is the exaggeration of Taste the Rainbow, there's a good chance that new readers will have to read through a lot of chapters before the first girlfriend that suits their fancy gets introduced to the harem, especially if said girlfriend is introduced some time after a girlfriend who sits poorly with them.
• Awesome Music:
  • The anime's opening "Dai Dai Dai Dai Daisuki na Kimi e♡" is just filled to the absolute brim with insanity and love; what you'd expect from this manga without fail.
  • Episode 11's ending "Kyo no Ending wa Watashi ga Kai totta kara Suki ni shite Ii wa yo ne♡" is similarly filled to the brim with Hahari's insanity and love, what you'd expect from her without fail.
• Badass Decay: After her first appearance, Kishika rarely uses her sword again, and her infantile regression takes up most of her personality. She does mention in Chapter 88 that she uses kendo as a form of self-discipline rather than as a professional pursuit.
• Base-Breaking Character: With 100 girls expected for the manga, it's inevitable that at least a few of them would create divergent opinions from the readers:
  • Hahari Hanazono (#6), being the dam that broke the limitations on what archetypes people could expect out of Rentarou's harem, gets this a lot. Her attitude towards the other girls makes her controversial; because she gets sexually obsessed over the girls nearly as much as Rentarou does, and even more obsessed with her own daughter or the smaller members of the group like Shizuka and Chiyo, her behavior is either written off as hilarious and charmingly unrepentant or creepy in a way that lampshading it won't fix.
  • Of all the girlfriends introduced so far, Chiyo Iin (#12) has definitely been the most controversial. You either find her obsessive compulsive tendencies a fun/unique character trait to watch unfold, or it's just an annoyance seeing her try to "fix" everything wrong about Rentarou and the other girlfriends. Not to mention that being the girlfriend introducing the cousin romance stereotype will always be a turn off for some western readers. Notably, most of those aspects were dropped after her introductory chapter, and she plays a straight man role from then on while emphasizing her Token Mini-Moe nature around the older girlfriends like Nadeshiko or Teen Kusuri.
  • While Kishika Torotoro (#17) is mostly well-liked, her baby regression Running Gag happens to be one of the manga's most divisive jokes and to many fans, the decisive factor into whether the reader considers her one of the best or one of the worst girlfriends. Many fans think it's adorable and hilarious, with it leading to some of the manga's biggest Crosses the Line Twice moments like the infamous breastfeeding scene. Other fans find a stoic teenager suddenly behaving like a baby to be rather uncomfortable, even bordering in Author Appeal. A third subset of fans do like Kishika in her own right but still wish the baby regression was toned down a bit so other aspects of her personality could shine.
  • Suu Hifumi (#23) has her share of detractors who think her Number Obsession gives her too little personality and think her gimmick got old really fast or found it a forced joke to begin with, but she has some fans who found her Adorkable, enjoy her quirk for what it is, don't find her any stranger that the quirks of the other girls and (among those who see her as being on the spectrum) consider her a decent depiction of someone with autism.
  • Outside of the girlfriends, there's Uncle Hiro. Many fans like him for his complete devotion to his daughter, being extremely supportive and helpful to Rentarou every time he needs him, and having some great lines. Other fans find his obsession with making his 12-year old daughter date his older nephew (not to mention, having planned this since the day she was born) and his subsequent attempts to make Rentarou consider Chiyo the best girlfriend to be way too creepy, to the point where they feel uncomfortable every time he appears.
• Best Known for the Fanservice: Episode 7 of the anime quickly became known for the scene where Hakari has an Imagine Spot where Kusuri's drug causes her boobs and butt to expand enormously.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The ending sequence of Episode 11, titled "Today's ending was bought by me, so you can do whatever you want with it tonight". An anime original scene where Hahari imagines herself and Rentarou together in a series of fairytale scenes, with the other girls serving as background characters.
• Bizarro Episode: The first two chapters of volume 6 has Hahari unwittingly blanketing the entire world with her hair, the resolution of which involves the excess hair being eaten by the sun, which garners enough fuel to keep burning, thereby averting an early Ice Age. Nobody new joins the harem during the incident, and nobody who joins the harem afterward seems aware of the incident, let alone Hahari's involvement in it. The only real payoff of the arc is Hakari's father stopping Rentarou from dying, Foreshadowing his role in stopping everyone from dying at the end of Volume 9.
• Broken Base:
  • The biggest point of contention between readers is the story's Homoerotic Subtext elements. Some readers think it detracts from the overarching plots, especially those focusing on Rentarou's love for the individual girls, while others go with it since there's little else that could happen between 100 girls and 1 boy, and still others genuinely find its humor on par with the manga's other jokes. As the manga's gone on, a fourth group generally believes it works as good representation of polyamorous relationships, mainly due to the harem caring about one another just as much as Rentarou does about them (and in return).
  • Making rankings or tier lists of the girlfriends. Some fans see it as a case of Misaimed Fandom, given the series makes emphasis on Rentarou loving all the girlfriends equally and Chapter 100 driving the point at home by having all the girlfriends + Rentarou being tied at the first spot of the popularity poll. Other fans think that the manga's Dancing Bear of Tasting The Rainbow makes it obvious readers are gonna prefer certain girlfriends to others and think that the other half are taking Rentarou's position on the subject way too seriously. After all, the readers are not Rentarou, and viewing things from an outsider's point of view instead of being in his shoes.
  • The Age Gap Romances. They are either part of the fun, add variety to the harem and are a necessity given there was no way a guy was gonna find 100 soulmates that are all around the same age as him or you see it as Squick and wish they stopped doing it.
  • The manga's more dramatic moments or episodes. Some fans think it does a good job being a Dramedy whenever it wants to, while others fans think the premise and characters are just too silly for the attempts to be serious to work.
• Captain Obvious Reveal:
  • The identities of the sixth and eighth girlfriend being Hahari Hanazono and Mei Meido respectively were meant to be twists in the respective chapters where they happened; however, to a lot of viewers, it's very hard to buy that a story with the goal of having 100 unique haremettes would introduce named female characters with unique designs, backstories, and quirks to not have them become part of the harem. The writers probably realized this issue, as later on, the manga would add characters that seem to be potential girlfriends only for them to become Red Herrings and the Zing of Yaku Yakuzen (#16) averts coming up as obvious, given she's introduced at the last minute of the chapter where it happens and we don't see her design immediately, turning it into a more effective surprise.
  • Rentarou being Momiji after taking posession of his body in Chapter 119 is hardly a surprise; not only is Momiji suspiciously absent from the group while Rentarou is groping the girls the whole chapter (which is Momiji's main trait) but the chapter is named after the chapter where Momiji is introduced to the family, and "Rentarou" is notably sporting the same pouty lip that Momiji normally sports. Even the girls admit they saw it coming.
  • The mystery girl in Chapter 168 has such a unique character design and intimate knowledge of Rentarou and the girls that it wouldn’t make sense for her to not be one of Rentarou’s soulmates.
• The Catchphrase Catches On: It's becoming common to respond to the phrase "That sends me." (Ahko's catchphrase) with "Where?"
• Catharsis Factor: Those who are annoyed by The Big Cheese's "No can do" attitude were delighted when Rentarou tackles Common Sense, who has a similar attitude to The Big Cheese, off a building for trying to deny the anime adaptation.
• Commitment Anxiety: Current estimates calculate that at the current pacing the manga is going, it will take 600 to 800 chapters for the manga to reach the promised goal of 100 girlfriends, which would translate to a run of 68 to 92 volumes, and by extension a time frame of 17 to 23 years. While to many fans this is the reason they read it in the first place, other, more casual viewers simply don't wanna get invested in a series that would take so long to reach his potential conclusion.
• Common Knowledge:
  • A number of fans are under the impression that falling in love with Rentarou instantly caused Hahari to make a Heel–Face Turn. While it made things a little smoother, Hahari was still opposed to Rentarou dating her daughter, even trying to dismiss the results of the Lie Detector after Rentarou passed the interrogation with flying colors, until he risked his life to save the latter.
  • It's common to see people on social media say (both among fans and detractors of the series) that the manga was meant to be a Springtime for Hitler strategy and that the creators never intended to create 100 girlfriends, with some proclaiming that some of the more questionable jokes or pairings in the manga were failed attempts to get it cancelled. This is mostly because of a small scene in Chapter 61 where two people at a bookstore display of volumes of the manga itself talk about how the author intended the title to be a joke, and got upset that people took it seriously. A footnote was added later specifying that the conversation was about the joke in the title falling flat, and that they did truly plan on making 100 girlfriends.
• Crazy Is Cool: While the cute girls are a major selling point of the series, many readers tune in just for Rentarou. The sheer lengths he will go to satisfy his harem and his eccentric actions have many finding him just as interesting as his lovers.
• Crosses the Line Twice:
  • Some of Kusuri's more bizarre drugs cross into this territory.
  • If there's one character who embodies this trope to a T, it's Hahari.
  • Naddy's appeal to American audiences can hinge on this.
  • The fact that Kusuri's grandmother is among Rentarou’s soulmates.
  • Kishika's tendency to lapse into an infantile state whenever she receives any kind of doting affection.
  • Momoha being plagued with numerous vices despite being the school's ethics teacher.
• Crossover Ship: There are a lot of fans that like to imagine Rentarou zinging with girls from other series, whether it's to give them a love interest in the first place, or give them Rentarou as a better partner. Chizuru Ichinose from Rent-A-Girlfriend is a rather popular choice due to the negative reception of said series and the main protagonist, Kazuya.
• Dancing Bear: While there are many who enjoy the series for what it is, a majority of the audience admits to wanting to see if the story actually pulls off having 100 unique haremettes.
• Diagnosed by the Audience: As a result of many of the girlfriends being deconstructed takes on female anime character archetypes, it's common to see people believe many of them have various mental issues, most commonly a form of autism, often citing Chiyo canonically having OCD as evidence towards other girls having their own behavioral disorders being possible.
  • Shizuka being almost completely nonverbal, and having what could be easily be interpreted as a special interest in her favorite book series, has led to her being seen as potentially autistic by viewers. Chapter 135 revealing that she's always had trouble speaking and appears to have a perpetual stutter when she tries has lead some to believe she suffers a speech impediment, only worsened due to her mother's treatment and the bullying she suffered adding psychological issues to it, resulting in her becoming an Elective Mute.
  • Nano is thought by viewers to be autistic as a result of fitting many of the tropes often attributed to autistic characters in media, being a genius and an Emotionless Girl who struggles with social interactions, can be very blunt, uses reciting the digits of pi as stimming, and being overly rigid in behavior before meeting Rentarou.
  • Kusuri's occasionally one track minded love for making drugs, combined with her near boundless energy at times, has lead some to consider her as having ADHD.
  • Suu's Brutal Honesty, lack of social skills, lack of interest in other people, and all-consuming Number Obsession have several fans speculating she's on the autism spectrum. Her inability to even remember faces at times has lead some to consider her suffering from Prosopagnosia/"face blindness".
  • Tama comes off as severely depressed in her introduction, lacking any motivation, finding no enjoyment in life, and willing to commit suicide or let herself die, her desire to be a cat reading more like a form of escapist fantasy to some, only for the illusion to crack due to her feelings of guilt and self-loathing.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • While Rentarou doesn't play favorites with his girlfriends, the fandom does:
    • In the official poll for favorite chapter, the top two were Shizuka-centered: first was Chapter 38, the karaoke chapter, and second was Chapter 3, her introduction.
    • Despite being far from the most frequent girlfriend, a good chunk of the fandom is rather fond of Ahko for being a chill, easy-going Gyaru Girl who's considerate of others. Chapter 92 also gives her a lot of Woobie points. Tier lists of the girls made by fans frequently have her in either the upper half or the top tier.
    • Tama gets a lot of reader identification, with frequent comments on how relatable she is for finding work utterly soul-crushing and wanting to laze around instead.
  • The Newbie Idol has only appeared in four chapters, but a lot of fans like her for her cute and attractive design. Whenever a new girl is about to join the family, she's frequently brought up as a potential soulmate.
  • Yamame's squirrel, which delivers some great gags every time it appears, especially its modeling in Chapter 78.
  • The Librarian's expanded role in the anime gained her some fans, thanks to her Adorkable nature and being one of the few to accept Shizuka like she was. Some fans even wish she would get more to do in the actual manga.
• Epileptic Trees:
  • The series has shown on a few occasions that soulmates outside of the Rentarou family can form, and it had been stated once that multiple soulmates for one person is improbable but not impossible. All that stated, there are a number of fans who believe that Hahari's ex-boyfriend is her other soulmate as opposed to a person she loves just as much as someone with a soulmate would.
  • Given Shizuka, Nano, Mei and Mai were introduced first via Early-Bird Cameo, fans commonly speculate about which of the women that have appeared previously in the manga but haven't met Rentarou or didn't make eye contact with him could be the next girlfriend. Alternatively, speculation around which Deconstructed Character Archetype could be played in the next girlfriend is also popular; a long-standing suggestion on the r/100Kanojo subreddit is a girlfriend who plays on the classic yandere archetype, with people wanting to see how yandere possessiveness interacts with the family's polyamory.
  • On that note, there's speculation the 100th girlfriend will be the reader.
  • Unlike other side characters, Rentarou's Friend A from the first chapter has yet to reappear. This has led to fans theorizing that Friend A is not actually a boy (common theories are that they're either a crossdresser or a closeted trans girl), and that they will show up later to be one of Rentatou's girlfriends. This is further supported by how Rentarou asks if Friend A is coming onto him when listing his good qualities, and the anime gives them an androgynous voice (provided by a female voice actress).
  • There's a long-standing desire for supernatural/alien/robot girlfriends among the fandom, but up through Shiina's introduction, they've all been human. What the creators do instead is have girls who evoke the tropes of otherworldly girlfriends - Nano evokes the Robot Girl, Yaku the Really 700 Years Old woman in a youthful body, Tama the Cat Girl, etc.
  • Quite a few fans want to see twin/triplet/quadruplet/etc. girlfriends, some of whom would like a riff or reference to The Quintessential Quintuplets in there. (Others speculate about the creators doing it as a shortcut to getting to 100, though to date the series hasn't shown any interest in adding girlfriends just to make up the numbers; the girls are all distinct characters, even if the occasional one like Momiji may be flat in comparison.)
  • Shiina's introduction as a Mysterious Stranger who acted as if she'd always been a part of the family inspired a lot of speculation about who she was before the reveal of her true identity in the next chapter: the Newbie Idol or a relative, a childhood friend or relative of Rentarou's, a photo club member, a girlfriend from the future who'd travelled back in time, a reader of the manga who'd been reincarnated in the series, an Author Avatar of Nozawa's, a ghost (based on a misunderstanding of the scene where Momiji groped her), a soulmate who'd locked eyes with Rentarou at the same time as a previous girlfriend without him knowing, or someone who'd fallen in love with him but wasn't a soulmate. Most of this got Jossed when her actual identity got revealed, though there's still speculation she might have a connection to the Newbie Idol. (Some people correctly guessed she was a Stalker with a Crush, but not why.)
• Fandom-Enraging Misconception:
  • Any criticism that manages to miss what sort of person Rentarou is - saying he barely has to work for the girlfriends, that they're made to fall in love with him, that he's insensitive or inconsiderate, etc. As noted under Vanilla Protagonist, he's practically defined by his love for the girls and the lengths he'll go to for them.
  • One point that comes up in these is Rentarou not being completely upfront and telling the girls they'll die if the relationship doesn't work out. Even taken on its own terms, it's not going to do much good for a relationship if you're doing it with the threat of death hanging over your head, and the series is very much not about that sort of thing. (Most of this comes from those who saw the anime first, and are unaware it gets addressed further down the line in Chapter 85.)
• Fandom Heresy: When it comes to fanworks, the fandom despises netorare stories (i.e., the girls cheating on Rentarou with some other guy); trying to write a story with this thematic or saying you are open to the idea will quickly draw ire from loyal fans.
• Fanfic Fuel:
  • Rentarou racking up 100 rejections by the time he graduated middle school creates fertile ground for theories about what kind of girls Rentarou tried to confess to as a young boy, and whether or not any of them would cross his path after he starts meeting his destined soulmates.
  • Similarly, the number of potential girlfriends is prime territory for fans to create one themselves - it's just a matter of coming up with a quirk one of the current girls doesn't cover (though there's a good chance that the original girlfriend gets their quirk covered at some point).
• Fan Nickname:
  • Rentarou is often called "Chadtarou" by the fan base.
  • While in-story Rentarou's harem is referred to as "The Rentarou Family", it's just as common to see fans affectionately or otherwise refer to the Family as "The Rentarou Cult".
  • The anime has affectionately been described as "Romcom Gintama" in several instances.
• Fanon:
  • The only canon height given so far is Yamame's, at 2 metres (6'7"). Other heights that get passed around, such as on the 100Kanojo Fandom wiki, are fan guesswork (plus scale is mutable in the series, making comparison difficult).
  • It's speculated that thanks to The Power of Love, Rentarou's power increases with each new girlfriend, and he'll reach full power with the 100th girlfriend. His power is reduced if he's not acting on behalf of the girls, but he becomes a formidable force even if he's helping only one of the girls out.
  • Given Mei's willingness to "remove" or "dispose" of living beings, it's suspected she has a kill count.
  • Yaku being a medic in World War II. The series has Comic-Book Time going on, but it seems a fair guess to say she was born in the early 1930s, and would have been a young teen by the time the war ended. However, that raises the question of which war(s) she got involved in, since the JSDF didn't start participating in international activities until the 1990s, likely intentional as part of her Mysterious Past. (That said, the Yakuzens' drugs make it possible she faked her age for WWII.)
  • Himeka being the reincarnation of Ai Hoshino from Oshi no Ko due to her being an Idol Singer whose debut was around the time the first season of the aforementioned anime aired.
• Fanon Discontinuity: Kurumi's solo date in chapter 44 is one chapter most fans wish never happened because of how deceitful and creepy the solution was. Instead of Rentarou talking things over with Kurumi to figure out a way to satisfy her French kiss craving that works for everyone, he avoids that conversation altogether by having Hahari serve as his Body Double and take her first French kiss. He also has Hahari randomly choose a girlfriend to do this to blindfolded while all of them are asleep (necessitating the narrator to specify that the victim was Hakari) so that none of them can say they weren’t Frenched before Kurumi. The unpopularity of the chapter has even led to a good number of fans wishing the story to be Adapted Out once Season 2 is released.
• Fans Prefer the New Her: The girls sometimes sport alternate hairstyles and clothes that fans like more than their regular designs, with Chiyo Letting Her Hair Down being the most common example.
• Friendly Fandoms:
  • With most other romcom manga, naturally. But also with Gintama, another series under the Jump umbrella with absurd humor, No Fourth Wall and ludicrous amounts of references.
  • With Kaguya-sama: Love Is War thanks to an interview after episode 11 of the anime was released where the writers of both series discussed the similarities between both works. It was almost poetic that the English Narrator of Kaguya-sama subbed in during episode 6.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: In the runup to the anime, Japanese fans were surprised to learn about the size of the series' foreign fandoms,^note particularly in English and Portuguese in part due to their seeing it as being hard to translate due to the puns and references (but see Woolseyism below). It got to the point the anime's Twitter started putting out announcements in English when character PVs were released.
• Harsher in Hindsight: In Chapter 48, Karane takes a drug that removes her tsundere traits, and when the other girls decide that the original Karane was still likable, she refuses to reverse the process until Rentarou convinces her to do so. Chapter 144 sheds new light on why she hated herself for being a tsundere.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • In Chapter 17, when Hahari asks Rentarou if he could guess why she gave birth to Hakari when she was just 13 years old, he says it's because Hahari loves babies more than three meals a day. As the later chapters would prove, this is a completely accurate description of Hahari.
    • Hakari claims in Chapter 2 that in her house they take temperatures using their foreheads and lips, attempted as an excuse to kiss Rentarou. After her mother is introduced, you may begin wondering if this wasn't a lie after all. Chapter 171 confirms that it really is true, it's just Hakari didn't know that when she made that claim, Hahari admitting such causing Hakari to be exasperated again.
  • The incident in Chapter 96 happened because Hahari wanted to impress Yaku with the most expensive vase she could find. Chapter 140 reveals that Yaku doesn't really have a clue how to differentiate a falsification from a legitimate antique, meaning Hahari didn't need to put that much effort into impressing her.
  • Knowing that it was possible for girlfriends' mothers and grandmothers to also be soulmates, some fans began joking that eventually a girlfriend's aunt would also become one, with the most popular being Karane's. Come Chapter 144, we meet Karane's family, including her niece and nephew, making Karane herself an aunt.
• Hype Backlash:
  • Unsurprising, given a lot of fans tend to hype it up as the greatest or the funniest Romcom ever made, leading to a good number of newcomers finding it overhyped, especially if it's a viewer that's isn't fond of the type of relationships represented in the manga (either because they don't like polyamorous relationships or because they find some of the relationships questionable, particularly the ones involving Age-Gap Romance) or aren't into this brand of humor.
  • Rentarou gets his share of this because of the fandom's tendency to hype him up as the greatest romcom protagonist ever made because of the sheer lengths he will go to satisfy his girlfriends, leading to some fans bashing any other male main character from other romcoms simply for not being Rentarou. While you will have a hard time finding anyone who dislikes the guy, there's a good number of readers who don't find him a particularly interesting character in comparison to the girls around him or find him a ridiculously perfect protagonist that only works because of the tone of this particular manga and think trying to compare him with other Romcom protagonists is unfair.
  • Ahko's Ensemble Dark Horse status has also lead to some fans expressing frustration every time she's at the top of tier lists, with fans of the other girlfriends arguing there's more interesting girlfriends that tend to be overlooked in comparison to Ahko. Fans of more controversial girlfriends like Chiyo and Hahari in particular tend to diss on Ahko for no other reason than her being so popular.
• I Knew It!:
  • Fans were speculating that Mei (#8) was going to be a girlfriend, due to her closeness with Hahari, and figured the reason she hadn't done the trademark Zing was due to having her Eyes Always Shut. Sure enough, when she finally manages to open those bright eyes in Chapter 30... ZING!!
  • There was also speculation that Mai (#20) would also become a girlfriend due to her various cameos. Sure enough, come Chapter 101... ZING!!
  • Right after Tama Nekonari (#25) was introduced, a lot of fans suspected that Hahari would adopt her, since Tama wants to laze about without being a burden while Hahari is an extremely wealthy woman who adores cute things. Chapter 147 indeed has Hahari adopt Tama, with Hahari herself pointing out the readers probably expected her to do this. However, the chapter goes on to show that this ultimately doesn't work, because lazing around all day makes Tama feel guilty for doing nothing compared to everyone else.
    Hahari: Like, I'm sure the readers expected me to take you in by now.
• It Was His Sled: Relatives of the main cast are not off the table, and one of the heroines' mothers joins the roster. Marketing for the anime was very careful to hide Hahari and Yaku in virtually every visual (Hahari being almost completely hidden, and Yaku never having her face shown), but it's one of the things every fan and newcomer is aware of. The merch for the former came flooding in after she was introduced to the harem.
• Jerkass Woobie: Karane is prone to lashing out at people and routinely subjects Rentarou to various types of physical abuse out of embarrassment. That being the case, it’s shown that she hates herself for being a Tsundere, and because It Runs in the Family, she fears that any children she has will be like her. She's arguably a Woobie precisely because of her Jerkass side.
• Jossed:
  • After Girlfriend #6 ended up being Hahari Hanazono, Hakari's mom, and Girlfriend #16 ended up being Yaku Yakuzen, Kusuri's grandmother, it became popular to believe among fans that each girlfriend with a "ranking" ending in 6 would have a relationship with a previous girlfriend or would at least have some sort of relationship that crosses the line. Then Girlfriend #26 ended up being Himeka "Kiki" Saiki, who was neither of these things.
  • Early on, a good few readers didn't believe the creators were being serious about having 100 girlfriends (which is fair enough, as it is a Gag Series after all), and thought they'd either take shortcuts (clones, a Hive Mind), or reveal that the real number of girlfriends was much lower and end it there. As time's passed, it's become more and more apparent that no, they're serious about going for the full 100 if at all possible.
• Just Here for Godzilla: With such an extensive cast, chances are you read it less because you find all of the girlfriends equally interesting and more because you are waiting for your favorite girlfriend to get in the spotlight.
• Memetic Badass:
  • Thanks to the extreme lengths he goes through for his girlfriends, fans boast that Rentarou is one of the most powerful characters in fiction who could beat anyone if it was for his girlfriends.
  • Uncle Hiro, because of the Running Gag of him almost getting hit by a truck multiple times, is the subject of popular jokes that he's Truck-kun's most powerful enemy or that his love for Chiyo is so big he can't be sent to another world.
• Memetic Loser: Several fans have made tier lists of all the girlfriends, and many of them consistently place Chiyo either in the lower half or the bottom tier.
• Memetic Molester: While there are hints that Shizuka is something of a Covert Pervert, fans tend to exaggerate Shizuka as a massive pervert who could give Hakari and Hahari a run for their money.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • While the fandom admires Rentarou, general opinion is that they don't want to be him, but would rather date him instead, even the straight guys. Rentarou is such a dedicated boyfriend that the fandom almost unanimously agrees that he's "best girl".
  • Associating Kusuri and/or Yaku with Walter White. Needless to say that fans absolutely had the time of their life when Kusuri made a Breaking Bad reference in the Dub.
  • "So, this is the meme of a wealthy family..."
  • Fans have noticed that there’s a place in Finland called Ahko and have taken to joking about this being the answer to where Ahko “sends” her fans.
  • Redditors posting "Mew" in response to the picture of baby Tama doing the same in Chapter 167.
  • Matsuri's debut involving festivals as well as her being rather crude has drawn many fans to bring up Don Momotaro from Avataro Sentai Donbrothers. Especially his Signature Laugh and Character Catchphrase having Matsuri's name: "Matsuri da, matsuri da!" ^note It's a festival, a festival, everyone!
  • Associating Shiina with Among Us and its Memetic Mutation "sus", because she slipped herself into the harem like she'd always been there, or with Kashimo from Jujutsu Kaisen due to their similar hairstyles.
• Memetic Psychopath: A number of fans think Yaku participated in World War II and committed war crimes, even though Yaku was likely too young to partake in the war. The thinking seems to be that "elderly Japanese Mad Scientist who participated in a war in her youth" means the war was WWII.
• Mexicans Love Speedy Gonzales: Naddy’s shtick is completely ludicrous and arguably cultural appropriation, but Americans tend to like her quite a bit, since she is totally earnest in her ideals and she genuinely believes in Flavor 1 Eagleland, and as such is very nice instead of obnoxious. It also helps that her obsession is clearly The Theme Park Version of American culture instead of the real thing, so it isn’t like the writers are saying that all Americans are like that in real life.
• Moe:
  • Shizuka is such a sweet Cute Mute that anyone who hurts her in any way will quickly draw ire from the fans. She's even one In-Universe, as the family goes "Super Smitten" when a rival baseball player ruins her self-esteem, and they love to pat Shizuka's head.
  • Kusuri's child form is an adorable girl in an oversized lab coat, with an admirable passion for making drugs and an endearing Verbal Tic like Ducky, yep yep.
  • Meme is a painfully shy girl, but her kindness and cute appearance make the fans want to hug her... even though that would probably just make her pull a Ninja Log and vanish.
  • Ahko is a cute, friendly Gyaru Girl with a sleepy demeanor who loves to give hugs.
  • Uto usually acts cool and aloof, but the panicked expressions she makes whenever she loses her cool provide an adorable contrast, otherwise known as "gap moe."
• Most Wonderful Sound: The soulmate shock (ZING!! / KRA-KOOM!! / DA-DUUUN!! / KRRRACK!!, depending on translation), the sound effect when soulmates make eye contact for the first time. Whenever it happens to Rentarou, it means at least one new girlfriend with her own unique form of weirdness.
• Narm Charm: The very premise of the manga on its own would draw quite the snicker owing to its ridiculous long-term goal. But it manages to appeal to its audience through the fact that most of the Harem Genre clichés are averted, twisted, or exaggerated, which creates an aura of self-awareness that is enjoyable to read.
• Never Live It Down: Despite becoming an Abandoned Catchphrase, Ahko is still closely associated with the phrase “That sends me.”. And fans will inevitably respond to the phrase with “Where?”, despite the fact that it only happened in her debut chapter.
• No Yay:
  • As noted in Broken Base, some of the relationships in the harem can fall into this, for the fans who aren't into it. Among Rentarou's girlfriends there are five adult women: Tama Nekonari (21), Nadeshiko Yamato (24), Momoha Bonnōji (27), Hahari Hanazono (29) and Yaku Yakuzen (89), the last two being the mother and grandmother of two of his previous girlfriends respectively.
  • Ironically, the relationships that make readers more uncomfortable are those with the youngest members of the harem, Chiyo Iin and Matsuri Dei, both of whom are 12, and the former in particular gets heat for also being his cousin.
  • The many instances where Hahari displays a sexual interest in the younger girls, not to mention her own daughter, make some readers highly uncomfortable.
  • Chapter 84 has another instance of Hakari and Karane kissing... while the former has turned into a baby and the latter is in her regular age. This one is an instance of Values Dissonance, as several Asian cultures do this, but the extreme nature of this example^note Asian cultures make it a quick peck of affection, not the rapid-fire kiss after kiss Karane did. even disturbs a few people that come from the same culture.
• Quirky Work: The male lead was accidentally destined to have 100 soulmates from birth, and his ungodly affection for girls makes him a being capable of practically anything. The girls he's destined to fall in love with are all crazy in their own way, to the point where this work has its own page for Dysfunction Junction. And that's not even getting into the bizarre adventures that everyone gets wrapped up in.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Many have noted that the series has a knack for having characters that started out as divisive and slowly improving their characterization to make them more well-liked, prime examples being Chiyo Iin (#12) and Suu Hifumi (#23), both characters that were initially divisive due to possessing character traits considered annoying (Chiyo's OCD) or one note (Suu's Number Obsession), but quickly gained favor from the fandom after they were allowed to interact with other girlfriends and make their characterizations more rounded; Kusuri and Naddy for Chiyo, and Ahko for Suu. (Americans Hate Tingle is also a factor here; the Japanese fandom liked Suu from the start, pouring out fanart, while the English-speaking fandom took a while to warm up to her.)
• Signature Scene: Rentarou's Wall of Text listing everything he loves about his girlfriends in Chapter 37 is likely the best-known scene outside the fandom, if only for how long it is and the fact that XuN and Seven Seas both managed to translate the whole thing. Needless to say, many fans are looking forward to seeing how it will get animated.
• Strangled by the Red String: The Manga. As the title suggests, the premise of the manga is that the protagonist, Rentarou Aijou, is destined to have 100 soulmates, who will all fall in love with him the instant they make eye contact with him. The manga handles this by being a Deconstructive Parody of the Harem Genre.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: While the official translations are usually considered well-done, one change a lot of fans dislike is Kusuri speaking in broken grammar. Her only speaking quirks in the original Japanese were speaking in third person and ending her sentences with nanoda. Of all the differences between the official translations and the fan translation, this one is considered the most jarring change by fans due to how awkward it makes Kusuri's dialogue sound.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Given that the series is going to be attempting to balance up to 100 different girlfriend characters, there will always be complaints that some are more underutilized than others.
  • Kusuri Yakuzen's (#5) older form is shown to be a bit more mature and sensible than her younger self, and there are enough differences between them that her dynamic with Chiyo actually changes. Even though 18-year-old Kusuri could show different sides of her relationships with the other characters, she barely appears in the series compared to her younger counterpart. This is something even the manga acknowledges, as one of the voters for the popularity poll (Rentarou) says the author should have older Kusuri show up more; and a later chapter has Suu comfort Kusuri with the fact that she could get one more chapter than the other girlfriends in a series of theme chapters because Kusuri's older form hardly ever appears.
  • Mimimi Utsukushisugi (#10) was this early on where other than developing a friendship with Meme in chapter 55, she doesn't get much to do other than be the Narcissist of the group. It's not until chapter 112 that she finally gets a much needed focus chapter on herself where she takes up acting.
  • Each girlfriend has had chapters that show other sides of their personality and develop their relationships with each other, except for Momiji Momi (#15). For the longest time, Momiji's only notable character trait was her love of groping things, which also defined her relationships with the other girls. It isn’t until chapter 155 that she finally gets some characterization that doesn’t pertain to this, building up a friendship with Kurumi.
  • Yaku Yakuzen's (#16) older form has this even worse than her granddaughter's, as her particular immortality drug is much stronger, impeding her from returning to normality no matter what, meaning her older form is only limited to flashbacks. At least Yaku's personality isn't affected by the immortality drug, so the fans aren't missing out too much.
  • A major reason Kishika Torotoro's (#17) infant regression Running Gag is so divisive. She's a proud Knight Errant, Born in the Wrong Century, has a code of honor, and strong enough to curb-stomp a gang of delinquents in her first appearance. All of these aspects are enough to make her a compelling character, yet in her later appearances, the focus tends to go to her secret need for affection and her infant regression.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • Considering Kusuri's dad's very negative opinion about Rentarou having 14 girlfriends besides Kusuri the first time they met, it's quite odd he never brings out the fact that Rentarou starts dating Yaku immediately after, who is his own mother, even when the character does come back in a later arc.
  • In Chapter 146, Rentarou's (mock) wedding with the first 25 girlfriends only lasts 7 pages of the chapter (with two double-page spreads) instead of having a full chapter or two dedicated to the event.
• Values Dissonance: The official English translation has Kusuri creating "medicines" as opposed to drugs.
• Vanilla Protagonist: Owing to the rainbow of personalities among his constantly growing harem, Rentarou's personality is defined entirely by his overwhelming love for his girlfriends and the extreme lengths he will go to in order to satisfy them.
• The Woobie:
  • After reading Shizuka's backstory, you’ll just want to give her a hug. She was constantly picked on by her fellow students for pointing at passages in books instead of using her voice to communicate, and physically abused and yelled at by her mother for being a Cute Mute. Then she falls in love with Rentarou, only to believe that her feelings are unrequited when she sees him with Hakari and Karane. Thankfully, things get better for her once she confesses and Rentarou confirms that he does return her feelings despite already being in a relationship with two other girls.
  • Mei's utter lack of self-esteem, like her belief that the others see her happiness as a stone along the roadside, or that any sushi beyond cucumber rolls is too luxurious for someone like her, gives her big woobie points.
  • Ahko didn’t have anyone she could relate to before she met Rentarou; while she had nominal friends, they dismissed her as clueless due to being a Frozen Face Perpetual Smiler, never made any attempt to try and connect with her, froze her out of their group, and let her feel responsible for the friction between them. It's not surprising that it's Suu's self-hatred that gets Ahko motivated to help her remember everyone, because that's a feeling Ahko's all too familiar with.
• Woolseyism:
  • There are a number of Japanese puns that don't translate well to English, so the scanlation took quite a few liberties with those jokes.
  • On the subject of the scanlation, a good number of its translation choices have been defining among the initial generation of English-speaking fans - e.g. "That sends me." for Ahko's catchphrase, "Molto violento!" for Rin's catchphrase, "Yep yep!" for Kusuri's Verbal Tic, 'Rentarou' as the preferred transliteration of his name - helped by the scanlation running continuously under one group or another since the first chapter's release.
  • The official manga translation changes a lot of the Shout Outs to ones that are less obscure to Western readers (e.g. the Anpanman joke with Kurumi during the maid-watergun fight is changed to a Scooby-Doo reference), as do the official anime translations.
  • In the anime's English dub, the Vice Principal is nicknamed "Sonic the Hedgehag".

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