Manga / Girlfriend, Girlfriend

Clockwise starting top left; Rika, Shino, Saki, Nagisa.

Naoya Mukai is the happiest man on earth. After many many confessions, his childhood friend Saki Saki has finally accepted and become his girlfriend. All is looking well for the young man, and after proclaiming his love for Saki, he goes to wait for her to finish club activities on the roof, but upon arrival he is suddenly confessed to by Nagisa Minase, an extremely cute girl with a heart filled with love. How can Naoya possibly say no? Distraught that he would have to reject Nagisa, Naoya comes up with a brilliant one of a kind plan - he'll simply two-time Saki, with her permission of course. Thus begins the tumultuous love life of three young idiots, among a few others who get involved later.

Girlfriend, Girlfriend (or Kanojo Mo Kanojo in Japanese) is a Rom Com manga created by Hiroyuki (Aho Girl, The Comic Artist and his Assistants, Doujin Work). It began serialization in Weekly Shonen Magazine in March of 2020 and concluded in May 2023. A 12 Episode Anime Adaptation aired in the summer of 2021, produced by Tezuka Productions and a Second Season began airing in October 2023.

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Girlfriend, Girlfriend provides examples of:

• Accidental Pervert:
  • In Chapter 68, Naoya accidentally sees Shino's bra when she trips over and lands on him. It happens again in Chapter 69 when Saki pulls at him and causes him to fall on top of Shino, revealing her underwear.
  • In Chapter 80, Naoya accidentally gets Shino's crotch in his face when she falls from a palm tree (It Makes Sense in Context) and lands on top of him. Then her bikini strap gets caught on a branch and slips down, exposing her flat chest for Naoya to see.
  • In Chapter 115, Shino slips on a bar of soap in the shower and lands on Naoya while grabbing his penis.
  • Shino has this as a character trait in general, something frequently called out by the other characters.
• A-Cup Angst: Saki and Shino are both on the small size, which serves as a constant source of angst, especially when they compare themselves to the much more endowed Nagisa and Rika
• Anguished Declaration of Love: A kind of platonic version happens in Chapter 129, after Nagisa and Shino reveal that if Saki really can't come to be happy with the two timing, they will break up with Naoya. This causes Saki to have a breakdown, as while she really does not like the feeling that she will never be Naoya's number one, she loves Nagisa and Shino too much to want them to give up their happiness for her.
• Ambiguously Bi: Both Saki and Nagisa to varying levels. While small, Nagisa had no objection when Naoya revealed he was having threesome fantasies, even revealing she figured that would be a possibility. For Saki though, her relationship with Naoya is pretty much the only thing that keeps her from being considered gay. She freaked out at the cuteness of Nagisa, lamenting that she wasn't dating her, drools over Rika and her sister, and her friendship with Shino is often more romantic in nature than Saki's time with Naoya.
• Armor-Piercing Question:
  • While discussing his two-timing with his mother, Naoya announces that he plans to work hard until Saki is able to accept his two-timing...only to be taken aback when his mother asks just how long he's going to keep trying to make her accept it.
  • In Chapter 77, Shino is unable to answer when Mirika asks her if she would have just stood and watched while Naoya and Saki kissed if Mirika had not told her to do something to stop Naoya and Shino from spending time together.
• Beach Episode: One arc involves the cast going to Okinawa, where Naoya and Shino get swept out to see and Shino kisses Naoya.
• Big Damn Kiss:
  • A distraught Saki delivers one to Naoya after he returns from being stranded on a deserted island overnight, after thinking he may have drowned. It is that finally convinces Shino that Saki truly does love him.
  • When Naoya finally asks Shino to be his girlfriend and Saki agrees, she immediately tackles him to the floor and kisses him repeately.
• Bland-Name Product: Rika makes videos for "MeTube".
• *Bleep*-dammit!: In a series where sexual references are abundant, it doesn't take much effort to understand that Naoya is saying "threesome" (with the "some" part blocked out by the sound of steam from a boiling kettle) when he announces his intent to abstain from getting into one with Saki and Nagisa.
• Brutal Honesty: A major aspect of Naoya's character is that he always tells the truth about how he is feeling. Even when he knows it will make the girls angry at him, he tells the truth. And if it's something that can make them sad or worried, he will tell the truth and immediately look for a way to fix that issue, no matter how insane his solution sounds.
• Buxom Beauty Standard: Part of Rika's popularity on MeTube is her large chest and how her videos serve to emphasize it.
• Casual Kink: Parodied. Saki starts to panic that she might have an NTR fetish after finding herself incredibly turned on when watching Naoya and Nagisa having an intimate hug.
• Chastity Couple: Even though Saki is pretty obsessed with stuff about sex, it's revealed that Saki and Naoya haven't so much as kissed since getting together. This even becomes a plot point later as Shino tries to set things up so that Saki and Naoya can have a special first kiss. The fact that despite every opportunity given and Saki still didn't kiss Naoya starts to give Shino doubts that Saki truly loves Naoya.
• Childhood Friend Romance: Naoya and Saki have known each other since they were little kids, and have apparently had feelings for one another for years.
• Clingy Jealous Girl:
  • Saki's the most prominent example, being hyper-vigilant to any sign that Naoya could be falling for another girl. Justified with the fact that Naoya is openly two-timing her with Nagisa. Natural, she's worried that he's going to either leave her in favor for someone else, or decide he wants to add another girl into the mix.
  • Nagisa comes off as a more downplayed variation of this trope. She has admitted on a couple of occasions that she'd have preferred to have Naoya to herself, but she's pretty respectful of the fact that Saki was Naoya's girlfriend before she was, and ultimately does her best not to come between them in any way. On the other hand, she plays this trope absolutely straight when it comes to Rika, to the point where she openly freaks out upon learning that Rika had been visiting Naoya at his job without any other customers around.
  • Though Rika initially offers to be Naoya's third girlfriend, she eventually does a 180 and tells Naoya that three-timing won't be tolerated, and that he'll have to break up with his current girlfriends if he ever decides to get with her.
  • Shino sees Saki as being far too lenient, and claims that she'd never give Naoya the opportunity to fall in love with another girl if she were the one dating him. Of course, these attitudes are pretty much the standard among those who participate in monogamous relationships, and one could make the case that these aren't necessarily signs that one is overtly clingy or possessive.
• Covert Pervert:
  • Although Saki desperately tries to appear otherwise, it is clear that Saki is a massive pervert. From openly lusting after Nagisa to secretly searching up ways to initiate sex with Naoya. Notably, when Naoya abstains from having any sex with his girlfriends, Saki is very obviously disappointed by this, which even Naoya himself notices.
  • Shino, as despite her wholesome image (unlike Saki whose attempts to cover her perversions are rather obvious), she is the most willing of the girls to get naked and make advances on Naoya when alone. She also asked to watch Naoya and Saki having sex while drunk.
• Creator Cameo: Hiroyuki gives himself a cameo in Chapter 92 in the form of a commenter on one of Rika’s videos going by the screenname Eroyuki. Additionally, another comment comes from someone named Miyajima Reiichi, a reference to Hiroyuki’s friend and fellow mangaka Reiji Miyajima, who made Rent-A-Girlfriend.
• Deconstructive Parody: Naoya's harem situation may seem like a dream come true, but there are multiple instances where it's made clear that in reality, it's a borderline Impossible Task to actually be accepted, let alone make it work in the long run.
  • The girls are either putting up with the harem for the time being or are outright bothered by it. Both Saki and Nagisa don't like the idea of sharing their "firsts" with the other girl, such as with kisses or dating, and Saki especially feels left out at times and is shown resenting the fact that Naoya two-timed her period - even if he talked with her about it openly and asked first, instead of going behind her back - while the girls openly struggle with simultaneously wanting to do more yet also be considerate of the other (even when their desires are anything but).
  • Naoya is determined to make both girls happy even with all those difficulties, but his methods trying to achieve that tend to make a mockery of a little thing called "common sense". As such, the reasons he gives for his stances - being okay with two-timing but not three(-or-above)-timing, not wanting to turn down Nagisa even though Saki was his girlfriend, etc - are often regarded as just plain paradoxical, with any attempts to make him see reason frequently run headlong into metaphorical walls.
  • Every person who eventually learns about the poly relationship never thinks of Naoya as lucky or the girls as sweet—they think everyone involved is a crazy idiot: Naoya for two-timing, the girls for letting him, and any other hopefuls for falling for a known two-timer. As a side effect, the moment someone suspects and/or finds out that Naoya is two-timing Saki, they assume the worst about his character (as would be a natural reaction).
• Deserted Island: Naoya and Shino get washed out to sea and stranded on one during their trip to Okinawa. Fortunately, it is just close enough to shore that they are able to swim back the following day.
• The Determinator: Pretty much everyone on one level or another.
  • The biggest is of course Naoya, when he gets it in his mind to do something, nothing in this world will stop him until he accomplishes his goal. The downside is that he is like this with pretty much everything and can be a bit tiring to deal with. Though Shino and Nagisa both end up falling for him because of his steadfast determination, Saki just finds it annoying most of the time.
  • Nagisa when it came to getting herself prepared to confess to Naoya trained her body and spirit in a Training from Hell type regiment while also teaching herself how to be a 5 star chef. Though the downside of this was she neglected school for several months and as such is a complete idiot when it comes to school work.
  • Mirika almost rivals Naoya when it comes to being undeterredly focused on a single goal. Nothing will stop her, even if she has to learn from scratch a new set of skills, or debase herself, there is nothing that will stop her.
  • Saki is actually usually more of an Extreme Doormat, at least when compared to the obsessive determination of the others, but it's shown in the past she can be just as determined as Naoya when it comes to something she wants. In the past it was becoming friends with Shino, and no matter how much Shino said no, Saki was not going to be deterred.
• Disappointed in You: Naoya's father says this to Naoya when he learns about the two-timing arrangement.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Saki slugs Naoya across the face for suggesting that he be able to date her and Nagisa both at the same time.
• "Double, Double" Title: The English title Girlfriend, Girlfriend.
• Drunk on Milk: None of the girls can hold onto liquor. They're once given a crate of alcoholic chocolates (barely 3% alcoholic content) from Saki's mother, and it only takes them a few boxes for them to get completely sloshed. Naoya only gets a handful shoved down his throat and he wakes up from a drunken blackout. Justified, as all of them are teenagers and thus below Japan's legal drinking age.
• Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Both Saki and Nagisa have this look shortly after Rika forcefully kisses Naoya.
• Friendly Rivalry: Nagisa and Saki, despite being technically love rivals, are for the most part quite friendly with each other.
• Gender Flip: Nagisa is a big fan of the popular manga series Rent-A-Boyfriend.
• Groin Attack: Discussed - Naoya's mother gets her husband to shut up by threatening to crush his crotch with her foot if he doesn't stop talking.
• Heroic Blue Screen of Death: After leaving Naoya, Saki spends a week hiding in her room, barely eating, until her mother finally has had enough and literally throws her out of the house.
• Hospital Hottie: Nagisa dresses up as a sexy nurse in Chapter 66 in order to take care of a feverish Naoya.
• Hot Springs Episode: An arc of the series focuses on everyone going to a hot springs; it serves to be important in helping Nagisa deal with her insecurities and for Shino becoming more entangled with the central trio.
• Hypocritical Humor: When the three are sleeping on futons together, Saki believes Nagisa is a pervert trying to have sex with Naoya when she really isn't. Ironically, as Nagisa realizes after searching through Saki's phone, it is Saki herself who is the pervert interested in having sex with Naoya.
• If It's You, It's Okay: A platonic-ish version of the trope pops up between Saki and Nagisa: neither is perfectly okay with the two-timing, but as they grow closer as friends they get more and more okay with the idea to the point that they'll happily help each other out with getting closer with Naoya. That said, it is only with each other alone they are okay with this; for anyone else, they are very much not.
  • Saki towards Shino. When Shino finally confesses to Naoya, Saki gets upset with Naoya when he immediately rejects her and insists Shino continue to live with them. Saki also later invites Shino to join her and Naoya in a threesome.
• Innocent Innuendo: Chapter 117 begins with a Cold Open in which it appears Naoya and Rika are about to have sex. Then it cuts to a full page shot showing that they are really bungee jumping.
• Insane Troll Logic: The basic premise of the series, really; Naoya thinks the best option for his relationship woes is to just date both girls at the same time. His first and often only solution to any problem is to go straight to the most extreme option possible. Saki isn't entirely convinced his plans will work out, but Naoya is nonetheless determined to prove otherwise.
• Insecure Love Interest: Both Saki and Nagisa fear that for one reason or another Naoya will at some point decide to be exclusive again but with the other girl. They get better as the story goes on, but neither one completely trusts Naoya, especially with other girls, something Rika actually calls them out on.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Saki tells Naoya that she agreed to the two-timing arrangement because even though she knows he would pick her if she pressed the issue, in his heart he really wants to be with Nagisa too.
• Last-Second Word Swap: Upon learning about the two-timing arrangement, Naoya's father almost calls it enviable, but then shifts to calling it just wrong.
• The Loins Sleep Tonight: When Saki tells her mom that she hasn't had sex with Naoya yet, her mom begins to think Naoya is impotent and from then on starts helping Saki try and seduce him and failing that tries to trick him into getting drunk multiple times.
• Love Triangle: The series begins with the forming of one between Naoya, Saki, and Nagisa after Nagisa confesses to Naoya, but Naoya reveals he is already dating Saki. Not wanting to reject such a cute wholesome girl, Naoya decides to ask Saki if he can date both girls, it takes a bit of convincing but eventually Saki agrees to the relationship. Later in the series with the addition of Stalker with a Crush Rika and the secretly pining Shino it becomes a Love Pentagon.
• Meet the In-Laws: Naoya's mother and father finally come home after being away from their house for so long, allowing them to come face to face with the two-timing relationship and the extra girls staying in their home. Predictably, they're both angry with the relationship... but the father is simply jealous of the situation, while the mother points out that it can't last forever on empty promises and the girls' good will. Ultimately they're okay with him dating Saki and Nagisa, but they haven't even considered Mirika and Shino as official girlfriends (yet).
• Mistaken for Gay: When Shino finally confesses to Naoya, it catches Saki by surprise and Nagisa asks how she could have missed all of the signs. A visibly disappointed Saki answers that she thought Shino was going to confess to her.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Due to the lack of progress in their relationship, Shino concludes that Saki isn't serious about loving Naoya and sees it as a green light to go after him herself, eventually resulting in her kissing him while naked on a beach. Soon after she sees a distraught Saki passionately kiss Naoya after she thought he drowned, which proved her love for him and made Shino realize the extent of her betrayal which causes her to have a nervous breakdown from the guilt.
• No Indoor Voice: Naoya and Saki shout practically all of their lines. Including in public. Including about private matters that should be kept to themselves. Cue awkward stares by random passerbys.
• Not Helping Your Case: When confronted about "four-timing", Naoya claims that he would never do such a thing...then says that all he is doing is two-timing Saki and Nagisa.
• Oh, Crap!: Shino has this reaction after she kisses Naoya.
• One Cast Member per Cover: The manga starts out with one girlfriend on each cover but later volumes increase this to two per cover, again with little repetition. The girls are always dressed similarly and in similar poses.
• Open Relationship Failure: The manga is about a boy who manages to start a relationship with his childhood friend right before another girl who was hoping to earn his affection confesses to him. Unable to decide which girl to date, he decides to try and convince both girls to date him at the same time. This quickly leads to one problem after another, and it only gets more complicated as other girls start to try getting in on the action.
• "Open!" Says Me: Naoya punches a padlock locking a gym storage room in an attempt to open it, but it predictably fails and bloodies his fist instead.
• Pet the Dog: Rika consoles Shino and helps repair her relationship with Saki and Naoya after she finds Shino in tears on the beach despite this harming her own stated goal of taking Naoya for herself.
• Pilot: The original two-chapter manga pretty much has the same plot as the first chapter, but with Naoya's mother finding out about their circumstances early and charging Naoya for letting his girlfriends live in his house.
• Playboy Bunny: Saki wears a Playboy Bunny costume for Naoya. He's more confused than turned on or anything because it was so sudden, though he does at least agree that she looks cute.
• Polyamory: This is a Harem Genre series that plays the "harem" part more literally than usual, as the story is about Naoya basically starting a polyamorous relationship with Saki Saki and Nagisa Minase (though the parties involved refer to it as "two-timing"). Since he doesn't want to hurt either girl, he figures the perfect "solution" is to make both girls happy by dating both of them at the same time. It's implied that Mirika and Shino will also join the arrangement at some point, though until then Mirika is primarily aiming to steal Naoya away from all of them to have him to herself, and Shino is driven by I Want My Beloved to Be Happy to end the polyamory so he'll only be with Saki, until she finally confesses her feelings and decides she wants to be part of the relationship herself.
• Pseudo-Romantic Friendship:
  • Though Saki regularly reminds Nagisa that they are rivals, she can't help but eventually come to love the latter like a little sister due to how kind and selfless she is in supporting her relationship with Naoya, and Nagisa for her part has always looked up to Saki as kind of strong confident woman she aspires to be. Ironically, their sisterly love for each other gradually becomes a healthier relationship than Naoya's forced love triangle that caused it to start.
  • Saki frequently gropes Shino, which the latter allows without much fuss.
• Relationship Upgrade: In Chapter 131, Shino finally becomes Naoya’s girlfriend and the relationship expands to three-timing. The next chapter takes it a step further with Saki declaring that she will take up Naoya’s offer to date other people… specifically, by also three-timing Nagisa and Shino herself.
• Repetitive Name: Saki Saki, her parents thought it would be cute if her given name was the same as her family name.
• Rock–Paper–Scissors: The girls use this to decide who gets to sleep with Naoya at night.
• Shipper with an Agenda: The reason Shino wants Saki and Naoya to be together is because she is in love with Naoya herself, and she won't be able to give up if there is even a small chance Naoya could accept her.
• Shout-Out: In the English dub, Rika comments on the possibility that Naoya and Shino "beached each other off" while stranded together.
• Slipping a Mickey: A favorite tactic of Rika's. She even does it to her own sister.
• Sound-Effect Bleep: In the anime, Naoya saying "threesome" is blocked out by the sound of steam from a boiling kettle.
  Naoya: I'll give up on a three***.
• Spiritual Antithesis: To a manga that started getting serialized right alongside it, The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You. Both are wacky gag-based harem romantic comedy manga, both have devoted and straightforward male leads, both have everyone admit that what they're doing would be considered cheating in any other relationship, and both have the girls try to make the relationship work as the harem grows. However, there are key differences; while the attraction is supernatural in 100 Girlfriends, everyone is genuinely in love and they are willing to make friends with the rest of the harem, eventually piling up into a family dynamic. Rentarou also has energy to spare so his girlfriends never have to feel like they're left out of the loop. In contrast, Girlfriend, Girlfriend has the love happen naturally, but it focuses on the problems with a harem; that the girlfriends he has do in fact want to monopolize their man's attention even if they like the other girls, and explores what happens if a haremette wants him all to herself or when he can't keep up with their needs and his own selfishness. The harem is also much smaller and he only intends on dating two of them.
• Stalker with a Crush: Rika at first was just mildly interested in Naoya for the fact he was in a threesome relationship, but she quickly fell head over heels for him. Unfortunately Naoya soundly rejected her, but Rika isn't one to take no for an answer.
• Stupid Sexy Flanders: Saki is very afraid that Naoya might find Nagisa to be more attractive than her. One of the main reasons behind that fear is that Nagisa is so cute, even Saki feels attracted, so how can Naoya not be?
  Saki: She gives me weird feelings, even as a woman!
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • One of Saki's biggest issues with the two-timing is how she will be perceived by society. She agonizes about this for some time until she finally can't handle the secrecy anymore and confesses to the entire class, only to be quickly told that nobody cares about what they do with their love life as long as Saki is okay with it, which she had said she more or less was.
  • Naoya gets a part-time job at a convenience store to help pay expenses, and Rika sees this as an opportunity to get close to him and harass him because he cannot leave the store due to his job. He calls the cops and she gets banned from the store.
  • As Rika learns the hard way from Shino, Video Game Streamers don't earn that much to make a living, especially since their career depends on their popularity and taxes will remove a major part of their income.
  • After teasing the dilemma for most of the story, Saki finally has had enough of the two-timing relationship and tearfully asks to break up. Saki wanted to do so after realizing that Naoya's kindness and consideration as a boyfriend wouldn't be a feeling directed to her alone, and after she realizes she's just the fourth in a string of dates that had been repeated with Nagisa and Shino two times prior. Mirika basically has to spell this out for Naoya in the next chapter.
• Victoria's Secret Compartment: Rika hides the key to the handcuffs she has locked both herself and Naoya in down her chest. It doesn't stop him from reaching in and grabbing it.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: In one episode, Saki sits on Naoya's lap at his desk in the middle of class. The teacher takes one look at the odd pair and just continues on teaching.
• Wham Episode: Chapter 122. Saki decides she cannot be polygamous, and breaks up with Naoya.
• Yamato Nadeshiko: Nagisa worked on her mindfulness and cooking skills for three months, so she could make herself presentable as wife material to Naoya. It works so well that even Saki wants to marry Nagisa.

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