The title and back cover descriptions for this series are misleading, making it seem like the “three-person relationship” is one in which any one person has romantic feelings for the other two. Sadly, this isn’t the case. Instead, two girls—Machiru, a chronic overachiever, and Hanakago, an earnest first year—are both in love with the same spacey boy. Also, each girl has an additional guy who’s in love with her, forming a kind of love phalanx.
Instead of being an intriguing story about an unconventional relationship, Three in Love is really just bland. Volume two in particular is full of stock scenarios like a group trip to the pool and the school cultural festival. Also, it’s hard to like Machiru when she brags about her “unmatched brains” then does inexplicably ridiculous things like agreeing to sleep with the boy who likes her if he scores higher than she does on exams.
As for the art, in Shioko Mizuki’s own words, it “sucks a lot!!” In one of her author talk sections she mentions that it was her first time drawing with a pen and she was using poor quality ink and rusty nibs, which might explain what Erin adeptly described as art that “looks as if it was drawn in ballpoint pen.” Asymmetrical faces also abound while backgrounds are practically nonexistent.
With so many better options to choose from, don’t waste your time on this one.
Three in Love is published by Go! Comi. Two out of a total of five volumes have been released so far.
Review copies provided by the publisher. Review originally published at Manga Recon.
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