"My Childhood Friend Will Never Lose in a Romantic Comedy" is a light novel published by Dengeki Bunko (KADOKAWA) that will be adapted into an anime series starting in April 2021. While many works tend to portray the childhood friend as the losing heroine, this work takes on the theme of the childhood friend being the losing heroine. What does the title "My Childhood Friend Will Never Lose" mean? I'd like to explain! Warning: Spoilers ahead.
Childhood Friends Are the Losers of Their Time! A History of Losing Heroines
Childhood friends are an important status symbol in romantic comedies, and have served as the heroine in numerous works to date. They're close to the protagonist, and although you initially think of them as nothing more than a childhood friend, before you know it, you start to become interested in them. They're like the ace of romantic comedies. However, these days, it's rare for a childhood friend to end up with the protagonist and have a happy ending, or to win first place in a popularity poll. In fact, it's not uncommon for the protagonist to end up with another heroine and become the loser. The childhood friend went from being the ace to the loser.
Here are some childhood friend heroines who became winners!!
In countless works, there are heroines who become winners. In romantic comedies, one of two baseball-playing brothers dies in "Touch," and the childhood friend becomes the obvious heroine. Even if the main focus isn't a romantic comedy, there are some heroines who naturally win. For example, "Detective Conan," the famous detective who becomes a child due to a strange drug, or "Fullmetal Alchemist," the story of two brothers who suffer a terrible fate due to human transmutation. However, I feel like there are few romantic comedies in which the childhood friend completely wins.
Tragic! The childhood friend heroine becomes a loser!!
The childhood friend heroine who becomes a loser is tragic. The losers here can be divided into two patterns: "they simply didn't end up together with the protagonist" or "there's a heroine who ended up becoming more popular than the main childhood friend." The former pattern is seen in "Shuffle!", where a character falls to the dark side due to psychological shock, leaving a significant impact in some ways. Other examples include the nationally popular RPG "Dragon Quest 4," where the heroine dies early in the story in place of the protagonist. Even worse, there's the heroine in "Steins;Gate," who dies multiple times and turns into a gel.
Why do childhood friends end up losing...?
Why do childhood friend heroines end up losing in romantic comedies? One reason is probably because it's difficult to develop the story. In a romantic comedy, omitting the meeting part is a detriment to the story's development. It's impossible to have a plot like "Their first meeting was terrible, but..." and the childhood friend who always takes care of them doesn't change, for better or worse. There are plots like "They were childhood friends and like family, but recently they've started to have feelings for each other," but on the other hand, is there anything else they could do? Forcing a change like that would be destined to boil an empty pot.
Main topic! What does "A Romantic Comedy Where the Childhood Friend Won't Lose" mean?
"A Romantic Comedy Where the Childhood Friend Won't Lose" (hereafter "Osamake") features three main characters: the protagonist, Maru Sueharu; the heroine, Kachi Shirakusa, whom Sueharu has a crush on; and Shida Kuroba, Sueharu's childhood friend who confessed her feelings to him but was rejected. Sueharu and Kuroba are childhood friends, and if things continue as they are, Kuroba will end up as the defeated heroine, boiling an empty pot.
Haru Maru
The protagonist of this work. He is an ordinary high school student, but in fact, he was once a child actor who took the world by storm. However, his mother's death in an accident during the filming of a drama left him traumatized and forced him to leave the world of acting. He has feelings for Shirakusa Kachi, which is why he rejected Kuroba's confession.
Shida Kuroba
Sueharu's childhood friend. Her baby face, large breasts, and caring personality make her extremely popular with boys. She had previously confessed her feelings to Sueharu, but was rejected. She was so devoted to him that she played the role of the ideal woman in order to win his heart, and she also devised various schemes.
Kachi Shirakusa
She is a high school student writer and winner of the Akutami Prize. Her beautiful appearance makes her an idol at school. In reality, Shirakusa is shy and clumsy. She plays the cool role to hide her hidden weaknesses. While her relationship with Sueharu was more than friends but less than romantic, it's later revealed that she's dating senior student Mitsuru Abe.
Sueharu Maru, Burning with Revenge
Though things were going pretty well, Shirakusa ended up dating the handsome, actor-like, and perfect superhuman Abe-senpai. What's more, Abe-senpai is an incredibly unpleasant guy who makes a point of proclaiming his love for Shirakusa right in front of her, causing her the ultimate humiliation. So, her childhood friend, Kuroba, proposes a revenge plan to inflict even more humiliation on Shirakusa and Abe-senpai than he himself has suffered: make Shirakusa fall in love with him and then dump him.
Shirakusa Kachi, Burning with Revenge
However, Sueharu wasn't the only one burning with revenge. Shirakusa was actually a childhood friend of Sueharu, having met him when they were child actors. Shirakusa made a promise to Sueharu, but it was never fulfilled. It was deeply connected to Sueharu's trauma of his mother's death, but Shirakusa had no way of knowing this. In fact, Shirakusa was also attempting the same kind of revenge on Sueharu.
Shida Kuroba: Burning with Revenge
However, there was actually another person plotting a similar revenge. Let's clarify the relationships here. Sueharu broke a promise to Shirakusa in the past and rejected Kuroba's confession. Shirakusa caused Sueharu's mental breakdown, and Kuroba wouldn't have been rejected by Sueharu if it weren't for Shirakusa. Sueharu broke Kuroba's mental breakdown, and Shirakusa broke both Sueharu and Kuroba's mental breakdown. If Sueharu had broken Shirakusa's mental state, and Kuroba had broken both Sueharu's and Shirakusa's, the plot would have been complete, with three people breaking the mental states of three people. However, Kuroba's mental break on Shirakusa was unintentional.
Everyone's Revenge is Complete
Kuroba's goal was to have Sueharu break Shirakusa's mental state, and then to break Sueharu's mental state himself. And so, his revenge was achieved. After the turmoil, Sueharu and Shirakusa were filled with sorrow and frustration that they cried. However, Kuroba himself was also filled with sorrow and frustration that he cried. Kuroba's reason for doing this was simply because he was upset about being rejected by Sueharu. However, it also meant that he was throwing away an opportunity to be the victor. Please be sure to check out the anime or the original manga to see how Sueharu and the others acted and how things ended up this way.
A Romantic Comedy Where the Childhood Friends Never Lose Because There Are No Winners
In conclusion, there is no winner in the first episode of this romantic comedy. Since there is no winner, there is no loser either. It's a kind of "on hold," but the ending leaves everyone equally mentally shattered. The reason the childhood friends never lose is because there is no winner. Or rather, because everyone is a loser, the structure of winners and losers couldn't be created. That's it. There's more trouble to come from the second chapter. I think it will be very interesting to see how the idea of the childhood friends never losing is resolved, so I'm really looking forward to what happens next.
The Final Winner
However, there is actually one person who clearly won this turmoil. That is Abe-senpai, who Shirakusa was supposedly dating. Of course, the story about Shirakusa and Abe-senpai dating was a lie; it was revenge against Sueharu. Abe-senpai chose to play the villain himself, but he did so for a certain purpose, and that purpose was fulfilled in this revenge drama. Abe-senpai may have been the ultimate winner.
[A Romantic Comedy Where the Childhood Friend Won't Lose] Summary of Reasons Why They Won't Lose
I've summarized what it means to be a "Romance Comedy Where the Childhood Friend Won't Lose"! The ultimate conclusion is that there is no winner, and everyone is a loser, but please enjoy the process leading up to it by watching the anime and the original work!
