Is There A Love Triangle In 'I Became Friends With The Second Cutest Girl In My Class'?

Question

After hearing about this light novel series and reading a few chapters, I'm caught up debating potential romance arcs. Who ends up with Umi, and what are the spoiler-free dynamics?

Michael Yeong · Answer

Yes, there is a love triangle at the center of this story. The main character is torn between his friendship with the second cutest girl in his class and another character. The story “The Love Triangle” takes a more direct approach to the plot. The story focuses entirely on the tension between three characters as loyalties are tested and feelings are alternately encouraged and discouraged. If you like a good love triangle and are interested in seeing the classic trope explored from a variety of perspectives with no clear favorite character, then this is a good story for you.

Emilia · Answer

There is no love triangle in this short, sweet and sentimental tale called “I Became Friends with the Second Cutest Girl in My Class.” Any potential rivals for the two main characters’ affections are kept at arm’s length, and do not challenge the two of them in any significant way. What develops between the two leads is sweet, substantial and sometimes even frustrating as they struggle to get their timing right. Their biggest enemies are themselves. A perfectly nice short romance for people who like substance over fluff.

Theo · Answer

I Became Friends with the Second Cutest Girl in My Class is your classic straight-up friendship-turning-into-love story, no unnecessary affections or rivaling suitors getting in the way. Yes, there are some minorly-irksome side characters to elicit some slight anger or confusion, but even that will never threaten the very core of our protagonist and the second-cutest girl in his class. What transpires is genuinely sweet and develops steadily in the most sincere manner.

In contrast, this simple story follows a straight line with not a single unexpected twist. It is sweet and devoid of conflict. Other romantic comedies about love may present it as a war or even a drama but this particular tale presents love in all its beauty – a beautiful, deep, and wholesome growing friendship that blossoms into love quietly and sincerely. Just pure and beautiful love.

Xavier · Answer

Instead of the protagonist getting caught up in a love triangle with the second cutest girl in school, she could be developing a full and healthy relationship with her. The one-on-one dynamic between them is sweet and interesting to read about, and it would be awesome to see more of their friendship develop into full-on romance. Instead of a love triangle getting in the way, we get to see all of the shy glances, unspoken words, and the way they both orbit around each other.

All the side characters have different functions – they are the comedy relief, or they support the main characters. It feels like the author has tried his best to make everything feel true, and as a result there’s no love triangle. If you’re tired of love triangles then this is a nice change of pace.

Leah · Answer

Love triangles don’t exist in this story. In ‘I Became Friends with the Second Cutest Girl in My Class’, the focus is solely on the romance of the protagonist with the mentioned girl. Author perfectly avoids introducing of rival characters only for the sake of conflict in the story and the conflict or tension in the story comes from the protagonists’ own fears and their awkward ways of confessing their feelings to each other. The scenario is very real and can be easily related to and it is very heart warming and sweet.

Minor characters are at times presented as adding extra color and life to the story of our protagonist, but no rival for the affections of the second-cutest girl in the class ever appears. A classmate teases our hero for being in love with his teacher’s assistant, but that’s as far as it goes. The story is merely told as it is: tender and utterly uncluttered. Two people. Finding each other.

Oswaldo Lopez · Answer

This psychological “ghost” triangle is sort of fun to debate, but for tag purposes and recommending to others, we need to be clear here. By “Is there a love triangle?”, I assume that the person asking this question means the trope of a love triangle as it is perceived in anime/manga/romance communities. So, the correct answer to this is “No”. But giving a “well, technically…” answer to this would be unfair to set up readers’ expectations and have them be disappointed when the story doesn’t meet them. This is why I’d simply recommend this to people who would love it (and hate a love triangle) by saying it’s a pure friends-to-lovers story with incredible character development and NO rival drama.

Abena Boatemaa · Answer

A timeline of their relationship would have no milestones labeled “Rival’s Confession” or “Misunderstanding with Third Party”. The entirety of their relationship would consist of milestones such as “First Real Conversation”, “First Walk Home”, “First Text Exchange”, “First Time Noticing a New Detail About the Other”. A love triangle would require external dramatic events that involved one of them with an outside party. Their timeline would have splits and branches to their history, but this history is a single merging path of their shared time as a couple, special and unshakeable as it is.

Julius Acosta · Answer

Right now, I’m only a few volumes into this manga and I have the feeling the author is playing with the idea of a love triangle only to undermine it. Yes, every now and then a character will do something that makes me think “Wait, maybe they’ll be the rival”, but it never amounts to much and we’re always brought back to the two main characters. In fact, the way the author focuses on the tiniest details of their growing relationship, like them eating together, studying together, remembering little things the other likes, is so compelling that I don’t think introducing an actual rival would be any good. It would ruin the peaceful, serene atmosphere of their little bubble of relationship. Reading their interactions makes me feel warm and fuzzy, glad that two people have naturally found each other and become indispensable to each other. No, no rivalry needed here. This story is just fine as it is.

Bloodreina · Answer

Just to acknowledge the cultural context a bit: using the ‘second cutest’ to set up a school caste system is a familiar trope in a lot of East Asian media. But this story isn’t endorsing or even celebrating this ranking system. The whole arc of the story is to move past this superficial means of ranking people to really connect with someone. Having a sustained love triangle would have the effect of validating the ranking system until the very end, since the guy would be choosing between #1 and #2. But instead, Maehara’s growing feelings for Umi eventually eliminate ranking from consideration entirely. His choice isn’t between the #1 and #2 spots; it’s that he’s rejected the list entirely in favor of being able to truly appreciate the individual in front of him. A love triangle would ruin that.

Catherine Matins · Answer

This would be a heavy and spicy sauce to add a love triangle to this story. The author has chosen to keep a light touch to let the reader experience the flavors of the characters and their growing relationship with only a few notations of the main character’s social anxiety and some very sweet moments with the others. You can clearly experience the unique qualities of each of the main characters: Umi’s reserve and thoughtful nature, Maehara’s growing confidence. The light touch of the author is the greatest sophistication of this story’s structure. So much more skill is required to write a good romantic story without the aid of a rival. This series manages to create very rich internal landscapes of the protagonists’ thoughts and feelings and thus carries the reader through the story as that is all that is needed.

Lemon@de · Answer

Most of the answers above are solid 'no's, but it's worth noting the function of side characters. While none of them constitute a third vertex of a triangle, each of them serves as a kind of mirror or catalyst for the main duo. While a classmate of Maehara's teasing Umi might prompt Maehara to realize his true feelings, another guy being courteous to Umi could make Maehara uncomfortable and prompt him to a realization of a feeling he had not previously known. Note that in these instances, the rival of the main duo is not the other person, but rather his own failure to see things clearly. Thus, while the narrative of Clannad harnesses the same emotional meat that a love triangle would (jealousy, fear of loss, comparison), it is ultimately internalized to produce a far more personal and complex psychological struggle. Brilliant narrative, and far from formulaic.

Darlyn Duenas Marshall · Answer

The romantic structure of the movie is a straight line with occasional wobbles due to internal turmoil rather than a triangle. The wobbles consist of moments of doubt, miscommunication, and even social anxiety but overall they are headed in the right direction – towards each other. There is no alternative destination that receives any narrative weight. The other characters exist in the periphery of our couple and at times interfere with the line by commenting or making things happen but their own gravitational pull is not strong enough to pull the couple in a completely different direction. Instead the story follows the line as it becomes a straighter, stronger, and more defined line as time passes. It is a simple yet elegant structure that is very satisfying to follow because there is never any unexpected turn to the story that will pull the couple in a completely opposite direction. You can follow along peacefully and confidently knowing that each scene will bring the couple closer together.

Is There A Love Triangle In 'I Became Friends With The Second Cutest Girl In My Class'?

12 Answers

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