Issho ni Kurashite Ii desu ka? Vol 1,2 - Lily is downright gorgeous!

Issho ni Kurashite Ii desu ka? is a manga series written and illustrated by Kei Sasuga, known for other popular works like Domestic na Kanojo and GE: Good Ending. I was honestly on the fence about starting it because of how Domestic na Kanojo turned out, but so far, the story has maintained a nostalgic Love Hina approach.

The premise is simple: Hiromi Sonoda is kicked out by his girlfriend after losing his job, leaving him on his own to find a new place to live. He finds a very cheap share house and decides to apply, but it turns out to be an all-female residence, as they mistook him for a woman because of his name. After some reluctance, they decide to let him stay, beginning his cohabitation with these five beautiful women.

Lily being on the front makes her look like the main heroine. I like her too so it would be a first?!

Lily is again at the very center of the picture, is it me seeing things or is there a pattern?!

Very similar to Love Hina, isn't it? The main difference is that the girls are all at least 19, with some as old as 27, making it more of an adult version, I suppose. The actual events don't change much in practice, though. It follows a round-robin formula, with Hiromi interacting with each heroine in turn, exploring their respective traumas or personal circumstances, and growing closer to them in the process.

Of course, Hiromi is your quintessential romantic comedy protagonist: gentle, caring, and always saying the exact right thing to inspire the girls to better themselves. It's a proven, old-school formula, and I have to admit that I still enjoy it. Maybe I'm just at the age where these tropes trigger my nostalgia.

Mio is beautiful, but her idol position is always a sketchy one when it comes to development. I'm wary!

Lily, stop doing these things! Head patting is welcome though, let's do some headpatting drawing session!

All the heroines are charming, but I definitely have my own preferences this time around, and they are quite skewed. Lily is my absolute favorite, and it's not even a contest. Between her looks and her personality, she feels practically perfect, and I love the art student archetype as well. Yukari is currently ranked lowest for me, mainly because her design leans a bit too heavily into the seductress archetype, which is partly tied to her job as a pole dancer.

Mio is a bit of a wild card. Her being an idol is a slight negative in my book, but her design is the most grounded and relatable among the cast. Her ranking could easily go up or down depending on what gets revealed once we learn why she is so terrified of men in general.

*looks away* Clearly Lily front is not a coincidence anymore. It's multiple pictures in a row now...

Did I tell you how much I like Lily already? Let me repeat it again just in case you forgot about it!

The second volume ends on a cliffhanger involving Mio's idol career, and it relies on one of the most cliché tropes out there: someone spotted her walking with Hiromi and posted the photos online. This sparks a massive scandal and everything that entails, even though Hiromi was only there to protect her from a stalker.