Osananajimi to wa Rom-Com ni Naranai Vol 21 - Ending! Honestly, it felt quite bad...

Volume 21 of Osananajimi to wa Rom-Com ni Naranai (幼馴染とはラブコメにならない) completes the story with what is probably the worst possible ending I could've imagined. Does this seem too harsh of a judgment? Well, the ending was just that bad, but let's go step by step and analyze what exactly happened.

As you remember, the last volume ended with Yonosuke saved from his arranged marriage with Chika, returning to make his final choice among the girls. Chika herself appeared at the end of the volume, wanting to talk with the heroines, leaving the impression that something bigger was about to happen. A cliffhanger! Exciting!

The cover was nice, but hinted at something quite different than what actually happened.

Like, did time even pass? Runa is basically identical, also is it normal to marry this early?

Well, that didn't happen; she just apologized and then faded into the background as a minor side character, just another childhood friend collected at the very end of the story. Then the declaration happens, how? A hide-and-seek game in the park, where he targets the ones he didn't want as a girlfriend one by one, telling them they were great childhood friends, and then finally captures the one he liked.

I felt the "game," or whatever you want to call that mess, was one of the most hilariously creepy and insensitive things he could've possibly done, but even ignoring that, the decision was very unexpected. Runa Tsukimi was picked as the winning heroine in the end. Runa wasn't exactly a heroine with a great amount of focus in the series; she felt like a minor heroine at best. My expectation was either Akari or Shio because they were central to the narrative. I wouldn't have minded either.

The adult versions were all different, except Runa who was basically carbon copy. Shame.

But let's stop and think for a split second, that's fine. He made his choice, right? We must respect it. Then, the rest of the volume is spent with him mulling over how things aren't the same anymore (of course they aren't) with Runa stating, without any proof that "with time, everything will be like it was before."

Then we get a convenient x-year time skip where things are back to being the same as before, just with him about to marry Runa. No payoff, just an "and they lived happily ever after" with new, older designs for all the heroines, some better, like Haru; some worse, like Akari. Oh, and Runa looked the same, with literally no change whatsoever; I guess time isn't a thing for her. Of course, all the heroines are single and they are all happy to support Yonosuke, and that's it. That's the ending...

I'm still shocked at how much Akari changed over time, she feels like completely different looks wise.

Everything back to normal, clearly something believable. Just as the fact that they're all single after all...

Does this invalidate the fun volumes we had along the way? No, it doesn't, but it still stings because I've grown to like the characters and felt they deserved a better ending than this rushed mess meant purely to "close loose ends." But then again, not the first time this happened...*points at Nisekoi*