>>280620386
I’ve mostly hopped off the romcom train and have been searching for more romance-oriented manga. The girls just can’t carry the story on their own so if I notice the MC isn’t all that interesting or is just a caricature of tropes for a fair span of chapters, I just drop the story. I like my romance dynamics much more balanced instead of the girl just dragging the guy around. A romance MC like Ganta feels like a real equal to his love interest and his character is multi-faceted enough to keep the story engaging as well as he’s not very frustrating to watch. He has moments of awkwardness but that’s understandable for a teenage romance but he never shies away from Isaki and makes sure to communicate with her enough to show her he’s by her side and that she feels loved and seen around him, without any weird misunderstandings. He’s not just solely her love interest but the author gets down the dynamic that they are friends as well and work greatly there. Not only that, he shares thematic importance with her and acts as her parallel in certain aspects outside of the romance.
You don’t need your MCs to be loud or brash but for them to have great chemistry and a strong foundation with the girl and treat her well without being obsessed over her. It’s those characters that feel refreshing to me. If more romcom MCs do that, they’d be more interesting and there would be much less frustration but most romcom authors don’t know how to write like that, they mostly hyper focus on the girls.