Author Draws Netorare to Promote His Childhood Friends Manga and Angers Fans

How to promote the release of volume 1 of your childhood friends romance manga? Draw netorare and anger fans, who are now saying they no longer want to buy your manga. This happened with the manga Sewayaki Danshi to Guutara Osananajimi, authored by Hanagami Gendai.

Hanagami Gendai publishes his manga Sewayaki Danshi to Guutara Osananajimi on Twitter, which is about two childhood friends and classmates. The girl clearly likes him and drops hints, but he doesn’t notice, although he takes good care of her.

I read a few chapters and it’s very cute:

The manga shows several situations involving the two, where the girl clearly likes him and does everything she can to stay close, like going straight to his house, sleeping or reading manga in his bed, while he keeps taking care of her and doesn’t realize she is giving him hints that she likes him.

And the manga became so popular through Twitter that the author announced a physical volume would be released — volume 1!

And to promote volume 1 of his new manga, the author released an update that, let me tell you, did not make many people happy. The new chapter simply showed the future, telling us that the two do not end up together!

Check out the chapter released on June 2:

For those who didn’t understand, at the beginning the girl was remembering her time with her childhood friend, but now as an adult she is with another man.

Her childhood friend sees them together, but now he is with another woman, and not only did they not end up together, they are also distant and living separate lives.

Some Japanese users are saying the author added “netorare” to the story with this chapter. Others argue that since both found new partners, it is not netorare, but for virality’s sake I used netorare in the title of this post!

Let’s see the reactions? Let’s see how people are reacting to this chapter?

• “What the hell is this? Even if it’s just this chapter, I’m disappointed. I lost the desire to buy the new volume.”
• “How to destroy fans’ desire to buy your manga. So innovative.”
• “It hurts when the author supports netorare…”
• “Damn, I almost bought the manga without seeing the story. I can’t accept these forced twists.”
• “The satisfaction and trust I had were completely destroyed.”
• “I’m the type who thinks it’s fine if both are happy. But I absolutely won’t buy the manga.”
• “Where is the NTR? They just went their separate ways, this isn’t even depressing.”
• “Wasn’t this a romcom? Even if it’s an ‘what if’, this is the type of author who draws things nobody wants to read.”
• “I was interested, but the moment this appeared on my timeline I’ll ignore it.”
• “If this is serious, I’m cancelling my reservation.”
• “Please tell me this is an ‘if’ route.”
• “I only ask one thing: if those two can be happy, that’s enough for me.”
• “Drawing something like this already shows you’re not suited for childhood friends romance manga, just quit.”
• “If this really is the ending, I’m not buying it. I’m not following their romance just to get this kind of conclusion.”
• “I saw the quotes and there’s a flood of overseas criticism too…”
• “I don’t think this should be called NTR or a bad ending, but for those expecting them to end up together, it’s hard to accept.”
• “This literally broke my mind…”
• “If you’re going to reveal the ending where they don’t end up together first, then the rest of the story loses all meaning. Isn’t that stupid?”
• “This kind of ‘self-sabotage’ should be done after the series ends…”
• “What is the purpose of this?”
• “The reader thinks: ‘they’re going to break up anyway…’ while reading.”
• “It’s important to do what the audience wants. I see many authors trying to be ‘different’ and failing badly.”
• “Is this really NTR?”
• “Trying to be controversial and failing is kind of funny.”
  “Is this really NTR? They just broke up and moved on.”

As some people pointed out, on May 28 the author had published a chapter of Sewayaki Danshi to Guutara Osananajimi where the two end up together, married, and with children.

But notice the tag the author used — there is an “IF” there, meaning this story is a “what if” and not the official route.

However, the strip where they do not end up together does not have the “IF”… and as you can see, many people did not like this netorare-style development in the story. Why do authors do this?