I bought this book as soon as possible for my kindle, then read it all in one go. Like usual the book was awfully short, so here we are. Already done.
This book was good in one sense -- it dealt with meaningful things -- why the various girls liked Shinichi and why he liked the various girls. However, Shinichi's handling of the situation was abysmal. Obviously he should just choose Myusel, the clear best girl, which is why in '100 Waifus' she's the one chosen. It's impossible to believe you could actually like three different girls equally, without a scintilla of difference. Now that they've all asked him to choose, all you can do is make a choice. Even if you're wrong it's not like the results are bad -- you still live happily ever after with a loving girl. The important thing is to choose someone and be done with it.
Barring that, he could lay his feelings bare and convince all of them to form a harem with him as the best possible option so no one is left out or hurt. These girls are nice people and already get along, so it shouldn't be too hard to persuade them. One is the Empress of Eldant, so they would have no problem supporting a family of any size. Plus, given that they might lose out entirely and he might choose one of the other girls if they force him to choose just one, they might all think 1/3 of a loaf is better than none. But, inscrutably, he rejects this option out of hand, saying 'he couldn't do it,' or 'he was too afraid to consider it,' etc. No logical arguments why this wouldn't work. No serious debate of the question and consulting with the concerned parties. Just a hand waving dismissal.
This really bothers me. We're talking about, supposedly, one of the best writers on Earth, writing one of the best stories on Earth. But not a single serious argument is given for or against polygamy even in a situation that begs to be about nothing but polygamy. Literally three girls confess to a boy simultaneously and fight over him, he literally can't decide who he likes most, and still polygamy is dismissed without even a debate.
So in the end what did this book accomplish? Absolutely nothing. We already knew everyone's feelings before now. The fact that Shinichi was incapable of deciding on any of them makes him not a man. In fact, after this completely unreliable performance, all three girls should grow disgusted with him and fall right back out of love. If you can't honestly and sincerely talk things over and come to a conclusion for better or for worse then you're not a sentient being. Sentience is about weighing the options, deliberating over them, and then making a judgment. It isn't about dithering and vacillating and then eventually doing nothing.
If he really felt that he liked all three girls equally and he didn't want to try polygamy then he could have left it to a game of chance -- no hard feelings, drawing straws. At least that would have been manly. It's important to take the lead and take responsibility. These girls are wasting away, pining away, as you dither. They're demeaned by the fact that their feelings aren't returned with each passing second.
How is it that I can so easily think of so many obvious solutions but Shinichi can't decide on any? Obviously the author can think of the various solutions -- he even mentioned them. It's simply that he doesn't want Shinichi, the protagonist, to settle on a solution. He wants to drag the story out indefinitely. Not to enhance the value of the work as art, but simply to line his pocket by requiring we buy yet more volumes to find out what the eventual answer will be. It's such a betrayal. A con job. He gets us emotionally invested in the early books and then toys with us for the next 9 entries only to finally, begrudgingly, when he's squeezed us entirely dry, give us the ending he could have given at any point, at volume 18. That's terrible writing. And a writer who intentionally does something like that is an outright terrible person too.
Christopher, the protagonist of '100 waifus', is juggling not 3 girls but 100, but he treasures them all more than Shinichi treasures any of his targets. He's just an infinitely better character in an infinitely better book. When I read books like these, I get so frustrated and wish I could read about Christopher's interactions with Myusel, which are so much more loving and sincere, over the author's own Myusel. It's like how in Zero no Tsukaima Saito is so terrible to Louise that I end up preferring Christopher's interactions with Louise instead. The fake surpasses the real. Why even bother reading the real stories when I could just go read the fake again, which is a better version of events anyway?
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