Girlfriend, Girlfriend

Girlfriend, Girlfriend (カノジョも彼女), also known as KanoKano (カノかの) for short, is a Japanese romantic comedy manga series written and illustrated by Hiroyuki. It was serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine from March 2020 to May 2023, with its chapters collected in sixteen volumes. The series focuses on a high school student who hesitantly engages in a polyamorous relationship with his childhood friend and another girl who confessed her feelings for him.

An anime television series adaptation produced by Tezuka Productions aired from July to September 2021 on the Animeism programming block. A second season by SynergySP aired from October to December 2023.

Plot
Naoya Mukai is a high school student who has recently begun dating his childhood friend Saki Saki. One day, another classmate of his named Nagisa Minase, who is in love with him, decides to confess her feelings to him. Initially, Naoya only saw Nagisa as a friend and showed no romantic feelings for her at all, but after some initial hesitation, he eventually accepts her request to be her boyfriend as well. Naoya decides that he will have both Saki and Nagisa as girlfriends at the same time. As Naoya currently lives alone due to his parents living elsewhere for work, Saki and Nagisa decide to live with him. The series follows their daily school life, as Naoya, Saki, and Nagisa experience difficulties and challenges in maintaining their non-monogamous relationship, which is only worsened by the arrival of Rika Hoshizaki, whose extreme obsession on Naoya constantly terrifies him.

Characters

 * Naoya Mukai (向井 直也)
 * Naoya is Saki's childhood friend. He confessed to her every month until she accepted, but also agrees to take Nagisa as a girlfriend as well as he found her to be cute, even though he initially did not like her in a romantic way. He is an only child; as such, he hopes to have a girlfriend who has siblings. While he loves Saki and Nagisa, he shows no romantic feelings for Shino and Rika at all, but reluctantly accepts Shino as his third girlfriend for Saki's sake, even though he does not want to.
 * Naoya is Saki's childhood friend. He confessed to her every month until she accepted, but also agrees to take Nagisa as a girlfriend as well as he found her to be cute, even though he initially did not like her in a romantic way. He is an only child; as such, he hopes to have a girlfriend who has siblings. While he loves Saki and Nagisa, he shows no romantic feelings for Shino and Rika at all, but reluctantly accepts Shino as his third girlfriend for Saki's sake, even though he does not want to.


 * Saki Saki (佐木 咲)
 * Naoya's childhood friend and initial girlfriend. She shares a first and last name as her parents thought such a name would be cute. While initially not romantically interested in Naoya and constantly rejecting him every month, she eventually accepts and starts to genuinely fall in love with him. She also has a crush on Nagisa, but does not want to admit it. She has a complex about her small chest, especially when compared to Nagisa. Although cheerful and kind, she is very hot-tempered and has a tendency to be violent and aggressive, even towards Naoya. She is a member of their school's basketball club.
 * Naoya's childhood friend and initial girlfriend. She shares a first and last name as her parents thought such a name would be cute. While initially not romantically interested in Naoya and constantly rejecting him every month, she eventually accepts and starts to genuinely fall in love with him. She also has a crush on Nagisa, but does not want to admit it. She has a complex about her small chest, especially when compared to Nagisa. Although cheerful and kind, she is very hot-tempered and has a tendency to be violent and aggressive, even towards Naoya. She is a member of their school's basketball club.


 * Nagisa Minase (水瀬 渚)
 * A classmate of Naoya, who becomes his second girlfriend after confessing to him. She was previously a shy girl who felt that she was not good at anything, then fell in love with Naoya as he inspired her to pursue skills that she was good at. Naoya initially did not like her at all and rejected her on the spot, but once she finally proved herself to him, he realized he is in love with her as well and accepts her alongside Saki.
 * A classmate of Naoya, who becomes his second girlfriend after confessing to him. She was previously a shy girl who felt that she was not good at anything, then fell in love with Naoya as he inspired her to pursue skills that she was good at. Naoya initially did not like her at all and rejected her on the spot, but once she finally proved herself to him, he realized he is in love with her as well and accepts her alongside Saki.


 * Rika Hoshizaki (星崎 理香)
 * A schoolmate of Naoya. She is secretly a popular vlogger who goes by the online alias Milika (ミリカ). She becomes extremely obsessed with Naoya, and desperately wants to be his third girlfriend, going as far as stalking him and his girlfriends, camping outside his house to get his attention, as well as nearly raping him against his will. Despite this, Naoya constantly rejects her, since he has no romantic feelings for her at all, and often tends to stay away from her.
 * A schoolmate of Naoya. She is secretly a popular vlogger who goes by the online alias Milika (ミリカ). She becomes extremely obsessed with Naoya, and desperately wants to be his third girlfriend, going as far as stalking him and his girlfriends, camping outside his house to get his attention, as well as nearly raping him against his will. Despite this, Naoya constantly rejects her, since he has no romantic feelings for her at all, and often tends to stay away from her.


 * Shino Kiryū (桐生 紫乃)
 * Saki's best friend and classmate who comes from a rich family. She is at the top of their class academically. She discovers Naoya's romantic arrangement with Saki and Nagisa and she disapproves of it. It is later revealed she is secretly in love with Naoya as well, although he does not show any romantic feelings for her at all. Eventually, he does accept Shino as his third girlfriend, but he only does it for Saki's sake, and not because he actually loves her.
 * Saki's best friend and classmate who comes from a rich family. She is at the top of their class academically. She discovers Naoya's romantic arrangement with Saki and Nagisa and she disapproves of it. It is later revealed she is secretly in love with Naoya as well, although he does not show any romantic feelings for her at all. Eventually, he does accept Shino as his third girlfriend, but he only does it for Saki's sake, and not because he actually loves her.


 * Mr. Hoshizaki (ミリカ父)
 * Rika and Risa's father.
 * Rika and Risa's father.


 * Risa Hoshizaki (星崎 理沙)
 * Rika's younger sister.
 * Rika's younger sister.

Production
Girlfriend, Girlfriend is based on Seiseidōdō, Futamata-suru Hanashi (正々堂々、二股する話, "A Story of Two-timing but Fair and Square"), which Hiroyuki had uploaded on Twitter and later published in Comiket 86 in August 2019.

Manga
Girlfriend, Girlfriend, written and illustrated by Hiroyuki, was serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine from March 4, 2020, to May 24, 2023. Sixteen volumes have been published from June 17, 2020, to July 14, 2023. A commercial to promote the series, starring Ayana Taketatsu and Ayane Sakura, was released on October 23, 2020.

In February 2021, Kodansha USA announced the English digital release of the series in North America and the first volume was released on April 6, 2021.

Anime
In November 2020, the 51st issue of Weekly Shōnen Magazine announced that the series would receive an anime television series adaptation. Tezuka Productions animated the series, with Satoshi Kuwabara as director, Keiichirō Ōchi as scriptwriter, and Akiko Toyoda designing the characters. Miki Sakurai, Tatsuhiko Saiki, and Sayaka Aoki composed the series' music. It aired from July 3 to September 18, 2021, on the Animeism programming block on MBS, TBS, and BS-TBS, as well as AT-X. Necry Talkie performed the series' opening theme song "Fuzaketenai ze" (ふざけてないぜ), while Momo Asakura performed the series' ending theme song "Pinky Hook" (ピンキーフック). Crunchyroll licensed the series outside of Asia. Muse Communication licensed the series in South and Southeast Asia, and streamed it on its YouTube channel and iQIYI.

On September 16, 2022, it was announced that the anime would be receiving a second season. It was produced by SynergySP, with Takatoshi Suzuki serving as the director, Kazuhiko Inukai serving as scriptwriter along with Ōchi, Shouko Hagiwara serving as the character designer, and Kanade Sakuma and Junko Nakajima composing the music along with Sakurai and Saiki. The second season aired from October 7 to December 23, 2023. Hikari Kodama performed the opening theme song "Dramatic ni Koi Shitai" (ドラマチックに恋したい), while ClariS performed the ending theme song "Forira" (ふぉりら).