Ashita, Watashi wa Dareka no Kanojo
Tomorrow I Will Be Someone's Girlfriend

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This manga makes the reader feel a lot of things, especially towards women. It explores the life of people related to host clubs, rental girlfriends, sugar babies, and etc. Every character has a different relatable element to them with traumas that many women could probably relate to. Every character's perspective is described and every one of them are flawed but loveable as you see some parts of you in at least one of them. In my opinion, the manga is dark but it's really addicting. Every chapter has me reflecting on my life and hits you with the truth. It shatters the romanticised life ... surrounding these cultures. In addition, the art is pretty nice overall with nothing that will distract from the atmosphere of the series. Overall, it's really just great I love it so much I think it will become one of my favourites.

Basically the anti-version of Rent-a-Girlfriend. I wouldn't even be surprised if its creation was directly influenced by RaG as the first volume is a giant middlefinger to its premise. Instead of feeding into the fantasy of a rental girlfriend and a customer developing feelings for one another, it chooses a much more cynical yet realistic approach. There are no feelings, it's just a job. And instead of glorifying it or downplaying it as any other job, it is treated as what it is: You pay money so someone pretends to be your friend, your partner or your sex fetish.

The strongest aspect of this manga are ... the characters, mainly the women. There are a lot of female characters in this manga and they all get their own story arc that spans over multiple volumes. While the concept of renting people is the premise of all its story arcs, the manga is not repetitive about it and manages to explore this concept from multiple angles such as sugar daddies, plastic surgery, host clubs and prostitution. The responsibility in each character's hardships is reasonably distributed between the systematic exploitation by the industry and the character's personal flaws that leads to their eventual downfall.
The female characters are all written in a believable way with nuances to their personalities and mentalities, making them interesting to follow. The male characters tend to be less interesting and mainly function as plot-devices, but they are not poorly written, merely functional.
One thing that is unsure as of yet is the existence of a protagonist for the whole manga. While the lead of the first story arc could be seen as the manga's protagonist, her role in most of the following story arcs is heavily reduced to give one of the other women the spotlight, giving the manga an episodic feeling. If this is good or not is up to reader preference, but I personally enjoyed the shift in main characters.

The art of the manga is not spectacular but works well enough for what it's trying to express. The female characters look pretty but not overly sexy or moe. They have a certain dignity to them even when they sell their bodies, making them look like people rather than fetishes for the male gaze. While the story features sex as a running theme there are no actual sex scenes, it's only ever implied, so it avoids drifting into obscene territory.
There is a greater variety in different faces compared to most manga, although the pretty faces all still look the same. That might be fitting though as one of the points is a standardization of beauty, so it's not too bad in this case. The backgrounds are minimalistic or obviously traced from photographs, so functional at best. The visual storytelling such as paneling, use of contrast and scene composition are average at best, making this a manga that is more carried by its story and characters than its presentation.

The tone of the story is extremely grim and depressing, making it the total opposite of a feel-good manga. The concept of the manga is exposited in the very first story arc by the protagonist when she talks about a grim movie they saw in cinema: The appeal is not nice feelings or happy endings, but the showcase of the absurdity of real life. So if you're looking for a very cynical take on human relationships and romance, how it has been made into a business that exploits people's desire for human connections and sells it like a drug, then this is the manga for you.

This was a decidedly uncomfortable read. I don't think you could pay me to read any more. That being said, If you know what you're getting into, I can recommend it.

Incredibly unflinching portrayal of the sex work industry and the psychological experiences of the women it involves. Their motivations, their relationships & their worldviews. Good, bad and ugly. It doesn't matter what circumstances drew them to this work, they experience the highs, lows and lows again all the same. Does the money really matter at the cost of self worth?

If you are a reader sensitive to narratives regarding body image, I would suggest ... caution. I also suspect the upcoming arc focusing on the character Yua will involve self harm.