STEALING HER BACK: A Netori Love Story

It’s an enjoyable read. After reading many revenge-type NTR novels, I always wondered what would happen if a protagonist said something like, “You took her from me, but that doesn’t bother me—I can take her back,” and then proved he was the better man. I didn’t get exactly that, but what I did get was a novel that tries to be the antithesis of the revenge NTR theme and offers a rather interesting perspective on the genre.

The story focuses on four main characters: Arata Kudo (the male lead), Saho Kotobuki (the female lead), Ichinose Satoru (the “other man”), and Takanashi Chiyu (the other man’s childhood friend).

After finishing the story, I initially had the impression that this was about a side character whose girlfriend gets taken by a typical galge protagonist, and who then does everything he can to win her back. However, after looking for the raw version and reading the author’s epilogue, where he explains his intentions, I realized that this actually is a revenge NTR story—but told from the perspective of the one who steals the girlfriend. To better understand this idea, the characters can be interpreted as follows:

Arata Kudo: He is the protagonist of the story, but according to the author, he would actually be the antagonist in a typical revenge NTR narrative. By the end, he fulfills the classic traits associated with that role: he has a terrible reputation, is skilled in bed, and ultimately steals the supposed protagonist’s girlfriend.

Saho Kotobuki: She is the female lead and fits the role of the typical cheating heroine within the genre.

Ichinose Satoru: He represents the “other man” and would normally be the protagonist of a standard revenge NTR story. He embodies many typical protagonist traits: arrogance, constant success, and the presence of a beautiful yandere-like childhood friend who would do anything for him.

Takanashi Chiyu: She is Satoru’s childhood friend and one of the most complex characters in the story. She represents the typical female lead in revenge NTR narratives. She is described by everyone as the most beautiful character in the story and has a love-hate relationship with Satoru. She knows how terrible he is as a person, yet she still loves him. In her own words, she hates him because she understands how awful he is, but precisely because she hates him, she realizes that her love for him is strong enough that she cannot abandon him. In a sense, she is quite unhinged—almost crazy, if put simply.

The story itself works as a critique of the genre and mainly targets two aspects of it: the redemption of the heroine and the legitimacy of the protagonists.

Often, in stories of this genre, it doesn’t matter how remorseful the heroine is or how much she wants to fix the damage she caused—she is destined to become the punching bag of the narrative, with no hope of redemption. In this novel, however, we are given a female lead who is fully aware of how badly she acted and makes decisions based on that awareness. For example, when she refuses to return to the male lead, it is not because she no longer loves him, but because she believes she does not deserve him.

Usually, redemption is denied because many characters in this genre behave as if they were morally perfect, and everyone else is expected to act the same way. If someone fails to meet that standard, they are seen as deserving punishment. In this story, none of the characters are perfect or morally flawless. They all make mistakes at some point, which forces them to reflect and try to improve. From my perspective, this makes them feel very human and, in many ways, quite endearing.

The novel also challenges the legitimacy of typical genre protagonists by shifting narrative perspective. The story is mainly told from Kudo’s and Kotobuki’s points of view, but if we shift the perspective to Satoru, we would get a narrative that perfectly fits all the genre clichés.

From his perspective, the story would be about a young man whose girlfriend cheated on him with another man, but who still has a devoted childhood friend who comforts him. The author even jokes that, from that angle, the title of the story could be something like: “My Girlfriend Cheated on Me, but My Childhood Friend Keeps Chasing Me, So I Ran Away.” Since we know Satoru is not a good person, playing with this idea reveals a reality where many protagonists in the genre might not actually be as good as they are portrayed. Some may simply be poorly written, or their actions may be unrealistic.

Another interesting idea explored in the novel is the concept of love itself. A person cannot choose when they fall in love, but they also cannot easily choose when to stop loving someone. In many stories, protagonists seem to have that ability, as if love were a switch they could turn off at will, allowing them to abandon their feelings without difficulty.

From my own experience, things do not work that way, and that is why I do not find the characters’ actions frustrating. Kudo, despite being betrayed, suffers deeply and eventually realizes that he cannot simply forget his ex. Instead of continuing to suffer passively, he decides to try to win her back. Kotobuki spends much of the story reflecting on her feelings, and when she realizes that she still loves Kudo, she chooses to endure her suffering silently and refuses to accept those feelings—not because she can turn them off, but because she believes she made a mistake and that Kudo deserves better. Chiyu hates Ichinose because her love for him is so strong that it manifests as hatred, which is why she relentlessly pursues him. Ichinose, meanwhile, is someone who primarily loves himself.

There is even a secondary character who mentions that many people live believing in the fantasy of pure and flawless love, when in reality love is often much harsher and filled with mistakes.

The only real flaw I found is that this critique is not very clear during the reading itself. As I mentioned earlier, at first I thought the story was about a side character reclaiming his girlfriend from a typical galge protagonist. I only fully understood the author’s intention after reading the epilogue where he explained his ideas. Because of that, I feel the story ended up feeling somewhat incomplete and did not clearly communicate the message it was trying to convey.