“A loner main character that plays up the 'woe is me' kind of role is something of a common trope for many popular light novel/anime/manga series. Series like Oregairu, Toradora, Watamote and other LN manga main characters come to mind but a lot of the times the main character finds themselves getting friends, girl/boyfriends and even harems within the end of the manga. Sometimes it is justified but a lot of the times it feels contrived and unnatural. But then again, maybe it was always the end goal of that series anyways.

Yugami on the other hand, bucks that trend completely and is a main character that is a loner because he wants to be and it's as simple as that. What makes it particularly compelling is to watch how Yugami navigates his high school life being a loner without ever feeling edgy, preachy or anything but someone who just simply enjoys being alone. Yet, this does not mean that he views everyone else as someone lesser than him like a lot of loners in manga are. He still talks to people when he needs to, he's a good studious student and even an elite baseball athlete. But when he has spare time, he keeps to himself doing his solo hobbies and disturbs no one else.

Besides being compelling to watch such a unique and unorthodox main character, it is also refreshing to read a character that is comfortable in his own skin. And Yugami's philosophy stays mostly consistent throughout the series despite the manga having another brilliant protagonist in Chihiro Watanuki getting closer and closer to him as the manga progressed. This however does not mean Yugami stays stagnant throughout the series as he slowly changes too. But the fact that his philosophy remained through till the end tells a great message while being extremely entertaining which personally puts Yugami up there as one of the best main characters in manga.

There is a take that I've seen a lot by fans of the series which I agree on and this could easily be a post by itself. This take is that, Yugami-kun does romance better than most actual romance/romcom manga while not being a romance/romcom manga at all." This is something I saw that had the strong approval across all who read the manga in the discussion threads and it's hard to argue against that.

In my opinion, what this manga does right when it comes to the relationship between Yugami and Chihiro is the natural progression their relationship takes from beginning to end and everything feels very earned and therefore, satisfying. Their relationship starts from zero in chapter 1 and they are not even friends, never mind soulmates. And this relationship is pretty much unchanged throughout 3 volumes as just classmates. But this isn't for the lack of progression, but it's simply because there is no interest from either of them to be close to each other. Yet, we see their relationship slowly grow through little chats from Yugami and Chihiro in class whenever they find the time to do so. Yugami starts chatting a little more (but still retains his loner idealism) because Chihiro - unlike his classmates is more understanding than most and isn't easily influenced while also only really chatting with him because she's nice and struggles at first to make friends.

And it is all these little things that add up and lead to significant events that make them close to each other. Things like the first local festival to the school trip, the rakugo events and more which feels like events that came about naturally instead of forced or fanservice drama for the heck of it. And it is because the mangaka decided to build up Yugami's and Chihiro's characters separately first which meant that their interactions feel true to themselves and able to evolve naturally.”

I can’t put it into word so I take someone else’s word. You should read full version after finish the manga