Since the 1990s-2010s the manic pixie girl trope has appeared in media as a means to concentrate male fantasy into a singular person. These characters become caricatures of what real people (most of the time, women) are so men can create a safe place to play out social interactions/love. John Green is one of the main voices in the YA category to call them out (very consistently based on his repertoire of books), and with Our Chemical Hearts, Krystal Sutherland is trying to put herself on the map with a similar approach. Unfortunately, it did not really work in her favour having to compete in a niche but very well-known type of writing. The comparisons to John Green come easy to readers and the flaws in Our Chemical Hearts become that much more apparent. The mc is dreadfully selfish and falls into the trappings of typical straight male characters.