That's not necessarily what the rejection of the yuri label implies. There's a few different authors of lesbian stories who reject it for constraining what kinds of stories you can tell via genre tropes and audience expectations. Yuri is not all lesbian manga, it's a specific genre about F/F romance with expectations that people might not want attached to their story. There's a lot of josei manga about queer women like Ohana Holoholo that you probably couldn't get away with publishing in Yuri Hime without causing a riot lol.
I can imagine one particular expectation with "yuri" this author might have wanted to avoid is the one about how the story should be a romance that's constantly developing towards a climax of the girls confessing their love and becoming a standard romantic couple. There's been plenty of complaints in this thread about the "pacing" because they want development of the romance instead of development of their friendship. So if an author wants to tell a story about two girls developing an intimate emotional connection and friendship with the possibility of eventual romance, saying the story is "yuri" risks getting frustrated readers who care about the latter development over the former development.

This is great and is why I wanted someone to clarify if the author has actually stated that this is intended to be Yuri or not, or if this has been audience assumption. A "story about two girls developing an intimate emotional connection and friendship with maybe the possibility of eventual romance," seems like what this is and the focus on the music and personal anxieties seems like it's real passion. I just think you could make their intentions clear without taking away from the real focus of the story and that doing things like ending chapters in this recent way only teases the audience unnecessarily if you don't intend to follow through. For me, the story works whether they end up romantic or not but it might be good to clarify what kind of story it is earlier on. Right now it's still ambiguous. Thanks for that write up!

last edited at Sep 25, 2023 11:29AM

Thinking about the characters realistically, it would be very difficult to make their sexualities clear when the people in question are likely not clear themselves about their sexualities. As external viewers we can tell these girls gay as hell, but they're insecure teenagers. Gay teens rarely actually get romance irl, they might get an awkward sexual experience that is hopefully not traumatizing and then only revisit the topic in college. Heteronormative society is a hell of an obstacle, especially for a child with no control over her own life in most ways.

Thinking about the characters realistically, it would be very difficult to make their sexualities clear when the people in question are likely not clear themselves about their sexualities. As external viewers we can tell these girls gay as hell, but they're insecure teenagers. Gay teens rarely actually get romance irl, they might get an awkward sexual experience that is hopefully not traumatizing and then only revisit the topic in college. Heteronormative society is a hell of an obstacle, especially for a child with no control over her own life in most ways.

Yeah, I fixed that. Sexualities isn't what I meant but I guess I changed it too late. Sorry for that mixup. I was talking more about the kind of story this will be. You can tip the audience off one way or the other in various ways and I feel this one has left itself ambiguous and that causes the slowly growing, worried reactions. This could all change very soon, though. It's still early in the story.

last edited at Sep 25, 2023 11:40AM

I still think Mitsuki's line being about Aya's love for rock/music makes zero sense. The one thing Mitsuki know for sure about Aya since the very first chapter is that she loves rock and music as much as she does.

That's essentially what got them close to begin with and what fixed the big misundertanding in the first place.

last edited at Sep 25, 2023 1:36PM

It would be handy to have very clear tags for “this is definitely yuri” and “I don’t know man, maybe don’t engage unless you’re okay with ambiguity.” Personally, I’m relatively okay with getting my hopes up and then having my heart broken. But I think that depends on where you are in life and what you’ve got going on.

I’d be okay if Mitsuki and Aya turned out to be “super best friends.” XD

I still think Mitsuki's line being about Aya's love for rock/music makes zero sense. The one thing Mitsuki know for sure about Aya since the very first chapter is that she loves rock and music as much as she does.

I've also never seen any romance do that sorta "gotcha!" to the audience. Stupid misunderstandings, drunk amnesia, last-minute-cold-feet, all sorts of rubbish however plausible or not plausible, but don't think I ever saw any sort of serious author just go for a straight up troll of the audience.

So frankly don't really get the worry ^^;

Luh paasa lang pala si author

It would be handy to have very clear tags for “this is definitely yuri” and “I don’t know man, maybe don’t engage unless you’re okay with ambiguity.” Personally, I’m relatively okay with getting my hopes up and then having my heart broken. But I think that depends on where you are in life and what you’ve got going on.

I’d be okay if Mitsuki and Aya turned out to be “super best friends.” XD

This is basically what the "Yuri" and "Subtext" tags are for.

It would be handy to have very clear tags for “this is definitely yuri” and “I don’t know man, maybe don’t engage unless you’re okay with ambiguity.” Personally, I’m relatively okay with getting my hopes up and then having my heart broken. But I think that depends on where you are in life and what you’ve got going on.

I’d be okay if Mitsuki and Aya turned out to be “super best friends.” XD

This is basically what the "Yuri" and "Subtext" tags are for.

You're right. And YET we still very often have heartache and yelling in the forums. But I guess it's all part of the fun of the "will they or won't they" tension. What is a good manga without some groaning and sighing in the forums?

It would be handy to have very clear tags for “this is definitely yuri” and “I don’t know man, maybe don’t engage unless you’re okay with ambiguity.” Personally, I’m relatively okay with getting my hopes up and then having my heart broken. But I think that depends on where you are in life and what you’ve got going on.

I’d be okay if Mitsuki and Aya turned out to be “super best friends.” XD

This is basically what the "Yuri" and "Subtext" tags are for.

You're right. And YET we still very often have heartache and yelling in the forums. But I guess it's all part of the fun of the "will they or won't they" tension. What is a good manga without some groaning and sighing in the forums?

Well, part of it comes down to people who have just been repeatedly burned by media queerbaiting LGBT audiences being slow to trust an obvious narrative. This is exacerbated when the author doesn't want to be put in a box labeled "Yuri" because while to some people "Yuri" means "two girls in an explicitly romantic relationship" others take it as "a specific romance drama laden with certain tropes and expectations."

And in my case, I actually have relatively little doubt that this series will end up explicitly romantic, but I worry that this moment specifically might be a tease, and I would seriously hate that.

Ge maniniwala bako o hindi

It would be handy to have very clear tags for “this is definitely yuri” and “I don’t know man, maybe don’t engage unless you’re okay with ambiguity.” Personally, I’m relatively okay with getting my hopes up and then having my heart broken. But I think that depends on where you are in life and what you’ve got going on.

I’d be okay if Mitsuki and Aya turned out to be “super best friends.” XD

This is basically what the "Yuri" and "Subtext" tags are for.

A lot of readers seem to want what amount to spoiler tags: “If the MCs don’t get together romantically, preferably with at least a kiss if not an actual sex scene, I don’t want to waste my time reading it.”

Dynasty has tended to be careful with tags (like Tragedy ) that give away the ending of a series, at least before the story is completed, so I don’t think there’s a viable way to ever satisfy those folks.

So... the author's gotten a collab with the 30th anniversary release of Nirvana's In Utero. Looks like a promotional sticker from a pop-up shop? Twitter translate isn't the best.

Sumiko-sensei's pretty hype, in any case!

So... the author's gotten a collab with the 30th anniversary release of Nirvana's In Utero. Looks like a promotional sticker from a pop-up shop? Twitter translate isn't the best.

Sumiko-sensei's pretty hype, in any case!

It's limited to Japan, of course.

cuuuute

That pose...

That pose...

Friends touch friends’ bare knees like that all the time. It’s just being friendly.

Lol that pose looks like a proposal move to me. Lol nice one koga-san I know what you did there. You want to give aya a special gift but in a way that your classmate won't think anything fishy about the give so in short she gave everyone a souvenir to pass her special /thank you gift to aya.How sweet is that.

Mitsuki and her accidental level 10 rizz strikes again :P

60 chapters in, and still no actual progress?

Dropped.

60 chapters in, and still no actual progress?

Dropped.

I wish I could just "drop" these kinds of comments.
There's a tag group for this on Facebook.
This isn't an airport, no need to announce your departure.

60 chapters in, and still no actual progress?

Dropped.

I wish I could just "drop" these kinds of comments.
There's a tag group for this on Facebook.
This isn't an airport, no need to announce your departure.

LOL. And since such readers have read the latest chapter at the time of the announcement, isn't it the case that a series technically hasn't been "dropped" until the next chapter comes out and they don't read that one?

(I say this as someone who more than once has thought, "Eh, I think I'm done with this one," only I kept checking back to see if it got any better all the way to the end of the series.)

A lot of readers seem to want what amount to spoiler tags: “If the MCs don’t get together romantically, preferably with at least a kiss if not an actual sex scene, I don’t want to waste my time reading it.”

Dynasty has tended to be careful with tags (like Tragedy ) that give away the ending of a series, at least before the story is completed, so I don’t think there’s a viable way to ever satisfy those folks.

Well, and even if you did, there's other people who don't want to be spoiled, and they would just be upset instead.

60 chapters in, and still no actual progress?

Dropped.

Can I have your stuff?

Cute chapter. Slowly the bond between them is growing.