Without taking sides, I just find it fascinating how far the pendulum swings here. One party claims to see signs of grooming here, whereas another claims that there is, in fact, nothing special going on between these two.

Really makes you think how art is always in the eye of the beholder...

Yeah it's funny isn't it?

last edited at Apr 15, 2024 1:35PM

Without taking sides, I just find it fascinating how far the pendulum swings here. One party claims to see signs of grooming here, whereas another claims that there is, in fact, nothing special going on between these two.

Really makes you think how art is always in the eye of the beholder...

Sometimes there is art about which two contradictory and mutually exclusive things are simultaneously true.

I do not believe that this is an example of such art.

Would've liked to see a more explicit confession, but this is fine too.

That’s exactly why I’m not confident in saying this is yuri, even if the author makes yuri and it’s (supposedly) officially tagged as yuri; there’s no explicit confession, no kiss scene, nothing making their relationship crystal clear.

For me, if there’s any room for doubt to the girls being romantically involved, I can’t see it as yuri.

A kiss or gazing into each other’s eyes when they bonked heads would’ve made me think “yeah that’s gay” but with how it is rn, feels more like an older sis/colleague caring about younger sis/colleague.

It’s still cute regardless tho don’t get me wrong.

I feel like Subtext would be a more appropriate tag since there’s nothing really explicitly romantic about their interactions

"I decided I wanted to take care of her for the rest of my life".

Not only is that said durin an interview so she most likely is exaggerating/playing it up for the camera, but she said that when referring to the girl as a middle schooler, and while I may not know her age other than that she’s older, saying that about a kid with romantic intentions is weird and personally, I don’t get romantic vibes with how it’s presented.

“I wanna take care of her” plays off as more of an “older sis caring her her younger sis” type of vibe instead of a lover,

And that whole scene played off as like a bit (most likely for the TV) and since it’s being recorded it doesn’t feel super genuine.

"If there's only one person you want to show your smile to, it's time to stop being an idol".

That’s not an inherently romantic thing to say; she spent part of the one shot talking bout the cons of being an idol, and how toxic the fans are; it’d make sense from a purely platonic POV that someone who's been your “guardian” (and inspiration) your whole idol career would be the only person who you’d wanna sing to after all the toxicity.

Like, I totally get how it can be interpreted as romantic, but since it’s not explicit, there’s room for doubt about it being yuri, which is why Subtext is more fitting than Yuri to me.

Yes. I also think that one of them should have shouted "SESBIAN LEX".

The whole “I raised that girl” thing was leaned in too much which really destroyed the yuri feels for me. An actual confession would’ve been nice, or a kiss.

There's also the shoujo romance bubbles in the "only one person" panels. The forehead bonk is really close, and then we end on a beautiful moon.

Also feels "probably yuri" given the similarity to https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/what_i_want_to_do_now_that_im_no_longer_an_idol even if it's technically a different couple.

That was a really strange way to end it, causing a bunch of arguments in the comments section (per usual).
Look, I'm a fan of really close female friendships, but this 100% was not like, 'we're just super close friends'. Nothing in the dramatic action of quitting because you want the other person to be the centre, and telling them you only want to smile for them is a "just friends" thing (especially because there was no discussion of it beforehand.) Like, I understand not getting subtext sometimes, but this was just piled high with it.

And latching onto the word "raised", my gosh, you ... know she's not an orphan who went to live at the idol company, right? She meant "raised" as in, into an idol, as her mentor. That's not grooming, ya weirdos. She wasn't a teacher, just a (slightly) older idol she looked up to.

last edited at Apr 17, 2024 8:08AM

And latching onto the word "raised", my gosh, you ... know she's not an orphan who went to live at the idol company, right? She meant "raised" as in, into an idol, as her mentor. That's not grooming, ya weirdos. She wasn't a teacher, just a (slightly) older idol she looked up to.

LOL. (And I'm being mostly facetious here--I know what the conversation is about) that's exactly what "grooming" used to mean before the phrase "sexual grooming" got truncated--a naive and untutored newcomer (a "diamond in the rough") gets polished into an experienced professional entertainer.

Motown Records literally had a finishing school (called "artist development") where performers were taught how to behave on and off stage--posture, deportment, "the social graces," and--wait for it--grooming. Most big time music organizations have a formal or informal version of the same thing.

last edited at Apr 17, 2024 8:34AM

So Yukiko has entered her idol era now that she's freed of the shackles of Futaribeya… I'm here for it. I like how there's a little of the edge from "Cats & Sugar Bowls" without it going all the way out to her darkest stuff.

this was cute, can we stop with the reddit fighting and incel behaviors?

this was cute, can we stop with the reddit fighting and incel behaviors?

Do you even know what an incel is? Genuinely asking.

The only “reddit fighting” type thing that was said here was the stuff about grooming, but that wasn’t really a “fight” since they posted once (3 times the same message but whatever) and dipped.

No fighting is going on here, just a discussion. I do agree this one shot is cute tho.

Weird to draw all these conclusions about a prequel story