It's called The Frontier, you can find it by clicking the Language Gap tag.

Wait. we have a Language Gap tag now?! I was just thinking that we needed one! I love it and this needs to be the next yuri trend. They've done just about every other gap, after all........ sees herself out

what with her want to die but it have to be the mermaid the one who do it ? those two has nothing to do with it other ( but i guess choose to die under a beautifull girl is better eh )

I don't think she actually chose? that monster got her first and tried to eat her, but the mermaid "saved" her without her actually wanting to be saved, the mermaid just wanted to uhh protect her food i'd say :V

I think they meant at the end of chapter 2, where she decided not to just drown herself and wait a little longer for the mermaid to eat her. Just because someone's suicidal, doesn't mean they're always perfectly okay with it. Whether the issue is pain, lingering regrets, wanting to actually deal with your issues but being unable to shake the suicidal thoughts..

Sometimes, when you're depressed, you'll make excuses like this, to put it off a bit longer. She's clearly conflicted: wanting to die (it looked like because her family drowned too?) and be with them but part of her still wants a reason not to. Of course, sometimes being indecisive about being suicidal also makes you hate yourself more. Whether you think yourself a coward or just hate the indecisiveness in general. It's not a fun place to be.

That said, whether main character is eaten in the end or not, I'm fine either way. What I'm REALLY hoping for is some realistic, sympathetic looks at how people can struggle with, cope, and possibly overcome mental issues. A bad or stereotyped portrayal would probably kill this for me.

Welp, this chapter should have the Cheating tag, if only to warn off those who can't read that stuff. I usually avoid works with that tag myself, but here, where we're already invested in the characters, it doesn't ruin the story at least. Also, we never actually saw what she said to her boyfriend after "I'm sorry". Maybe she DID break up with him.

Not that I'm trying to make excuses for Youko. I haven't really liked her from the beginning, but it's a mild dislike, that will fade depending on how she grows from this. I can understand struggling with your own feelings. We'll see what happens next chapter.

last edited at Sep 29, 2020 11:32AM

I'm still waiting for a good, cannon poly relationship

I don't know if you mean in this series specifically or in general, but there's a really good poly relationship an A Kiss and a White Lily

Ah, I forgot about that one. But it wasn't exactly focused on, and there was a lot of love triangle tension. If I remember right, there were only a couple chapters with those characters, right? Wasn't very much to their arc at all..

I'm thinking more like if the Yuyushiki threesome went canon, or say, Eiko, Kiyose-sensei, and Kamuri from Slow Start.

But thank you for reminding me of that. I might need to reread it soon..

last edited at Sep 27, 2020 2:53PM

I'm still waiting for a good, cannon poly relationship, but I'm not sure this is it.. Kaname I think is a lot more observant than the personality she displays, and I think she has an ulterior motive here. Whether it's because she knows how Nakatani feels and doesn't return those feelings, I'm not sure, but that's my theory so far.

Maybe she's playing match-maker for Piyo and Tsubaki, or maybe she wants Tsubaki for herself. Or maybe she's totally straight and just likes to help people make friends and just gets a whole bunch of amusement from teasing her friends. Like Piyo. Yeah, that's what I suspect; she's just a chaotic-good type person.

I've been trying to figure out why this chapter seemed to move it past subtext and into the realm of a clear Yuri Crush for me, and I think I figured it out. There's always been a lot of subtext, but Shino has said things in the past that would qualify her at the least as hetero-normative (due to culture). And so we've been left to speculate on her true feelings.

She has the fascination with women's bodies (particularly Nozomi's), though that could be your standard manga cliche. She clearly loves Nozomi even if it hasn't explicitly been stated how. Now she has the jealousy/proprietary feelings.

What was throwing me off was that jealousy could simply be a "you took my beloved sister away" type jealousy. If this was earlier in the manga, where Shino was still struggling with her brother's death and was clearly emotionally dependent on Nozomi, at least in part, then that probably would have been the case. But Shino...well, I wouldn't say she's gotten over her brother's death, but she's accepted it and is making an effort to move forward. She's no longer as emotionally dependent on her sister-in-law.

What's more, there's this parallel. She never felt like Nozomi stole her brother away, indicating she understands that people and relationships will change. But she did feel like Nozomi was being taken away when talking to that male teacher. At the time, it could just as easily have given credence to the "she belongs to my brother" jealousy, while Shino was still struggling with her brother's death. But as stated before, Shino is moving past that, and yet she still got jealous again here. This indicates something deeper and/or longer lasting.

It's not certain, but I think with this chapter it's now more likely than not Yuri.

That said, it could still end up as a one-sided Yuri Crush, or even still be used as a "this is how Shino takes a step forward and eventually finds someone else to love" ending. I'm not going all in, because this has been so well done so far that I'm perfectly content to see where it goes. Also, the sheer amount of subtext might make you think it must be yuri, but as we all know there are multiple Manga Which Shall Not Be Named that were merely yuri bait.

last edited at Sep 25, 2020 8:38PM

Sup. I may have a new profile pic sweat

YEEESSSSSSSS! incoherent fangirl noises continue in the background

This is one reason I love Higashiyama Shou so much. He's so good at the subtle character interactions. Ichika clearly still young and part of her is worried about Aria getting drunk and yet she's still tempted. Then, as youth often is, she's quick to take advantage and say "sorry Khara, we're going alone, no room for you!" And her wanting to kiss more but then discovering that even though alcohol can show her some amazing things...the burp.

Normally, even when it's clearly a mutual feeling like in the case of these two, adding alcohol to the mix still makes me a bit uncomfortable. But in this case it's clear that Ichika's youth is playing a role and it's something she can learn from as they grow closer.

Of course while Aria is clearly affected I'm not sure how much it's her losing control and how much it's her using it as an excuse to do things she normally wouldn't. Part of my suspects she's not as drunk as she's showing. Either way, I'll bet that their night ends here, leaving Ichika with mixed feelings.

Anyway, OH, MY HEART

I really like the twist here. Forget the cliche "found her friend on the first try!" Now we're in for a (slightly) less improbable meeting. But even if her friend wasn't there I thought this worked really well as a sweet one-night-stand type story. I'm interested to see how it turns out.

On another note, I saw the tag Pay for Gay and thought they'd added a second, reversed tag of Gay for Pay. Too bad, as the slight distinction might be the difference in whether I want to read a story. Glad I read this anyway.

So last chapter seemed out of nowhere, and now it all comes together. I can get behind this.

If the manga hadn't upped my blood-sucking fetish in the past few chapters, I think this one sealed the deal.

I'm any case, the mood changes felt weirder in this chapter than it had before, but I love a good mad Ichika moment so I can't complain too much.

I was thinking that too. And then I'm like, but the author's usually so much better than that! What's going on? This one isn't getting cancelled too?!

And then we hit the anti-climax and realize it was a false build-up all along. Well played, Mangaka, well played.

As both a cook and a yuri-lover (and a food-lover), this is totally making me both hungry and thirsty. And the action-scene style of tying her hair up and enjoying the food. I'm totally with her!

As far as the idea of needing to look cute, I suspect it's mostly social media personalities now, with Japan itself still being a little behind. Even growing up in a small town in the midwest US, there's the old ideas about women having to be proper and neat at all times. To the point where I still think about how messy I must look when I'm chowing down on some really delicious food I just made.

In practice, most people around here don't actually care, but it's only really a generation or two removed from being that way I think.

last edited at Jun 1, 2020 6:51PM

So this came up on a random chapter and I'm re-reading it.. I really like this collection. Aroma hits both the scent fetish AND the Biting and Thigh Art

But I was thinking about how well Takemiya Jin shows real relationships, and the ways people are interconnected. And these two couples are like the ultimate in subtle reversals. (Probably should be realistic reversals. The in-your-face kind are entertaining, but it's usually not so blatant I would think.)

Like, Ah-chan is the cool and collected teacher, even to Kimura, the cool and collected student. But the further into the relationship you get, the more you see that Ryouko is actually the sensible one about relationship stuff, and Ah-chan is all freaking out. Ah-chan's experience comes into play in the beginning, but by the end, even before the time-skip, she's the one all flustered with Ryouko comforting her.

Kimura, on the other hand, despite having a look and personality that nowadays would probably get her labeled as "delinquent" or "tomboy" (though I don't think she qualifies as either), shows that behind that facade she can blush like a pure maiden. Her personality means that she acknowledges it and then goes right back to being assertive, but she can't help her natural reaction. It's just a very realistic piece of work.

And don't even get me started on Miyano-sensei. Seriously, all "perfectly" shy and blushy, (even after they get together? They've already been sleeping together before Miyano-sensei puts her foot down about the hickey. It really looks like she was surprised and happy by the initial confession. And Kimura seems very in control yet, with Miyano-sensei being content to let her take the lead in most things, until she begins worrying about the age gap). It's only when that vulnerability shows that the inner Miyano-sensei comes out. That tongue-sticking-out smirk while drawing on your half-naked girlfriend's inner thigh.. Omg

And finally the friendship of Kimu and Ryouko. Even after the time-skip they have the same airhead/cool kid vibe, their positions they'd always held in their peer group.

Really, I think this just shows why Takemiya-sensei is one of the big names in yuri manga.

I challenge anyone to say they still think Shiho's dry personality isn't "enjoyable".

That deadpan "Nyan", climbing and pouncing, with that same dry look on her face.. She's hilarious! You just gotta get under the surface..

I thought her personality was enjoyable from the jump

Oh I agree. I was just a bit defensive because of some early comments in this thread, and because I identify with Shiho to an extent. But anyway, I was also excited because it felt like a payoff for sticking with this. This is a great fluffy manga of two distinct personalities finding out slowly just how compatible they are.. It's...healing.

last edited at May 27, 2020 2:55PM

@Mimiyaah:
Well, if your cat is going to groom you the least you can do is return the favor...

People always ask if something is yuri or not-yuri, yet they never considered the possibility of that thing being in a quantum superposition of simultaneously being yuri and not-yuri.

...To be fair, Yuri Quantum Theory is a relatively new branch of science.

Seriously, that comment cracked me up. Thank you for the laughs!

@Clueless1: If I remember right, nana is the number "7", while the other Nana's nickname is Hachi, or "8".

@HellAQA: You are so right. That is exactly what it looked like to me too..

I challenge anyone to say they still think Shiho's dry personality isn't "enjoyable".

That deadpan "Nyan", climbing and pouncing, with that same dry look on her face.. She's hilarious! You just gotta get under the surface..

See, that's an adorable little fish-girl. I really wanna see this continued. I wanna see what she looks like grown up, I wanna see what her friend thinks, and if her friend loves her romantically. I wanna see a big dramatic reveal. Too many monster-girl stories are just comedy or slice of life. (Those aren't bad. Monster Musume is even somewhat enjoyable - despite the harem - for the nostalgia of the classic internet pics it's based on. And Centaur's Worries is just fun even while it does a whole mess of awesome world-building.)

...I guess what I'm saying is I just love some "forbidden love" angst. As if 1 x 1/2 and My Unrequited Love aren't giving me enough heartache right now.

I need to know what getting fluffed looks like.

I'm going to guess Lots of Ruffling.

I was hoping to see it too.

last edited at May 2, 2020 9:03PM

incoherent yuri fan-girl noises

Actually, I think it's reached the point where it starts getting amusing.. Who wants to bet on what the next number in the chapter 16.* saga will be?

Hm, I didn't give Haruki much thought because I don't really like her, but if I take a step back and consider what she's done so far...
Haruki is the friendly, sociable childhood friend. She invites Aya to hang out with her friend group as an attempt to include her, but only because its a controlled environment, a space that's under her supervision, people she knows and approved of. Not to mention that Aya isn't up for those offers, so it's not like there's really any chance that Aya would've created meaningful relationships with those girls. In other words, there's no chance Haruki would've lost her position as the only one who's relatively close to her. Haruki knows "everything" about Aya, and she's pretty proud about it. Likely because she's the only one.
[snip]etc.

I hadn't considered that part about Haruki, actually. I think it still relies on a few "if"s - Haruki might not be aware she's doing that, for one, or she could simply only invite her when with those girls because they're her other closest friends and she hopes that her closeness with them will convince Aya they're not bad - but it's plausible enough. That she knows everything about Aya might just be a boast, if she really just doesn't understand Aya as much as she thinks, but if true it certainly would put another context to her actions.

I don't normally read fanworks of stuff that I haven't watched/read, but I made an exception for this thing since I thought that it'd be fantasy or whatever based on the title and the cover... well, it looks that is sadly not the case.

At any rate, the first chapter was pretty good, and it makes me want to actually read the manga. I couldn't get through the anime years ago though since it made me cringe so much, and the thought of reading like 100 chapters or whatever sure is intimidating... would y'all recommend just skipping the earlier parts to get to the (I'd hope anyway) legitimate yuri as some have suggested? I know that I'd miss all the character development and all that, so that's the major reason why I don't want to go with that option...

For me, I found it easiest to do in small doses. One chapter/episode every few days. Maybe even once a week if it was that bad. Wait till you're in a mindset of actually wanting to know what's next. Over time, I felt like I was rooting for her more than cringing at her fail, and it became easier.

The other thing that might help is that the anime covers the manga really accurately, at least as far as it gets. So if you watched the episode pertaining to that chapter(s) you could skip reading those. It would depend how far you got. The anime covers the worst of the cringe too. I think it gets lighter as it goes on, even before the turning point. Or maybe I just got used to it..

Edit: Also Mako, rotfl

last edited at Apr 21, 2020 4:43PM