Holy fucking shit Ayaka

I feel anyone still ragging on Hiroko thinks there has to be some catastrophic world changing events to be the reason a certain character acts a certain way. Obviously lots of manga and anime are that way. But this series has always been pretty grounded and at this point if you can't sympathize or at least understand why she acts the way she does then the series is probably just not for you.

Sure she can be frustrating but that's the point not the problem.

last edited at Jun 20, 2023 7:39AM

I feel like the characters in this series have realistic motivations and hang ups.

most of the reason any of this Risa V. Hiroko discussion is happening is people aren't used to seeing a character like Hiroko in the role she's in taking the actions she's taking

I was not prepared to be absolutely gutted by this.

this turned out way more wholesome then the tags were leading me to believe.

And so it begins

what an unexpected treat, god i love this manga so much.

The only thing I love more than april fools scanlations is watching people whine about april fools scanlations. And oh, do people whine about them.

I like April fools chapters normally but this is super annoying because it's a new chapter and rather than getting the new chapter we get to see the new pages with complete nonsense on them which to me slightly ruins the chapter when it released for real.

I find April fools chapters much more enjoyable when it's a rewritten older chapter.

i don't know it seems like most people have been enjoying this but from the moment the word time travel was mentioned to now i've just not been loving it.

it's really unfortunate my personal enjoyment of this series is taking such a sharp turn i really hope something changes for me or that the time travel segment doesn't take much longer and is entirely non consequential to the elsa we spent 60 chapters with.

last edited at Mar 9, 2023 1:23AM

i used to like this series so much as it was going but after the original ending and now even the epilogue both the characters are super frustrating because neither of them are willing to make a move and I can't tell whos more annoying Amano for some how having zero confidence in Nogami's feelings/opinion of her despite everything that's happened or Nogami for knowing how Amano feels and knowing that she's completely useless but then chooses to do nothing about it.

I know haha useless lesbians funny, but like genuinely what was the purpose of telling this story less than nothing happens.

i was pretty excited for this after chapter 1 but chapter 2 kind of has me questioning the trajectory of this story.

UGH, honestly I hate time travel so much in stories I feel like it always invalidates everything that came before the time travel. nothing will have happened and the current Elsa will cease to exist.

honestly I feel like if she goes through with it it might ruin my enjoyment of this series at least personally.

I've gotta ask, what's the LN/web novel like past this point? Is there much more drama, do either Aya or Marika ever have sex with some one else, or is it mostly just smut of the two of them?

I don't mind a full spoiler reply I need to know if I am going to hate reading this or not.

Alright spoilers incoming. I'll use spoiler brackets for actual events but themes are just going to be out in the open.
Keep in mind that the manga is a somewhat streamlined story, the events are pretty much just the first and half the second books but thematically Marika's whole journey is in just that small chunk, the books spread it out more.

Vol 1 is about Marika realising that she likes Aya. Its chief antagonist is Asta, who is Marika's foil as someone who has already embraced her sexuality and doesn't see a problem with standing out.

Vol 2 is about Marika embracing Aya as her girlfriend and getting to know more about her. Its chief antagonist is Sae the girl who tried to stab Aya in middle school, she is Aya's foil in that she used her trauma as an excuse to stop moving forward rather than rebuilding herself.

Vol 3 is about Marika struggling with her internalised shame about dating someone of the same gender, she's still not there folks. Its chief antagonist is Reina who discovers Marika and Aya are going out, she functions as a kind of nega!Marika, someone who uses her popularity for evil and has not grown out of her homophobic beliefs.

Vol 4 is about Marika bonding with other queer girls and finding community outside of weird sex stuff with Aya. Its chief antagonist (not really) is Natsumi who gets rejected at the end, exposing Marika to a different way to be queer. Vol 4 is really special because of how much it grounds Marika's sense of queerness. A lot of stuff happens in this one despite it feeling like a filler episode.

Vol 5 is about Marika placing herself within the queer community and thinking about the future of her relationship. Its chief antagonist is Karen whose backstory we finally get as she leaves town for a week to chase the woman she fell in love with fresh out of high school. Marika has to grapple with her relationship to Aya not being uniquely special and therefore subject to all the regular struggles a relationship goes through. Nevertheless she comes out publicly at the end. I cried.

Vol 6 I haven't read yet but I'm looking forward to it! These crazy kids are still in love and still not quite done stepping on each other, I love reading about them.

Thanks for the response, based on that I am going to assume they don't actually sleep around or cheat on eachother which the manga made me vaugely worried about.

I'd actually like to check out the novels sometime I think.

I've gotta ask, what's the LN/web novel like past this point? Is there much more drama, do either Aya or Marika ever have sex with some one else, or is it mostly just smut of the two of them?

I don't mind a full spoiler reply I need to know if I am going to hate reading this or not.

There's something about this series that makes me feel like no other series can when I am reading it. There's something so real and raw about this series that I almost feel uneasy when reading it, in a good way. I think regardless of quality or personal enjoyment arguments there is something genuinely special about this story.

Apparently, a boss who then can use the fact that it's broken to pressure a clueless employee into dating her. :-) My standard reality check: "Imagine if the boss were a guy, how would I feel about this development?" In this case, very uncomfortable.

...fuck, you're right, I didn't think about it from that perspective. Either way I'm gonna read it since it's Suzuki-sensei's work, but that kind of dampens the whole thing. Hopefully the series' makes up for it somehow.

Why think about something that isn't in the manga ? It's not about a male boss isn't it ? So why go out of your way and thinking that way for no reason ? You don't even need to think it as a man to feel that way. This developpement can be bad even it's a woman.

You're completely right. As other comments have also expressed I feel like I run the "het filter" to judge yuri or queer content in general beforehand because of my tendency to be bias and give a pass towards those kinds of works. But yeah, judging a story when it hasn't even started it's a pretty foolish thing to do, same with prohibiting myself from enjoying a work based solely on how dubious the morality of the whole scenario might be.

So far the story seems nice tho. Can't wait for Shiramizu to realize girls can kiss each other too lol

A good example since the series just ended is can't defy the lonely girl that series started off with literal blackmail for kisses and technically ayaka was also using sora for her own benefit. By the end of that series no one considers that relevant because of how they interact with eachother and no one has a bad word to say about it. I am almost certain this is just a tool to make a cute story and not trying to be problematic or brush off something problematic.

As mentioned above this is a pretty classic Japanese scam that gets lots of representation in media. Personally based on the reaction of the boss I feel like she asked would you date me as a joke because after the snap reply yes she's silent and seems to be a bit shocked and then just rolls with it because she likes her subordinate.

last edited at Oct 25, 2022 10:00AM

it's sad to see it end, but what a fantastic series, I enjoyed every page of it.

i am looking forward to any work this author puts out in the future.

Its been a long while since i last read, but when was Hinako and Fuuka a thing?

ya I am really confused by Hinako saying she loves Fuuka i really don't remember anything like that being in the story.

it's insane to me how blow out of proportion that interview got and how so many people just assumed the worst.

but it's impossible to think that this would be anything else but romantic love if you've ever looked at any of their other work. I genuinely do not understand how this happened and had so many people buy into this being anything other than a romance.

people keep worrying about where chapter 1 fits in but I feel like chapter 1 is more like a pilot that exists outside of the actual series with the sole purpose of introducing the characters. the other alternative is the series is an endless hell of them keeping each other at arms length.....which is probably the case but I'd rather not accept that reality.

i know it's not the case but it really reads to me like she went out and got fucked a whole bunch on the request of the other woman.

the credits page is so cool, well done.

this is so insanely wholesome for being pretty much 100% smut.

I'll never not be depressed about the anime.

When I saw the tags, I was like "these tags together doesn't sit right to me" after reading the story, I was like damn, this dude is the real man. I've seen a lot of het couple where the yuri character was the sacrificial lamb like kuzu no honkai and cross ange. So this reversal is new to me, its good

how dare you remind me cross ange exists.

ya this one lost me, It was so busy that it's just impossible to care about anything.