Actually skimming over the most recent 300 posts, there's only two posts I saw explicitly commenting they wish there wasn't a third party, and one of them adds on that even so they think she's cool too.

A summary of other posts I saw, what I mentioned above, and people talking about whether Qiu Tong's going to fight her rival, Sun Jing belongs to Qiu Tong, sending love to Tan Jiu + Sun Jing + Xiao Nan, "So this was her story all along", variations of "That's understandable but don't try to take Sun Jing away from Qiu Tong", advice for Xiao Nan like "Don't fall in love with a ray of light, you can't catch it" or "Sun Jing's actually an idiot, she doesn't deserve your love. Let her ruin Qiu Tong. Think a bit more openly pink-haired girl."

The last one was pretty funny.

Anyway, it's pretty interesting seeing the contrast in opinions readers here and on Weibo have.

The author should be careful readership doesn't decline during this.

Oh you definitely don't need to worry about that.

You know, I like Mo Xiao Nan. I have to admire her bravery for constantly trying to get closer to Sun Jing, even when she doesn't seem interested. There is a point at which she has to accept Sun Jing has no interest in her, which will likely be the end of this arc, but, to say she's only there as a love rival I think is unfair to her. This update makes it clear too, what the depths of her feelings are, and I always like characters who I can relate to in some aspect. The bullying scene shows an element of bravery and naivety that felt very real. Not thinking things through completely, expecting somebody who's too scared to even stand up for themselves stand up for her, not blaming them or even the bullies for the situation she's in, but claiming responsibility for her actions. I like that. If it was Sun Jing, she would have charged in without hesitation and somehow or another forced the bullies to stop, because that's how bullheaded and charismatic she is. This is a different scenario, of somebody who aims to do something but isn't lucky? strong? enough to carry it through. And here is Sun Jing showing up at just the right moment, displaying what Mo Xiao Nan lacks and desires.

Story-wise, if Xiao Nan needs to have a "reason" to be here, then yes I do think it's for Qiu Tong to show she's serious. But this arc and Xiao Nan's actions have been built up over time from the very beginning, her first appearance is in the second update, and this is not a random, half-assed melodrama act.

Not that it matters, but in the Weibo comments for this update, roughly half of the most upvoted comments are people appreciating Xiao Nan as a good person/somebody with a story/understandable/with compelling feelings. (The other half are joking that Qiu Tong has been squatting by the gate since last year but I digress.) So for the original reading population at least, there's no arguing about Mo Xiao Nan's place.

Last page, 金 does mean gold but I think money is closer to what Reimu's demanding. Come to think of it, it is an interesting idea to have Sakuya fall into Gensokyo because she forgot herself, her own name and fate. Timeline is incorrect, for relative times in between SDM relocating to Gensokyo, creation of spellcard rules, and amount of time Sakuya has spent working at SDM.

I'm a bit tired of anybody being depicted as insane = murderous. Main complaint with the Sakuya shown here. Why is she apologizing anyway on page 30? She killed two men without issue and she thinks Remilia is the devil. But I like child Sakuya and Remilia gathering all of Gensokyo for the most epic snowball match in history (that's a lie I know there's another story where the same thing happens; I can't remember the name, only that Alice was strategizing with her dolls)

This was one of the first series I read on this site. Was it the first? Not sure. Can't even remember how I found Dynasty lol. But Amano was definitely the first author whose works I all read and by luck one I ended up liking generally liking. People in Yukemuri are such outlandish characters, but something threads through all of their stories, a realness and humanness. An idea of what love is. Nothing big, nothing dramatic, a guiding undercurrent in a person's daily life. Petty and stupid and laughable, deeply felt and unashamed. Nobody in this series is afraid to embrace their feelings. Refreshing, really, in a genre shaped by forbidden love and repressed angst.

Chapter two was my favorite. (Aoi looks like Miyata from Sweet Guilty Love Bites). So was chapter four. And five. Six and seven were hella cute too. If that hot spring brings such good luck to lovers I'd love to go there too. ;)

Pages 84, 86, 87, and 97 of part two make me grit my teeth. I'm not going back to reread the other parts which are just as atrociously out of character. I figured out what bothered me so much about this and the PCB remake after reading SSiB. They feel wrong. Every single character feels wrong. It's like they're acting correctly (sometimes) but the spirit behind their actions is out of phase with who they are.

Remilia going into a dramatic monologue halfway through the fight and making a big deal about losing? She doesn't care about losing, she's playing. A comment Zun made about Remilia in EoSD (technically through Reimu) is her danmaku showed "The tricky trajectories are kind of like a child trying to play just a little longer." The entirety of SSiB and SWR is her doing something because she's bored. And it's not that she doesn't care about Gensokyo or Reimu, but she'd never swear allegiance to them in this way. Like what the hell, she's dedicating herself to Reimu moments after meeting her? Because Reimu's her type apparently? That's just...

And Flandre, she's not insecure as she's mostly depicted here. In EoSD she's excitable, curious, and doesn't know when to hold back. She is not afraid of her ability, because she has never been given reason to.

Reimu's twisted the most. There's too much to comment. The entire story bends her into something she's not. What she is, is simple, lazy, foolish, greedy (but not really), kind while acting like she doesn't care about anything, observant, intuitive, accepting, strong friends with Marisa, and powerful without acknowledging her power. That's who she is, not this emotionless dreadnought. Oh yeah and calling on Amaterasu? That's hilarious too, considering how godless a shrine maiden she is.

...

I could go on forever but I'll save that for my myself lol. I don't know why the remakes are so weird. Most of their other works are really good. Maybe they just do comedy with a touch of thematic tension better? I'll just never read these two doujins again.

last edited at Jan 7, 2018 10:36PM

Is it just me, or is this based of AKB48's Acchan (Maeda Atsuko) and Takamina (Takahashi Minami) lol?

That's hilarious I didn't know. Really does look like them, the hair parting and color is the most distinct identifier.

We're reaching levels of Japanese that shouldn't even be possible.

I mean if they exist they are clearly possible and intended.

It's too complicated therefore it should not be possible. :p

Basically the cat was repeating Akina's phrase 書けない (kakenai), but written as 猫けない (nekokenai) (猫 being cat).

I'm pretty sure that kanji is 描く(egaku - to draw) and not 猫 (neko - cat)

I see. Well the "catn't write" pun works well in English even if it's not the same in the original.

last edited at Jan 7, 2018 7:20PM

So there's five more chapters left. Something about the story makes me feel like it's setting up every cliche imaginable, and trying to make something fresh out of them. Or maybe I'm just hoping it will.

Bottom of page 18 makes me smile. I love it when characters are honest about how they view themselves.

I don't know how I feel about this story so going to wait until it's finished. Least it's not distasteful? I'm in-between thinking I might like it and thinking it's... lacking. Based on my current impressions, it's not going to live up to its potential. The hints of depth dropped in a couple of places don't seem to be leading anywhere. I don't see how it's going to progress and end in any form of compelling or meaningful way; things just happen plot-wise without me feeling attached to any of it... They feel like blank slates to me.

I relate so much to the entire chapter.

Trying to write stories is painful for an amateur like me, and just today I was thinking about how I was getting discouraged. That pun at the end, I wonder what it literally was in Japanese.

I find it funny in how understandable she is when seeking tricks and tips to defeat writer's block. It's not so easy as just having passion or a story to tell (Akina's last panel lol) but it's true ones with messages and clear intent are the best I've ever read. Well it's inspiring nonetheless.

I guess they are unnecessary if the main story is about Sumika and Ushio, but I never found any of the detours to be boring. The side plots were like concentric circles building up side characters, and when much of yuri is devoted to mostly being about the two main characters, the extended cast is welcome.

I wasn't necessarily saying they weren't well written or that I didn't like the side side cast, but they mainly served to weigh down the primary plot(just look at the number of times Sumika and Ushio almost get together, only for something to cut them off). It's a case of an author trying to do too much at once in the same work.

Difference in opinion about the same thing; I didn't feel they weighed down the main plot because they were interesting, and while I was invested in Sumika and Ushio getting together, I also enjoyed the development of their relationship, which might be considered slow and drawn out.

Another version of a vampire..creepy dad unless there was a story beyond that... was there a mention that Rin randomly bit Yuu just to have a vassal?

Nope. It was completely an accident and not something he planned. Look at the terrible mentor he's being. :p

Months of work, weeks of research, three elaborate plans, two decoys, all for a jar of sake. Typical Gensokyo.

I don't know what Yukari means in the last chapter about not knowing if the brain of the moon resided on Earth; she fought Eirin in IN...

This story was the best. When it comes down to it, no fanwork can ever exceed Zun's canon. The extensive mythology, the perfect application of Gensokyo's number one rule - namely that common sense does not apply (that's not quite true though. Real world common sense doesn't apply, but the manifestation of will and concepts into reality has always been what makes up a large part of 'magic'), every appearance of SDM characters and Yuyuko and Yukari's speechless communication, god it's great. Now for Lunatic Runagate. And I need to finish WaHH.

What @themusicman500 said seems to be true. I assumed they kissed, but it really is never shown. So all of my what the fuck moments have been cleared up. The first time anybody has showed so much interest in her, of course Yagi goes with it. She's an idiot and I'd never want to fall in love with somebody like her, but I can't fault her for it too much either.

Ohsawa is way too good, or alternatively way too interested in showing human fallibility in love. They're interesting. I'm going to need to locate non-angst works though to counterbalance all this angst. Never thought I would run into this situation when I'm usually getting impatient with too many fluff stories. XD

What the fuck lol. Well. Let's see what the actual series is like.

The fact that most of this thread is taken aback by the rape seems promising that the author did one thing right at least. Make a rape scene which is technically ambiguous and almost seen as a joke by the MC clearly horrifying to the reader. Whether it was intentional or not, I'll have to argue it definitely was.

This did make me feel sick. I thought the rape was about being with the guy at first, cause she was thinking it hurt like hell and she wanted it to end/stop talking about it - actually I think that might still qualify as rape, only she immediately realizes she's gained her disgustingly desired status with it. Those lines on pg 64 make me think there are one-sided feelings on Hana's part, which I won't fain call romantic, more intensely possessive twisted "best friend" jealousy.

Most ominous retrospective foreshadowing, "Nozomi's nice. She'll forgive me." For her goddamn sake, I swear she had better not.

There's an unfortunate message in here about that desire to conform, be liked and a dark criticism of societal views on sex and love. It's hard to say which should be blamed, the society, MC, those girls who looked at her 'differently' afterwards, the guy who wanted a one-night stand. Maybe the very last line, Nozomi's, could have been changed so it wasn't just "what an idiot Hana is", but the message is clear. Its biased slant is because it's told from Hana's point of view and she sees no wrong with what she did. It hits a bit too close to real life in how understandable her actions are, from her perspective, which is what I have to grudgingly admire about it. The story is not set up in a way where the rape only has impact from the shock value; it is given its full seriousness, with Nozomi saying it hurt, her shaking later, her clinging to Hana and confusion as to what this meant, that her trusted friend had done this, her bitter outcry as to whether 'everyone' was more important to Hana than her.

I hate Hana and people like her but I also know this is a more widespread issue than any single individual.

Awh geez and I remembered Japan literally has a thing about how girl-girl relationships are fine in adolescence because they're not real and it's good practice for their later heterosexual marriages. You grow out of it. Jegus.

last edited at Jan 4, 2018 12:48AM

Oh my god this was so cute.

Or even if her friends didn't ostracize her to purposefully hurt her, something about what she did made them uneasy, angry, etc. etc. There's many possible specific interpretations but how it affects Tomoka is clearest.

I was wondering what the title might refer to, and could only find a stats thing? According to https://arxiv.org/abs/1610.00422 the BLUE method "combine[s] measurement from different experiments... tak[ing] into account individual uncertainties and their correlations." Make of that what you will, seems like it's a stretch to connect though. XD

Overall this story feels complex. I like it. It captures that real life haziness of the feelings correlated with actions and almost unconscious emotions behind what we consciously think and say.

I don't know why it couldn't be yuri, page 31 and 32 Chizuru seems quite flustered. Page 29 Chizuru gets dramatic beauty upgrade briefly from Tomoka's POV (although that might be more about her being happy Chizuru took what she said to heart.)

Not having the raws or Japanese literacy I can't confirm or reject the possible mistranslation. This version still makes sense to me though. Rather than being bullied, it seems to say Tomoka is at fault for spreading a rumor which hurt "that person" after carelessly saying something. Her other friends then ostracized her for having done so, even if it was unintentional. Nagisa, who shows concern for Tomoka at the diner, might very well be "that person" or a more distant concerned friend. What happens specifically otherwise is unclear, but the strongest feeling I get out of this is Tomoka's regret and the importance of Chizuru's genuine care.

"A couple of"? I like it well enough, but this was almost nothing but unnecessary detours.

I guess they are unnecessary if the main story is about Sumika and Ushio, but I never found any of the detours to be boring. The side plots were like concentric circles building up side characters, and when much of yuri is devoted to mostly being about the two main characters, the extended cast is welcome.

They're all so freaking awesome and I love all of them.

last edited at Jan 3, 2018 10:05PM

Ooh, I'd read Always Human ages ago and forgot about it. Grateful for the reminder that it exists.

Premise of Mage & Demon Queen sounds awesome, combining two of my favorite things. Seems it's relatively new so hope it'll be completed.

@Clover, I am curious as to what you're doubtful of.

Related to the afterword, I thought Yakumi's thoughts were interesting. I'd thought of those "sure things" and themes of past "great works" as being self evident and the best of Touhou fanworks. But that's because I've been exposed to them through archive crawling and there's a humongous archive on Dynasty/other places which goes back quite far. Either way, I like the way this person thinks. RemiSaku is a sure thing. ;)

I don't like this Reimu. She's beyond too perfect, she's nothing but a vehicle, everything she needs to be to win. I hate seeing every other character be forced to bow to her. I will give props for good storytelling and effective management of drama, but I dunno, there's something which feels off about all of the characters. Like they're lacking a key part of what makes them real or the qualities which I see as being essential to them in canon.

When I was playing PCB, Yuyuko was a legitimate challenge. Her danmaku was beautiful, the giant fan told me "shit's getting real", learning about her power made me wonder about the sorrow which might lie in her past.

I have the same gripe for their EoSD remake. Patchy, Sakuya, and Remi are killer to defeat in game. All of them are treated so lightly here.

Eh whatever. Shame though, I had higher hopes.

THERE SHOULD BE MORE. AHHHHHH. It says to be continued and my favorite characters only showed up as a teaser. Random web searches show it does seem to be discontinued though. The author's most recent works on their website are all original.

I wonder what the significance of the mackerel/fish thing was. What spell is encoded in the game. And why summer is when everything returns to normal. Very interesting and deceptively simple premise.

It'll be great to see this finished. :)

I approve of everything contained.

@Clover, I don't know what confuses you, but I'll give my understanding of it.

The manga depicts scenes as Remilia experiences them. On her actual birthday, she's looking at her own "fate". She's dressed in black and she enters each room using the keyring. When she enters a room, a piece of her fate is shown. In this case, they're all of the 'birthdays' Sakuya held for her. She describes herself as a spectator, and a comparison is made of watching her fate like one would watch a movie. That's how little control she feels she has over her own story, to the extent that what she manipulates is only what scenes she watches.

She says that fate is timeless, and yet she starts wondering 'what time' a certain moment happened. Sakuya is the one who points out her sense of timelessness, which in extension is how stuck she is, and after viewing the third birthday party (from our POV), she runs everywhere to see the portions of her fate which are connected to Sakuya's, seeing the passage of time through Sakuya. This leads her to realize despite fate being "set in stone", she doesn't want to just accept Sakuya's death as another matter of course. Watching Sakuya on her deathbed is enough to make Remi cry, which is when Sakuya catches up to her. She takes the keyring and gives Remi a watch, symbolic of having time move forward for her. We then see Remi's life play out sequentially, as Sakuya's had been before. And at the end, she has embraced the passage of time and her ability to "control fate".

In essence, Remi had been stuck in time, Sakuya rescues her, and Remi becomes the charismatic child seen in Touhou, seizing her own fate, actively living instead of passively watching.