https://twitter.com/yenpress/status/1451579515805839364?s=21

Her new manga is getting released every month by Yen Press at the same time as the JP release.

Well I'm sure there's a more apt word for my sentiment on the matter but I can't find it at the moment.
It's just that the "Wait for me, yuri fans who expect yuri manga from me, the artist famous for my yuri works, as I might or might not come back to making yuri manga after I'm done drawing what I want to draw, which this time around isn't a yuri manga!" tweet doesn't seem necessary to me, that's all. Oh well.

I’m not even sure how you read that tweet as that. People expect her to write yuri just because YagaKimi is what got her big but being a yuri author is not even what she wants to be known solely for, expressed many times in the past. That doesn’t mean she is trying to hand wave her yuri fanbase either. The tweet is simply “Hey, I know this is not a yuri work, but I’m not abandoning yuri works, I’m sure I’ll get back to it at some point in the future. Would be nice if you can support the new work even though it’s not yuri.” Nothing’s wrong with that.

Full image of the announcement page released on Dengeki today:

So SF stands for both Scifi but also Sukoshi Fushigi (in furigana) which is low fantasy.
The scientist’s name is Himesaki Kasane, she’s the landlady of their share house & also a “bug” researcher. The MC is Otaya Kon, who will be her assistant. Synopsis for the first chapter releasing next month (10/27 JP) is that the whole town gets turned into a jungle because of a “bug.”

It’s most likely not real bugs the story is dealing with considering they’re katakana in quotations. The way the series title is written is pretty odd, but “Kami-sama ga machigaeru” is technically “God is wrong/mistaken.”

Edit: Nakatani mentioned on Twitter that if she continues writing what she wants, she will come back to yuri again eventually. Hats off to her for following through with writing fantasy like she said in an interview way back when.

last edited at Sep 26, 2021 1:10PM

TL for Nakatani's antho chap: https://mangadex.org/chapter/841919/1
These two are so cute, I miss them.

2nd antho is gonna be out next week on the 26th in JP. Here're the Amazon and CDJP links for those interested.
Participating artists include Nakatani herself, Yutaka (cover artist), Canno, Moke, Yodokawa, and some others.

Apparently there is going to be a new Yagakimi chapter released in February: Link to the Amazon page

They got one bit of info wrong there and just tweeted to make a correction: https://twitter.com/yagakimi/status/1204940481588682752?s=20

That link is to Nakatani's short stories collection, which will compile all her oneshots published with Dengeki (Eclair + Sayonara Oruta) plus some other stuff we don't know yet. The new YagaKimi short won't be included in it, but in the 2nd official anthology. There's no release date for that yet, but I'm guessing it'll be released together with Sayaka LN3.

If anyone interested, Nakatani's artbook will be released on the same date as her short stories collection and will have plenty of YagaKimi illustrations.

For those who want to watch the stage play raws: https://www.bilibili.com/video/av76909190?from=search&seid=361766184350603681

By the lack of updates to this thread, I'm assuming there's no extra chapter this time, right?

From what I understood, the extra chapter is coming mid-November at the earliest, more likely in late November.

No extra chapter in the magazine since the serialization has ended. The volume might have something but we don't know.

for a second there i thought this was the end but according to MAL we still get 5 more chapters

That was the end. MAL probably counted the bonus chapters, which there are 5 in total so far. We may or may not get another bonus for vol 8.

Like that ever stopped anyone. Engagement rings are a scam that only exist to convey feelings and make you feel better. They have no binding qualities or purpose, so getting them early means nothing. Whether they can actually marry or not, whether their parents agree or not, getting engagement rings is a symbolic thing.

Promise rings are what those are called. But let's not be semantics. Here's my point, Touko and Yuu aren't engaged to be wed considering the context of their situation. The rings are only to symbolize their love and commitment.

I think that's close enough for now. Such a certificate is a huge step.

You can get engaged years before you actually marry. It's merely a promise that you will do it eventually. With these two I have no doubt that they would make such a far ahead promise to each other.

Engagement rings are generally for when people actually propose one another. I highly doubt that these two have done that when their country doesn't even allow same-sex marriage and they haven't even come out to their parents yet. It's more logical that those are promise rings, which basically represents their love and commitment for each other. It's not that I disagree they haven't thought about the possibility, but "engagement" kinda comes off a bit strong in the context of their country and situation.

last edited at Sep 30, 2019 4:45PM

They're not engaged, they just have matching rings (the one's that Yuu was eyeing in chapter 42). Same sex marriage isn't even legal in Japan yet (if we assume that the series took place in 2015 when it first started, then this time skip would bring us to 2018 or 2019), so how could they be engaged?

Last chap's setting is most likely Oct 2019. Yuu mentioned that shuukatsu is coming up, so she's probably a 2nd year in uni worrying about the job hunting season at the start of her 3rd year. October because we're back at another cultural festival.

Kinda depends where they live. Maybe it's that one district in Tokyo... did YagaKimi ever reveal where it takes place actually?

Should be Tokyo. Japanese fans were able to locate the real-life locations of the setting so they might know the exact district, but at least from what I know, the aquarium in ch 24 is located in Minato, Tokyo. Still, same-sex marriage is not legal in Japan yet, only some wards and cities are handing out partnership certificates.

Plus, they're still busy uni students who aren't ready to move in with each other nor come out to their parents yet. Very unlikely they're engaged already. At least not in the literal sense.

^ Nope. Not here.

YUU IN SHORT HAIR. THE PROMISED RINGS. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Anyway, so some big announcements for the YagaKimi franchise that came with this last chap:

1. Vol 8 release on Nov 27th
2. Nakatani's artbook
3. Nakatani's short stories compilation
4. YagaKimi antho 2
5. Sayaka LN 3 set for Spring 2020
6. More LINE stickers
7. YagaKimi stage play rerun in Fall 2020

Also, new Eclair announcement: https://twitter.com/YURI_TIMES_EN/status/1177248109736296449?s=19

last edited at Sep 26, 2019 4:51PM

For those who were looking forward to EN home release, Sentai just announced regular and limited edition BDs scheduled for December: https://twitter.com/SentaiFilmworks/status/1174036772415844352?s=20

@Zormau No, it wouldn't work at all if Touko called Yuu "Yuu dear" in front of the entire student council. It is a pet name & thus has romantic inclination & no amount of excuses could have covered up the reason for her using it. That's basically Touko ratting out their relationship & if Yuu were to hear that, she wouldn't just be calmly replying to Touko like nothing big had happened since she's been the more cautious one out of the two irt how they come across to others. It'd just be spiraling down a rabbit hole that is far from resembling the original script.

but we weren't in nuanced debate mode back then, right?

It has always been about nuances though. Nuance, integrity, coherency, and consistency--good scripts need those, right?

can very easily accept Maki and Doujima being referred to by their surname as a consequence of them being pretty much the only boys around. Makes sense to me.

How does that make any sense? That's not a common basis English speakers use to address people's name. Not in this day and age. Referring to another person by their last name in American English means that you're very unfamiliar with the person, maybe to the point of indifference and not wanting to interact with them much. Do the three girls in the stuco have that much reservation against the boys they work with? And it's not just in the stuco, they are referred to by their last names outside of it too, like when they interact with Akari and Koyomi. Since this is not common for American English, people without any knowledge of Japanese culture could even assume that maybe that's how Japanese people interact with each other: girls can call each other by their first names, but they have to refer to the boys by their last names, but the boys can still refer to the girls by their first. That is not accurate. It's an error that completely muddles the bases on which the characters address one another--neither faithful to the American nor the Japanese cultures.

Also, I made my post to point out how the dub is very flawed in how it is trying to adapt the original script to fit its localization bias due to a lack of proper care and research, not to see how someone can stretch their imagination to make sense of the bad script. This is not about subjectivity. I'm not taking away your right to like the dub, but to show how the decisions Sentai made irt handling the names and honorifics are bad.

I appreciate that you assume incompetence rather than malice, but I honestly believe it was ambition.

What's the ambition though? Half-assing the script instead of properly researching the original material then needing to do mental gymnastic to put together a script that still makes no sense and is nothing like the original when they mess up? Trading off accuracy and nuances for the sake of convenience then just rolling with it and ending up altering what the original work even look like is not something that should be encouraged. And by this, I'm not saying that all localizations are bad, It's more like if they so insisted on localization, why not do research or wait for the original to finish airing first before being "creative" with localizing the script? Being creative and being faithful to the source are not mutually exclusive, you know? And now that they have already made these huge mistakes, isn't it much more honest and ambitious to revisit the dub script instead? & yes, I am aware that it's costly to do so, that's why they should take measures to not make the mistakes in the first place.

Ok, seems like a lot of people didn't check out the dub to see how bad the name blunders turned out. It was very obvious that the people doing it did not care enough to even check the source material before dubbing (same with the sub, but we're not talking about that right now). It's not just the matter of ruining the nuances of the honorifics, but also the matter of inconsistency and incoherency in the script.

So almost every major characters are on first name basis (they refer to Riko as Miss. Hakozaki to show respect, ofc) since English localization and whatnot (so even Sayaka and Yuu are on first name basis). But Maki and Doujima are referred to as Maki and Doujima--those are their last names, not first. In the story, Maki's first name, Seiji, was not revealed until the birthdays chart from vol 6 (although you did learn of it since vol 2 thanks to the characters list from the manga site). Doujima's first name, Suguru, was not revealed until ch 12. So the reason why they got stuck with last names is because Sentai Dub did not do any research and so their decision to do simuldub came back to bite them in the ass.

This inconsistency in how the characters even address each other eventually led us to the clusterfuck that was the scene that came after the pet names calling. Here's the manga version for reference (or check out the Asenshi + honorifics sub for ep 7, scene starts at 15:47). And here's the dub script for that scene:

Touko: Yuu, do you know where the PE committee roster is?
Yuu: Let's see... should be this file.
Touko: Great, thanks.
Sayaka (thinking to herself): Something seems different today... What is it?
Doujima: Hang up. You're calling Yuu by her first name? That seems, maybe, kinda unpresidential.
Sayaka (thinking to herself while looking at Doujima, smiling & fist pumping): Yeah, something's about the way she says it.
Touko: I call all of my friends by their first names. Why is that weird?
Doujima: Well, my first name is Suguru!
Touko: Oh, that's a very nice name, Doujima.
Doujima: Ouch, that's harsh.
Sayaka: Yuu, would you mind if I maybe come up with a nickname for you?
Yuu: Sure, feel free.
Sayaka: Nah, I'll just keep calling you by your name. Nicknames are something reserved for your boyfriend or girlfriend, so nevermind.

Aside from the fact that the witty flow of original scene is completely gone, this script doesn't even have any flow or make any sense. Doujima just randomly brings up Touko calling Yuu by her first name even though she has always called her that since they first met in the dub. Why is it "unpresidential" for Touko to call Yuu by her first name even though this is supposed to be targeting towards English-speaking audience and first name basis is the norm? Does becoming the student council president or vice president in Japan mean that you have to start acting more formal with other students below you? Is that why they've been addressing the boys by their last names (even though everyone else also call them by those)? Sayaka still addresses Yuu as Yuu, does that mean that they are great friends? Or maybe Japan is just very sexist towards boys now? Speaking of Sayaka, how did she even tell that there was something different in the way Touko is saying "Yuu" and deduce that it must have been something to do nicknames when no one even brought that up in the convo at all? What was she even trying to get out of giving Yuu a nickname? The point of the original is to show how the rest of the student council body react to Touko now calling Yuu by her first name, but since the equivalent pet name isn't even brought up here, what is even the point of this entire scene???

This scene is far and away from what the original intended & unwittingly muddles the characters' bases for addressing one another. You could argue that most people wouldn't even care or notice whether this scene even make a lick of sense, but bad script is bad script and it wouldn't have happened if they had kept the honorifics, or at the very least, had the characters start off with last name basis first, or you know, put an effort into researching the source material beforehand.

last edited at Sep 6, 2019 5:36AM

Oh I'm quite aware that it was supposed to be that way in that sentence. Which is why Nakatani would have loved the irony that it is also a pun.

But in a Western context you don't speak of people in third person in such a stilted way in all other cases... like this one.

Those were left in there intentionally, but don't tell anyone. There are a lot more dumb literal meme TLs made during the process, but those will never see the light of day.

On the topic of the dub and the nicknames, that was an atrocious decision. Yuu and Touko calling each other by pet names are OOC & it's not like Touko could even use "Yuu dear" in front of other people the same way she can use "Yuu" instead of "Koito-san" in front of others. The point of dropping honorifics and using first names is to show closeness and has less romantic inclination than using pet names.

When addressing another person they have a close relationship with or have respect for, Japanese people often use the other person's name or honorific (like "senpai" or "sensei") instead of using equivalents of "you" (kimi, anata, omae, or what have you). Touko addresses Yuu as Yuu on a regular basis & did literally say "Yuu and I" in Japanese 侑と私. Yuu's name just happens to make it punny. I won't deny that we intentionally left her name in some sentences just because. But the "Yuu and I" one would have been translated the same even if Yuu's name was different just to keep the sentiment of what Touko said in highlighting them as individuals even when they are a couple.

All I can rely on is what the translations give me. None of them said what you said. I don't know the Japanese context either. Perhaps that word is commonly used for sleepovers, I don't know.

The word does commonly translate to "sleepover," but it doesn't have to be at anyone's house specifically. Yuu doesn't specify when or where this "sleepover" would happen (which was why for KS translation, we avoided using "at your place.") If Touko and Yuu weren't minors, this "sleepover" could've been at a hotel in Jap context. Japanese is more contextual than English, so Yuu asking for a "sleepover" without specifying the time or location then follows with "what I want to say is... in other words..." heavily implies she is definitely asking for more than a "sleepover." So basically, Yuu is indirectly asking to spend a night with Touko where they can take things further. Even among English-speaking readers, most people seem to have caught the idea, but maybe cuz everyone's mind is wired to think lewd (but they have reasons to, the buildups to Yuu asking for a "sleepover" were steering them to that direction.)

Anyway, I'm just here to clarify what Yuu said in Japanese context, so everyone can move on from discussing the literal English meaning.

But it goes against Yuu's character to do something like that when Touko's parents are at home.
If Yuu wanted to have sex somewhere, why does anyone assume she would hide that fact behind a sleepover request anyway?

From what I understand, the word お泊まり doesn't have to be a sleepover specifically at Touko's place. The idea is that Yuu wants to spend a night with Touko outside of her own home (we actually considered "I want to spend a night with you" as a TL option but thought that it was too direct). It just so happens that Touko's place became the perfect spot for it. Not to say that Yuu only requested the お泊まり just to have sex, but it's silly to think that she didn't hope for an opportunity to push things further when she asked for it. I can ask a Japanese acquaintance to confirm this or if anyone wants to correct me, that's fine too.

Yeah, because a relationship really doesn't have any development worth mentioning beyond having sex for the first time... /s
Seriously, could authors please look beyond the first milestones? Far too often the characters only get to hold hands, or at best kiss at the end of the story. Almost never do we get to witness their joined life, which is a huge deal, believe it or not, and filled with smaller and larger conflicts, hardships and challenges.
Sure, we've seen a lot more of relationship development in Bloom into You compared to what we normally see, but their story is actually far from over. At least judging from my experience, being in a single, stable relationship for almost twelve years.

It's not that there's nothing left of Touko and Yuu to explore from a relationship development POV, realistically-speaking. I personally am curious to see how the time Touko is away in college and Yuu is still a high school student would play out and also Touko helping Yuu figure out her future career (the idea that Yuu gets lost thinking about how the people around her already have their future figured out gets brought up lightly first in ch 8 then this chapter). Even though there are definitely things I want to see out of their relationship, I don't think that YagaKimi is exactly the kind of work that would continue for the sake of exploring different situations. Nakatani is a very structured and meticulous writer whose focus is to create a cohesive narrative with very clear message and themes to leave her audience with. YagaKimi isn't as situational as a lot of romances where authors just put characters through certain situations and spontaneous conflicts, be it natural or contrived, in order to further their relationship. All plot points, character developments, and conflicts are planned out carefully in service of getting the audience to the big picture she had in mind from the very beginning (and she had made it clear that she wrote the story with a clear beginning and ending in mind). This is why this story is filled with so many parallels, callbacks, and interconnected little details.

YagaKimi is a coming-of-age tale about two individuals finding out what "love" means for them and what that tells them about who they are as individuals through their relationship with each other. Have they come to those conclusions? Yes. Yuu learns that her "love" isn't just instant fireworks that came out of nowhere. Just as with other things she's ever done, she has to put a lot of effort and commitments into pursuing her relationship in order to be emotionally invested in it (which her friends and family, Rei specifically, have been pointing out throughout the story). Touko learns to accept her whole being, both her weak and confident selves, while embracing the changing nature of "love." With a better understanding of who they are and through constant open communications, this allows them to pursue a mutual relationship, learn to get on the same emotional page, and be ready to tackle their unknown future, both as individuals and as a couple. As a work, it is complete--it has said what it set out to say, beautifully and concisely. So if there's a sequel, I agree with Blaastar that it wouldn't really be the same work--it wouldn't be "Bloom into You" or "Eventually, [You] will Become You" anymore. But it would probably be "I've Bloomed into Me Now, What's Next?" Considering the kind of writer Nakatani is based on her interviews and works, it's not just a simple matter of coming up with a new central conflict. She's not really one to write a feels-good situational story without a central message or theme to explore. So unless she has something to say out of a sequel, I don't think she will do it.

Some might see vol 8 to be irrelevant "bonus" or "filler" to the main story which proves that Nakatani can just write random relationship developments with similar themes tacked on for a sequel. But I'd argue that it is as integral to the overarching narrative as the rest of the story, giving readers the payoffs that came from 7 volumes of prior buildups with ch 44 being a way more complete and satisfying thematic and emotional conclusion to Touko and Yuu's journey than ch 40. Remember that Touko and Yuu's past relationship wasn't just unfair and unbalanced because Touko was afraid of love and Yuu wasn't allowed to reciprocate. They were never on the same page with how they expressed their feelings to each other. Touko was very inconsiderate of Yuu's feelings which led to her sometimes forcing her desires and emotions on Yuu while Yuu could do nothing but take whatever dumped on her (Ch 22 is the clearest example of this). This also left Yuu with a lot of pent-up frustrations, including sexual ones, that kept on piling (the entire point of vol 4). It was a huge problem with their previous relationship that even Touko herself recognized (Ch 34 and 35), yet it wasn't really addressed in ch 40 (Touko never properly apologized to Yuu and they never really sat down to talk about it). While the confessions in 40 allow Touko and Yuu to finally pursue a mutual relationship, they don't really address the finer points of their unbalanced dynamic.

That's where the rest of vol 8 comes in, not only does it give readers payoffs by showing Touko and Yuu as a cute couple with Yuu freely initiating and expressing her feelings, but it brings back the conflict of how they are still not on the same emotional page, seen in how Yuu is being insecured over Touko's perceived lack of enthusiasm as the latter is trying to hold back for reasons she doesn't properly communicate with Yuu. Ch 44 gives us the proper resolution to that aspect of Touko and Yuu's dynamic by having Touko bringing up how selfishly she treated Yuu and Yuu looking past that. This allows them both to move on from their old give and take relationship then finally be on the same emotional page so they can move forward with their new relationship without anymore emotional hangups. It is a wholesome display of where they were, where they are, and where they will be, which makes for such a conclusive emotional & thematic payoff. I don't think YagaKimi would have felt as complete had it just stopped at 40, but that's my take. However you feel about the chapters past 40, I don't think it's right to dismiss them as "fillers" and "bonuses." Vol 8 is the ending that Nakatani had envisioned from the start and she certainly had put a lot of thoughts into getting us here.

Edit: TLDR Vol 8 completes YagaKimi and I don't think there needs to be a sequel

last edited at Sep 3, 2019 10:26PM

Fantasy and Yuri are not mutually exlcusive and Nakatani-sensei knows it. She can pretend that she isn't usually a yuri writer all she wants, but her stories almost exclusively revovle around the relationships between girls one way or another.
When she says fantasy I think of her Touhou stuff. She does love those weird concepts that twist relationships.

Either way, I'm sure she will do more yuri in the future, whether she calls it that or not.

She says that she'll be taking her time to think about what else she can do with yuri before coming back to it. I'm sure her fantasy will have gay girls doing gay things cuz that what she loves to draw, but I'm guessing she just doesn't view the yuri to be the focus.

But Nakatani may want to try out something entirely new or explore different characters and settings - I wouldn't blame her. If that's to be achieved by a spin-off, a break, exploring different aspects of these characters and their evolving circumstances or plain ending this story and moving to a new project on for good, remains to be seen...
Do we even have an official statement from her?

Based on some interviews, I'd say Nakatani plans on moving on from YagaKimi once it's over. When asked what she wants to do next in this interview from 2017, she says she wants to try out fantasy since she thinks she's already doing what she wants to do with yuri in YagaKimi for now. Then in the most recent interview with Kusunoki (her editor) and Iruma (AdaShima author & Sayaka's LN writer), Nakatani says that Sayaka ends up being the character with the longest story in YagaKimi thanks to the LN spinoff which will be covering her time in college in the 3rd vol.

Edit: In that last interview, she also says that the point of the final volume is not to simply show Touko and Yuu dating, but to reassure readers that those two will be okay (as individuals and as a couple) and hopefully give readers a sense that "[they've] seen everything that needs to seen."

last edited at Sep 3, 2019 12:00PM

I believe Nakatani doesn't like to call YagaKimi a Yuri story

She expressed that she didn't think of her doujins as yuri in an earlier interview before YagaKimi, but that's not the case with YagaKimi. She went into YagaKimi wanting to write a yuri romance (Vol 1's afterwords), extensively discussed yuri tropes and how YagaKimi compare to them in interviews, & is honored of seeing it winning the Yuri Navi poll for 3 years straight (she even agreed to do an interview to celebrate last year and left a thank you message this year). In fact, Kusunoki, her editor, went on a rant around the time of the anime refuting the claim that Nakatani doesn't consider YagaKimi a yuri.

last edited at Sep 2, 2019 6:44PM

I noticed it too. It's a glaring error.

I found it odd that Yuu would say "Touko" without honorific in front of her parents.

At most, she would have said "Touko-senpai" and not "Nanami-senpai",because her parents are also "Nanami" people and that would have been awkward.

It wouldn't have been awkward in Japanese to call her "Nanami-senpai" in front of her parents since the senpai honorific is enough to tell who she's referring to and it's probably what she would have used if she had addressed her name at all (she didn't).