this was a wild roller coaster to read. the cursed doll is outmatch by Akari's insanity while dragging along with her school friends into it. so outlandish and comical thru out most of the chapters until it got really dark and personal near the end. I seriously cried knowing about Non-chan's previous owner until we were brought back to the normal antics. this was a nice crazy ending and I think author put out a lot on this.

plus, something about the rough style of the manga brought back nostalgia of early indie mangas that I read from long ago.

In the immortal words of the author of Otherside Picnic: "This too is yuri". The author clearly just trusts your intelligence too much to tell you outright.

(Also because sexuality would probably push Akari well over the line in how bearable her creepiness is due to, y'know, how basically nobody consents to the things she does with them.)

I get why some would say this is "not yuri" in the sense that there is no romance plot, but the story still fits the broader definition of the genre, in that it focuses on very intimate/intense relationships between women. Akari may call her obsessive behavior an expression of friendship, but only a fool would take that at face value. She is creepy, but in a pretty gay way. Yoshino is a whole fruit cake too, let's be real.

It's not exactly wrong to call it "subtext", but it's still a horror comedy about a group of girls who are probably not straight (and their non-human ghost friends). It succeeded in those terms, so I don't see the lack of a romantic conclusion as a problem here.

plus, something about the rough style of the manga brought back nostalgia of early indie mangas that I read from long ago

The drawings are not super detailed, but there is an elegance to them, and they suited these characters really well!

last edited at Apr 13, 2024 5:04PM

In the immortal words of the author of Otherside Picnic: "This too is yuri". The author clearly just trusts your intelligence too much to tell you outright.

(Also because sexuality would probably push Akari well over the line in how bearable her creepiness is due to, y'know, how basically nobody consents to the things she does with them.)

I get why some would say this is "not yuri" in the sense that there is no romance plot, but the story still fits the broader definition of the genre, in that it focuses on very intimate/intense relationships between women. Akari may call her obsessive behavior an expression of friendship, but only a fool would take that at face value. She is creepy, but in a pretty gay way. Yoshino is a whole fruit cake too, let's be real.

It's not exactly wrong to call it "subtext", but it's still a horror comedy about a group of girls who are probably not straight (and their non-human ghost friends). It succeeded in those terms, so I don't see the lack of a romantic conclusion as a problem here.

plus, something about the rough style of the manga brought back nostalgia of early indie mangas that I read from long ago

The drawings are not super detailed, but there is an elegance to them, and they suited these characters really well!

if your gonna say this story fits with yuri=friendship

keep it at just that! there was no gay in it, it was full on subtext galore….ah but for christ sake ofc it was” yuri” since that is just “friendship”, thank god i didn’t waste my time with another one of this “yuri” cuz at this point people got to realize you LITERALLY do not need that tag for god damn FRIENDSHIP

how come Yaoi is clear cut homosexual, or Bara for christ sake! they have 2 tags for clear cut gay between men YET “Yuri” is left for the stupid option of “they were just friends” AND “they bump clits like crazy” it’s literally a coin flip, at this point i don’t read ongoing stories unless i can already figure out the “Yuri” is actually god damn Yuri, usually the story description makes it clear but even THAT has the 50/50 chance of being a trap, just another waste of tag just to make a story about “friendship”

last edited at Apr 14, 2024 5:01PM

The Romance and NSFW tags on this site are used to indicate a clear romance plot and sexual context, respectively. The former was not applied here, and the latter only to the first chapter. This was a silly horror comedy from the start, and most people correctly suspected that a sex scene between the human girl and the doll she's obsessed with was unlikely to happen.

I also don't think a short series like this is worth getting so upset about. It took most of us about 3 hours to read in total, and it was scanlated to completion over the course of just 3 months. Assuming you have actually read it, and aren't just complaining for the sake of complaining.

You are also free to request changing the Yuri tag to Subtext, or just removing it, if you really believe that's more correct. That was always allowed.

if your gonna say this story fits with yuri=friendship

keep it at just that! there was no gay in it, it was full on subtext galore….ah but for christ sake ofc it was” yuri” since that is just “friendship”, thank god i didn’t waste my time with another one of this “yuri” cuz at this point people got to realize you LITERALLY do not need that tag for god damn FRIENDSHIP

how come Yaoi is clear cut homosexual, or Bara for christ sake! they have 2 tags for clear cut gay between men YET “Yuri” is left for the stupid option of “they were just friends” AND “they bump clits like crazy” it’s literally a coin flip, at this point i don’t read ongoing stories unless i can already figure out the “Yuri” is actually god damn Yuri, usually the story description makes it clear but even THAT has the 50/50 chance of being a trap, just another waste of tag just to make a story about “friendship”

If you want romance, there's the romance tag.

Although this series heavily uses "friends" and "bonds" throughout, I'd say it's used in a comedic way rather than emphasizing that yeah this is pure pure pure friendship there is no deeper yuri relationship anywhere. "Friends" is almost always put in contrast with the things Akari does that are way beyond what's considered just friendship. Tangentially related thought, I love this series so much more because it explores aspects of yuri relationships beyond love confessions and going on dates.

For your tidbit on yaoi, I'm not sure if that sounds completely right to me. Gay undertones isn't just a yuri thing.

I think Akari might just be a little too cuckoo to understand love, and not crazy enough to start making out with the literal haunted doll. It would also change the mood of the manga from slapstick bizarre comedy to genuinely creepy or sentimental/romantic if the scope was changed to explicitly solidify Akari's feelings.

Xadarx is living in like 2005 or something because BL has superseded yaoi as a genre descriptor since forever and is used similarly to yuri as a term. I don't quite agree with "yuri just describes close relationships between fémâlès" either, but like. This manga isn't a victim of that mentality.

last edited at Apr 15, 2024 1:14AM

I really didn't expect to like this manga as much as I did. I've now gained a newfound appreciation for Bonds

I really didn't expect to like this manga as much as I did. I've now gained a newfound appreciation for Bonds

Sounds like a joke line you'd see in Deltarune.

I'm starting to think Non-chan was the cursed one all along. What did she do in her "life" to deserve Akari?

The real curse was the friends we made along the way.

The real curse was the friends we made along the way.

and lots of Bonds to be had

by VYKNIGHT 4/15/24

that was such a disappointing ending ngl I was hoping for something way more horror related like her killing all her friends just to bring non-chan back

The real curse was the friends we made along the way.

this manga in a nutshell