KCM posted:

On one hand, this is the first yuri I've ever seen (a real one) with a plus size girl...

Try reading this one then. It is better (sorry can't really suggest anything else).

EDIT/ Now that I re-read it the girl in this one isn't really overweight. It still works better on similar theme than this one shot though.

last edited at Mar 28, 2016 2:54PM

I thought it was obvious in how she eroticizes the characters and the manner in which they eat. Look at the fucking cover for Sweet Exercise.

The thing about Meru-chan, since someone brought up The Feelings We All Must Deal With, is that she's not a stereotype and she's certainly not played for comic relief; her weight isn't really a joke when it comes up. And I thought the way the series ended for her was cute and a lot healthier than this one here.

This feels fetishizing, but sweet exercise despite being better kinda does too (it definitely falls into that sort of patronizing trap you see where a moderately-sized girl is portrayed as a symbolic progressive heroine for the industry to rally behind because she's somehow "plus-sized"). But yeah, it's certainly better because, again, it doesn't really feel like the joke is her weight -- more her neuroses about it and the story is about how she and her girlfriend work through it, so it's much cuter. (also I like the bit with the jump-rope bondage hehe)

It's a real sticking point for me because my girlfriend is always concerned about her weight and how it makes her look, so when I see something like this it really pisses me off because argh it's not helping. And the relationship dynamic is just, well, like y'all been saying.

Probably shouldn't look for fat positivity in works from a nation famed for denigrating anything deviating from the 'norm' either though.

last edited at Mar 28, 2016 2:57PM

Jeez, people are really jumping on the negativity wagon in this comment section, huh? Honestly, the way the skinny girlfriend is actually encouraging the plump one to eat more (barring her fetish-y behaviour) is actually a good thing, in my opinion, at least when you look at it from a cultural stand-point. Japan has (or at least used to, I'm not sure if the laws have changed) an effective BAN on obesity in the form of fat tax laws. Shortly put, companies that fail to keep the average BMI of their employees down will have financial penalties placed upon them. This results in companies hiring very few overweight people, the already hired people are very keen on keeping their weight down, and society ends up looking at anyone who is even mildly overweight as a moral failure.

Keeping the above in mind, I'd say it's pretty fucking heartwarming to read a manga where a chubby girl is loved for who she is.....despite the fetish-implications but come on, everyone has a fetish and this one's pretty tame.

I don't think this story is supposed to be taken seriously. Both of them are caricatures.

Jeez, people are really jumping on the negativity wagon in this comment section, huh? Honestly, the way the skinny girlfriend is actually encouraging the plump one to eat more (barring her fetish-y behaviour) is actually a good thing, in my opinion[...]

But her plump girlfriend wants to lose weight and the skinny girl would rather her gain more. They're not compatible in that respect. I'm not saying skinny girlfriend is bad for her interest in feeding/chubbiness, but she doesn't seem that interested in what her plump gf wants. That and plump gf broke her rib, so maybe their personalities just kind of clash. Idk, it is cute and cool to see a plump girl, but when their relationship is so shaky and physically harmful to one of the parties...

I don't think this story is supposed to be taken seriously. Both of them are caricatures.

It seems nowadays people are heavily offended by anything slightly out of their comfort zone.

Gordon posted:

I don't think this story is supposed to be taken seriously. Both of them are caricatures.

It seems nowadays people are heavily offended by anything slightly out of their comfort zone.

It isn't out of my comfort zone. It just decapitate unhealthy relationship.

Gordon posted:

I don't think this story is supposed to be taken seriously. Both of them are caricatures.

It seems nowadays people are heavily offended by anything slightly out of their comfort zone.

It isn't out of my comfort zone. It just decapitate unhealthy relationship.

I don't think this was meant to be viewed as a realistic interpretation of "skinny x chubby" relationships. They are extremely caricatured; comical at best. Amano's goal probably wasn't to address the prominent problem of unjustly fetishizing larger women, but rather to just fantasize a relationship between 'hot and cold' archetypes. It isn't anything different from some of her previous works. Don't take (every) chinese mango so seriously.

Gordon posted:

Gordon posted:

I don't think this story is supposed to be taken seriously. Both of them are caricatures.

It seems nowadays people are heavily offended by anything slightly out of their comfort zone.

It isn't out of my comfort zone. It just decapitate unhealthy relationship.

I don't think this was meant to be viewed as a realistic interpretation of "skinny x chubby" relationships. They are extremely caricatured; comical at best. Amano's goal probably wasn't to address the prominent problem of unjustly fetishizing larger women, but rather to just fantasize a relationship between 'hot and cold' archetypes. It isn't anything different from some of her previous works. Don't take (every) chinese mango so seriously.

Whatever it was meant to be taken serious or not, I have full right to judge and criticize it. I did not like it so I said so. I agree Amano definitely didn't want to make any kind of serious commentary about fetish or something, but I didn't find the way she portrayed relationship in this particular work either funny or charming. I mentioned that she wrote similar story before which I liked much more than this because it had no issues that bothered me in this work.

If you really want to go with "don't take chinese mango so seriously" then in this work Amano failed at writing good comedy and did not entertained me with characters she created.

I'm happy for you, that you found "You want to lose weight? I don't care, I love you fat." and "I broken your ribs because I'm too fat", "Sorry broken some more because I'm still too fat" funny. Seems our taste in comedy is different.

last edited at Mar 30, 2016 9:29PM

Whatever it was meant to be taken serious or not, I have full right to judge and criticize it. I did not like it so I said so. I agree Amano definitely didn't want to make any kind of serious commentary about fetish or something, but I didn't find the way she portrayed relationship in this particular work either funny or charming. I mentioned that she wrote similar story before which I liked much more than this because it had no issues that bothered me in this work.

If you really want to go with "don't take chinese mango so seriously" then in this work Amano failed at writing good comedy and did not entertained me with characters she created.

I'm happy for you, that you found "You want to lose weight? I don't care, I love you fat." and "I broken your ribs because I'm too fat", "Sorry broken some more because I'm still too fat" funny. Seems our taste in comedy is different.

I'm not denying you the right to criticize it. Nobody is preventing you from doing that. I'm just pointing out that this most likely wasn't intended to tackle real problems or portray an entirely realistic relationship . They're extreme caricatures doing extreme things. You don't see a chubby girlfriend crushing their partner's ribs and injuring them for three months often. I understand that you might not find it funny or charming, but humor is entirely subjective; whether it be dark, ironic or slapstick.

Well... this was a bit disturbing.

It seems nowadays people are heavily offended by anything slightly out of their comfort zone.

And others are offended by different opinions, but w/e. Others agree with me as well, so neither of us will ever really win. :(

ok the fetish is already weird but the violence made it even more gross tf

Bluh, the character designs are nice and I wish Shuninta would draw more chubby girls since they look so soft and cute in her style (and.. since being a chubby gay myself... it'd be nice to see some cute fluffy representation) but the humour attempts really fell flat for me in this one. Even if the heroine in Sweet Exercise is more "acceptable hourglass curvy" rather than round and chubby all over, the body image related humour was relatable and the way her girlfriend loved watching her eat foods that made her happy came across as more sweet than uncomfortable, so I know Shuninta can do better than this.

Cute.

Yeah I wish being fat wasn't always the butt of a joke, but I still liked this oneshot.

Kind of a light-hearted humorous example for 'be careful what you wish for'. Like if you were chubby and wished "If only I had a girlfriend who liked me as I am" as if it would solve everything and make you happy..... but it turned out like this.

Being attractive to your partner doesn't make relationships perfect.

Wow this relationship is reeeeeally unhealthy.

First you've got the skinnier girl whos all "i dont mind girls a little chubby" which yeah woo is great, until she starts turning that into a fetish and making her girlf uncomfortable.

Then you've got the chubbier girl who decides to deal with this by punching her/slammimg her against the wall which sends her to hospital twice

Yet obviously this is ok?? Jesus you two break up already and find other people. I get that this was supposed to be a gag manga but I was just creeped out more than anything.

last edited at May 14, 2016 3:23AM

I love how sillier stories are the ones people take the most seriously.

I love this author, Amano Shuninta gives me life, fat fetish or whatever this Is though...well.