Machigai's comment really cleared this up for me, lol. I'm glad I read this before looking at the comments, though.

While the story's narrative could've been done more clearly, I think that it does a good enough job at portraying confused teenage girls. Plus, the last page showing the future really helped dispel any remaining doubts about their relationship.

Same
Asking of Yuuko to dress more like a girl so that she can perceive her as one weirded me out, but it was a good ending tbh. The way they looked from behind reminded me of how Yuri and Misono looked after their time skip so it made me happy

Risa never once told Yuuko that she had to look a certain way. She only made an assumption that Yuuko enjoyed being a tomboy so naturally Yuuko should look the boy part for the cafe.

Indeed, Yuuko even mentions not having much clothing to fit the role

last edited at Apr 10, 2016 8:23PM

I think you guys are missing something really important here. Yuuko didn't want to be a tomboy. She didn't explicitly say that she wanted to be one. In fact, I'd say that she wanted to be more feminine as evidently she wanted to wear the same hairband Risa wanted.

I think this story is more about how Risa comes to the realization that she's actually really falling in love, with a girl too. She didn't ask Yuuko out because she knew she loved her. She simply asked Yuuko out because she didn't want to be single. And when Yuuko is talking about how she wants to be girly, Risa realized that she'd been seeing Yuuko as a replacement of her ex boyfriend all along. But at the same time she realized that she wants to stay with Risa, so she was being completely honest with Yuuko. I feel like you guys jumped the gun and went SJW on this too fast. This is about Risa coming to realization that she's in fact in love with Yuuko, who is a girl. The whole dressing up part was in response of Yuuko wanting to be more girly. There is no correlation as to Risa's feeling for Yuuko as a whole.

e: Eh, nevermind, "force" was too strong a word, I just find the logic of the book a bit strange. I get the idea, that it's about Risa accepting that she truly loves Yuuko as a girl and not as a replacement for her boyfriend, but the execution's off to me.

last edited at Apr 10, 2016 8:33PM

I agree with the others. I don't doubt Risa's feelings for Yuuko, but it's how she said it that left a bad taste in my mouth.

"I can't see you as a girl if you don't look or dress like a girl, so grow out your hair longer and wear girly clothes!" Whether or not Yuuko wanted to be more traditionally feminine or not doesn't really matter. The way it comes across sounds accusatory. I think a better way of showing Risa loves Yuuko as a girl, would be something like "I love you as a girl regardless of the way you look and dress" instead of "If you can do all that...then I can start seeing you as a girl and as a girlfriend". It's like she's implying she can't see tomboys as girls.

The whole dressing up part was in response of Yuuko wanting to be more girly. There is no correlation as to Risa's feeling for Yuuko as a whole.

If what you're saying is Risa said all that as a way to give Yuuko permission to be more girly, I still think it's a pretty tasteless and roundabout way of doing it. Maybe it came across better in Japanese (and I'm not accusing your translation is bad or anything), but I totally didn't see that viewpoint until you clarified it. And even then I had to reread those pages a couple of times before I could see it.

last edited at Apr 10, 2016 8:32PM

Indeed, Yuuko even mentions not having much clothing to fit the role

It's these little bits I failed to notice before that have me wanting to retract what I've already said. I didn't even mind Risa possibly being a jerk because, y'know, teenagers. o3o

last edited at Apr 10, 2016 8:32PM

Risa never once forced Yuuko to do anything. Yuuko made an assumption that Risa is into her because she looked tomboy and they can appear to be hetero in public. Yuuko even asked to break up with Risa because she can't continue to look tomboy like for Risa. Risa on the other end made an assumption that Yuuko enjoys dressing up this way and doesn't mind to be viewed as a boy because she's been looking the part already. Risa was wanting a boyfriend in the beginning of the story, and then realized she's okay with Yuuko being a girl. She realized that she is in love with Yuuko even if she's not a boy. She even encouraged Yuuko to look as girly as Yuuko wanted.

It's not "I want you to be a boy so we can go out." It's actually "I wanted a boyfriend so I picked you because you looked boyish. But now I realized that I am actually in love with you and I don't mind if you actually wanted to look like a girl."

They're like 14 years old, they would pretty much had to pretend to be hetero while out in public wanting to get couple's service anyways.

Risa was wanting a boyfriend in the beginning of the story, and then realized she's okay with Yuuko being a girl. She realized that she is in love with Yuuko even if she's not a boy. She even encouraged Yuuko to look as girly as Yuuko wanted.

It's not "I want you to be a boy so we can go out." It's actually "I wanted a boyfriend so I picked you because you looked boyish. But now I realized that I am actually in love with you and I don't mind if you actually wanted to look like a girl."

I don't think anyone is doubting that now after reading your clarification. I feel like most of us who were a little turned off by what Risa said were just complaining about how it could've been executed better. I think the story had its heart in the right place and the time skip was a nice touch to drill in that what they had was real love, but with how many people got confused and only understood it after you explained it further, shows that the author could have done a better job presenting it.

This is a difficult one. On the one hand, this is a believable situation of two young and confused girls wrestling with the complex issue of gender and presentation, a topic that can confound adults, let alone children. On the other, I can't help but feel that in the end it is still propping up a binary viewpoint, with two (and only two) valid options, and the expectation to conform closely to the "rules" in order to be accepted as such.

Rather than force Yuuko to present stereotypically as feminine, and only accepting her as a "valid" girl after that, it would've been better if Yuuko changed nothing about herself and Risa began to accept her as the girl she already was.

Conversely though, it may have also been the case that Yuuko had always wanted to present more femininely but lacked confidence, only gaining it with Risa's help. Whether or not that's "ideal", it might still be called "healthy growth" in allowing Yuuko to become closer to the person she already wanted to be - if that's what happened.

As I say, it's a complicated situation. Regardless, thank you NHFH for your efforts on this release.

last edited at Apr 10, 2016 9:01PM

Oh, this was kinda cute.
Still, didn't really like Risa's selfish behave. She wanted Yuuko to look like a boy, so she could love her as a boy.
But further, really cute.

This is a difficult one. On the one hand, this is a believable situation of two young and confused girls wrestling with the complex issue of gender and presentation, a topic that can confound adults, let alone children. On the other, I can't help but feel that in the end it is still propping up a binary viewpoint, with two (and only two) valid options, and the expectation to conform closely to the "rules" in order to be accepted as such.

Rather than force Yuuko to present stereotypically as feminine, and only accepting her as a "valid" girl after that, it would've been better if Yuuko changed nothing about herself and Risa began to accept her as the girl she already was.

Or if Yuuko had expressed an active desire to be more feminine (thus justifying Risa giving her tips on how to accomplish that), which she didn't. She expressed a desire to be seen as a girl which is not the same thing as desiring to be seen as feminine.

Oh, this was kinda cute.
Still, didn't really like Risa's selfish behave. She wanted Yuuko to look like a boy, so she could love her as a boy.
But further, really cute.

Well, I wouldn't say risa wanted yuuko to be a boy but she just said that she can't see her as a girl if shes not girly

Cute! CUTE! Will there be more?

Hey, machigai kouhai when Risa goes on about "seeing you as a man"/"seeing you as a girl" is she referring to the phrase where like female characters (or even male characters) will tell a character who is CLEARLY the gender they are that they "don't see them as a man/woman" because they mean they're like a brother or sister to them?

Is the phrase originally supposed to be a little different in Japanese than it is in English? I feel like we're missing something here on how it comes across, but maybe not.

last edited at Apr 10, 2016 9:19PM

This bugs me for some reason. Maybe it was how Risa made it Yuuko's fault about dressing up as a boy, even though she said to do it and blames her for being boy-like.

Or maybe something else I can't pinpoint. I don't know, but Risa kind of pisses me off.

Took the words right out of my mouth, fellow yuri lover. I'm also surprised it took so long for Yuuko to call Risa out on the "boyfriend" thing.

People have flaws, they impact relationships. That's an interesting, really human story.
Willing a protagonist to over come their shallowness/inability to communicate can be frustrating, but in my opinion is much more engaging.
To throw that all away in the name of making every character 'perfect' and 'likeable' is to make a story very boring.
Rather than trying to make it seem like every generic fluffy school girl one shot ever, try to appreciate it's creativity,

I'm just here for a cute read but somehow it turn into something really serious eh? ⚆ _ ⚆
Anyway, in my honest opinion, they're cute, and i'm just gonna leave it at that.

Hmmm... Well i don't really get love that much and i'm not tryna be mean or anything like that, BUT in my opinion i too kinda see men in very male-looking tomboys(just the way they dress, act and most even look very MANLY O_O). To be honest if ya dress and act like "men" do('cuz like clothes are kinda made for each gender.. ) ya can't really expect some peopz like me to not see a "guy" standing there...! Only with strangers i'd think like that though XD

BUT OF COURSE if it's how tomboys wanna look like, that's not my problem! (i love looking a lil tougher too BUT with a lil but of feminine style to still look GURLY HOT in MY eyes) ;D

I still think Risa's way of viewing peopz regarding their sex is a lil shitty 'CUZ DAMN SHE GOT A FEMALE LOVER AND JUST CAN'T SEE HER AS A WOMAN?!? Why would she even date a tomboy if she's so into "boys are/look like boys, gurls are/look like gurls"?! XD

If miss tomboy actually wanted to look all "female" out of her OWN will to begin with and just changed her way of dressing and stuff at the end... That's totally OK too, BUT NOT if she's doing it to please her beloved! O_o

WOW I'M BEING ALL BUBBLY... Don't mind me! XD

um. hm. fascinating. anyway, I enjoyed this story even if Risa's denial of her inner gayness caused a little bit of drama. In the best case scenario, I interpret the fiasco as Risa falling in love with a person instead of any specific gender. It's just some teenage girl figuring herself out, and I can empathize with that. cool cool. I understand that the writer wanted a plot curve of sorts and needed to stuff some conflict in, so I don't mind it. I like the conversations the work opened up, at the very least. thanks for the good read

That moment when you reach page 32 of the manga and the main character is even more superficial than when the story started.

EDIT: I feel there's a lot more thought put on this mange in the comments section than the mangaka actually had when making it.

last edited at Apr 10, 2016 10:10PM

That moment when you reach page 32 of the manga and the main character is even more superficial than when the story started.

i was thinking the same until i realized that thats what the other girl wanted. she didnt want to look like a boy anymore, she wanted to wear "girly" things and such so hearing risa say that as well as saying "i'll love u no matter what" made her happy. sure it sounded off but the point is they love each other

Well. at least they got it right on the final pages.

That moment when you reach page 32 of the manga and the main character is even more superficial than when the story started.

i was thinking the same until i realized that thats what the other girl wanted. she didnt want to look like a boy anymore, she wanted to wear "girly" things and such so hearing risa say that as well as saying "i'll love u no matter what" made her happy. sure it sounded off but the point is they love each other

Yeah, Risa is obviously not pushing her own preferences here, I meant it on the fact that she actually couldn't see her as a girl unless she looked girly.

Oh, this was kinda cute.
Still, didn't really like Risa's selfish behave. She wanted Yuuko to look like a boy, so she could love her as a boy.
But further, really cute.

Well, I wouldn't say risa wanted yuuko to be a boy but she just said that she can't see her as a girl if shes not girly

Hmm
But Yuuko actually liked girly things

Woah, if only reading math notes is as satisfying as reading this discussion about a yuri manga.

Woah, if only reading math notes is as satisfying as reading this discussion about a yuri manga.

Adderall.

I agree that it seemed a bit off at the start that Risa seemed so intent on seeing Yuuko a certain way but at least it ended well. She may be seemingly blaming Yuuko at the end but I think it's more a of a cutesy confusion kind of blame that accompanies so many of these love stories in manga. Plus adult life time skip always wins me over.

last edited at Apr 10, 2016 10:45PM

It's interesting that the only even vaguely boyiish thing about Yuuko from the start was her short hairstyle and height compared to the other girls. She even mentions that she was lucky she had clothes that were more or less androgynous when she showed up for the date, implying her usual casual wear is more traditionally girly.