this was cute, this anthology has been a god send

That was a mildly uncomfortable read. It felt like it was missing something? I guess there was more focus on Torii wanting something to happen to Kai's fingers + how not being alone made Kai like her music more, so there wasn't really any room to show the love between them. That one page montage and the "I probably wished I could touch those hands" was kinda meh for it to end with an "I love you".

Thanks for translating the author's notes at the end! It's always interesting to see what they have to say.

Yeah honestly I'm not entirely sure of what I thought of it. I mean since the other day when I first saw the cover on another upload I was pretty interested in reading it because straight up the art-style was easily recognisable but yeah I kinda feel like it just came out of nowhere with the whole "I love you" like usually prefer to see some sort of build up but I mean it was still alright.

Uh, maybe I'm just an idiot but what the heck was Kai doing stretching her hand out like that for no reason? And why did she randomly start running when there were a bunch of people in front of her? Or was she tripping or something? I can't really tell what's going on in that panel...

And, yeah, I thought that the ending was way too rushed. I guess it's not too unreasonable to assume that Kai fell for Torii during her broken hand phase, but it still came out of nowhere... Definitely still interesting, but it would have been nice if it was a bit longer.

last edited at Dec 18, 2016 4:27PM

Uh, maybe I'm just an idiot but what the heck was Kai doing stretching her hand out like that for no reason? And why did she randomly start running when there were a bunch of people in front of her? Or was she tripping or something? I can't really tell what's going on in that panel...

Looking at the angle of her right foot in the bottom panels here, it looks like she tripped? That's some shitty luck.

last edited at Dec 18, 2016 4:29PM

That was a mildly uncomfortable read. It felt like it was missing something? I guess there was more focus on Torii wanting something to happen to Kai's fingers + how not being alone made Kai like her music more, so there wasn't really any room to show the love between them.

Yeah, overall it wasn't bad but I felt mildly creeped out and kind of confused by the end of it.

I feel that the guilt motif wasn't really resolved at the end, but I liked that Kai falling in love with Torii 'just happened' and the author didn't have to create a specific scene to cause /warrant it. But then again that is basically not showing the romance in a manga that is supposed to have a focus on romance. Or was the focus on the pangs of remorse?

I overall liked it, but I feel it was kind of unusual when there's nothing left to be said.

I can hardly wait for more from the volume, though. Thanks for the hard work!

last edited at Dec 18, 2016 4:45PM

Uh, maybe I'm just an idiot but what the heck was Kai doing stretching her hand out like that for no reason? And why did she randomly start running when there were a bunch of people in front of her? Or was she tripping or something? I can't really tell what's going on in that panel...

Looking at the angle of her right foot in the bottom panels here, it looks like she tripped? That's some shitty luck.

I understand Kai in this situation.. I walk normally and suddenly my ankle just don't give a fuck and give out, and the results are tripping or actually falling :0 so can totally relate to that ouch..

But damn Nakatani Nio is on the roll~ （≧∇≦）

Alternate version of Bloom into You?

Also creepy. ....uncomfortable......very awkward read.

That girl is kinda yandere. A creepy one.

Uh, maybe I'm just an idiot but what the heck was Kai doing stretching her hand out like that for no reason? And why did she randomly start running when there were a bunch of people in front of her? Or was she tripping or something? I can't really tell what's going on in that panel...

Looking at the angle of her right foot in the bottom panels here, it looks like she tripped? That's some shitty luck.

I understand Kai in this situation.. I walk normally and suddenly my ankle just don't give a fuck and give out, and the results are tripping or actually falling :0 so can totally relate to that ouch..

I would hold that driver fully responsible for driving fast enough to break a hand that close to someone. It's not unusual for me to find myself driving near students walking in the road, and I always slow way down till I'm past them.

I feel that the guilt motif wasn't really resolved at the end, but I liked that Kai falling in love with Torii 'just happened' and the author didn't have to create a specific scene to cause /warrant it. But then again that is basically not showing the romance in a manga that is supposed to have a focus on romance. Or was the focus on the pangs of remorse?

I overall liked it, but I feel it was kind of unusual when there's nothing left to be said.

I can hardly wait for more from the volume, though. Thanks for the hard work!

Seems to me like it's just too much story to stuff into a one-shot.
This one would be much better as a single volume story.
Much more elbow room to resolve the issues you bring up, I think.

It's a little unsettling, because the first half of the story is set up exactly like a "be careful what you wish for" narrative, with Torii fantasising about Kai being badly hurt so that Torii could have selfishly get an opportunity to get close to her, only for that to happen exactly as she'd imagined and even wanted it to. I'd expected the rest of the story to be about how the piano was never really the obstacle Torii thought it was, and that Kai still isn't interested in her even after being injured, or that it was Kai's piano that made her special to Torii in the first place and she just wasn't as interested in Kai as a normal girl, or some other kind of tragic morality play like that.

Instead, Torii wishes Kai would be hurt so that Torii could get her attention, and then when it actually happens, everything goes exactly as well as she'd hoped it would. Even better, really, since Kai recovers enough to play the piano again, getting the piano back doesn't distract her from Torii, and it even seems like they fall in love, I guess? It just seems like it's setting up something dark, and then doesn't deliver on it.

Kinda feels like there's a hypothetical main story which would be told from Kai's perspective, where she's an antisocial piano prodigy who suddenly gets hurt, is thrown into despair, and is rescued by a seemingly angelic girl who introduces her to new friends, shows her what life has to offer outside of music, and supports her all through the recovery, eventually becoming her lover. This feels like it would be the omake chapter or side-B to that story, where we find out that the seemingly angelic girl who just wanted to help out of the goodness of her heart was actually kinda creepy and possessive, and had been watching Kai for a while before the story had even begun. So it would be a different context to see the real story in, rather than the entirety of the story itself.

Then again, this is the same author as Bloom Into You, so maybe slightly intense and unsettling romances where everything is basically fine for the most part is just her style.

last edited at Dec 18, 2016 6:22PM

The lack of focus on the actual development of their relationship made the ending feel kinda dry. The whole "I wish she couldn't play anymore" + actual visualisation of it tho, pretty dark/scary/morbid. The entire point of this seemed to be more about Torii's thoughts and her eventual sense of guilt, but even after the accident happened, her guilt doesn't seem to be that important, she also stayed by Kai's side because she wanted to. It was a brief moment of "oh shit", and then they just hung out for idk how much time, got closer, and just seemed happy. It's like nothing came of the whole guilt thought process, made it look like Torii got over it really easily. Like ofc it wasn't actually her fault, it's good that she uh thought it through and 'got over it', but we don't see any of that. The second "half" (6 pages of 22...) really just glossed over/rushed the whole thing.

last edited at Dec 18, 2016 7:24PM

This seemed like a cliff notes version of a story that should be longer. Nothing really made sense and I didn't even get a good hold on the character's motivations beyond the surface statements. I played piano at a high level as a teenager, and I do remember the terror of something happening to my hands, but I never saw it as piano or no life. You can't put passion into an instrument if you've never experienced passion, my teacher said.

I couldn't pull for either side in this one.

The main problem with the stories from this anthology is that they are too damn short! 16 pages don't give space for development in some stories like this one or the one from Canno.

But yeah, I was kinda creeped by this '-' that girl seemed like a yandere D: I wished I could see more of the love part

I could never not like a Nakatani Nio story. The art style is so good and the characters, while undeveloped, were good.

I'd like to see this author do an actual dark/creepy series now... I really enjoyed this but during my first read definitely had some yandere vibes coming from it. Cute though I wish the stories in this anthology were longer.

The drawing looks like the ones from Bloom Into You or however it was called.... it was kinda real gloomy dark... wishing someone to have it's hand broken or stuff just so they could stop playing the piano to give someone their attention.... O_o

I really liked the basic story, but I also agree that the story needed to be roughly twice as long. There was too much shorthand in terms of their developing relationship, and how she felt about her own injury was dealt with much too fast to have real emotional weight. That said, it's a great idea, and I don't see her fantasies as so much yandere as the dark thoughts many of us hold in a moment of weakness. The fact that she didn't comprehend why she had those fantasies until much later is very characteristically Nakatani Nio, and I appreciate that.

All in all, I liked the story, despite its flaws.

The drawing looks like the ones from Bloom Into You or however it was called....

I thought the cover looked so similar that it would throw me off, but it didn't really bother me in the actual story. Maybe it was the coloration that caused it.

last edited at Dec 19, 2016 12:06AM

Nakatani was in some kind of music club is the thing i'm really curious about now

I thought this would good if longer. This is just feel like summary and too short for you to understand and develop feeling for the characters.

But dark love that mc showing is interesting. remind me of one novella from yoko ogawa diving pool.

last edited at Dec 19, 2016 12:12AM

The fantasies were so brutal I couldn't believe it was real at first XD

Ah I get it now. The two girls I couldn't recognise in this pic Nakatani tweeted was Torii and Kai