11f: "who will really, really, really loves you" -> either "will love you" or "loves you"

Well, the original text did put "really" three times, maybe the translator was trying to keep it as close to the original text as possible (direct translate)

The number of "really" isn't the point. It's just that "will . . . loves you" is bad grammar. It's either "who will love you" (no "s", future tense) or "who loves you" (with the "s" but no "will", present tense); you can stick a bunch of "really" in with either and that's fine.

That scene with her tying her shoelaces felt downright uncomfortable. Wei Wei isn't a bad person, and she isn't some sort of sexual predator or anything. But dis girl is toooo yooooung for her, and she knows it. This isn't a love affair, it's Wei Wei having an early midlife crisis and shacking up with someone that she doesn't really have any true connection with. She's not in love, she's reliving past love.

For that matter it's not even clear that the girl is actually in love with her either, it seems like she's at least partly seeking an escape from her home, although we don't know why yet.

Like, this story is about a relationship between two people, but so far I don't think it's really correct to call it a romance. We're not really supposed to be cheering on this relationship, even though we can root for both of the characters the story keeps pointing out all the ways in which this is totally not a healthy relationship.

There's some force to this, but I think what makes it a good story is that it isn't entirely true. For Wei Wei--sure, it is a crisis (although she's still too young for it to be "mid-life"), and yes, she's reaching for something in that girl that isn't entirely about her as an individual. And yet at the same time, it is a love affair, and there are individual things about that particular girl that do attract her and hit her emotions--things she does, things she says, things she is. It's not an either-or, it's a both-and, on a sliding scale. In fact, I would say the big question the whole story is working on answering is just where on that scale is the relationship, and where on that scale will it end up?

(Also, I really don't think she's reliving past love. To the contrary, she's trying to exorcise past love)

And the same is true for the girl. Sure, she's reaching out for someone because her life sucks and she feels abandoned and lonely. Well, and don't we all. But is she reaching out for just anyone? Could she, would she have fallen for no matter who? Surely not. So just where is she on the scale between "one true soulmate" and "any port in a storm"?

Finally, there's one more question--so, say for both of them they've sought each other out to try to fill deep emotional needs and heal major emotional pain, and so they're using each other. OK, so this is not very romantic, and one might even say "not healthy", but what does that "not healthy" mean? Does it mean they'd be better off not filling those needs or healing those pains? They may still both be better off with each other than without, especially as long as they're reasonably generous and caring about the whole thing. Would that girl really be happier going back to her dark room?

To be honest I'm not sure if the ending to this chapter is that negative. I feel like maybe what Wei is really coming to the realisation that they need to face what they are running from, in Dings case her home.

I think the fact it doesn't end with an actual confirmation of a break up is important.

last edited at Apr 3, 2017 1:06AM

Yeah, I'm just gonna echo Purple Library Guy here. It's all unstable but saying "it's not love" seems to me to be trying to put love into a very small, socially acceptable box. Which is funny coming out of a forum for lesbian manga.

Certainly something has to change. It can't stay the way it is, but that doesn't mean it's just "infatuation" or a "midlife crises". Just where it ends up and how is the question. It seems like Wei Wei is going to try to end it from the cliffhanger, but if I were Ding Yi, I'd probably think "aren't you just doing to me what your ex did to you?" Find a reason and just cut it off... Not saying the age gap isn't a problem but...

This story reminds me a bit of "All You" in the age gap and the conflict of the older character. What we're missing is the story from the other side.

Everybody here is having this really interesting talk about love and immunity and here I am thinking how I can make a reference to the song "one week" by bare-naked ladies, but I hate the song too much to even joke about and now its stuck on my head.

I didn't get what the importance of the eggs carton was. The girl forgot to buy a new one, I guess? Why is that relevant?

I didn't get what the importance of the eggs carton was. The girl forgot to buy a new one, I guess? Why is that relevant?

If you look at the tail of the speech bubble in that panel, it seems the girl was asking the Doctor to buy a new carton of eggs. The Doctor then replied that she would buy more eggs, but she purposely chose not to. The lack of a new egg carton (and the emptying egg carton) foreshadowed the limit on the girl's stay at Doc's home and possibly an attempt to end the relationship. If the Doctor had bought more eggs, then it would be safe for the girl to believe she can stay longer because someone has to eat them.

Eggs = a promise of a place to be. She figured it out.

last edited at Apr 3, 2017 6:14AM

If you look at the tail of the speech bubble in that panel, it seems the girl was asking the Doctor to buy a new carton of eggs. The Doctor then replied that she would buy more eggs, but she purposely chose not to. The lack of a new egg carton (and the emptying egg carton) foreshadowed the limit on the girl's stay at Doc's home and possibly an attempt to end the relationship. If the Doctor had bought more eggs, then it would be safe for the girl to believe she can stay longer because someone has to eat them.

Eggs = a promise of a place to be. She figured it out.

I think the metaphor was a somewhat heavy-handed in its presentation, but it was helped along by existing network of associations surrounding cooking as a sign of domesticity and companionship, and eggs as fragile things that are inevitably and necessarily broken. Add in the art showing a bleak, sterile view of the cartoon sitting in the refrigerator, being used up one by one, and it was a very effective and compelling symbol for the chapter.

I can't help but think that trying to break the heart of a teenage girl who is prone to self-harm while she is standing on top of a cliff can only end well for everyone involved.

last edited at Apr 3, 2017 8:53AM

Nicely executed chapter, I like its perfectly circular structure and simmetry: from dawn to dusk through an egg carton.

To be honest I'm not sure if the ending to this chapter is that negative. I feel like maybe what Wei is really coming to the realisation that they need to face what they are running from, in Dings case her home.

I dunno. The reference to 'Landlisde' makes me think that Wei believes the right thing to do is to just grow out of her\their child-like state and get over it

If you look at the tail of the speech bubble in that panel, it seems the girl was asking the Doctor to buy a new carton of eggs. The Doctor then replied that she would buy more eggs, but she purposely chose not to. The lack of a new egg carton (and the emptying egg carton) foreshadowed the limit on the girl's stay at Doc's home and possibly an attempt to end the relationship. If the Doctor had bought more eggs, then it would be safe for the girl to believe she can stay longer because someone has to eat them.

Eggs = a promise of a place to be. She figured it out.

I think the metaphor was a somewhat heavy-handed in its presentation, but it was helped along by existing network of associations surrounding cooking as a sign of domesticity and companionship, and eggs as fragile things that are inevitably and necessarily broken. Add in the art showing a bleak, sterile view of the cartoon sitting in the refrigerator, being used up one by one, and it was a very effective and compelling symbol for the chapter.

I'm not a subtle-minded person, so I appreciate when metaphors are heavy-handed. ;)
It doesn't hurt that it works on a purely literal level--looked at one way it's a metaphor, looked at another it's simply an important clue that gives a character information, just like a clue in a mystery story.

Gorgeous art, as usual....

last edited at Apr 3, 2017 2:02PM

I didn't get what the importance of the eggs carton was. The girl forgot to buy a new one, I guess? Why is that relevant?

If you look at the tail of the speech bubble in that panel, it seems the girl was asking the Doctor to buy a new carton of eggs. The Doctor then replied that she would buy more eggs, but she purposely chose not to. The lack of a new egg carton (and the emptying egg carton) foreshadowed the limit on the girl's stay at Doc's home and possibly an attempt to end the relationship. If the Doctor had bought more eggs, then it would be safe for the girl to believe she can stay longer because someone has to eat them.

Eggs = a promise of a place to be. She figured it out.

Ah, right, the speech bubble is squarish, implying that it came from the phone. I thought it was the doctor who asked the girl to buy some more eggs on her way home. But that wouldn't have made sense anyway because she just said she'd pick her up from school.

last edited at Apr 3, 2017 2:53PM

Everyone's talking about all these relationship probs that she's about to break off, but did anyone pay attention to Doc getting excepted for somethin abroad??

Oh, yeah, that. Urgh. I've always hated that plot device although this character has a better excuse than most.

sooo she's happy that she's living with her now but she wants to take her back home, oh well we'll see what happens

Everyone's talking about all these relationship probs that she's about to break off, but did anyone pay attention to Doc getting excepted for somethin abroad??

Yeah she has had her sabbatical abroad approved, but she didn't seem to happy about it which makes me think she applied for it before meeting Ding. A sabbatical is a rest from work, or a break, often lasting from two months to a year in case you didn't know.

The sudden trip abroad might bother me more if it seemed like it was the sole driver of the conflict (like in that Ratana Satis series, what a mediocre ending...). But in this case, it was clear from the beginning that Wei was resisting the idea of a relationship with this girl and was planning on dumping her all along. The trip isn't some imposition from outside forcing the characters to react - she has internal reasons for wanting to break up, and this is, at most, an excuse to do what she was already intending to do.

Everyone's talking about all these relationship probs that she's about to break off, but did anyone pay attention to Doc getting excepted for somethin abroad??

Yeah she has had her sabbatical abroad approved, but she didn't seem to happy about it which makes me think she applied for it before meeting Ding. A sabbatical is a rest from work, or a break, often lasting from two months to a year in case you didn't know.

It actually gets brought up that she applied back in Ch9 when Ding Yi gets to meet Wei Wei's friends. Going abroad has been a long time dream of Wei Wei's though, she wanted to do the same thing earlier in her life by running away with Dr. Liu.

I wonder if that's the closest to a happy end that we'll get here, Wei Wei and Ding Yi moving to Boston together?

last edited at Apr 4, 2017 6:58PM

Everyone's talking about all these relationship probs that she's about to break off, but did anyone pay attention to Doc getting excepted for somethin abroad??

Yeah she has had her sabbatical abroad approved, but she didn't seem to happy about it which makes me think she applied for it before meeting Ding. A sabbatical is a rest from work, or a break, often lasting from two months to a year in case you didn't know.

It actually gets brought up that she applied back in Ch9 when Ding Yi gets to meet Wei Wei's friends. Going abroad has been a long time dream of Wei Wei's though, she wanted to do the same thing earlier in her life by running away with Dr. Liu.

I wonder if that's the closest to a happy end that we'll get here, Wei Wei and Ding Yi moving to Boston together?

I mean, plainly Wei Wei wants to get out of the country to somewhere that she can come out of the closet, but fleeing to a foreign country with your secret underage lover is generally not a story that works out well :)

I mean, plainly Wei Wei wants to get out of the country to somewhere that she can come out of the closet, but fleeing to a foreign country with your secret underage lover is generally not a story that works out well :)

I know, any happy ending in this story is really far fetched. On the bright side, it should be Ding Yi's birthday next month.

She's going overseas as a visiting scholar not really running away. Doesn't really state when she applied but she would have planned it well in advanced.

Can't blame her for eventually wanting to move overseas with a lover in the future though. Be nice once all societies can treat everyone equal no matter their sexuality.

last edited at Apr 4, 2017 9:47PM

Also i have a bad feeling that Ding is being abused at home or something similar. I don't think we are near an ending.

Also i have a bad feeling that Ding is being abused at home or something similar. I don't think we are near an ending.

Why else would Ding Yi be pursuing a relationship with a 34 year old woman? She has probably been sexually abused by a female family member.

dun dun dun. can't wait for the angst to destroy me.