"Girl Friends" is not subtext, it never was subtext, it was not written as a subtext work. Gradually falling in love is not subtext.

That's not really what the word "subtext" means, but if you want to use it that way then there's no reason to think this series is "subtext" until it ends.

Under the real meaning of the word, Girl Friends was subtext until chapter 10.

No, it was not. "A hidden or less obvious meaning", according to Cambridge Dictionary, "the implicit or metaphorical meaning", according to Merriam-Webster. There was nothing 'hidden' or 'metaphorical' in "Girl Friends", the romance was not a 'less obvious' theme. If it was, then pray tell, what was the main theme? Seriously, why these discussions always arise when subtext is in question? Just because the characters are not fully aware of everything, or have not yet developed those feelings (love does not just pop out in a vacuum), does not mean the work is subtext. By that logic, I could say the first 20-odd minutes of "Zulu" are not a war film, because they do not feature anything connected to the actual war, since the people are not yet aware the conflict had begun. People seem to confuse how the characters deal with something (not being aware of their feelings, or only just developing them), and how the work (that is to say, the author) deals with it.

As for the series being subtext or not being decided at the end, that does indeed hold water. In these cases, I just presume, personally, that the scanlators have an insight into future chapters. Not the most reliable presumption, I will grant you.

last edited at Jul 15, 2017 7:01AM

No, it was not. "A hidden or less obvious meaning", according to Cambridge Dictionary, "the implicit or metaphorical meaning", according to Merriam-Webster. There was nothing 'hidden' or 'metaphorical' in "Girl Friends", the romance was not a 'less obvious' theme. If it was, then pray tell, what was the main theme?

This is why the "subtext" vs "yuri" distinction is a bad thing. The romance can be the main meaning even while it is subtext, because it is implicit rather than explicit. Whether something is explicit or implicit is not about how central something is to the narrative. Part of the problem is that encourages people to think being subtext is bad.

Anyway, if people are going to take "subtext" like this, then it becomes really misleading to tag a series such as this one like that.

last edited at Jul 15, 2017 7:08AM

No, it was not. "A hidden or less obvious meaning", according to Cambridge Dictionary, "the implicit or metaphorical meaning", according to Merriam-Webster. There was nothing 'hidden' or 'metaphorical' in "Girl Friends", the romance was not a 'less obvious' theme. If it was, then pray tell, what was the main theme?

This is why the "subtext" vs "yuri" distinction is a bad thing. The romance can be the main meaning even while it is subtext, because it is implicit rather than explicit. Whether something is explicit or implicit is not about how central something is to the narrative. Part of the problem is that encourages people to think being subtext is bad.

Anyway, if people are going to take "subtext" like this, then it becomes really misleading to tag a series such as this one like that.

Well, this is something I am ready to agree with. The "something is explicit or implicit is not about how central something is to the narrative" part. I just do not agree "Girl Friends" is an adequate example, because there was nothing implicit about the romance theme. The slow build-up was because A) the characters needed to fall in love in the first place; B) the characters had problems realising/coming to terms with their feelings.

In general, without all this dictionary waving, people seem to generally expect from the yuri tag open romance works, where romance is either verbally stated in some way, or is indicated by actions (kissing, sex, sexual things in general, including masturbation while thinking of the love interest, things like that, hand holding, if we go full hardcore etc...). Works tagged with subtext usually do not have romance as the central theme to begin with, and the romance itself never rises above indirect evidence, like in "Nanoha".

As for this work, as I said, I am none the wiser. I trust the scanlators. And dpf. Somewhat. Maybe. Who knows. Works have been re-tagged on occasion.

Please, guys, arguments about what certain tags mean/should mean doesn't belong in this thread... =A=

Sorry... I always forget tags have their own threads...

... The characters... confuses me.

Well, obviously a bump like that wouldn't cause a fracture, so it's just pretending to get the girl to work on that cafe.
considering the MC is going to continue working there even though it's obvious means she's stupid on top of being an asshole.
last time we got a "yuri-series" MC that wanted to get married to a rich guy while doing yuri things as a facade, she actually ended the series in the same note of wanting a guy, so I have little hope for this one as well.

Is this marimite LARPing?

no Yuri? then I'm not interested

last time we got a "yuri-series" MC that wanted to get married to a rich guy while doing yuri things as a facade, she actually ended the series in the same note of wanting a guy, so I have little hope for this one as well.

Well. Since she doesn't care about love from her perspective a rich girl should be fine, too.

But clearly this is going to be about redeeming her, where she learns that love is much more important than money.

Then she marries some poor girl and lives in abject misery the rest of her life before dying early because she can't afford great health care (let's just randomly assume it got privatized in this fictional setting), after years of getting beaten up by her constantly financially stressed waifu, who resorted to alcohol as a form of escapism.

Well. Since she doesn't care about love from her perspective a rich girl should be fine, too.

But clearly this is going to be about redeeming her, where she learns that love is much more important than money.

I agree that it's probably going to be about redemption, but it feels more like it's going to be a pain for her to keep the facade in the cafe and the moral will be "be yourself" kind of stuff.

Rosenakahara posted:

Oh joy a manga about horrible people being horrible, is this Nezerou Trap? /s

Seriously though the only time I LIKE a story like this is when the assholeishness isnt hidden away ie Desert Punk because then that aspect turns into a comedy.
If I met any of the people in this manga irl I would hate their guts

Also Basically Ouran Highschool Hostclub with actually bad people inst something I feel like will really work.

You're being too hard on this but I know where you're coming from... I don't want to dislike this because the art is nice, the main character is fresh and the theme could be fun but I got the same vibes here that Guilty Crown and Eva 3.33

"Hey main character, Start working RIGHT NOW we don't care if you like it, we're gonna blackmail you to be useful for us even if that gets you in trouble in your school or house... Also, explanation, rules and stuff like that? PFFF who cares!! WHAT?! YOU MADE A MISTAKE WTF!!!! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO KNOW TELEPATHICALLY THAT YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO DO THAT!" the kind that if they take at least 10 or 20 minutes to explain the situation could've saved the whole thing dramatically.

So My hype was off the charts with the colored cover and the first half but it quickly depleted with the rest, but I don't want to dislike it because is not that I hate it, is because I hate eva 3.33 and guilty crown SO MUCH that it's infecting this one, so I want to read chapter 2 and 3, see if she gets a friend or at least and ally or if she's just a cute tool for comedy.

I think this Manga could be interesting. While the fetish Cafe setting is pretty stupid and mildly creepy(with all the dudes watching), I like the brunt characters and this Manga COULD be something different.

To those that have read ahead, how is the yuri levels? I can't trust Dynasty's tagging system anymore since it seems they arbitrarily and inconsistently decide what is subtext and what is yuri anymore (fighting gamer Manga is yuri, Knight sports Manga is yuri, but she gets girls everyday is subtext, etc)

last edited at Jul 15, 2017 11:02AM

Well, regardless of the above I thought it was more enjoyable than I was expecting it would be. I'll be keeping an eye on this one.

Actually, the manager has been stalking the MC since her big sister, the raven haired beauty, caught sight of her and fell in love. However, since they are filthy, stinking rich, said beauty wants to find someone who will love them instead of their money. Or something like that. Really. It could happen.

I like how everyone is a jerk behind the scenes. This could be fun.

I agree that it's probably going to be about redemption, but it feels more like it's going to be a pain for her to keep the facade in the cafe and the moral will be "be yourself" kind of stuff.

Good point. You are probably right, that is a morale mangas like to propagate.

Such hypocrites, aren't they? School system is entirely about turning students into nicely conforming people, not about fostering individuality. Moreover, it gears them towards being economic successful in society, particularly in Japan, with the additional tone that women are still kind of expected to a "good marriage" as a life goal.

So now we have a heroine who's precisely doing all that. She's essentially the perfect embodiment of the system.

And all of the traits are suddenly portrayed as bad ones.
There's a lesson right there!

Feels like watered-down Yuricam.

would be ok if it wasn't set in a fetish cafe with dopey males, lmao

@PraiseYuri
I asked DPF to tag is as subtext, as it's not yet clear how far it will go. Personally, I enjoy this series for the characters themselves. It's amusing to see so many tropes made fun of. x)

Feels like watered-down Yuricam.

...how? They are nothing alike besides the MC wanting to marry into money.

I didn't expected that

To those that have read ahead, how is the yuri levels? I can't trust Dynasty's tagging system anymore since it seems they arbitrarily and inconsistently decide what is subtext and what is yuri anymore (fighting gamer Manga is yuri, Knight sports Manga is yuri, but she gets girls everyday is subtext, etc)

It's clearly yuri. More than that fighting gamer Manga that's not even subtext. I think staff should tag mangas for more consistency, or at least get rid of yuri and subtext tag and keep just the "het" one to warn.

Later a yandere-like (not really, though) girl is clearly in love with Hime.

Hime's past reveals why she wants to marry a millionaire and shows connection to another character. It's a pretty good chapter, and it'll be hard not to evolve from there.

In short, it's one of the best manga on YH right now. And not in a "for a yuri hime manga" way. It's really a good title.

would be ok if it wasn't set in a fetish cafe with dopey males, lmao

Later chapters start to show female clients as well. Yeah, it was a bad idea having only male. The author probably realized it.

Personnaly, I kinda appreciate that most of the girls seems to be some level of jerk, it's a nice change from the usual recipe of good girls with little to no faults.

Now just need to see how far this'll be pushed, if they're nothing but jerks, it'll get annoying pretty soon, but so far I find it interesting.

It's goofy, but I can't help but chuckle at the way it's skewering shoujo tropes. It's certainly more legit than yuri danshi

I haven't seen this series before. I like the style of humor, and the artwork is very beautiful. Looking forward to reading the rest. Love the chapter names as well!

It looks like it is a much better take on the sort of self-aware yuri trope parodies than Yuri-Danshi. I hope the artist has planned the story out well; a lot of series lately (particularly from yuri-hime) seem to have been reluctant to come to a natural conclusion and have instead fallen into endless plot meandering and irrelevant character arcs.