The ending with Touko wasn't that bad, I thought of it as foreshadowing for next chapter and while her thoughts are repetitive, her last line delivers because it shows her disappointment on Yuu.

Actually, aren’t several of her statements there probably lines from the play? She’s looking at her script, and the phrase “Ever since I woke up” applies to the amnesiac character. So everything in the round bubbles in that sequence except Yuu’s name may have been written for her.

All she's saying are lines for the play until she thinks "wrong?" from there on everything is Touko thinking about how she believed Yuu would help her

All she's saying are lines for the play until she thinks "wrong?" from there on everything is Touko thinking about how she believed Yuu would help her

That was my first thought too, since she’s looking away from the script when she says, “You told me you’d help me,” but then I remembered that Yuu is playing the nurse, so maybe that line could go either way.

I keep being amazed at how the author manages to use the character's exaggerated manga features to portray extremely subtle and realistic emotions. On the top-left panel here, for instance, each of Yuu's eyeballs is individually larger than her entire mouth cavity, yet you barely even register it because the combination of the head tilt, eyebrow positioning, and, most importantly, the single curved line depicting her mouth convey the irritated but subdued frustration so powerfully.

I notice and admire this, too. I love Nakatani's way of portraying emotions through facial expressions on her already beautiful art style. Definitely my favorite character design too, because despite looking simple and practical, each person has different particular features and can easily by identified and differentiated without much effort. And well, in general, I just personally really love the style to begin with. Especially the eyes, hair strings and hands. Nakatani hands are the best, the way she places them while the action happens is always so nice.

last edited at Oct 31, 2017 8:53AM

Doujima x Akari end game? More likely than you think.
Reminds me of that Tonari no Kaibatsu-kun side pairing. The one baseball guy and the gyaru.

Doujima x Akari end game? More likely than you think.

Ah, put those two on a bus for all I care. I realize that my reaction to this chapter is mostly me being greedy—I just want Yuu and Touko locked in a cage for an emotional grudge match, and nobody comes out until they’re ready to Take It To The Next Level.

But that’s why Nakatani’s in charge instead of me.

Doujima x Akari end game? More likely than you think.
Reminds me of that Tonari no Kaibatsu-kun side pairing. The one baseball guy and the gyaru.

I don't care about them being endgame as long as it's only mentioned or at best happens in one special chapter. Dedicating part of a chapter or even a whole chapter about them being a side couple would be such a waste.

last edited at Oct 31, 2017 10:59AM

Doujima x Akari end game? More likely than you think.
Reminds me of that Tonari no Kaibatsu-kun side pairing. The one baseball guy and the gyaru.

Nope, I don't think this is Nakatani's style. in the end, I think they are good friends, maybe.

Is this manga still going really well? I am literally putting it off because it is my favourite and want to read a good chunk at a time (but I'm now scared its not going down a good path)

last edited at Oct 31, 2017 11:33AM

Is this manga still going really well?

Despite the comments on this chapter (mine, anyway,) overall it's going as well or better than ever--it's just that there has been a crucial confrontation (or several) looming on the horizon for some time now, and (again, for me) anything that doesn't get us there by the most direct road is way down my priority list. But I wouldn't call the story's direction problematic at all.

Is this manga still going really well? I am literally putting it off because it is my favourite and want to read a good chunk at a time (but I'm now scared its not going down a good path)

I think it all depends on the person. I'm still enjoying it the same, or perhaps even more. I'm loving the build up of this manga even though many people find it too slow. Maybe I didn't expect anything to happen much (e.g. "next chapter is going to be drama between X and Y!") and just enjoy the way it's written.

Is this manga still going really well? I am literally putting it off because it is my favourite and want to read a good chunk at a time (but I'm now scared its not going down a good path)

It's great, still a slow burner, as we've known it is technically since the beginning. It's pretty obvious this chapter holds one of the necessary keys for Yuu's development; what she's needed to understand since chapter one. Doujima-kun surprised me, but then again, Nakatani doesn't add pointless characters and forgets about them later, for which I'm really thankful.

I've a bad feeling about the next chapter...
Touko, just don't make Yuu cry ok?

She's totally going to go off script and force everyone to adlib at the very last moment.

She's totally going to go off script and force everyone to adlib at the very last moment.

She's going to sing a slow mournful aria about her dilemma, then the cast will jump in one-by-one as the tempo increases and Touko grows silent. Suddenly the rest will drop out, leaving only Yuu singing a reflection of Touko's melody, inviting her into a duet. The key shifts, and the previously oppressive tune becomes more positive. The other singers join back in for a celebratory finale.

urk when Yuu looked all sad it punched me in the gut

A most interesting chapter, here a couple of Key points to note

Touko hiding her secrets as illustrated at the begining of the chapter, not even Yuu can got there.

The lines in the play Touko: YOU THINK YOU ACTUALLY KNOW ME? and Yuu: I DO I VE GOTTEN TO KNOWN YOU SINCE YOU CAME HERE a challenge?.

The Brush off (twice) by Touko to Yuu.

Sayaka observing whats happening between Touko and Yuu and saying nothing so far.

The issue between Akari and her Crush in the Basketball club. Probably the end of that. The involvement of Doujiman-Kun and his thoughts of a love confesion, didnt see that one coming.

Touko at the end of the chapter, hoping the Yuu would help her, but now she senses that Yuu has turned her back on her. I sense some anger, here people. Touko sensing that even Yuu telling her,she is wrong about taking her dead sister place.

We are heading for a roller coaster ride of emotions here. Even Yuu is starting to feel that rejection from Touko, its going to hit hard.

.......the course of true love never did run smooth......W. Sheakespeare.

.......the lady doth protest to much, me think...............W. Sheakespeare.

.......Police Officer Ed Price to Cody (streets of fire)...my plan fell to shit..let see what you can do.....

last edited at Nov 1, 2017 3:49PM

Sayaka observing whats happening between Touko and You and saying nothing so far.

This one was nicely done--barely discernible on the page (it's a very wide shot), but quite suggestive given the previous chapter.

Wake up call time! Go Yuu!!

schuyguy posted:

She's totally going to go off script and force everyone to adlib at the very last moment.

She's going to sing a slow mournful aria about her dilemma, then the cast will jump in one-by-one as the tempo increases and Touko grows silent. Suddenly the rest will drop out, leaving only Yuu singing a reflection of Touko's melody, inviting her into a duet. The key shifts, and the previously oppressive tune becomes more positive. The other singers join back in for a celebratory finale.

#NoSpoilersPls

The increasing self awareness of these characters is sooo refreshing.

She IS helping you, Touko... you just don't realize it yet...

You joke, but drama (as in theater) can be useful sometimes as a therapeutic tool. Look up drama therapy.

I'm sure that it is. I've encountered it before, though only briefly. My joke is more about the obvious artificiality of the setup than its potential effectiveness.

The conversion towards this climactic play-within-a-play stands out more and more as an obvious fictional artifact, something too convenient to exist outside of an imagined story . I'm sure it will be fittingly emotional and dramatic, but personally it's just ruining any feeling of immersion I had with this story and its characters, which up till now had been one of its strong points.

this climactic play-within-a-play stands out more and more as an obvious fictional artifact, something too convenient to exist outside of an imagined story

Yeah, that just ruined Hamlet for me too. :-)

The idea that “immersion” in this story depends on the plausibility and correspondence to reality of its plot strikes me as paradoxical, to say the least, given that the basic premise of Bloom Into You is one of the most obviously artificial fictional constructs I’ve ever seen—starting with a conveniently overheard love confession, a coincidental encounter between two girls who have never experienced love motivates one of them to instantly (and apparently sincerely) fall in love at first sight because she thinks the other girl can’t fall in love with her, and the other girl agrees to allow the first girl to love her despite her own (supposed) inability to sustain an emotional relationship.

And I’m not sure which part is more improbable—Touko’s instantaneous love for Yuu, Yuu’s willingness to go along with it, or the chance that two people with these odd psychological dynamics would encounter each other in the first place.

If a given reader is thrown out of the story for any reason, well, that’s that. But even though Bloom Into You is one of my favorite manga (hell, one of my favorite works in any medium) in a very long time, I’d put sheer verisimilitude way, way down the list of the qualities it even seems to care about.

last edited at Nov 5, 2017 6:03AM

I've a bad feeling about the next chapter...
Touko, just don't make Yuu cry ok?

I think Touko causing Yuu to break down is inevitable at this point.

If next chap is full suffering, at least I have SSR to help lift up my spirit ٩( ᐛ )و

My problem isn't lack of versimilitude, it's contrivance. Obviously the setup is unrealistic, but it isn't absurd. I like that the author took this setup and played it out in a way that is faithful to the characters, treating them like human beings with motivations driving their actions. So even if things are unbelievable, there is emotional resonance with the characters.

This latest chapter made the characters feel like puppets acting according to an author's script. They go along with a ridiculous plan more because it's a nice dramatic device than because of any sort of internal motivation. I guess my problem isn't with the play-within-a-play, it's that the author has done a bad job dressing it up.

last edited at Nov 5, 2017 3:33AM