It was kinda ambiguous. I'll go with everyone's explanation and suppose that she was outed and then shamed or something like that.

But the tutor/student relationship look more like veering toward friendship than love. Chizuru is totally oblivious about romance.

I don't get it, why would they accept her apology if they were? An apology won't make that much of a difference for her if they were bigots, besides what is she apologizing for? Being gay, or making them uncomfortable for being gay? It's honestly a bit crap, the implications set here by this one-shot are dumb. She quit the school for that reason, came back and apologized to THEM? If the Mangaka wanted her to be a smart character, then they should write her like one.

The translation is wrong.

She was the one of who was apologized to. As I understand it, the girl she confessed to apologized as she feels that the gossip about Tomoka spreading was her fault although she didn't intentionally cause that.

Also, she's saying still can't face going to class. She only went into school once. I think just as she felt she needed to clear the air with the girl she liked to move on.

You sure? At least twice she says that it was her fault due to what she said. And then that while she didn't plan on apologizing, she did so only because she ran into them, as in plural. I don't see context here where it would be singular. That said, the "from here on out... we'll both work hard together, right?" I guess could imply she was going to continue skipping school, but where does it say she can't face the others? And for that reason she'll keep skipping. She already faced them. I'm not dismissing you, that's just one heck of a poor translation if true.

If it were the girl she were interested in that said something, I would expect the others to see Tomoka as the "innocent" one, unless she confirmed the rumor. But then again, she says that she was the one that started it. Regardless, I kinda get the feeling that more than one person were blaming themselves and others may not have really understood what actually happened, but Tomoka internalized it all and took full responsibility. And she may have done so by being the only one ostracized. Guilt by social pressure and forced isolation.

last edited at Dec 30, 2017 5:19AM

Indeed, Strawberry Panic! manga is Yuri, but it was also meant as a parody of Class-S. From what I have heard, in the novels, all of the girls in Strawberry Panic! get married to men after graduation, but that needs verified

Then that was omitted from the English "complete" novel collection.

Then that was omitted from the English "complete" novel collection.

My whole statement or that which is written in the spoiler tag? I was not certain about the contents of the spoiler, I've never read the novels. But by your reply, I safely assume that doesn't happen.

last edited at Dec 30, 2017 5:37AM

I want to like this because it's Ohsawa Yayoi but I can't because I'm still confused even from reading the comments

I'm not dismissing you, that's just one heck of a poor translation if true.

It's not unusual for fan translations to mess up like this.

Chizuru: You spoke?
Tomoka: Yeah.
Tomoka: I got apologized to.
Tomoka: I didn't mean for it to, but it spreading was because of me, she said.
Chizuru: O-oh, okay.
Chizuru: (A reconciliation!?) So then you can get on again...
Tomoka: Whut? Nah, nah, as if. Like, let's be friends again? No chance!!
Tomoka: Things ain't that easy!
Tomoka: And I've no intention of going to the classroom!
Tomoka: When just being there is a battle, no thanks. (that atmosphere!)

Come to think of it, I'd forgotten about Japan's "infirmary attendance" (保健室登校), so the implication is presumably that she'd still attend school for the sake of the required days of attendance (that's what Chizuru brought up at the pancake place, not the frequency of her sessions) by going to the infirmary rather than the classroom.

My whole statement or that which is written in the spoiler tag?

I was referring only to the spoiler part. The rest I kept for context, and isn't subject to doubt either, since Strawberry Panic is quite over the top.

I just checked the end of the collection, found no trace of anything similar, still, maybe I should look harder... I bought it and the manga to support English releases, but I wasn't too much of a fan of the anime either, so I didn't read them yet in the end... Maybe someone else can also confirm whether anything like that was in any of the editions or not.

But the tutor/student relationship look more like veering toward friendship than love. Chizuru is totally oblivious about romance.

I agree that the romance between Chizuru and Tomoka is very thin. There's potential for a romantic relationship between the two, but it hasn't been realized by the end of the story.

I think it's still relevant to audiences of the yuri genre despite - maybe even because of - that.

Reading the comments, I'm assuming she confessed to that one girl, got rejected, rumors spread and etc etc. Such a dumb reason to not go to school.

It really isn't. You know how kids can be at that age. If a person doesn't fit the norm, then they usually get shunned and, often, bullied. Imagine being on the receiving end of that at such an awkward age where you're still trying to find yourself and fit in? And in a place where reputation means a great deal. I can easily see how that would be too much to handle. Some kids even go as far as to even killing themselves, which is extremely tragic. The point is, I can see why she would stop coming to school.

This takes me back to the days when I would homeschool students. Something like that didnt happen, though.

Reading the comments, I'm assuming she confessed to that one girl, got rejected, rumors spread and etc etc. Such a dumb reason to not go to school.

It really isn't. You know how kids can be at that age. If a person doesn't fit the norm, then they usually get shunned and, often, bullied. Imagine being on the receiving end of that at such an awkward age where you're still trying to find yourself and fit in? And in a place where reputation means a great deal. I can easily see how that would be too much to handle. Some kids even go as far as to even killing themselves, which is extremely tragic. The point is, I can see why she would stop coming to school.

LOL, if you're so weak that you kill yourself over that, then really should kill yourself. "If a person doesn't fit the norm" most people don't give a shit about that, lololol, and reputation? Lololol, as long as you're not a complete asshole or dumbass then reputation doesn't mean shit most of the time

Spare us your poorly worded and uneducated opinion, please. I've seen really great and bright kids do the worst things to themselves because of bullying.

last edited at Dec 30, 2017 10:07AM

Reading the comments, I'm assuming she confessed to that one girl, got rejected, rumors spread and etc etc. Such a dumb reason to not go to school.

It really isn't. You know how kids can be at that age. If a person doesn't fit the norm, then they usually get shunned and, often, bullied. Imagine being on the receiving end of that at such an awkward age where you're still trying to find yourself and fit in? And in a place where reputation means a great deal. I can easily see how that would be too much to handle. Some kids even go as far as to even killing themselves, which is extremely tragic. The point is, I can see why she would stop coming to school.

LOL, if you're so weak that you kill yourself over that, then really should kill yourself. "If a person doesn't fit the norm" most people don't give a shit about that, lololol, and reputation? Lololol, as long as you're not a complete asshole or dumbass then reputation doesn't mean shit most of the time

Holy shit fuck you so much. Fuck you so fucking much.

What a clickbait. Disappointed.

It's more about friendship than yuri.

Spare us your poorly worded and uneducated opinion, please. I've seen really great and bright kids do the worst things to themselves because of bullying.

This.

It requires quite the level of ignorance to seriously think that the reactions of your peer group do not have a massive influence on your behaviour and mental well-being, in particular during your formative years.

From what I have heard, in the novels, all of the girls in Strawberry Panic! get married to men after graduation, but that needs verified

A lot of that does occur, after all that's the whole purpose of Astrea Hill. I mean the whole thing is set up to be a combination of education and isolation. As I wrote in my TvTropes yuri analysis essay, "Many of the girls-only Elaborate University High boarding academies prominent in traditional yuri are essentially Rich People housewife incubators for ojous that have heterosexual marriages lined up after graduation."

is it even yuri? I see nothing but shoujo ai tho

Same thing. Yuri is the original and official term for all girlxgirl stuff. From what I recall, shoujo ai is just a term coined by the west to signify a lesbian relationship that focuses more on the platonic and "chaste" type of relationship while outright avoiding the explicit and steamy lesbian realtionships. If we were to go by western standards, then Strawberry Panic would probably be considered shoujo ai as most of the relationships there are sisterly and "chaste," with characters kissing and hugging each other but nothing more. That is, assuming I'm remembering Strawberry Panic correctly. Been years since I last watched the anime adaption.

Yeah, that's pretty much it: the Japanese term for the female equivalent to 少年愛 "shounen ai" would be ガールズラブ "girls love" (yeah, literally). Paradoxically, "shoujo ai" is the English term for "girls love". In Japan, 少女愛 "shoujo ai" is a specific subgenre of lolicon porn: straight sex between an adult man and an underage girl.

last edited at Dec 30, 2017 2:38PM

Kitsune Inari posted:

is it even yuri? I see nothing but shoujo ai tho

Same thing. Yuri is the original and official term for all girlxgirl stuff. From what I recall, shoujo ai is just a term coined by the west to signify a lesbian relationship that focuses more on the platonic and "chaste" type of relationship while outright avoiding the explicit and steamy lesbian realtionships. If we were to go by western standards, then Strawberry Panic would probably be considered shoujo ai as most of the relationships there are sisterly and "chaste," with characters kissing and hugging each other but nothing more. That is, assuming I'm remembering Strawberry Panic correctly. Been years since I last watched the anime adaption.

Yeah, that's pretty much it: the Japanese term for the female equivalent to 少年愛 "shounen ai" would be ガールズラブ "girls love" (yeah, literally). Paradoxically, "*shoujo ai*" is the English term for "*girls love*". In Japan, 少女愛 "shoujo ai" is a specific subgenre of lolicon porn: straight sex between an adult man and an underage girl.

In addition, the Western preoccupation with separating what you call it by "purity" is because of a couple reasons. Chiefly, breaking "shoujo-ai" (sfw) and "yuri" (nsfw) has two different delineations:

• Separating sexual from non-sexual. This is done for a couple reasons in-and-of itself: Specializing between sapphic romance and sapphic sex. Firstly, breaking apart "pure, wholesome" girl-girl (S-Class) love and "dirty, immoral" girl-girl sex (lesbianism) because love is love and sex is sex. Secondly is an obvious reason, considering most societies have some sexual taboo that states preconditions for sexual activity and one of the biggest of them is privacy - behind closed doors. It's why Exhibitionism (while natural) is a fetish in its own right. Which is why NSFW material is marked, banned, separated, or otherwise delineated on most websites.
• Non-overlapping feelings/interests. What this means is in Japan, and many others societies, non-het romance and sexuality are disconnected. Most societies assume that if you're into the other gender (Het) it includes both romantic and sexual feelings, but if you're into the same gender (Yuri/Yaoi) you're either into romance or sexuality - that is asexual homoromanticism or aromantic hyper-homosexuality. Generally, queer desire is seen as the latter category. This awful (and wrong) stereotype and belief still pervades most societies that have some queer awareness (note: "awareness" not "understanding"). This trope is so strongly represented that many right-wing political figures still preach that queer romance and sexuality shouldn't be accepted because to them it's just a super sexual fetish that goes outside of moral acceptability - regardless if focused on cis queer or trans queer (like TERFs and the like argue).

There's another difference I'd like to mention regarding this, Japan uses a bifurcated system. One symbol/genre indicates the general type of work and another symbol/rating indicates its lewdness/adult nature. So while Japan has Yuri and separates them by rating system (G, PG-12, R-15, R-18), in similar way to western movies, the western shoujo-ai/yuri difference has integrated the rating system into the two terms. So what a Japanese person would indicate as G/PG-12 Yuri, a westerner would call it shoujo-ai, while what Japan considers R-15/R-18, a westerner would consider to be yuri.

Not really yuri but was a cool read overall. I kind of want a sequel featuring a time-skip for this one, to see how their relationship turns out.

From what I have heard, in the novels, all of the girls in Strawberry Panic! get married to men after graduation, but that needs verified

A lot of that does occur, after all that's the whole purpose of Astrea Hill.

By "a lot" you mean "you assume". While it is a fairly reasonable assumption, the only person who was actually mentioned in canon was Miyuki. Her marriage was arranged by her parents when she was still a child, though, so it does not represent her own sexuality (the marriage is het, obviously) or choices. She is clearly in love with Shizuma (who even taunts her over this, if memory serves), and her feelings are not presented as just a phase.

LOL, if you're so weak that you kill yourself over that, then really should kill yourself. "If a person doesn't fit the norm" most people don't give a shit about that, lololol, and reputation? Lololol, as long as you're not a complete asshole or dumbass then reputation doesn't mean shit most of the time

Oooooh, someone's weak willed so they should just commit suicide. Must be nice to a live a sheltered life you redacted. Please, people have gotten bullied over far less. Not everyone has the strength to crawl out of their own little hell. It takes a lot of guts and will power to move forward once you are stuck in that bottomless pit. Everyone has their moments of weakness. People aren't infallible no matter how tough some might seem. Story takes place in Japan, where social pressure is stupidly high. You can act like some hot shit rebel, but what you do and say can have an effect on your family and friends. Japan is a culture that places very heavy emphasis about not causing trouble for others. How do you not cause trouble? You conform the fuck to what is perceived as "normal." If you have great peers who can accept you for what you are, totally awesome. If you are "different" and this is found out by your friends/coworkers/parents? They either try to "fix" you, shun you, to bully you. Because you are "different." For fucks' sake, I live in a family that tries to "fix" me for being me.

Part 2 of the post since system think I'm spamming with an essay.

Tomoka seems like a bright and nice kid, doing well on her subjects and trying to help out Chizuru with her personal appearance. However she had this problem at school that's very difficult for her to open up to anyone. She kept repeating that "you wouldn't understand." Tomoka feels she's responsible for whatever happened at school. There could be 2 scenarios:

1. She really was responsible because she said some terrible things
2. It was all in her head. It was some benign comments that got twisted out of context and she felt like shit for causing all this trouble to the people around her.

Either one seems equally likely since we don't have a lot of information to go. Personally, based on what happened in the cafe with the classmate I'm going with scenario 2. Whatever was said it may not be as big a deal as Tomoka had imagined to anybody who isn't Momoka. But Tomoka hadn't dealt with a situation like this before. She was (assuming) a normal, bright, cheerful highschool girl who one day may have said something that made her stand out in an atypical way. People around her freak out, she feels shunned and isolated. She had no one to reach out to in her mind, so she retreated home where she felt safe and doesn't have to deal with the nasty atmosphere in the school. Sometimes, the best way to deal really is to run away. Psychology is a tricky business. I see a lot of myself in Tomoka so I'm painfully aware some of the things she is going through. Luckily she has a very understanding teacher like Chizuru to help her move forward.

For those who saw this short story as FRIENDSHIP only, my goggles say otherwise. That doki doki on the last 2 pages suggests something else :3c

I want the next chapter thank you yes

This is published by Ichijinsha, so is it part of one of the Yuri-Hime collections or is it an independent publication under Ichijinsha?

Not really yuri but was a cool read overall. I kind of want a sequel featuring a time-skip for this one, to see how their relationship turns out.

It's Yuri because a main part of the story deals with romantic feelings for girls by other girls and the social fallout of it in Japanese schools. A lot is implied, but Yuri doesn't need to be explicit. There is then an implied connection between the student and teacher as well which could possibly go either way. I'd rather have a prequel myself.

It's not unusual for fan translations to mess up like this.

I know, I said poor in that the translation greatly changes the meaning. Still, if it were her fault and yet people are apologizing to her, then I'd assume they're apologizing for how badly they treated her? Even so, I'd expect her to be apologizing as well since she felt so guilty. Anyway, it does seem that a few people felt bad for what happened.

"pure, wholesome" girl-girl (S-Class) love

Where that was part of the social perspective, Class-S is a writing genre started by lesbian writers as a way to express themselves in a socially acceptable way. But not all were so "innocent". Some Class-S contained sexual content and some relationships did continue after high school. Class-S also often had sad or tragic endings which continued in early Yuri writings. After a while, Class-S and Yuri writings lost their popularity and the genres all, but died. Yuri saw a sort of revival in early Shonen anime as ecchi content. And with a new sort of acceptance, the rest of Yuri was revived as well.

why people even like this author. imo art is mediocre story not worth mentioning and boring.