Well Blax most things aren't THAT good (I really love Yuru Camp, I think it's absolutely one of the best out there), so I can accept a lot in most cases. Most series and franchises do have room for people to ship (though "crack" shipping gets me in any series; I simply don't get why you'd pair characters who have never met, for instance) and I have nothing to get bothered over. Like, why would I read... hmm... O/A (<-- good shit!), which is also a series that isn't yuri but features a primarily female cast, and then get annoyed if someone paired the two main characters? In the case of that series there's actually a wee bit of subtext and, eh, you could see something gay happening. Always, my willingness to accept something is based on just how believable it would seem within the canon.
Like I've said with Yuru Camp, I love it so much for specific reasons that I think those reasons getting ignored is "troubling", to put it lightly. The more people who recognize that it did something different and should be praised for that, the better. The more people wanting to pull it into the same realm from which it escaped -- standards of the genre -- the worse. Because "different and well executed" is great. "Same and well executed" is also good, of course (I wouldn't read yuri and SoL so much otherwise) it's just not as notable.
Anyway to be honest I've never seen Nadeshiko's relationship with Rin to be much more significant than Rin's relationship with Ena. Even though Nadeshiko and Rin share a hobby, Rin and Ena have been friends for longer, actually do hang out more, chat a lot, and have a SUPERB rapport. There are moments Rin thinks of Ena fondly as well like she does with Ena. Of course, Ena's a sweetheart. But, I will stop my gushing here. POINT IS: I'm a curmudgeon who has put the series on a pedestal and that's that.
edit: o-one more thing though
I just wanna say that my interest in this manga for its portrayal of friendship actually goes beyond "it's different from what CGDCT series usually do". In fact, friendship just isn't something strongly explored often in manga (at least among what I've read, and I've definitely read a lot). O/A that I mentioned is another good one that really thoroughly examines a friendship. The idea of two people liking each other so much platonically without blood or romantic bonds is a testament to how incredible human relationships can be. Even in something like One Piece, "friendship" almost becomes a superficial throwaway to say "I think you're cool" or "we're friends so we fight for each other". Simplifying it sure, but I can't think of very many series where the friends have genuine rapport, you honestly get the impression that they enjoy being around one another, there's a strong sense of trust etc. I like when I find that so much I have a "friendship (no really)) tag for it on my manga review blog. Yuru Camp is one of those series where you can definitely tell these girls are friends (all of them!), without anything hinting at more. That's so nice to see... in my opinion at least. Friendship isn't as immediately engaging to people as romance or rivalry or something, and I get the feeling it's more difficult to write (boiling most often down to "this character is the best friend" or in the case of battle manga "FRIENDSHIP!!"). This is probably why I think it's rare to see.
last edited at Mar 28, 2018 8:18AM
