Citrus Anime 3+/10. Only the first episode was good. Low budged advertisement for manga and nothing more.

Oh come on, that's only your opinion which I respect but definitely not what most people think. Go check the Crunchyroll ratings, 4.3/5 and super positive commentary. Lots of comments from people who never even watched yuri (some never even watched anime). It's not without faults but better than 80% of the romance crap out there, and I'm glad they made the show more accessible.

Um... durh: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=22183

As I was saying about male sensibilities... and it explains the boob focuses. Also, a return to "Blue is the Warmest Color" as an example of what could go wrong; maybe it's best that they stick to the source material as much as possible if S2 ever tries to morph into an aesthetic trainwreck.

Hrm, perhaps that's not a likely scenario since he also storyboarded for Strawberry Panic, but I've never seen or read any of that.

Blue is the Warmest Color wasn't bad, except for the excessively long sex scene which caught me off-guard, especially as I decided to watch it during a date with a girl who didn't know me very well lol Oh the epic awkwardness. To this day I don't know why that whole scene was there.

But I also love the other aspects of physicality in the scenes; so much running, slamming into furniture, spazzing out, biking... hilarious finale with the flash-mob bridge chase: Mei was literally fleeing with panic written all over her face. (Kept thinking, "Is this really happening?!") I'm guessing it might be a universal concurrence that the anime can maybe trump the manga if it's done right; implementing the best kinds of changes.

The reactions of people who haven't read the manga about Mei were to me part of the fun as well lol There were pages upon pages on Crunchyroll of people discussing the sexual harassment early on and then all the outrage at her choosing to date Sara on a whim. I feel she is kinda like the low-key, modern day version of Himemiya Anthy from Utena. Where everybody loves to hate on the character because she is so ambiguously flawed as a human being, and because of that it makes people glimpse in her behaviour uncomfortable parts of themselves.

We got a Citrus doujin!

https://twitter.com/glidesloe/status/980891885664288768

I do actually remember seeing stuff about Utena, but the Sailor Moon-like vibe warded off any inclinations for positive immersion or critique; never heard anyone in reality praising it either (pre-global-mainstream social media), so not sure how much it is a missed experience, or if it would be dated now. (Is it worth the time?)

In short: yes. It's incredible. You seem to be into art and this series is definitely art. I don't even know how to explain it beyond: ignore the initial "magical girl" vibes (they were clearly there as a hook because that's what was popular at the time) and just watch the whole thing till the end.

Also re: viewer response: Citrus is actually one of the few anime I've watched where dialogue translation is paramount for precise characterization--if used at all, so I don't know what non-native-language reviewers and most people are watching, or how they interpret the reinterpreted subs. But it helps to be able to glean a lot from the original spoken language to get a better sense of subbing biases--which can make or break characters, in this sense, i.e., Mei's the one most affected by wonky subs.

The English sub makes the dialogue more ambiguous I think (probably more Japanese...), while the English dub makes it more straightforward and the characters sound more like normal teenagers, which I liked (except Mei which turned out even more robotic). In particular Matsuri comes off less creepy and more "street", for example by calling Mei all the synonyms I know of for "slut" and asking Yuzu "so did you guys bang?" xD

FTR, managed to sample the first ep... omg, ouch, the aesthetic is dated even for '97, especially since Escaflowne and Evangelion were airing around then. This would've been a complete turn-off eons ago, but for research purposes, I can accept it as an intentional artistic style to match the high fantasy shojo theme, and acclimation should be possible long before ep 39?? since the narrative potential is certainly there. Also, despite the protector-of-battered-lover(s) aspect having already worn out its welcome in a single ep, the overall pacing seems brisk enough to clear minor hurdles; according to some folks, it gets way better just before you want to quit, with a purportedly satisfying payoff, so we'll see what happens if I can make it to the finish line.

lol just have faith, I think you will like it. It's the most "meta" anime I've ever watched. Makes Evangelion seem pretentious and dumb in comparison (not that Eva isn't pretentious...xD).

The English sub makes the dialogue more ambiguous I think (probably more Japanese...), while the English dub makes it more straightforward...

How ambiguous?

It's hard to discern precisely Mei's intentions from the sub, while from the dub they make it clearer what she wants. I suspect it's cultural. For example in the sub Mei asks "What do you think of me?" in ep. 10, while in the dub from what I remember she literally asked if Yuzu likes her in a tone that's like "girl just spit it out already". The dub must be from the U.S of course, if it was Canadian the way we would ask is "I'm sorry, but do you happen to like me by any chance?" lol

Also, this is cool: http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-feature/2018/04/01/fall-in-love-with-these-citrus-real-life-locations

In drama CD track 03, from volume 9, Matsuri inadvertently calls Harumi mama.

Cute

this manga is good to read tho. despite the things that are forbidden but is already cross.
but the impact of the story is very interesting its a lot of BLACK & WHITE not always happiness but it has heartbreaking.
yuzu character embrace/accepting lots of emotions and heartfelt for love.
the 32chapter matsuri overhead the conversation of himeko the eyebrow-chan and shiraho and after the trip himeko and shiraho very worried about mei and yuzu because they cant even help them.
shiraho said: that is to believe in
the path that they chose to walk on together. well looking forward with this one tho.

36chapter mei's letter to yuzu i think
it was the best part for yuzu its not that simple but it makes yuzu stronger.
hope the 37chapter will cause lots of exciting things will happened especially the character of matsuri, taniguchi, nene and the new yuzu develop/learn lot of things like new hairstyle(short hairstyle for yuzu)haha

last edited at Apr 6, 2018 8:52AM

OMG ch36 was sooo sad. I've hope this is not the end :(

Ohh... oops, didn't know I was preaching to the choir about production locations--also don't know how often Canadians rant or rave about those two major entertainment cities. (-_-);;; It's easier to just go with an unfiltered info dump since this is the net.

We are more focused on ranting about real estate prices in Toronto and Vancouver, believe me lol

Mei is a clear byproduct of being socialized/raised by the older WW2 culture relatives that experienced a good portion, or lived through the tail-end... the fact that she is someone so very steeped in that sort of lagged generational tradition--with extreme adherence to it all--in 2013-2018, no less, is already weird. But it seems old money is forever ensconced in the worst kinds of insular, overly rigid traditions if they aren't part of the cutting edge industries; you have to be progressive to modernize, even if it's at a snail's pace. I know a general cultural etiquette that still exists is be considerate of others to the point of being able to read minds (borderline telepathic on some level--but far easier with the country-wide type of group-think/conformity), so it helps that Westernization is allowing for more overt aspects of expression, individuality, and emotional freedom. (It's always stunning--and painfully revealing--when older JP generations drop the aloof, polite facade to rail about how unmannered/uncouth/insubordinate their previously colonized minions are still behaving (like intolerable "barbarians/heathens/savages/uncultured/assbackwards peasants"/take your pick). Yikes. (Unless that person is in a position of power to do a lot of harm, it's a good thing those impromptu vented spleens mean little these days.) I personally like the character/dialogue ambiguity for (again) the accuracy of retaining the author's vision; Mei's mostly monotone VO seems consistent, and done so to magnify the careful death grip on emo, i.e., immense inner restraint, and the pointed depictions on paper (or the richer animated nuances) drop those million one subtle cues for how one should try to read her mind. Still an enormous challenge to read from the get-go in any medium, therefore all of those shocking/confounding actions demonstrated carry the most weight in revealing what's truly going on within.

I like the ambiguity in dialogue but it always seemed unrealistic, because 16-year-olds in my mind are not supposed to talk like that. However your explanation makes a lot of sense. The impression I have in the end is that in order for Mei to be with Yuzu she will have to give up so much, for this one person who she has dated for just a few months. I think she will have to be truly convinced that she is doing it for herself independently of Yuzu, so perhaps it's actually good that Yuzu backed off. Though I hope she at some point conveys she would support Mei through it all, which I don't think she has yet.

Also no one mentioned because maybe it's too dramatic for Citrus, but in another type of story Mei might try to kill herself if the burden gets too heavy. Certainly would not be out of character.

last edited at Apr 6, 2018 9:27AM

Sure, sure, how could Yuzu have supported Mei through this "wedding drama" since she was left in the dark and learned Mei's reasons too late? Yuzu already supported Mei through everything and clearly told her many times she would shoulder her suffering, in chapter 2 per se she began to be a solid support.

I don't think we are reading the same manga, you have a very strange interpretation of Yuzu's character, and her devotion to Mei, consistently posting about her need to chase Mei to prove her love. She has been totally cut off from Mei, Mei probably made sure of that and deprived her of any chances to try to fight back her. At this pace, Yuzu doesn't need to prove everything now. She's the only person who understood that Mei had always been pressured to go along with other's wishes. Yuzu doesn't want to be another person to pressure Mei, she made sure of that in volume 9. Mei has to do her own choice, and this time, I strongly disagree with you, Yuzu has nothing to do, she's here waiting for Mei, hence the fact she's still religiously wearing the ring and studying seriously to honor the promise she made.

Sigh, as if she hasn't done enough. I hope you haven't been dumped like Yuzu, I had been in Yuzu's shoes and believe me, reading your posts about Yuzu's lack of fighting spirit really makes me angry. You have to be two to fight for a relationship, the one who let down it, even though she did it out of love too, is Mei. Not Yuzu. And when the other one deprives you of any chances to win her/him back, you don't need to have a lesson giver who tells you weren't enough supportive. You're already crushed. Seriously. Stop to intellectualize the characters here, by having a very strange way to interpret things and transform Mei's actions as an eternal testing challenge of yuzu's love. Mei doesn't test Yuzu here, because she didn't give her an opening like she did in volume 4 for example.

At this point she either acts like the mature person someone in Mei's situation needs her to be, and try to work things out together, or just quit because there is no way Mei will be with her if she doesn't show she has a backbone.

Yuzu is mature and has already proved she feels an adult love. Your way to say that Mei is serious and Yuzu doesn't have a backbone is really baffling. Uter bull***t. So the dumped one have to be more adult to support the dumper and prove she deserves the other's love more than the one who broke up (whatever are her reasons). Strange way to see relationship dynamic.

last edited at Apr 6, 2018 1:48PM

Yuzu hasn't done anything out of ordinary other than overtly pursuing Mei, usually instigated into action by Mei herself (even her confession). Like...she is a cool girl and all but I am not sure why people put her on a pedestal and behave like Mei wronged her immensely by taking off and it's all on her now to fix the mess. In my opinion it's just because Yuzu is the character we read the thoughts of. If you read the manga, Mei always pushed for the relationship to happen as much as Yuzu did, not always with easily understood words (because she has issues) but with obvious physical gestures. And the same insecurities she has shown (like not wanting to be involved because they are stepsisters/women) Yuzu has also demonstrated and still does, even more than Mei herself.

The reason I say Yuzu is immature, is because she pushes the relationship forward in immature ways, like giving rings when they've just started dating (who gives rings within not even half a year of dating, are they in elementary school or something?), while at the same time making a big deal out of holding hands/kissing/their friends knowing they are dating. They live together and share a bed, but Yuzu only tries to have sex with Mei during a trip with all their friends around, after rejecting Mei's attempts when they were alone in the bedroom. I mean wtf lol She behaves as a normal 16 year old of course, but that's precisely the problem here.

If you were in Mei's place and dating Yuzu, considering you have to potentially throw away your family life, your family's reputation and so on down the drain for her, would you trust this kid with your future despite loving her? I would at least have some doubts, and based on how soft Yuzu is, I would doubt she can carry the burden unless she matures and removes the rose-tinted glasses about the world (which is probably what the time skip is for). Not saying that Mei taking off with just leaving a letter was ok, that was a coward move. But even if she had said it in person, so what? She probably doesn't really believe Yuzu can offer an alternative solution even if Yuzu said so, because Yuzu's behaviour already says otherwise. She had a crying attack because some girls she once knew talked bad stuff about girls kissing, how would she handle an entire society of wealthy people hating on her?

last edited at Apr 6, 2018 4:02PM

Yuzu has flaws indeed, but seriously, you totally put her in a role she doesn’t have anymore. Mei is written inconsistently, as the author herself admitted because she has difficulties to write her. To all your examples of Mei pushing forward i can give you opposite one with Mei being childish , imature and rejecting Yuzu’s attempts to deepen the relationship. You just decided to put Yuzu’s character in the imature place and strenghtens Mei’s position as the matured and serious one.

Once again, Yuzu can shoulder the burden, the girl already proved she could be well adjusted after losing her father and living with a mother who works her ass off. But yeah, Mei’s background for you is the real deal it seems and obliterate from your point of view any chance to give to Yuzu’s character the right to have her own burden to shoulder. Neither Mei nor Yuzu are perfect, but i strongly disagree with you by simply putting only Mei in the situation of the only one having to support a terrible hardship.

Yuzu is in the same situation and proved she can be stronger and more solid than Mei. Just because Yuzu is (was) bubbly and outgoing doesn’t erase her own burden to shoulder, her own demons to fight and her right to be seen as someone reliable on serious matters like the ones Mei has to confront. Volume 8 and 9 Yuzu isn’t volume 6 one. But you uses older volumes to support you interpretation of the actual one.

You said that nothing would have changed if Mei would have talked, sure, depriving Yuzu the right to be a support because you knowingly consider that her behavior says otherwise is totally normal.

But i see dark and mysterious character deserves to be taken more seriously in your agenda. So i will let here all discussion about that and this thread that becames during one week a pure off topic dialog.

last edited at Apr 6, 2018 4:24PM

Jeezes, chill. I'm not saying Yuzu doesn't have her own stuff she needs to deal with, but nobody gets to have their cake and eat it too. She wants to be with Mei no? If she wants to be with Mei she needs to be stronger.

So what I am saying is that they both are immature teens. However Mei is in a situation that requires maturity and exceptional psychological resilience to handle, so it's no wonder she would take off and not think Yuzu is up for it even if Yuzu naively said she can.

She is wrong in the way she conveyed everything through a letter only, but not in wanting to remove such a burden from Yuzu's life.

last edited at Apr 6, 2018 5:16PM

Mei isn’t that mature. She’s a scared little girl that Yuzu needs to save all the time. Their relationship will never be healthy if Mei stays the way she is now. Yuzu was really childish in the early volumes, but she’s way more mature now. She’s thinking about her future, tries her best to make the ones she loves smile. In volume 9 you can see that she’s feeling more comfortable about showing affection to Mei in public.

But now Mei needs to know what she really wants. Yuzu can’t do anything about it (to be honest, she needs a break from all this mess). At this moment, Mei is just running away from everything, she can’t even look Yuzu in the face.

last edited at Apr 6, 2018 5:51PM

I agree that Mei is not mature either. So what I mean by saying Yuzu needs to be stronger, is that I think Yuzu will need to tell Mei she would be with her and fight for her through the whole ordeal (assuming Mei didn't drop off the face of the Earth, which I doubt -- seems from the letter she is still in school). And also talk about what they can do to get out of the situation with minimum damage.

Like, all the little relationship challenges they had is nothing in comparison to what Mei is facing here, everything before was just normal relationship stuff like not knowing how to confess your feelings, helping with some family problems etc. Even friends also help each other with such stuff, it's nice but not out of ordinary. But will Yuzu accept being ridiculed, be seen as a terrible person who perverted the daughter of a rich family, accept being shamed (even potentially by their own parents) etc etc? Let alone maybe media scandal and stuff like that, once the word got out since the school is probably famous. They could seriously be stigmatized here socially, as the world of the story seems relatively realistic.

So whatever Yuzu did before in terms of being a good gf, one cannot assume Mei would just know that Yuzu is OK with facing all that. For all Mei knows, Yuzu has a free bright future ahead of her if she is not with Mei, she could date any other girl or guy she wants. Heck Mei probably thinks Yuzu would be happier with Harumin, and she might not even be wrong lol Besides if she loves Yuzu, of course she would remove herself from Yuzu's life, because she would think, I don't want someone I love to go through all this.

So I guess my questioning is why people think that Mei has something to decide or that she doesn't know what she wants? Like, I don't think from the letter, she is in doubt about whether she wants to be with Yuzu or not. Of course she wants to be with Yuzu, she said she has "fallen in love to the point of no return". Does she need to make it any clearer? But she is trying to spare Yuzu from the burden of being with her. So that's why I think Yuzu needs to show her she is fine with suffering through it for their sake, and only then let Mei decide.

First track from Vol 9 drama CD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wWcUKK68qg&feature=youtu.be

Turn on CC to get the english subs.

@matsuri_wins Exactly. Mei isn't indecisive and clearly knows what she wants. She wants to be with Yuzu. But she can't, due to the reasons we all know, and she acknowledges it in the letter. But we don't now what happened during those 6-7 months of time skip. May be Yuzu did try to tell her that she is capable of facing all the social stigma associated with coming out and stuff. But I will agree with some others on this thread that this time, Mei should figure out what to do with their relationship. Well, she is a smart girl, so I guess she can come up with a plan that will help her to be with Yuzu and at the same time, she can do her duties as the daughter of Aihara family, even if she is already half a year late. If she can't, I hope someone else in the manga does, I can't stand bittersweet or marriage endings, especially when this is one of my favourite mangas :(

I don't understand why everyone thinks that if Mei chose Yuzu she would have to come out of the closet to everyone. She could, you know, just choose not to get married at a stupidly young age and keep her relationship with Yuzu on the down low.

I don't understand why everyone thinks that if Mei chose Yuzu she would have to come out of the closet to everyone. She could, you know, just choose not to get married at a stupidly young age and keep her relationship with Yuzu on the down low.

Indeed she doesn't need to go through any of that. The possible ways out as I see them are:

(1) Facing all the heat from coming out, probably losing the business/family wealth in the process. --> Might happen for max drama purposes, but very hard to execute since Saburouta is not that good with her storylines.

(2) If Mei wants to lead the academy, they need to spend the rest of their lives pretending to not be a couple and stressing about being found out by the "high society" that sends their children to the academy. --> Definitely possible but would be a downer, as it dilutes the manga message.

(3) Sho does not come back and Mei abandons the academy to be free, which means nuking the family legacy. --> I think this is the least likely option if you analyze only the character because it would require a change of values, basically she would need to do a total 360 like Sho did. BUT very likely to happen because manga logic and fits the overall message.

(4) Sho decides to come back and takes over the business so that Mei is free. Yuzu and her would still have to be on the down low so as not to damage the business reputation too much but definitely the best solution. Even better if Sho/Ume have another child to replace her as the next official head of the business, she can just work on stuff in the background. --> My bet on what will happen.

last edited at Apr 9, 2018 3:54PM

Dang that was a gut punch of a ending..uguu
Well I can definitely see it going several different ways.I doubt that this end will be the end.

I like Harumin because she reminded me of Chikaru Minamoto from Strawberry Panic. I pretty much instantly liked both of them from their very first introduction.

Have some adorable fanart

https://twitter.com/glidesloe/status/983758264729878528

That entire account is filled to the brim with lovely Citrus fanart (and is a dead ringer for Sabu's own art)

And here's another pretty good pic, translated and typesetted by Anya at Dynasty's Discord.

https://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=68139713

Fanbook is coming

https://twitter.com/citrus_anime/status/983930120967602176

AozTkM
For me, the work's only real saving graces are that it's hilarious, unexpectedly poignant, and has nice art. (And now the frigging sweet, dissectable anime.) It's also impressive in terms of showcasing monomaniacal (this has to be the most apt term) immersion in the Highly Subjective world of angst-loaded, imbalanced and repressed "love"; qualifying it because the participants are freaking 16yo. And as anyone can attest in retrospect, that near-out-of-control phase in life is rife with mind-altering, paradigm-shifting hormones, and the onslaught of the accompanying Mass Confusion only exacerbates everything that is Everything--more so if you are a highly sensitive individual.

Monomaniacal immersion into world of repressed love. I am grateful for your explanation. It is well thought. This also describes one of the main aspects in the series that i personally relate with and continued to past my reaching adulthood and in my mid 20's still. However i've come to terms with and appreciate the things that come with it. I can cultivate my inner child and not change it, but grow with it.. essentially that phase of life has not ended for me even through 3 separate relationships spread out over 9 years now since i was 15. I have no desire to ever lose it either. But not forget to keep growing as a person, not from my person though.

Anyway, hence why i really like this series and am glad Saburouta exists and is willing to incorporate her own personal experience, memories, and vision into this lovely and exciting and comedical work of art. Can't wait for more. I haven't enjoyed an anime or manga as much as this before. Truly superb to me personally.

For Mei, security has been part and parcel to her still-underdeveloped personality; again, a painfully clear type and generic trope. Security (both psychological and physical) is the double-edged sword she's been wrestling with since Ch 1, so giving in to a young romance/commitment (lasting eternity) with so many unknowns and obvious hardships is to betray everything else about her own person, identity, and life. This is nothing surprising or new; while self-acceptance, with understanding and added acceptance of individual love, are all important issues, they're forever secondary to personal service and security in the long run. This is where Citrus becomes a timed Tragicomedy; Mei has been the catalyst, the end goal, the ultimate object of desire with the most to lose, so yes, there are people who will see her as having harder choices to make and requiring more attention. It's not a stretch given the Tragic Samurai Melodrama/Epic Stoic feel she's had throughout her basic (under)development over the years, on page, but also remember this is all coming from a highly neurotic, adult-creator POV that most identifies with Yuzu; a creator with a penchant and skill for nailing down emotional truths--however conservatively and circuitously--in the end.

Also well said my friend. Well said. You have a keen eye and feel for this all don't you? Thanks for your post.

last edited at Apr 11, 2018 1:56PM