Sincerity on the internet is very hard to judge, and if I’ve been trolled I can only say, “Well played,” but that one person did seem to be very sincerely miffed that the story did not meet certain personal criteria for romance, yuri, and narrative closure.

It’s true that Mimika’s libido has been locked and loaded from the very beginning, but I don’t think even Chekhov himself would need to actually see the trigger get pulled to be satisfied that it’s eventually going to go off, offstage, at an appropriate time and place.

I think the user in question got banned not too long ago for trolling too much, and now opts for a more balanced mix of trolling and sincere commentary.

last edited at Mar 28, 2018 1:45AM

I think the user in question got banned not too long ago for trolling too much, and now opts for a more balanced mix of trolling and sincere commentary.

One thing I like about the Dynasty forum is that although heated squabbles, sometimes silly ones, do erupt from time to time, for the most part people seem to actually want to have real discussions rather than simply staging opinion-having domination contests.

So trolls do tend to stand out, usually because of an implausible mixture of supposed appreciation for a series coupled with a bitter and sustained attack on some specific aspect of the series, as in “I used to really like this series but I feel completely betrayed now that some thing that was obviously going to happen actually happened.”

“Platonic love” does NOT mean “no sex”: it means “no lust or sexual desire.” Mimika spends the entire story trying to control her desire to physically express her love (and sometimes only barely succeeding); Yuzumori is all for it herself, but she accepts that they’re both too young for that aspect of their romantic relationship at the moment and they agree to stay in love and wait until they’re legal.

“Platonic love” is about transcending (and therefore eliminating) physical desire; being a couple while restraining your physical desire until an appropriate time or stage of life is called “love.”

Yuzumori is all in for it now as a child that hasn't gone through puberty. From what we have been shown we dont know if her puppy love for Mimika survives with her getting older. They keep asking the same question whether or not Mamika will still love Yuzumori as she grows older. Buy they never ask once if Yuzumori will still love Mamika.

The whole point of not allowing adults to sleep with children is because children are incapable of giving consent. Their brains are literally not developed enough by society's standards to make a sound decision. Now we will never know if Yuzumori developed to a point of realizing that her infatuation with Mamika was love or not. The 6 year gap was too little and with no sign, a kiss perhaps, to show that their feelings are still the same there remains a open ending/plothole.

Maybe the author should have spent more time building their relationship, and given herself more room to work with with the ending instead of wasting it on 15 chapters of elementary school drama.

The 6 year gap was too little and with no sign, a kiss perhaps, to show that their feelings are still the same there remains a open ending/plothole.

I agree, as I think we all would, that if the timeskip had been longer we would know more about the characters' future relationship--that's true by definition. But the ending we have is no more a "plothole" than any other narrative ending--whatever point at which the story stopped, we wouldn't know what might happen after it. As far as both of the characters know, what they are feeling now (and have been feeling for some time by the end of the story) is love for one another, and they plan to be together in the future.

The story shows that Yuzumori's feelings are actually more thought-out and based on real shared experiences than Mimika's, which begin as a sudden overwhelming physical attraction--if anyone, Mimika (who has literally been portrayed as a small dog several times) is the one with the "puppy love."

The feelings of either one may in fact change as the two grow older. Prince Charming and Snow White may be run over by a runaway carriage after their story ends. Failing to show either one does not constitute a plothole.

so theres gonna be a time skip?

Remy posted:

so theres gonna be a time skip?

There's already been a time skip. Yuzumori enters middle-school at the end.

And this manga is over.

@Blastaar it is a plothole in the sense that love surviving with age is a big theme of this series but it only asks it for one of the participants and not the other. It makes it a point that even though Mamika is a pedophile she will still love Yuzumori even if she becomes an adult. She will miss the little girl but will still be happy to be with the grown up version. But the plot completely forgets to ask the same about Yuzumori and a time skip could have at least helped resolve it.

Mamika is a pedophile

Assumes facts not in evidence. Mimika shows no signs of being attracted to little girls in general; she’s attracted to Yuzumori (and conspicuously not to Ririha, nor to anyone else).

Mimika is a “lolicon” only in the sense that she is in love with one specific young girl, and that young girl’s affection for Mimika in return is not based on their ages (Yuzumori is in fact significantly more mature than Mimika in many respects). So while any couple might grow apart as time goes on, nothing in the story suggests that the mere fact of the two of them growing older will endanger the basis of their relationship.

I simply do not understand what unresolved question you see in regard to Yuzumori and her feelings.

Mamika literally admits to being a lolicon, she is asked it several times and then accepts it. And lets not do this bull "lolicon=/=pedo".

You have completely misunderstood my original point. Yuzumori is a child, when children grow older their brains develop more. When they go through puberty they change significantly, especially when it comes to sexuality. It's not about a couple growing apart, it's about a child being pumped with hormones and changing who they are, what they think and what they like. It's the very reason why pedophilia is illegal in the modern world in the first place.

This manga makes it a point to discuss whether or not a "lolicon" would like the same child if she were to grow up. But it never asks if that child would like the adult as they develop. It only looks at one side of the relationship.

^Thank you. Your thoughts are now clearer to me.

I was thinking much the same. The two of them are in for a lot of strain on their relationship over the next decade because let's face it, you literally aren't the same person at 19 as you were at 9. Even adults change a lot during that time, and even Mimika is going to be exposed to a lot of things that'll change her own outlook. That'll be peanuts compared to what a different person Yuzumori becomes.

So to me the "I love the person you are" stuff rings hollow because in a decade neither of them will be the people they are now in significant ways. Not to mention, in Mimika's case there was an obvious physical reaction from the start, before Yuzumori even said a word, and in fact is why she tries (while comedically holding back her lust) to get to know the little girl better. You can't just dismiss that Mimika's attracted to a sexy child in those early chapters, and that look is going to change dramatically too as she grows older. Romantic ideals are one thing, but looks do play a part. And those looks will change a lot once she hits puberty in earnest.

Not saying maintaining a relationship into their mutual adulthood is impossible, but the odds are astronomically high against it.

Nezchan posted:

I was thinking much the same. The two of them are in for a lot of strain on their relationship over the next decade because let's face it, you literally aren't the same person at 19 as you were at 9. Even adults change a lot during that time, and even Mimika is going to be exposed to a lot of things that'll change her own outlook. That'll be peanuts compared to what a different person Yuzumori becomes.

So to me the "I love the person you are" stuff rings hollow because in a decade neither of them will be the people they are now in significant ways. Not to mention, in Mimika's case there was an obvious physical reaction from the start, before Yuzumori even said a word, and in fact is why she tries (while comedically holding back her lust) to get to know the little girl better. You can't just dismiss that Mimika's attracted to a sexy child in those early chapters, and that look is going to change dramatically too as she grows older. Romantic ideals are one thing, but looks do play a part. And those looks will change a lot once she hits puberty in earnest.

Not saying maintaining a relationship into their mutual adulthood is impossible, but the odds are astronomically high against it.

Nya-chan posted:

And then, they both got boyfriends.

So to me the "I love the person you are" stuff rings hollow because in a decade neither of them will be the people they are now in significant ways.

Aha—then the best thing to do would be for them to reconnect after losing touch with each other for a decade, because then they would be starting a “childhood friends” relationship, and we all know from reading manga that those bonds are just about eternal.

As usual, you guys are talking psychology while I’m talking storytelling—fiction is filled with stipulated “happily ever after” pairings that would most likely be disastrous nightmares in real life, and, judging by the divorce statistics, the odds in real life are not great for any two people staying together, no matter what the circumstances.

In this case, there’s no evidence that Yuzumori will necessarily change as a person more drastically than Mimika will as they both mature, and the whole point of the time-skip chapter is to establish that Yuzumori’s appearance has already changed, and Mimika still likes her more than ever.

If “that’s not how it (usually) works in real life” were an ironclad objection to every unlikely or implausible element in a story, I’m pretty sure there never would have been a romance genre at all.

It was good while it lasted. Thanks dumbnut, for scanlating the series till the end.

I'm talking about psychology AND story telling. It's not either/or. The story heavily focuses on the psychology of a lolicon and whether or not they would still love someone if they grew up.

There is only one piece of evidence you need to know that Yuzumori will change and that is that she is a child. There is absolutely no reason to believe she wouldn't change as a person. As Nezchan pointed out, a 19 year old is not the same person as the 9 year old. A person goes through their most drastic mental and physical changes between those two ages. There is a reason why a child "in love" is described as puppy love. We never got to see that puppy love survive puberty, which I see as a great shame for a series that focused so much on the lolicons love surviving the same thing.

There is a reason why a child "in love" is described as puppy love. We never got to see that puppy love survive puberty, which I see as a great shame for a series that focused so much on the lolicons love surviving the same thing.

Your continual insistence that what Yuzumori is feeling is 'puppy love' when the story goes out of its way to visually depict Mimika as literally a puppy in love, and your consistent dismissal of the implications of Mimika's wish that Yuzumori could grow up quickly so as to make their relationship less problematic suggests that we are unlikely to find common ground in discussing this story,

Yea, it seems we will have a hard time when you continue, almost intentionally, to miss my point entirely.

I insist that Yuzumori is feeling puppy love because puppy love is literally the phrase associated with young children's infatuation/admiration of an adult. I'm refering to the English phrase, not to Japanese tropes.

I'm not dismissing Mamikas feelings at all. My issue is with how the manga completely dismisses Yuzumoris feelings and how they would change over time as she grew up.

last edited at Apr 2, 2018 9:56AM

Yea, it seems we will have a hard time when you continue, almost intentionally, to miss my point entirely.

Just to be clear, I did get your point several posts ago; I disagree with your reading of the text, and therefore with the implications that you draw from it.

But, I hope, no harm, no foul.

No, you clearly didn't since its not what's in the text that I'm having a problem with, it's what is missing from the text. The manga brushes a huge issue under the rug and ends in a bit of a flop.

Yuri Queen posted:

Yea, it seems we will have a hard time when you continue, almost intentionally, to miss my point entirely.

I insist that Yuzumori is feeling puppy love because puppy love is literally the phrase associated with young children's infatuation/admiration of an adult. I'm refering to the English phrase, not to Japanese tropes.

I'm not dismissing Mamikas feelings at all. My issue is with how the manga completely dismisses Yuzumoris feelings and how they would change over time as she grew up.

It would be a good opportunity for a sequel, but because we only want to know one thing I would be happy with just one more chapter with an actual time skip (I mean, the one we had didn't really change anything and they look pretty much the same) of like 5 years I think.

Not only Yuzumori, even Mimika might change a lot too... how will they behave then? how will they deal with their situation? is Ririha having hard lesbian ear rubbing already with glasses girl? I want to know.... ALSO A KISS GODDANMIT

If loving this manga makes me a lolicon like Mimika then so be it...

And I expect there will be an extra mini-chapter in the 5th volume release for all of us that want to see them kiss <3

I'm sad :'(

I've been following this series since the begining and absolutely loved it from 0.1 to end.

To what was being discussed earlier, I agree that a kiss was what I expected every time I switched pages, but I'm not really dissatified with this ending. It was cute and gave us a sense of continuing (as the previous chapter wrapped everything up). Though I need to read it again 'cuz I feel the time-skip was less than 2 years while everyone here says it was 6 years... And if it was wouldn't Yuzumori have changed a bit more? Like, developing? Even if she grows no breasts what about Ririha and Glasses girl?

All the stuff about Yuzumori going through puberty seems clear to me (feeling like 2 years time-skip instead of 6) because she would be just in the middle of those changes and still love Mimika, throwing away the possibility of them breaking up because of some "Yuzumori saw a muscle man and fell for him".

I still want more to this story :'(
Thank God 1 x 1/2 is ongoing. It it was finished already I'd have nothing to enjoy until the next gem comes out... besides from oneshots and less than 10 chapters series.

Six years?! Nah I believe its around 2 to 3 years because Yuzumori had gone to her middle school entrance ceremony. If you read the last chapter Yuzumori asks Mimika that she would like to see her in her middle school uniform, meaning that Yuzumori's current uniform is for middle school. And the uniform isn't the same as what we've previously seen Mimika wear, who was always wearing her highschool uniform.

And for more evidence that its only been around 2 to 3 years is from looking at the size difference on the last chapter. (Oh but Yuzumori might grow during highschool, you say?) Realistically girls experience a growth spurge around and during middle school, and they finish growing around the beginning of highschool. And because we've seen evidence of how Yuzumori would look as a highschooler (hence from the reversal chapters and images which she was around the same height as Mimika,) leads me to believe that Yuzumori on the last chapter is just entering middle school and should be around 12 to 13 years of age while Mimika should be 19 to 20 years old (because Mimika had already mentioned that they have a 7 year age gap.)

Oh and Yuzumori had mentioned that she was in her 4th year of elementary and Mimika in 2nd year highschool (11th grade, Junior). In Japan middle school would start around after the 5th or 6th year of elementary, so around 6th or 7th grade (depending on which region of Japan they live,) meaning its only been 2 to 3 years since Yuzumori and Mimika had met.

So with this I hope it clears up a lot of the misunderstandings revolving around the time skip. Even though I made this statement it is still based on personal speculation, but it is the most logical statement I made which makes the most sense.

This

And for more evidence that its only been around 2 to 3 years is from looking at the size difference on the last chapter.

Now we're talking.

I'ts still up to each person how they feel about this conclussion.

I wanted more but didn't expect much. It's just how cute those two look together, even the many times they almost kissed I freaked out but never raged because they didn't. Hell I even expected a sad ending when Mimika pushed Yuzumori away! Thankfully Ejima Eri made it just fine and gave us this diabetes overdose :3

https://imgur.com/d2WtZr1

it was right since 2016

Joke was on us, it seems.