How is there “bullying”? Kagami is snooty and dismissive when Indou looks like a street urchin, and she looks like the “stern senpai” type—this is the military, after all, and enforcing the rules and modeling proper behavior is her freaking job—but she does nothing remotely resembling “victimization.”

Read up a little on the real training methods of the Imperial Japanese Army in this period, and you’ll see that Indou just met up with a couple of cuddly big sisters at a holiday camp for girls.

It's called having a shitty personality.
Sneering at someone's misfortune/having a shitty personality isn't a requirement for the Imperial Army.

I just don’t get you guys—how is our girl ever going to be able to demonstrate how magical she is if everybody just values her right off the bat and she never gets the chance to disprove someone’s initial bad impression of her and thereby turn (what she thinks is) an enemy into a friend?

I thought that was the birthright of every scruffy protagonist in a coming-of-age story.

And unless “Congratulations on your enrollment. And welcome.” has some sinister meaning I’m missing, Kagami’s behavior in the first chapter strikes me as about the mildest and shortest-lived episode of “bullying” I’ve ever seen.

Right, the looser cultural zeitgeist of the 20’s was a far cry from the later period. But, although I’m not deeply read in the area, my understanding of Japanese military protocols of the entire modern era is that while in theory it was benignly paternalistic (everyone in the military hierarchy standing in kind of familial relationship) in practice it would be quite dictatorial, with corporal punishment (including group punishments when one member messed up) and casual physical abuse even of junior officers being fairly common.

Tbf most military "service cultures" of the era were more or less hair-raisingly abusive and tyrannical by modern (Western) norms, and the Japanese had consciously modeled theirs after the Prussian system which was notoriously draconian even by period standards; apparently Germans in the Légion Étrangère found that unit's famously tough discipline actually pretty mild and tolerable by comparison...

And women in the military would have been pretty much unthinkable.

Well, yeah, that was universal. Even the social-revolutionary Soviets only let them in due to the extreme circumstances they faced in WW2, and originally only as paramedics and the like in the ground forces - not that the commanders complained when they instead grabbed guns and started killing Fascist invaders ofc, motivated fighters are always welcome when times are tough. That's far and away the single biggest alt-history bit here one simply must handwave.

I’m just pointing out some context because I’m a little concerned that when officers start barking orders at the hamster and she gets scolded for screwing something up, readers around here are going to interpret it as a hellish ordeal rather than the hearts-and-flowers reimagining of a pretty harsh reality that this story seems likely to be.

I mean let's be honest - what are the odds most of the audience here has any idea of what actual military life and discipline is like, nevermind now back in less enlightened times a century back? I should probably go bookmark YT clips of suitable Full Metal Jacket scenes to toss at the bleeding hearts when the time comes, as it night certainly will...
Granted that's about rank-and-file boot camp rather than officer-candidate military school but same principles apply.

last edited at Jul 23, 2018 12:29PM

Soooo military Strawberry Panic! ... yeah I can dig that ...

How is there “bullying”? Kagami is snooty and dismissive when Indou looks like a street urchin, and she looks like the “stern senpai” type—this is the military, after all, and enforcing the rules and modeling proper behavior is her freaking job—but she does nothing remotely resembling “victimization.”

Read up a little on the real training methods of the Imperial Japanese Army in this period, and you’ll see that Indou just met up with a couple of cuddly big sisters at a holiday camp for girls.

It's called having a shitty personality.
Sneering at someone's misfortune/having a shitty personality isn't a requirement for the Imperial Army.

I just don’t get you guys—how is our girl ever going to be able to demonstrate how magical she is if everybody just values her right off the bat and she never gets the chance to disprove someone’s initial bad impression of her and thereby turn (what she thinks is) an enemy into a friend?

I thought that was the birthright of every scruffy protagonist in a coming-of-age story.

And unless “Congratulations on your enrollment. And welcome.” has some sinister meaning I’m missing, Kagami’s behavior in the first chapter strikes me as about the mildest and shortest-lived episode of “bullying” I’ve ever seen.

I'm not saying Kagami's bullying, all im saying is she got a shitty personality trait. It made Indou afraid towards her.
And now she's gotta do extra effort to get the smoll puppy, while its already wagging her tail towards oba.

last edited at Jul 23, 2018 1:12PM

The reaction of Kagami strikes me as she somehow "recognizes" Indou.

I have a hunch her mother was some kind of hero Kagami idolizes and she resembles her portraits, so she, and Ooba too, is "shocked" when she sees the "real" appearance of Indou.

That expression: https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/a_love_letter_for_the_marching_puppy_ch01#45 is not of someone love-struck, but of someone confused, or even afraid.

last edited at Jul 23, 2018 1:15PM

OK, I just re-read this carefully, including in that alternative (and clumsier) translation. First of all, this is really solid visual/verbal storytelling, and one of its strengths is subtly shifting the narrative point of view toward and away from the main character (not necessarily the literal visual POV, but what some call the “focalization”—evoking the way a character experiences the events).

There’s also the effective use of repetition (sometimes called “visual rhyming”) and variation. For instance, there are a great many depictions of people looking at Indou, sometimes when she’s aware of it and sometimes not.

Another example is Kagami picking up and hefting Indou to comment on her small body, then Ooba later lifting her into the bath. In the first scene we see Indou from the back and Kagami’s stern face as Indou sees it; in the second Ooba is behind her with a good-hearted laughing face while Indou is more than a little consternated.

And we also get to see people’s facial reactions, often ambiguous ones, to Indou when she herself doesn’t see them and so we know that she isn’t reading the situation fully.

One result of that is that it’s clear that although Kagami initially does give off a good bit of attitude about the way Indou looks, even in the first scene she’s actually being kind of nice to her, helping her situate her lodging and praising her for getting into the school.

Indou, very understandably for someone so young and inexperienced in a new situation, is vastly overreacting to Kagami’s rather mixed messages (she imagines scenes of Kagami acting far worse than anything she actually does).

So Kagami seems scary compared to the kindly (and slightly goofy) Ooba, but that’s mostly if we identify strictly with Indou’s point of view.

Kagami’s responses to Indou also seem to be complicated by something she seems to know or suspect about where Indou comes from and who her parents are. EDIT: As Nya-chan says immediately above.

(And I agree that there’s a slight Strawberry Panic! vibe to the first chapter, which in my view potentially isn’t entirely a bad thing.)

last edited at Jul 23, 2018 2:00PM

I feel it will revolve more around who Indou's mother was than around some girl pairings, bouquets, rose-en-bouton or whatever.

Kagami is tasked with managing the whole room. She's not paired with Indou.

I feel it will revolve more around who Indou's mother was than around some girl pairings, bouquets, rose-en-bouton or whatever.

Kagami is tasked with managing the whole room. She's not paired with Indou.

Nobody’s even mentioned Blush-chan, Indou’s shy bedmate yet.

I’m really looking forward to this.

I feel it will revolve more around who Indou's mother was than around some girl pairings, bouquets, rose-en-bouton or whatever.

A military love story about young girls aiming to become officers they said.

I feel it will revolve more around who Indou's mother was than around some girl pairings, bouquets, rose-en-bouton or whatever.

A military love story about young girls aiming to become officers they said.

Well, unless the ‘military’ part turns out to be entirely about the sharp outfits, I suspect we’re going to get both a family mystery somehow involving war as well as a yuri-fest (for a military academy this place certainly seems to screen for cuteness).

My guess at this point (just ‘cause it’s fun):

• Blush-chan = bestie/wingman with a crush
• Ooba = Big Sis
• Kagami = Half-Tsundere Senpai of Love (The military and tsundere same-sex love are just made for each other.)

Of course, if the author wants to take things in totally different directions, I’ll be along for that ride too.

Hopefully, no one goes off to war...

I love this setting. But that period in history...

I hope that this can stay lighthearted throughout. I would hate to be reminded of the real life history of that time period in such a manga.

I know right? The entire time I was reading I was thinking "Oh god, please don't let this end with them charging American machine guns." :V

last edited at Jul 23, 2018 2:39PM

That'd be about two decades (or more, depending on which part of the Taisho era this is supposed to be based off of) down the road and I'm going to make the arbitrary assumption this series was never meant to cover that long a period...

It's in principle possible this is actually set before the local alt-history equivalent of the Great War and the somewhat modest Japanese involvement therein.

last edited at Jul 23, 2018 2:58PM

I understand the creator has devoted a lot of their time to create this piece and I thank them for adding more yuri to this world lol but...
People, get ready to get triggered. If you're going to get triggered ignore me :P it's just my sucky opinion lol

Trigger Happy Time lol:

I'm so confused lol like the true lesson of this is that looks are everything lol I mean it isn't like a super bad theme but like they could have put it in a better way just saying. Also kind of concerned with that underage, assault scene :(

Also, her aunt seems to be fairly wealthy so why is she so mistreated/poor and malnourished? Like why. Are you okay girl lol. Also, why is everything escalating so quickly???

Anyways I hope there is a deeper meaning to this story (like plot wise) as it progresses as well as well developed characters. And I also hope that this girl does not become Bella Swan but with girlfriends. Like the age gap and the harem... hmmm... lol

Otherwise, interesting premise, nice art, and thank you for producing more yuriiii lol

Why isnt everything perfect I dont understand

I'm in

I like it, but it makes me a bit uneasy how it seems like all those different girls like her... the introduction of 3 different love interests in this manner and at this point in the story felt unnecessary to me.

When did people start arguing so often on this site!? T^T

Fantastic! Cant wait for more!

I'm sorry but I'm rooting for Indou/Roommate-chan for some reason.

Wait so like all Indou had to do was cut her hair and dress good and suddenly Kagami treats her well? Ooba is clearly superior to Kagami for treating Indou nicely even when she looked trash.

Now I had time to read it.

My opinion about this manga is that it is a mix of Strawberry Panic ( A LOT - novel+anime+manga ) + Her Shim-Cheong (not only the initial appearance of the character) + military cute stuff.
It is cute and I am waiting for more chapters.

Waiting for prince of Spica Amane and the Shadow Empress Chikaru make their appearances in a military style haha.
(We have got a funny Miyuki, a poor Nagisa, a militar Shizuma and a shy Tamao-chan).

last edited at Jul 23, 2018 5:43PM

gay

yes

There are already five chapters in spanish of this serie, believe me Kagami has her own reasons...

I have a feeling that instead of creating female Officers, this academy is instead dedicated to cultivating lesbians

i honestly loved this first chapter. and Kagami's friendly(most of the time if you actually pay attention) but strict attitude reminds me a lot of being a (sea)cadet when i was younger. i still wish my mom hadnt decided to pull me out of it. to all of the people complaining about how they make a big fuss about indou looking "cute" and "pretty", please remember that in the military appearances are VERY important, and to have someone looking so shabby would set off most people actually taking it seriously. that is why Ooba insisted on cleaning her up and stuff. Also YASSSSSSSS Cadet yuri