Here is my rant about Citrus
I dunno I like Mei but there is a lot about her character that I feel is lacking. Mei deserved a lot more scenes fleshing out her personality and motivations than what we were given. She is written too much like those inscrutable dark haired beauties of yuri yore and it really detracts from her character.
For example, look at Raven from Teen Titans. When she is first introduced she seems like just a moody goth girl. She is mysterious and leaves you wanting more. However, as the series progresses she is given so much development over time that when her arch ends you feel like you truly understand her and empathize with her. At the end of her arch she is a dramatically different character than how she was first introduced. What a shame it would have been if she had merely remained the brooding, moody character she was introduced as. I feel that way about Mei, it seems like a shame. Do I still like her? Yeah because I am always drawn to that type of character, but I cant help feeling like something is still missing. That is frustrating.
Okay so another aspect of the story that hardly has a mention is Mei's family and the obligation that she carries. There are a precious few scenes devoted to that and it is virtually forgotten until much later. That is why it feels weird when it suddenly rears its ugly head again. Mei's willingness to seemingly throw Yuzu under the bus wouldn't have felt like such a betrayal for a lot of people if there had been more effort into explaining why she had felt cornered into that situation. More scenes with Mei's grandfather and father would really helped as well. What was the catalyst that made Mei's father turn from his obligation and leave Mei behind? Also maybe Mei's mother? She is such a non entity that Mei might as well as have come from a test tube.

This manga is cringy. I think that's the best way to describe it.
I would also summarize the series as embarrassing.

It saddens me to know that despite all the intimacy that Mei and Yuzu have had (no matter how forced it was) they have never really had sex, knowing that it is something that involves both emotional and carnal bonds.
While it's pretty sure that Mei has already had sex with her ex-fiancé, that means that Mei feels much more identified with her ex-fool (who treated her as one more step to achieve success) than with Yuzo, who is one of the few people who shows interest in her.

No @Amberheart, Mei didn't have sex with the teacher. Especially not if he's her fiancé before the marriage her grandfather already prepared for her after school at this time, not knowing that this man was manipulating her. The more she had with him was these molesting and forced kisses we saw... enough to already give her a very disturbed view on physical intimacy.

If you talk about Mei's behavior in chapter 8 ("that is your first time"), it is clear that she's all bravado and tries to project the image of an experienced and assured person when she's not. It's one of her traits: keeping control by showing she's full of confidence when she lacks this confidence. Another trait is that she's someone that mimic things she reads or listens to because she needs guidance and needs "to follow the plan". She quoted Nene's word about her admiration for Yuzu in volume 5. We know she read Yuzu's mangas, so she probably copies lines and gestures she saw ...

It's especially proved during one of the bonus when she perfectly quotes the Peach sisters and knows the exact page of her quote.

She is also looking for a book on "Romance for beginners" in volume 6 at the Academy's library. So Mei is totally clueless about these things, she doesn't have the first-hand experience except chapter 1.

It's a real misunderstanding of her character if you proclaim she had sex already. I will add, it is an arranged marriage with the teacher so of course, she is still a virgin! And from the air of disgust she had in chapter 1 after the kiss, pretty sure that she didn't identify, as you state, with him. She's disconnected, her feelings and her mind in one part, her body in the other part.

last edited at Jul 31, 2018 2:24AM

No @Amberheart, Mei didn't have sex with the teacher. Especially not if he's her fiancé before the marriage her grandfather already prepared for her after school at this time, not knowing that this man was manipulating her. The more she had with him was these molesting and forced kisses we saw... enough to already give her a very disturbed view on physical intimacy.

If you talk about Mei's behavior in chapter 8 ("that is your first time"), it is clear that she's all bravado and tries to project the image of an experienced and assured person when she's not. It's one of her traits: keeping control by showing she's full of confidence when she lacks this confidence. Another trait is that she's someone that mimic things she reads or listens to because she needs guidance and needs "to follow the plan". She quoted Nene's word about her admiration for Yuzu in volume 5. We know she read Yuzu's mangas, so she probably copies lines and gestures she saw ...

It's especially proved during one of the bonus when she perfectly quotes the Peach sisters and knows the exact page of her quote.

She is also looking for a book on "Romance for beginners" in volume 6 at the Academy's library. So Mei is totally clueless about these things, she doesn't have the first-hand experience except chapter 1.

It's a real misunderstanding of her character if you proclaim she had sex already. I will add, it is an arranged marriage with the teacher so of course, she is still a virgin! And from the air of disgust she had in chapter 1 after the kiss, pretty sure that she didn't identify, as you state, with him. She's disconnected, her feelings and her mind in one part, her body in the other part.

Don't assume that romantic experience and sexual experience equate to the same thing. For instance most cheap hookers are grand masters when it comes to sexual prowess, yet many of these same women have very little experience with actual romance outside of the occasional beating from their pimp.

I am not saying Mei is a hooker, just that her behavior is quite indicative of somebody that has quite a bit of real world sexual experience, but little or no real romantic experience. Particularly in the early chapters she is shown to be very physically sexually aggressive and quite adept at physical seduction, but conversely is incredibly underdeveloped when it comes to understanding or sharing emotional intimacy with others.

I wouldn't take her passive-aggressive behavior as a proof of it, especially if we replace things into context. A Japanese arranged marriage with a groomed female heir of a prestigious family with a member of the school team. I think that people really try to put western google here. So I still find unlikely that Mei had sex, really, especially when we look at the way the kiss of chapter 1 happens (at school since the teacher, as a future fiancee in an omai wouldn't date or meet Mei at home alone, just had some social meetings with her to conclude the future contract) and with the way the teacher is talking with his lover on the phone : "until then, the most I will do is to be affectionate" [それまではせいぜい可愛がるさ] meaning he won't do anything more than we already saw (kiss) before being married to Mei when she'll be 18 to have status and prestige.

Edit : 可愛がる means be sweet, caring in a very cute way, pampering. The Japanese word clearly excludes sexual undertones. If the teacher would have already had sex with Mei, he wouldn't have used this word.

Let's not talk about the huge scandal that led him to leave the school without notice for just kissing her meaning he already went to far...

If we take into account Mei's way to retaliate against Yuzu's "romantic kiss" speech, we can think that Mei wanted to show to Yuzu how it was far from being romantic. She was clearly hurt by Yuzu's cockiness here, Yuzu, of course, being ignorant of Mei's real situation. For just the kiss ... I think that is enough for her to imagine using physical intimacy as a way to control people, without having been in a sexual situation with the teacher. The chapter 8 scene happens just after Mei has been in touch with Yuzu's readings, she's still the mimic specialist she's in the manga because it's difficult for her to act accordingly to her true self.

The author, sadly, never made things clear about that (even though I find the wording enough), but I never saw, except here and on some western social forums, readers believing she had sex, not among Japanese readers. Because the fact she's in an arranged wedding exclude sexual relationships before it.

EDIT : sorry for the edit, but I needed to check at home my Japanese volumes, and I think that the infamous chapter 8 scene that people (here) read as Mei being familiar of sexual acts is almost a translation trap. Not the first time the Seven Seas translation and the fansub's one miss a word (Remember the "for a while" forgotten).

chaopter 8 : https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/citrus_ch08#3

Mei's quote in third panel : 優しくするわはじめてなんでしょう?

It is usually translated with "I'll be gentle for your first time". this is a plausible interpretation cause at this moment, translators read Mei's behavior as being potentially promiscuous. So it can make sense if we forget other hints and the cultural context of the omaï, and also Mei's real personality that will transpire more and more after volume 2.

But, the Japanese wording doesn't explicitly mention the 2nd person. The first time mentioned by Mei isn't specifically exclusively Yuzu's one (implying it is not Mei's first).

The sentence is more ... "I'll be gentle for the first time, don't you agree ?" or more "How about I be gentle for the first time?". Or, literally, "How about I act with gentleness for the first time". Which can explain why Japanese readers never really bothered with the theory of Mei having had sex already, cause well, the wording is clear for them.

The first time here {はじめて} isn't explicitly the first time someone makes love ... it is not a noun but a temporal adverb. This can imply that it is also her first time or more than that: she knows Yuzu likes gentleness and sweetness, she is a pure romantic, so Mei believes she has to act caringly, sweetly in contradiction of her forceful ways to take control of Yuzu the previous times she used physical intimacy.

The Japanese sentence doesn't really state 100% that it's only Yuzu's first time, cause there isn't the equivalent of "your". Once again, we have a mimic Mei. She read Yuzu's manga, saw sweet love scenes (remember Harumin mimicking a position she read) and imagine that is what she has to do to shut Yuzu in a more satisfying way. Her previous tactics were to be abrupt as the teacher was with her, but she thinks she knows Yuzu better and changes her tactic, to use something sweeter.

last edited at Jul 31, 2018 6:16AM

That's a pretty good explanation, I guess we can all agree Mei never had sex and so much is lost in translation. Regardless, I don't think she will have sex in the manga either. We can only hope I suppose...

I don't think she'll have sex either. The more we can hope is maybe a morning after scene after some time skip. But at this pace, it seems we can hardly predict now what the author will give us or not in the last chapter more than the expected reconciliation scene.

last edited at Jul 31, 2018 11:44AM

And that's why I like Kodama. I don't think I can read any long series from Saburouta anymore, good grief! "Blue balls" at their finest.

It's fine, I think the user up there is just obsessed with the idea of ntr (in many series here) so he/she finds a way to distort the plot to make sense of it.

It's fine, I think the user up there is just obsessed...

Do i know you?
And it does not obsess me, I hate it!

I was seeing that Yuzu and the Red Blood cell 3803 have some similarity, for example the red blood cell did the best to overcome her weakness (getting lost), she had to make people show her and she made many mistakes, but she never gave up and finally achieves it. In the same way, Yuzu has done her best to maintain her relationship with Mei, both as sisters and lovers. She did not do so well, she has given the best of her, she has friends who have supported her and she has not given up either.

But unlike the Red Blood cell 3803, who succeeded, i do not think Yuzu has the same luck, because in some way it is not the function of her or her destiny.

It would feel too forced and meaningless that in the end magically Yuzu and Mei end up together.

And it does not obsess me, I hate it!

Not mutually exclusive.

https://twitter.com/_saburouta/status/1025985123416649728

hmmm.

Translation :

Although this is the final chapter of Citrus from the Comic Yuri Hime October issue, which is released on August 18th (Saturday), it is published in a different way than usual. If it's possible, it will be more interesting if you can read from the first page of the magazine!
Some leaked images might come out earlier than the magazine (released), but I would be happy if you could successfully avoid them.

last edited at Aug 5, 2018 7:09AM

Huh? What does that mean? What does the first page of the magazine contain usually, isn't it the first story?

It is usually a color cover that continues the magazine cover page. It is not related to any series.

Oh, my God! Now I understand, the story is not understood because it is made from the point of view of "The Sempai inept and professional elite Kohai" is as if Yuzu were older but did not know how to teach Mei anything because she really does not know how do things, now everything makes sense.
That is why Yuzu is constantly shown frustrated, despite the fact that in history there would be no logical reason for his frustration.

T-2 for the atomic bomb. Can't wait.

Include me in the screecap

Sabu's wild ride isn't over

Spin-off typically means change in MC or change in genre. For example the series could be slice-of-life comedy now. This also means it's not a sequel to Citrus, so these events most likely take place before where chapter 41 will end.

If the spin off makes the main couple a side couple then I'm interested

Some people have been wanting a change, so you and other people might be pleased. Plus also refers to the volume bonus chapters, so the Citrus plus series could switch focus between different characters like the volume bonus chapters do.

Of course this same thing could annoy readers who liked the series as it was and who wanted a direct sequel.

Korean Raws

http://wasabisyrup.com/archives/FncVqZ0QtqU

It warms my heart.