Sakurako was an adorable drunk. Also, seriously how is this not at least deserving of yuri crush tags? I mean I can maybe see the argument that Kasumi is asexual or something making it one sided, but Sakurako is strait up yuri mauling her at this point.

Okay, I'm not to familiar with it, but asexual people don't usually get jealous when their wife friend tries to kiss another person, do they?

I don't want to get into an argument about asexuallity since I pretty much agree with you that they are a couple at this point and they are likely both into each other that way, but yes you can be an asexual and still have romantic partners even without ever having any outright desire to ever have sex with anyone.

Basically, asexuals come on a bit of spectrum. You are thinking of someone who is both asexual and aromantic who just simply has no interest in either sex or romance and does not bother with those sorts of relationships at all, but there are also a lot of asexual people who despite having no desire or interest in sex do have an interest in emotionally intimate and exclusive romantic relationships with others. For those sorts of asexuals possessiveness and jealously revolving around their partner certainly can be a thing despite there being no sexual attraction or desire to ever have sex.

The only reason I even mentioned Kasumi being even possibly asexual is the fact she has never shown so much as even the slightest bit of sexual interest in anyone or anything around her, not even so much as a thought that somebody is attractive let alone a desire to act upon it in any way which is a unusual for a highschooler. It certainly doesn't mean she has to be asexual or that she doesn't have those sorts of desires. It's just a little odd is all and could explain why she never seems to respond even when being kissed and mauled by Sakurako. It could also just be her extremely chill personality etc.

last edited at Oct 7, 2018 5:36AM

Sakurako was an adorable drunk. Also, seriously how is this not at least deserving of yuri crush tags? I mean I can maybe see the argument that Kasumi is asexual or something making it one sided, but Sakurako is strait up yuri mauling her at this point.

Okay, I'm not to familiar with it, but asexual people don't usually get jealous when their wife friend tries to kiss another person, do they?

I don't want to get into an argument about asexuallity since I pretty much agree with you that they are a couple at this point and they are likely both into each other that way, but yes you can be an asexual and still have romantic partners even without ever having any outright desire to ever have sex with anyone.

Neither do I. I honestly didn't know much about asexuality besides the cliché of not being interested in anything.
That's why, thank you very much for the explanation.

https://imgur.com/Ye0bHaq

"As much as I want"
I rest my case. All of it. It's done. In fact a confession would probably somehow make Sakurako seem less gay at this point. This girl is thirstier than a man who wandered the desert for 40 years.

And Kasumi got jealous! Finally. Sweet, delicious developments!

last edited at Oct 7, 2018 6:21AM

That picnic scene in ch 27 was delicious. That is all.

Sakurako was an adorable drunk. Also, seriously how is this not at least deserving of yuri crush tags? I mean I can maybe see the argument that Kasumi is asexual or something making it one sided, but Sakurako is strait up yuri mauling her at this point.

Okay, I'm not to familiar with it, but asexual people don't usually get jealous when their wife friend tries to kiss another person, do they?

I don't want to get into an argument about asexuallity since I pretty much agree with you that they are a couple at this point and they are likely both into each other that way, but yes you can be an asexual and still have romantic partners even without ever having any outright desire to ever have sex with anyone.

Neither do I. I honestly didn't know much about asexuality besides the cliché of not being interested in anything.
That's why, thank you very much for the explanation.

For a little bit there I had the image of her dupelicateing herself then I remembered that it also means unintrested in sexual activity.

Ps why do most manga/anime girls have virtually no alcohol tolerance? And the ones that do are usually depicted as alcoholics

Aside from "it's girly and proper to not be a hard drinker" (and can be played for cute humor), low body weight and inexperience go a long way to make alcohol hit like a truck. Also, alcohol tolerance like lactose tolerance can differ across various populations thanks to genes that code for enzymes related to metabolizing alcohol - basically people with the different genes don't process alcohol as well. It's far from absolute, but Japanese people are one of those populations with a (relatively) high incidence of low tolerance.

As far as the second point, well, one way to build your tolerance is to drink more...

Also: drinking slower, eating before, being fat, and some medications can also do it (dont do this one)

"Your tights smell so nice"
Jesuschrist Sakurako, that's bedroom talk!!!

"Your tights smell so nice"
Jesuschrist Sakurako, that's bedroom talk!!!

Thighs. Dunno if that's any better though.

last edited at Oct 7, 2018 11:22AM

Very nice. Shouldn't this be deserving of a yuri tag at this point?

kiss! it's canon!!!!

As I've said in several places, the tagging of yuri vs. subtext vs. yuri crush doesn't mean much to me; I just don't make reading decisions based on the differences among those labels, although I know some people do, so I understand that it matters to them.

But as it happens, I just came across a review of the first two volumes of this series at a long-established and well-respected yuri manga/anime website, and I was surprised to see that the theme of the review was: absolutely no yuri here--it's all imposed on a yuri-free text who are "making up stories between the two principals."

As the reviewer says,

There is no Yuri here. This is a generic 4-koma school life comedy that is considered Yuri only by the kinds of people who cannot imagine two women sharing a room who are not in love.

Granted, the subtext (if that's what you want to call it) has ramped up a fair bit since 2016, and the review is from a site that strongly values overt lesbian content (and more power to them in that regard). But it strikes me as bizarre to be so scathing about the supposed delusions of the readership here, since even the very first chapter features Sakurako and Kasumi sleeping in the same bed, and the two girls holding hands through much of the first day at school.

After all, the main theme of the strip has always been Sakurako doting on Kasumi, who accepts and is almost completely dependent on Sakurako's attentions. That's been the whole joke from the start: Sakurako is gaga for Kasumi, and the romantic implications of her affectionate behavior are only blunted into "subtext" by Kasumi's lackadaisical responses and general obliviousness along with Sakurako's cluelessness and naïveté about romance.

I mean, if this is truly a "a generic 4-koma school life comedy," manga school life sure ain't what it used to be.

^You could just say that review is from Yuricon. And I agree with Erica.

^You could just say that review is from Yuricon. And I agree with Erica.

Could you be a little more specific about that? I know people have a lot of different thresholds for what they are willing to accept as true, official, really real "yuri," so let's stipulate that the series falls short of whatever that may be.

But the assertion of the review is that people are reading this series and thinking of it as, let us say, yuri-ish (or "leaning yuri," or whatever other substitute term you like), on the basis of nothing at all in the actual text (except maybe an ambiguous panel here and there), but almost entirely on their own delusional interpretations/wishful thinking.

I would be very interested in hearing that as an argument, since in the review it was a simple categorical declaration.

last edited at Oct 7, 2018 2:55PM

The seven mysteries were defeated by Sakurako's gayness. XD

There is no Yuri here. This is a generic 4-koma school life comedy that is considered Yuri only by the kinds of people who cannot imagine two women sharing a room who are not in love.

That reviewer sounds like a self-important stuck up (and may I add short-sighted) purist. To put it mildly.

I guess the fact that the official site it's published on (as well as the mangaka) categorizes it as yuri and the dozens upon dozens of raws that show very gay behaviour mean little or were not available to them. But even beyond that, this doesn't have the usual yuri-bait feeling of many other 4koma. You'd have to be awfully pessimistic/biased not to see that it's more than confirmed that Sakurako has real romantic feelings for Kasumi. No amount of doting can possibly justify this behaviour even in an extremely over-the-top comedy (which this is not).

The only possible point of contention is Kasumi. She's been becoming more and more aware of Sakurako's advances and her reactions are certainly conflicted. She is just not the type to take things too seriously. Her dependence can go either way.

But even so, this is at the very least a Yuri crush then (from Sakurako and her sister), one of the heaviest in human history. And it only has potential to go deeper into the romantic territory, as the boundaries fall one by one. The only way to avoid this being full on yuri is for Kasumi to reject Sakurako. Can anybody see that happening? I don't think so.

last edited at Oct 7, 2018 4:04PM

-(hic)Imma kiss youuuuu!
-No, you're a bother.
- ok... then imma kiss someone else.
- LIKE HELL YOU ARE!

last edited at Oct 7, 2018 8:38PM

But as it happens, I just came across a review of the first two volumes of this series at a long-established and well-respected yuri manga/anime website

Erica? Well-respected? Her opinions are trash, she is so biased and projects politics and LGBT real life stuff into yuri that most of the things she says are plain wrong or just dumb. As far as I'm concerned she is not a referent in the Western yuri community (and she is disliked by some yuri fans), maybe she is in Tumblr though.
For example, she is fixated on believing Yuu is asexual despite all the evidence against that statement, all because she wants asexual representation in manga.

But as it happens, I just came across a review of the first two volumes of this series at a long-established and well-respected yuri manga/anime website

Erica? Well-respected? Her opinions are trash, she is so biased and projects politics and LGBT real life stuff into yuri that most of the things she says are plain wrong or just dumb. As far as I'm concerned she is not a referent in the Western yuri community (and she is disliked by some yuri fans), maybe she is in Tumblr though.
For example, she is fixated on believing Yuu is asexual despite all the evidence against that statement, all because she wants asexual representation in manga.

Well, I know she’s done a lot on the translation side, and she’s the primary yuri manga person in Anglophone academia.

That said, it was her very unconvincingly argued take on YagaKimi that brought me to the Dynasty forums in the first place—I’m willing to listen to any serious argument about comics, but her review was so poorly grounded in the textual evidence that I wanted to find out what other people had to say about it. And now here I am.

As I said, to me the “yuri/not yuri” labeling thing is inherently an endless argument, usually little more than a parlor game that’s about as meaningful intellectually as the ones played by music fans who want to precisely define “real metal” or “real punk” or “real jazz” or whatever to prove their own superior authenticity.

It was the attack on readers that really took me aback—anybody attempting serious literary criticism who finds themselves writing the phrase “the kinds of people who” in a negative review needs to just hit delete and try again.

last edited at Oct 8, 2018 9:53AM

The only way to avoid this being full on yuri is for Kasumi to reject Sakurako. Can anybody see that happening? I don't think so.

Yeah, that's not even a possibility. Kasumi's occasionally a little put off by Sakurako's intensity of love, but it never seemed like she hates it. Easygoing personality or not. Kasumi also makes it fairly clear she needs Sakurako to... uhm, survive... and how she acts only this spoiled because it's Sakurako.

It also gets clearer later on that Kasumi wants to be with Sakurako and not just because she's too dependent on her. Also, her level of comfortableness around Sakurako is way too high for just being easygoing (Look forward to ch. 29) Extra fun fact: I remember 4 kisses between the two (might be more, though), and the one in ch. 27 is the only kiss Sakurako initiated.

last edited at Oct 8, 2018 10:02AM

And here I am, just silently wishing that all subtext are like this and Nettaigyo. A+ for that jealous Kasumi. <3

The only way to avoid this being full on yuri is for Kasumi to reject Sakurako. Can anybody see that happening? I don't think so.

Yeah, that's not even a possibility. Kasumi's occasionally a little put off by Sakurako's intensity of love, but it never seemed like she hates it. Easygoing personality or not. Kasumi also makes it fairly clear she needs Sakurako to... uhm, survive... and how she acts only this spoiled because it's Sakurako.

It also gets clearer later on that Kasumi wants to be with Sakurako and not just because she's too dependent on her. Also, her level of comfortableness around Sakurako is way too high for just being easygoing (Look forward to ch. 29) Extra fun fact: I remember 4 kisses between the two (might be more, though), and the one in ch. 27 is the only kiss Sakurako initiated.

You sure know how to get me excited! These are the kinds of spoilers I can deal with~

[Kasumi] acts only this spoiled because it's Sakurako.

As emphasized by her professional behavior in the shop when her mom is there. IRL, of course, lazy spoiled moochers like her are almost inevitably beyond intolerable—only the magic of comedy manga can transform Kasumi into something so adorable.

What the heck, I want a stone kiln microwave!

Ps why do most manga/anime girls have virtually no alcohol tolerance? And the ones that do are usually depicted as alcoholics

Aside from "it's girly and proper to not be a hard drinker" (and can be played for cute humor), low body weight and inexperience go a long way to make alcohol hit like a truck. Also, alcohol tolerance like lactose tolerance can differ across various populations thanks to genes that code for enzymes related to metabolizing alcohol - basically people with the different genes don't process alcohol as well. It's far from absolute, but Japanese people are one of those populations with a (relatively) high incidence of low tolerance.

As far as the second point, well, one way to build your tolerance is to drink more...

Also: drinking slower, eating before, being fat, and some medications can also do it (dont do this one)

Thank you for answering (and the drinking tips). You make good points and I agree with you. But about the Japanese people and alcohol tolerance, I feel like that might be a stereotype (I haven’t done research on it so I’m only speculating).

Anyway, my initial question was referring to how alcohol tolerance seems to be exaggerated in manga/anime. I’ve usually come across stories with women who either have no alcohol tolerance (like here) or have drinking problems. Rarely have I seen female characters depicted as being able to handle their alcohol without implied alcoholism. Here Sakurako is a high school student, so low alcohol tolerance is expected since she has little experience with drinking. But the girl didn’t drink a bottle of beer, she ate whiskey bon bons. Chocolates with alcohol have very little of it in them. Even if you eat a lot, they’re not meant to get you full on drunk. That’s why this felt exaggerated and unrealistic. I’ve noticed this pattern often in manga and just wanted to point it out.

So your first point, basically girls not being able to handle alcohol is “moe,” is the only reason I can think of that author’s depict their female characters this way. I didn’t mean to write an essay, please excuse my blabbing

last edited at Oct 10, 2018 8:28AM

Rarely have I seen female characters depicted as being able to handle their alcohol without implied alcoholism.

I've seen plenty, as in pretty much any adult-oriented manga that has a bar as its setting--the regulars usually are seen drinking without getting fully intoxicated--it's the exceptions (the first-time visitor, the person drinking unusually heavily because of rejection, etc.) who are shown as being a problem.

Then there's the "rescuer" who gets (or takes) the drunk person home. There's the small girl who can hold her liquor better than the guys, etc.

The point is that most manga aren't giving a detailed depiction of real-life Japanese culture or a statement about females and alcohol. Drinking/drunkenness is a trope, a narrative device, and the comedy character who is so innocent that they get drunk on brandied chocolates, etc. is a very old and familiar trope in 4-koma manga.