“I’m sick of reading about unrequited love in this manga that I have chosen to read that has the title ‘my unrequited love’”

Once again, the actual Japanese title isn't "My unrequited love". "Taoe todokanu ito datoshitemo" translates to something like "even if it's a string that won't reach". Meaning "Even if my feelings won't reach her".

And now, her feelings finally did reach Kaoru. The end of this chapter is the titular moment of the manga.

What happens next is anyone's guess.

You mean to say that, now that she’s been told twice, Kaoru knows that Uta loves her?

Third time's the charm.

Although I wish we had more pages to expand on what happens after that, I really appreciated the pacing-- it felt really natural. But yeah, I'm ready for more angst.

Credit where it’s due—I’ve been critical of the pacing and structuring of events in this story, but this sequence felt pretty natural and straightforward. (When the pages are read in order, that is.)

If the next chapter immediately cuts to the Three Yuri Stooges or something, though, I’m going to be pissed. Lol

(I know it’s an ancient reference, but I suddenly realized that those three actually match up to the Stooges pretty well.)

I'm more into the yuri Marx sisters to be honest

last edited at Feb 25, 2019 2:14PM

Yeah.... this isn't unrequited anymore....

Heavensrun posted:

So I just went though the first 15 chapters and I gotta mention something: Why does character's upper body mass keeps doubling in height? Now that I noticed once (And in a serious scene no less) I'm now just keeping a eye out for it.

I'd need examples to tell what you're seeing, but the art in this series is pretty solid and consistent?

Look over manga again paying close attention to earlier and newest chapters. Only consistent thing is characters anatomy getting more and more wrong with latest chapters.

I just feel like they're wearing ultra baggy clothes.

And I'm still at odds with how I feel about them. IF they do end up together, I doubt it won't be for years from now, after Kaoru has left Uta's brother and figured out how to be on her own.

I just feel like they're wearing ultra baggy clothes.

I do think there's been a noticeable change in the art after Volume 1.

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/my_unrequited_love_ch01#18

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/my_unrequited_love_ch07#2

Yes, partly it's the difference in clothes, but overall the shapes have been simplified and the details are less refined. (I also agree that the body proportions, for Kaoru and Reiichi especially, have become sporadically elongated and variable.) The increasingly baggy wardrobes seem to serve as labor-saving devices for the artist.

None of this particularly bothers me--the art is generally serviceable, and from time to time gets closer to the way it was at the start. But I agree there has been a change.

Once again, the actual Japanese title isn't "My unrequited love". "Taoe todokanu ito datoshitemo" translates to something like "even if it's a string that won't reach". Meaning "Even if my feelings won't reach her".

And now, her feelings finally did reach Kaoru. The end of this chapter is the titular moment of the manga.

What happens next is anyone's guess.

"Sorry Uta, you are a minor and I'm married to your scumbag brother which I love."

"Ok. Bye then, gonna live with my mom"

Credits roll.

I just feel like they're wearing ultra baggy clothes.

I do think there's been a noticeable change in the art after Volume 1.

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/my_unrequited_love_ch01#18

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/my_unrequited_love_ch07#2

Yes, partly it's the difference in clothes, but overall the shapes have been simplified and the details are less refined. (I also agree that the body proportions, for Kaoru and Reiichi especially, have become sporadically elongated and variable.) The increasingly baggy wardrobes seem to serve as labor-saving devices for the artist.

None of this particularly bothers me--the art is generally serviceable, and from time to time gets closer to the way it was at the start. But I agree there has been a change.

Well volume 1 seems to take place sometime around late summer into fall (based on the school uniforms at the very least), volume 2 over the course of fall into winter and continuing into volume 3, so there is an in-story reason for the clothes to get heavier and baggier as well, aside from art changes.

Actually, benja, to be fair to karp, I now need to halfway disagree with myself, and also with you agreeing with me. What you said absolutely is character development in the sense that I meant it.

But I should have remembered that “character development” actually has two sometimes overlapping meanings:

One is something that authors do—a character is depicted in such a way that readers have a sense of who that person is and why they do the things they do. That may involve a lot of attention given to the character, or just a few well-chosen strokes that give insight into the fictional person.

The second is what we were talking about—something that characters themselves do. They learn and change because of their experiences (not necessarily for the better, of course). Kuroe is an excellent example of that, but readers are able to perceive that partly because she’s also given development in the first sense.

So everybody’s right, which means we all get lollipops. Lol

yaaaay lollipops

yeah i get what you´re triying to say you´re referring to character development in a more descriptive way (wich exists and is hard to do without being in your face but exists nonetheless ) than a "progressing the story" way

That bold confession !! Ugh Uta bout to finish this!! Her and Kaoru are endgame girl I just KNOW it

I really wonder how far Kaoru and Reiichi’s “love” goes. It’s pretty evident at this point that the title is related to almost every character in the series (Uta -> Kaoru, Miyabi -> Kuroe, Konatsu -> Nurse and finally, Kaoru -> Reiichi), but with the Risako plot twist, Kaoru’s expression in the late pages of chapter 15 (she looks saddened when giving love advice to Uta, as if she was speaking from experience) and the conversation with Yocchan in chapter 20, I wonder what actually happened in Kaoru’s past.

We see that she is insanely susceptible to feelings of loneliness, that she was involved with Uta’s family drama and that she endlessly chased after Reiichi despite being rejected many times. It somehow feels like Reiichi may have married her to quell her loneliness (out of “consideration” as childhood friends) and because she seems to be a “positive” influence to Uta’s life.

In any case, the cheating plot still isn’t resolved yet, so I guess we’ll see how that plays out.

^How is the title "Secret Crash on My Sister" related to every character? Mangaka is just stretching this story coz she don't know what to tell anymore. Isn't this their first serialization?

last edited at Feb 26, 2019 2:35AM

OH NO OH NO OH NO

^How is the title "Secret Crash on My Sister" related to every character? Mangaka is just stretching this story coz she don't know what to tell anymore. Isn't this their first serialization?

Maybe the side characters will actually play an important role in the end. You know, like helping Uta rescue Kaoru from Reiichi, Power Ranger squad-style. I've seen that somewhere...

^How is the title "Secret Crash on My Sister" related to every character? Mangaka is just stretching this story coz she don't know what to tell anymore. Isn't this their first serialization?

Maybe the side characters will actually play an important role in the end. You know, like helping Uta rescue Kaoru from Reiichi, Power Ranger squad-style. I've seen that somewhere...

So you're saying they'll be going from The Three Stooges to the Ginyu Force?

^How is the title "Secret Crash on My Sister" related to every character? Mangaka is just stretching this story coz she don't know what to tell anymore. Isn't this their first serialization?

Isn’t that just a subtitle? Or at the very least, that’s just Uta’s POV. If we go with the more literal (albeit still loose) translation of the real title (“Even if these feelings won’t reach”), it seems to apply to the characters I mentioned.

In Uta’s case, she was never able to confess, but she still loved Kaoru. And even when she went for it, she assumed her confession fell upon deaf ears because Kaoru feigned ignorance (until now). Definitely a case of unrequited love and feelings not reaching the other person.

In Miyabi’s case, she’s been having the hardest time trying to express her feelings to Kuroe. In fact, for the longest time, she wasn’t even sure if Kuroe liked her back, but she still tried her best to show Kuroe love. This was also a case of unrequited love (which is later shown to be somewhat untrue) and Miyabi being unsure if her feelings are reaching Kuroe.

In Konatsu’s case, she was never able to have that last talk with Hosumi, even though she seems to have had some romantic feelings for her. To Konatsu, not confessing to her appears to be one of her biggest regrets (we see this in her first conversation with Uta, and again when she reflects on her experiences). Again, another case of unrequited love and feelings not reaching the other party.

Finally, in Kaoru’s case... Well, all of this is speculation because we don’t know how her relationship with Reiichi is beneath the surface, since we’ve seen time and time again that this girl just loves to run away from her difficulties.

It appears that Kaoru seems to love him more than he loves her (forgetting their wedding anniversary, hardly making an effort to keep in touch while he’s away, even on his birthday; possibly cheating on Kaoru, not relying on Kaoru for help/keeping his family problems away or hidden from Kaoru even though they’re supposed to be a team, especially with how involved she already is in their family), and given the cryptic little hints sprinkled everywhere (including: the things I mentioned above, Risako, and how Reiichi looks like he knows what’s on Uta’s mind), it may even be an unrequited love.

Also included in my post above, he may have just settled for Kaoru to ease his childhood friend’s insane susceptibility to loneliness, and to help Uta out (who was going through an incredibly rough time). Not the best excuse, but I mean, he also doesn’t seem to make the best decisions in general.

She was also the one to persistently pursue him even though she was turned down several times. I thought that point was included just for humor’s sake, but in chapter 14, she has a bittersweet expression when she tells Uta that she also knows what it feels like to have a hopeless love, and that she should confess like she wants to be accepted.

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/my_unrequited_love_ch14#29

And most recently, in chapter 20, Yocchan tells Kaoru that she isn’t being nice by pretending like nothing ever happened, and that she should help Uta put an end to her helpless feelings by giving her a clear answer (rejection). But in the next page, Yocchan tells also says that Kaoru should know how it feels to be in Uta’s current position.

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/my_unrequited_love_ch20#28

Well, I ended up writing way more than I should’ve, LOL. But TL;DR is that I feel like the title applies to almost every major character in the story. Actually, my original point (in my post above) was to illustrate that because the title is related to the characters other than Uta, maybe it means that Kaoru’s love for Reiichi is also unrequited.

^That's the official english tiitle of this manga. Blame Yuri Hime for that.

^How is the title "Secret Crash on My Sister" related to every character? Mangaka is just stretching this story coz she don't know what to tell anymore. Isn't this their first serialization?

Isn’t that just a subtitle? Or at the very least, that’s just Uta’s POV. If we go with the more literal (albeit still loose) translation of the real title (“Even if these feelings won’t reach”), it seems to apply to the characters I mentioned.

In Uta’s case, she was never able to confess, but she still loved Kaoru. And even when she went for it, she assumed her confession fell upon deaf ears because Kaoru feigned ignorance (until now). Definitely a case of unrequited love and feelings not reaching the other person.

In Miyabi’s case, she’s been having the hardest time trying to express her feelings to Kuroe. In fact, for the longest time, she wasn’t even sure if Kuroe liked her back, but she still tried her best to show Kuroe love. This was also a case of unrequited love (which is later shown to be somewhat untrue) and Miyabi being unsure if her feelings are reaching Kuroe.

In Konatsu’s case, she was never able to have that last talk with Hosumi, even though she seems to have had some romantic feelings for her. To Konatsu, not confessing to her appears to be one of her biggest regrets (we see this in her first conversation with Uta, and again when she reflects on her experiences). Again, another case of unrequited love and feelings not reaching the other party.

Finally, in Kaoru’s case... Well, all of this is speculation because we don’t know how her relationship with Reiichi is beneath the surface, since we’ve seen time and time again that this girl just loves to run away from her difficulties.

It appears that Kaoru seems to love him more than he loves her (forgetting their wedding anniversary, hardly making an effort to keep in touch while he’s away, even on his birthday; possibly cheating on Kaoru, not relying on Kaoru for help/keeping his family problems away or hidden from Kaoru even though they’re supposed to be a team, especially with how involved she already is in their family), and given the cryptic little hints sprinkled everywhere (including: the things I mentioned above, Risako, and how Reiichi looks like he knows what’s on Uta’s mind), it may even be an unrequited love.

Also included in my post above, he may have just settled for Kaoru to ease his childhood friend’s insane susceptibility to loneliness, and to help Uta out (who was going through an incredibly rough time). Not the best excuse, but I mean, he also doesn’t seem to make the best decisions in general.

She was also the one to persistently pursue him even though she was turned down several times. I thought that point was included just for humor’s sake, but in chapter 14, she has a bittersweet expression when she tells Uta that she also knows what it feels like to have a hopeless love, and that she should confess like she wants to be accepted.

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/my_unrequited_love_ch14#29

And most recently, in chapter 20, Yocchan tells Kaoru that she isn’t being nice by pretending like nothing ever happened, and that she should help Uta put an end to her helpless feelings by giving her a clear answer (rejection). But in the next page, Yocchan tells also says that Kaoru should know how it feels to be in Uta’s current position.

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/my_unrequited_love_ch20#28

Well, I ended up writing way more than I should’ve, LOL. But TL;DR is that I feel like the title applies to almost every major character in the story. Actually, my original point (in my post above) was to illustrate that because the title is related to the characters other than Uta, maybe it means that Kaoru’s love for Reiichi is also unrequited.

FINALLY, a lengthy comment worth reading

h3x posted:

^That's the official english tiitle of this manga. Blame Yuri Hime for that.

It's clear the main focus and story was supposed to be about Uta's love toward Kaoru. Hence even the official english title focuses only on that. Sadly that is not the manga we got.

Also yes I already pointed out that the "My Unrequited Love" can apply to all characters in the story in one of my previous posts, but considering even original title talks rather about reaching the string, most likely string of fate, as in "even if this love is not fated to be", it's clearly supposed to be about Uta's feeling for Kaoru. I suppose you can still stretch it that Kaoru's feelings for Reiichi also didn't reach/wasn't fated etc. so make what you want out of it.

Dayominator posted:

Also I still think the story cheaped out with the whole cheating husband.. literally the most generic and weak plot point in any unrequited romance series. but at least the Happy!End seems more likely

I'm also still annoyed at this. I thought I will get a story about trying to forget about your love/learning to deal with it. Instead we are clearly building for yuri ending with some contrived bs. Which I hate (I can't believe this manga made me write it). The whole point of the cheating was to set up that things are not well between Kaoru and Reiichi so we won't feel bad when she and Uta will end up together. I'm telling you, it will end up with Reiichi telling Uta is better for Kaoru and he supports them and they should live together (solving the mom problem), while he will leave to live with Ritsuko.

I'm telling you, it will end up with Reiichi telling Uta is better for Kaoru and he supports them and they should live together (solving the mom problem), while he will leave to live with Ritsuko.

I can imagine a good manga that tells that story.

I have a great deal of difficulty imagining it being this one.

Kaoru is strong aye (physically)

I just feel like they're wearing ultra baggy clothes.

I do think there's been a noticeable change in the art after Volume 1.

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/my_unrequited_love_ch01#18

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/my_unrequited_love_ch07#2

. . . Sorry, you know I respect you, B, but I'm just not seeing it. They're just different clothes. The art between those two pages is indistinguishable to me. At best, maybe the linework has gotten a bit heavier, but styles change over time.

Yes, partly it's the difference in clothes, but overall the shapes have been simplified and the details are less refined. (I also agree that the body proportions, for Kaoru and Reiichi especially, have become sporadically elongated and variable.) The increasingly baggy wardrobes seem to serve as labor-saving devices for the artist.

Eh, I don't agree. As has been pointed out, we've moved from fall to winter. It's February, everybody's dressing warmer, Uta's in the winter school uniform (she started in the short sleeve uniform) and all in all the shift in wardrobe actually feels more like attention to detail to me.

None of this particularly bothers me--the art is generally serviceable, and from time to time gets closer to the way it was at the start. But I agree there has been a change.

I suspect you guys are letting your frustration with the story progression color your perception of the art. I don't agree that there's bee much change in the quality of the art, at least not any more than you typically see from most artists. (Everybody has good and bad days)

It's clear the main focus and story was supposed to be about Uta's love toward Kaoru. Hence even the official english title focuses only on that. Sadly that is not the manga we got.

As far as I know, this hasn't been picked up for western publication, so there -isn't- an official english title. The "Secret Crush On My Sister" we see in various places is a subtitle.

Also yes I already pointed out that the "My Unrequited Love" can apply to all characters in the story in one of my previous posts, but considering even original title talks rather about reaching the string, most likely string of fate, as in "even if this love is not fated to be", it's clearly supposed to be about Uta's feeling for Kaoru. I suppose you can still stretch it that Kaoru's feelings for Reiichi also didn't reach/wasn't fated etc. so make what you want out of it.

I think the title is definitely mainly referring to Uta, but it also feels like an underlying subtext through most of the characters. At least right now, almost nobody is really getting back the love they're putting in. Risako, Reiichi, Kaoru, Uta, even the side characters. Almost nobody is really where they want to be.

Also I still think the story cheaped out with the whole cheating husband.. literally the most generic and weak plot point in any unrequited romance series. but at least the Happy!End seems more likely

I'm also still annoyed at this. I thought I will get a story about trying to forget about your love/learning to deal with it. Instead we are clearly building for yuri ending with some contrived bs. Which I hate (I can't believe this manga made me write it). The whole point of the cheating was to set up that things are not well between Kaoru and Reiichi so we won't feel bad when she and Uta will end up together. I'm telling you, it will end up with Reiichi telling Uta is better for Kaoru and he supports them and they should live together (solving the mom problem), while he will leave to live with Ritsuko.

Risako. (Not being snarky, just pointing that out, I messed it up myself awhile back)

But how is that contrived? a little less than a quarter of men admit to having cheated on their wives. That's one in four!

Surely a girl falling in love with her sister-in-law in the first place is way more contrived than a guy cheating with his ex girlfriend. It's not like that plot point came out of nowhere, either. The first chapter is dropping hints of cheating, with him forgetting their first wedding anniversary (first! FIRST! Even the most absent-minded Newlywed should know better than to screw up that one!) and having a "business trip". (Note to anybody in a relationship, forgetting major events and taking lots of vaguely defined "business trips" is a fair call for suspicion.) It was played off as a quirk of his absentmindedness, but in retrospect it seems obvious that this is where it was going.

I doubt it'll be as neat and tidy as you make it out to be, either, but we'll see.

I almost cry for Uta in chapter 21 ;_;