I know I'm dumb for getting my hopes up and I don't know how it happened, but Manaria Friends' ending was incredibly disappointing. Still, it was a fun sorta romance show.

Guess AiFriends S2 is the only sorta gay thing I'll be watching next season...besides JOJO, of course. PreCure please be gay soon.

I don't know why so many find an open ending disappointing honestly. We all know how they feel about each other. It's so well done that it deserves the attention anyway. A season 2 isn't impossible after all.

I'm gonna say that I find all the disappointment around Manaria Friends kinda overblown? Yeah, it wasn't a good ending, but it wasn't "and then they never met again", either. It wasn't what I'd have liked, but it didn't exactly ruin the series for me

I don't know why so many find an open ending disappointing honestly. We all know how they feel about each other. It's so well done that it deserves the attention anyway. A season 2 isn't impossible after all.

Pre-established IP without explicit yuri and extreme ship teasing are pretty obvious signs. The bolder and more "wink-wink" the teasing, the less likely the romance is to go beyond teasing, and the ambiguous ending can end up hurting all the more ("so close, yet so far"). Manaria Friends is the rule, not the exception, sadly.

There is also no indication in the source (the games) that these two can't get together or love each other. Every bit of the story they appear in is still during their Academy years. And its by far one of the most obvious pairings in the games. The anime went a few steps above (which only cements that its more serious than it initially appears in the games), but even in Granblue or Rage of Bahamut there is intentional romantic tension between them.

This desire for explicetness is understandable, but this is definitely not a bait pairing. At worst they love each other and can just never go through with it due to their standing. More likely they will reach a comfortable place where they can express their love beyond the end of their school years.
And in the best case scenario they might find a way to realize their love. We just don't have enough information to deny that possibility.

EDIT: And suddenly I am talking to ghost posts. Spooky.

last edited at Mar 25, 2019 10:04AM

I don't know why so many find an open ending disappointing honestly. We all know how they feel about each other. It's so well done that it deserves the attention anyway. A season 2 isn't impossible after all.

Because they're princesses and they imply that they'll be together until their duty with the country forces them to marry some guy for political reasons and let's not pretend that isn't the case, because only kings can choose who they marry but princesses regardless or their potential just need to make a baby to stablish good relationships with whoever their father tells them...I could see Grea being a pushover but for Ann to be the one to acknowledge that she won't be staying with her is the worse, is even worse if they are an only child but idk that much, anyway, just the "until graduation" cliche is awfully disgusting for Yuri fans, in fact, I think I will avoid royalty from now on and forget that princess principal it's gonna have movies, after all, loving someone is selfishness.

I was scared of this when I saw izetta too

Pre-established IP without explicit yuri and extreme ship teasing are pretty obvious signs. The bolder and more "wink-wink" the teasing, the less likely the romance is to go beyond teasing, and the ambiguous ending can end up hurting all the more ("so close, yet so far"). Manaria Friends is the rule, not the exception, sadly.

There is also no indication in the source (the games) that these two can't get together or love each other. Every bit of the story they appear in is still during their Academy years. And its by far one of the most obvious pairings in the games. The anime went a few steps above (which only cements that its more serious than it initially appears in the games), but even in Granblue or Rage of Bahamut there is intentional romantic tension between them.

This desire for explicetness is understandable, but this is definitely not a bait pairing. At worst they love each other and can just never go through with it due to their standing. More likely they will reach a comfortable place where they can express their love beyond the end of their school years.
And in the best case scenario they might find a way to realize their love. We just don't have enough information to deny that possibility.

EDIT: And suddenly I am talking to ghost posts. Spooky.

I deleted the comment because in hindsight it wasn't really a good idea to go down this road. There's enough negativity in this forum anyways. I respect that you and other people can find meaning in Manaria Friends, and I don't think it's "bad yuri" or bad anything, I just don't trust this kind of stuff for personal reasons, and the reasons I mentioned in the "ghost post".

princess principal it's gonna have movies

I actually look forward to Studio 3Hz' next project, Blackfox, with higher anticipation. It looks like it'll be more cheesy than a three cheese pizza, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Too bad it's still like six months away... I loved Princess Principal so much that I'm a little wary of any sequels ;-;

last edited at Mar 25, 2019 10:23AM

Because they're princesses and they imply that they'll be together until their duty with the country forces them to marry some guy for political reasons and let's not pretend that isn't the case, because only kings can choose who they marry but princesses regardless or their potential just need to make a baby to stablish good relationships with whoever their father tells them...I could see Grea being a pushover but for Ann to be the one to acknowledge that she won't be staying with her is the worse, is even worse if they are an only child but idk that much, anyway, just the "until graduation" cliche is awfully disgusting for Yuri fans, in fact, I think I will avoid royalty from now on and forget that princess principal it's gonna have movies, after all, loving someone is selfishness.

I was scared of this when I saw izetta too

Calm yourself. This is a fantasy world, not medieval Europe. We have no indication that Anne cannot marry a woman. Sucession is a bit more complicated sometimes than just "Queen make baby, kingdom happy". There are branch families or bastards or other possible successors.
If we are talking about political marriages, having the princess of the dragon kingdom marry into Mysteria's royal house is pretty damn good if I do say so myself. lol

PS: This is a world with magic. I have no doubt there are ways to guarantee off-spring even between women. I'll leave it at that.

I deleted the comment because in hindsight it wasn't really a good idea to go down this road. There's enough negativity in this forum anyways. I respect that you and other people can find meaning in Manaria Friends, and I don't think it's "bad subtext", I just don't trust this kind of stuff for personal reasons, and the things in the "ghost post".

I figured it was something like that. I am usually not really one to "ship" just because I like a pairing actually. I just take the evidence in the story and base my judgement on that. And there is just no reasonable doubt to this pairing being legit. That's the only reason I defend it. Your pessimism isn't unjustified either. I'd feel much happier if there was at least a kiss or something as well.

last edited at Mar 25, 2019 10:16AM

I didn't meant to sound like I dislike the show now, or that their future looks bleak, or anything like that. I just really expected something to happen considering how thirsty Anne got for Grea around ep 5.
I feel dumb because I expected something after I promised myself I wouldn't expect canon on-screen confirmations anymore.

So, huh, about that Wataten finale.
I really, honestly liked the school play. Like it was truly adorable and heartwarming (hell, it made me like Hana for a moment there)
So yeah, just wanted to share that somewhere. Peace!

My disappointment with Manaria comes from different place. Looking at stuff in games and this anime, it's clear that studio consider them a couple. And that's my issue. If they're so certain they want them to be a couple, why then they don't make them one? Despite having all rights and possibility to make it explicitly canon, they don't.

Komi028 posted:

Manaria is selling like hotcakes because the blurays have codes for gran blue, so they can confirm everything they want in this show, the otakus are forced to buy the blurays regardless if they want those codes.

When I read it, I was really happy, but after nothing was confirmed in the end, I'm starting to see it all in different light. If it really didn't matter and they could go as far as they could, without worrying about backlash, why then they kept it as subtext-y as humanly possible? Sure, it's very blatant, but still they never went over anything you couldn't just dismiss as subtext if you tried really hard. That's because, they are waifus. In the end there are still fans who wants them to be only theirs and studio is afraid to risk upsetting them. Sure, by all means they're canon and they're meant to be a couple, but if you don't see it that way, you can still fantasize about them, because nothing is confirmed. That's what annoyed me the most. In the end, they played it safe. They could take the risk and become first big franchise with confirmed yuri couple, but they either didn't have guts or saw point in doing so. After all why they should be the ones to do it? Let some other company risk it first and show it's profitable move and then we'll do it too. They have no stakes in increasing representation, so unless it'd guarantee them more sales, they have no reason to do it. And like that everyone is waiting for someone else to do first step. After all, yuri fans see them as couple anyway. They'll make doujins, write fanfics and all that good stuff, without them having to confirm anything, so why should they bother, right?

And keeping it like that even hurts them as a couple. Honestly, I'm not even sure whatever they're supposed to be dating or just like each other. Anne often acts as if she was flirting and Grea responds more as if it really was just flirting rather than how they act as a couple. But then they hold hands in episode 7 as if it was totally normal and they were dating. Without ever asking each other out or starting dating. And before you say they hook up between episodes, in the same one Anne flirts with Grea again and they clearly have the "we are not dating yet" dynamic. In fact episode 7 is the one that really made me sure, they'll never make them official. They had the perfect set up for Anne to ask Grea out and it went nowhere. She's reading book about how to ask someone on a date. Gee, I wonder if she has someone she wants to ask out. Then she gets to "Sometimes you need to be assertive" part and she even repeats the word. Then gets all excited and giggles while blushing. Grea asks her what she's reading. The perfect answer was "Book how to ask you out". But nope, she just says the title all happy as if she was just sharing something with her friend instead of person she might actually use it on. And if add insult to injury, she mentions it has love option and then wonders whatever or not it would work on a girl, implying she's into girls. So everything was there. Anne just never got assertive and actually asked Grea out. And you could say we can understand it all was implying she wants or was just teasing her girlfriend or whatever. That is the key word implying. After they blown set up like that, I knew it. They'll never make them official. Also ignoring how problematic idea of love potion in general is, I really had mixed feelings about part where she might or might not add it to the tea. Like was Anne just pranking Grea? Or she didn't think she would respond otherwise? Or does it work more like a aphrodisiac. So do they date or not? I wanted to see Anne asking Grea out, not giving her love potion for some cheap gag.

BugDevil posted:

I just take the evidence in the story and base my judgement on that. And there is just no reasonable doubt to this pairing being legit. That's the only reason I defend it.

I don't hold grudge against you or anything, but it's really funny seeing you so intensely defending a subtext couple, based on evidence, when before you were very quick to dismiss one, despite all evidence pointing to it.

So, huh, about that Wataten finale.
I really, honestly liked the school play. Like it was truly adorable and heartwarming (hell, it made me like Hana for a moment there)
So yeah, just wanted to share that somewhere. Peace!

I also liked how Hana's character ended with the character with Miyako's hair, it's the closest thing to have Miyako in the play with her. The scene between them after the play was nicely romantic too.

BugDevil posted:

I just take the evidence in the story and base my judgement on that. And there is just no reasonable doubt to this pairing being legit. That's the only reason I defend it.

I don't hold grudge against you or anything, but it's really funny seeing you so intensely defending a subtext couple, based on evidence, when before you were very quick to dismiss one, despite all evidence pointing to it.

If it is any consolation, I completely agree with your assessment. It's very obvious that they played it safe. They always do. The exact same thing happened with the Neptunia franchise. A series of games where literally no important male characters exist and they keep teasing pairings to high heavens, but the producers do not have the guts to commit.

It is an issue. Waifu gacha games like this simply aren't made for confirmed relationships. Just to be fair, neither do the hetero pairings ever get confirmation. Or the guy x guy ones. Any commitment will incense some Otaku.
Granblue in particular banks on your insert character having interactions with these characters that are the generic "Wow you are really cool and I like you for some reason" stuff. Which is just comical when its Grea, who literally speaks about Anne in every single conversation she has with Gran/Djeeta. lol

If you are refering to Kyuuketsuki, I stand by my claim too. There is lots of subtext, but the show is actively not portraying it as serious. The creators were very content to keep it at a safe and easily handwavable distance. Akari might have a very obvious crush, but they also went out of their way to portray her love for dolls as clinically insane. Sophie's reciprocation of the crush is extremely hard to gauge too.
Now take Manaria Friends in contrast. I would have to contort into the 6th dimension to somehow claim this was not intended to be viewed purely romantically. Every frame, every motion and every conversation between Anne and Grea is portrayed like a romance anime would do it. That might make it even more infuriating when they stay at subtext, I know.

last edited at Mar 27, 2019 3:51AM

Yup! The final of watamote was really cute! Altough Hana could've managed a better compliment but eeh I don't really watch it for her anyway... Cute how the play was actually Yuri haha

Finished BangDream s2! final chapter wasn't as good as the previous episode, that was a little odd, but overall good! ... worse part was dedicating almost 4 episodes to awkward drama of one character... Waiting 2 years for the next season also feels really bad, there's a movie coming up but I know very well that I'll have to wait pretty much a year or more to watch it anyway.
Ep04 second half was the best!

I'm also enjoying Kouya no Kotobuki Hikoutai now that they decided to talk more about the world and their past in general instead of focusing on random jobs during the first part, not really yuri anywhere (I'm in ep9) but there are some cute interactions here and there.

Looks like The price of Smiles was a total failure at the end, glad I dropped it early!

Bermuda Triangle and Endro ended today, I'm a bit sad no one will ever write fics for them, they weren't popular enough.

Bermuda Triangle and Endro ended today, I'm a bit sad no one will ever write fics for them, they weren't popular enough.

Endro was a fun little series.

Looking at the upcoming season I really am not seeing any yuri friendly titles. Am I just overlooking things or is this spring going to be as arid as it seems?

Bocchi is very yuri friendly.

Hachigatsu no Cinderella Nine is all-girl.

Thats it, the only 2 all-girl ful-length shows this season, down from 10 this season. No Kirara again.

last edited at Mar 31, 2019 8:27AM

Next season is like "Wait for July"

The Price of Smiles/Egao no Daika ended last week and it was... okay. Not sure who it was for, though? People who liked the characters probably bailed when they started dropping like flies, and those looking for a gritty war drama must have really hated the generic ending. I do recommend the first two episodes for that pants-pissingly hilarious twist (sorry?), but I'm not sure it's worth watching beyond that.

The Magnificent Kotobuki/Kouya no Kotobuki Hikoutai ended today and it was a really fun show overall, although it sometimes felt like it had simultaneously too much plot and not enough and more time could have been spent on the characters. Those battle scenes were amazing though.
In terms of yuri, I'm fairly sure Reona and Zara are together. The last episode went all in on the romantic entanglements when everyone thought they might die and theirs was the closest to an actual onscreen relationship compared to Saneatsu's one-sided crush, Naomi's reluctant caving to what's-his-face's courtship and Johnny's pining for his ex-wife. There isn't a lot of material for this pair, but I don't think I'm reading too much into it, either. Zara's suggestion that she and Reona ditch their friends and fly off together before the last battle was hard to see as platonic. Also, the classic "You hurt my girl and I'll make you pay" makes an appearance here with highly satisfying results.
In addition, I read Julia and Loulou as exes because I can, but there isn't actually anything in the show to support that theory.

Not that theory, but there is enough Julia x Loulou in the show, mostly from Julia.

^ Okay, I guess I missed it. I think at one point I decided this wasn't going to have any yuri and dismissed the potential subtext until it hit me in the face for the other pair in the last episode. I do remember one ironic (?) "I love you".

Bocchi is very yuri friendly.

Hachigatsu no Cinderella Nine is all-girl.

Thats it, the only 2 all-girl ful-length shows this season, down from 10 this season. No Kirara again.

I've read the manga for Bocchi and although it's adorable I don't think I remember there being any real yuri there. I'm not really one for shipping so I get the feeling there really isn't going to be much out there for me this season at least as far as Yuri goes. Actually come to think of it, this upcoming season looks pretty weak overall for me. No yuri, no true iyashikei which are two of the genre I am always on the look out for. Hopefully I am wrong and I stumble into a handful of hidden gems.

Okay, yuri in stuff I watched:

Boogiepop: If you're familiar with abnormal psychology it's pretty obvious that the Fear Ghoul is a lesbian or lesbian-leaning bisexual. ...She's also a worse person than that title makes her sound. And the last arc includes a girl who doesn't give a shit about her notional boyfriend and is instead incredibly hung up on another girl and then another girl by the end. You should watch the show for it being weird and dark and not this stuff, but I feel like it's worth mentioning

Egao no Daika: Lily is a) named Lily, b) really fond of Stella ,and c) appears to be living with her in the epilogue. This gets negligible focus, but it's there

Asuka: Entire cast is lesbian perverts. You're better off reading the manga then watching the anime, though (or doing neither if you don't like trash)

Endro: Couple yuri crushes, and a pair that's basically married by the end. Fun little series

Manaria Friends: I think this one's been discussed enough

Kemono Friends: Not as many viable pairs as the first season (because it's way less formulaic), but there's still a few, and Pronghorn and Cheetah feel like they were intended for the yuri fandom

I wouldn't say the spring season is dreary. There are a lot of good shows coming out. I mean, we all have more than one genre we care about, right? lol

Since WaTenshi and Manaria gays dont need the reviews Ill just drop a bit on Aikatsu friends 39ish-50:
Pretty decent 'til the Diamond friends cup finished around ep 43...kinda fillerish tbh. Ep48, 49, and 50 were pretty good, 49-50 kinda gay too. Mirai x Karen casual flirting+sad moment, Aine x Mio's lovers quarrel Complete waste of a valentines episode :/
It sucked! 8/10 -IGN
Next up it's an idol from space.

The gayest thing this season was Giorno healing Mista.