I just re-read the series with the knowledge that Keiko had a miscarriage and It made me a bit sad. There are a few signs that showed that she had a miscarriage. ;(

I'm one of biggest yuri fan, but i have nothing against Keiko if she is a bi, or even if she is straight. Why are we judging other based on their sexuality really....

The fact that Keiko adored Ran very much, and very possibly end the best time of her life with Ran, (platonic or not), that already made me happy

I really want this to be yuri so my opinion might (will totally) swing that way. But I think she had tears when she told her fiance she was pregnant because she was regretting being pregnant.

Ever had a girlfriend/wife tell you "we're going to have a baby"? Tears galore, tears and add more tears. Now obviously this isn't always the case, depends on the women, how long she's known beforehand etc... But it's a pretty natural thing.

The thought of Ran inserted here might be a bit weird. I personally thought it was kind of shoehorned into the story for yuri's sake.

Although, many people I've encountered told me that when it comes to getting married and whatnot people often go through the whole "what if's" marriage blues where they think, what if I/We had done differently with XYZ partner. That's not really exclusive to relationships, there's a reason why we say "what if's" "shoulda coulda woulda".

Since I don't see how her mothers death (from earthquake) would relate to filling a void compared to marrying and having a child w/ a man instead of being with a woman for the rest of her life?

I'm not sure how the void analogy inserts itself. Maybe void needs to be filled with any strong emotions? Who knows.

I don't think it's her mother's death she wished for in particular. More like a " I wish a lot of people are suffering like I am suffering right now " kind of thought. Which an earthquake can totally do.

Continuing on with the void she feels the need to fill.

I think she just means that she can't be alone no matter what, she fears loneliness and if she can't get what she really want, she'll settle for ANYTHING. I don't think this was totally the case for many years, because she was fulfilled in her relationship with her ex-fiancé. But now that he's gone, she's still the same weak individual always in need of love and affection. Who knows what would of happened to her had she not met her friend back?

The progress she thought she had accomplished through studying and being more serious had been an illusion.

She's still the same old Keiko she always was. Which is normal, a lot can change in a person, but those deep insecurities will probably always be part of her.

As for the yuri elements we've had this chapter adding on to the rest. I can pretty much say she's bisexual, I'd go further and say she's pansexual. Ultimately she just wants someone, anyone, to never leave her.

Being sort of a loner, I can't totally relate to her. But I've seen people, especially women, who just can't feel fulfilled if they aren't in a relationship. I pity them really, not being able to satisfy yourself must be a pain.

Call me hater or whatever but I quit this the moment it became het...I'm a lesbian but keiko isn't doing anything more but disappointing the hell out of me...I'm sorry I've seen too mess up.shiz in my life and don't want to ger depress with this...drop.

I don't get why someone would drop this now? yeah there is het, but that is all in the past, aren't you forgetting about keiko's current situation? she is living with ran, what we are seeing now is all backstory, and like some others have mentioned, there are more serious yuri elements in this than the rest of the manga!

It's true that there is het, but at the same time, for some odd reason, the yuri levels are really going up as well too, perhaps even more than the het. In 22A we learnt that Keiko started going out with guys not really because she liked them, but because she felt obliged to. In 22B, upon meeting Ran, she thinks that she's 'cute', making that I think the first time she has actually expressed attraction to anybody, and mentions that she can't 'couldn't get her out of my mind for some weird reason', which suggests a repressed attraction. And then the cynical, more delinquent-like Keiko suddenly changes into a woman who gets into a good university and works hard at her job - just because she was inspired to Ran's optimistic faith in the world. On the night she tells her boyfriend of her pregnancy, she thinks of Ran, and how she 'really liked' her. And after her collapse and separation with her fiancé, she seems to be fairly depressed, quite different from the way she is now; the implication is that it is Ran who held out a helping hand, and was able to save her from her predicament. I'd say that the yuri implications are much stronger than the het ones - it's just that they are based on emotions and feelings rather than factual who-slept-with-who's.

Most importantly, I think it is significant that while these flashbacks are coming after her ex-fiancé's comments in Ch. 21, which creates the expectation that they would centre on Keiko's past and her relationship with him, they are actually very much about how she thinks of Ran instead. That, I think, is a very definite clue that the Higashiyama is not intending the story to go in the direction of Keiko getting back together with her ex, but rather continue to depict the developing relationship between her and Ran. I never actually thought that the yuri in this series would go past wishful thinking and subtle hinting, but after this chapter, I think it might.

Whew! Sorry for the long post.

Edit: Most of the points have already been made by others (I kept the reply window open for some time before the discussion took off)...

last edited at Jun 20, 2014 8:22AM

eh no problem as long as it has a good end

I kinda pictured an ending where the entire world is outside doing some stretchings while a happy musical plays

Wow mostly everyone's hypothesis about Keiko have been dead on!!

I don't really understand the last 3 pages like the 'shaking' part and everyone in the crowd all talking about something?

Great Tohoku Earthquake from March 11, 2011. :V

Wow mostly everyone's hypothesis about Keiko have been dead on!!

I don't really understand the last 3 pages like the 'shaking' part and everyone in the crowd all talking about something?

Great Tohoku Earthquake from March 11, 2011. :V

Oh thank you! :U

What are you talking about? The continent was stretching in the last few pages

Sorry, I'm a slow person, we require step-by-step instructional manuals for stretching. This metaphorical island stretching nonsense is simply on too large a scale for us to grasp :(

I don't think it's her mother's death she wished for in particular.

I'm kind of thinking it is. Originally I felt like her "moment" was wishing for someone else to have a miscarriage. Which would make sense, but there was little imagery or anything else to suggest exactly what she was thinking. Except maybe - maybe - the line directly preceding her smile, "Seems like it was Touhoku." Why does that matter? We could wave it off as a small recent history reference, but given its placement in the story I'm willing to bet it's one of the chapter's more important lines.

Think about Ran for a second - at the end she says "Were you that scared?" in a way that seems (to me) to suggest amusement, like "it's just an earthquake!" But what's her reaction like later on in life, when she hears the earthquake siren in chapter 6? If one were to assume the "Touhoku" line means something, I don't think it would be a stretch to imagine that Touhoku is their home region. Which would mean that while Keiko is wishing great harm on her single parent, Ran is about to lose one of her two. The more I typed, the more this theory started to sound a bit too played, so I'll stop here.

It would, however, make a great deal of sense for Keiko's "wishing suffering on someone else" to coincide with Ran losing her father. Queue more guilt and self-loathing for Keiko, who hardly seems to have enough of either.

last edited at Jun 20, 2014 3:54PM

Don't mean to be a downer, but this sounds a lot like wishful thinking.

*cries softly

Ever had a girlfriend/wife tell you "we're going to have a baby"?

No... I'm a gay..............

kind of shoehorned into the story for yuri's sake.

Yeah and I'm eating it right up ;__;

Ultimately she just wants someone, anyone, to never leave her.

Yeah, but I'm still going to hope for yuri. Just cause she used to be straight or bi doesn't mean it can't be yuri now.

Is it bad to say I try to keep virgin for a while just like Ran I'm sorry to sound mean but she deserves better. Keiko is teen with issues...it isn't about sleeping with who it's about giving your body some respect...I would understand a rape in the process...but just because...you feel like going out with guys and then feeling gay...that doesn't make any sense...I like bisexuals...but...keiko just f up too much...

Oh look what a surprise, sexuality is odd! who knew?

Here is something you might find interesting, i am only attracted to females and yet i have random urges to kiss every person i meet no matter the gender and that isn't technically what you would expect from someone only attracted to females :P sexuality can be weird sometimes deal with it

Think about Ran for a second - at the end she says "Were you that scared?" in a way that seems (to me) to suggest amusement, like "it's just an earthquake!" But what's her reaction like later on in life, when she hears the earthquake siren in chapter 6? If one were to assume the "Touhoku" line means something, I don't think it would be a stretch to imagine that Touhoku is their home region. Which would mean that while Keiko is wishing great harm on her single parent, Ran is about to lose one of her two. The more I typed, the more this theory started to sound a bit too played, so I'll stop here.

I think you might be correct, actually. In that same chapter, we see her shed a tear looking at a picture of what's presumed to be her and her parents. We can even see the woman's and Ran's face but the not the man's.

When u reread this manga from the start, its kinda sad... :'(

Think about Ran for a second - at the end she says "Were you that scared?" in a way that seems (to me) to suggest amusement, like "it's just an earthquake!"

There's a possibility that it might be fake amusement to help take Keiko's mind off the fear (or what she probably assumed was fear). Making light in a tense situation is not an uncommon thing to do.

One of my two predictions about Ran's father's death... Seems like I wasn't too far off. (Stated this on pg.19... along with some other, generally speaking, far fetched theories lol.)

The other possibility is it's tied to the 2011 tsunami and her dad got dragged out to sea. (That earthquake bit in chapter 6, pg.5 still confuses the hell out of me to be honest.) And her saying, "I'm so glad," may be her hearing that her mom is finally recovering from the death of her father.

Also, what's with the mentioning about Keiko's mother's death? I must have misread something somewhere because this is new to me. O_o. (As a theory anyways.)

last edited at Jun 22, 2014 6:32AM

"...I want to portray a slightly different relationship, one where the two mutually inspire each other to live - if I’m able to, then perhaps I’ll be closer to portraying a true expression of love."- Hayao Miyazaki

This is how i see Ran and Keiko's relationship. I think how they stick around for each other and support one another is a perfect portrayal of true love. So, i have no doubt that they truly love each other, but sadly it doesn't guarantee us that they're gonna end up together.

goooood! Part of me wishes the author to just lay down everything already and end this vagueness. but i have to admit that the ambiguity in the story and how the author fills it nicely is quite amazing.

last edited at Apr 30, 2015 2:50PM

Seriously so many things wrong with that, it could be for pleasure or maybe she was scared of being a virgin or anything and that would be a half decent reason but nope just doing it cause she was gonna have it anyway..........

These are two "valid" reasons to loose your virginity when you are a teen or young adult and "just to get it over with" is one too. For me it was a mix of these and I didn't really thought about it at the time. That came years later.

Also, the "But did I really consider that... just now" probably means she considered train suicide ( which is a common and pretty successful way of committing suicide ).

nah she might be thinking there're casualty by the quake and delighted by the tought.

Oh that makes more sense, well that's even more dark of a thought, wish harm on others. I see why she was taken aback and why she looked down on herself again for still being the same.

I thought of train suicide, too, but Schadenfreude really makes more sense.

The last 2 chapters made my Yurisense tingle. But it doesnt matter anymore, its a great read and I really don't see forced drama here. The story goes over a long stretch of time which makes the things that happend quite realistic.

As a 30yo virgin i felt offended.....lol

:( is stretch dead or?

i got used to the fast updates lol, thanks :>

How did you deduce the miscarriage? Hell, why did you guys even thought she was pregnant? I'm so confused @~@

last edited at Jul 30, 2014 4:05PM

How did you deduce the miscarriage? Hell, why did you guys even thought she was pregnant? I'm so confused @~@

Her holding her chest and hugging her husband, her dressed up in a hospital gown, them apparently having a catastrophic event leading to a breakup.

I would never, EVER, realized that. Too subtle for my ass >_>. Thanks.

lol no worries, I actually wonder why Shou is being so coy about it. I'm he's setting us up for a scene where Keiko tearfully relates all this to Ran, then Ran clutches her tight, strokes her hair and... aww crap I better go to bed before I start writing fanfiction.

I'm pretty sure the current flashback actually is Keiko telling the story to Ran.

http://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/stretch_ch23#5
Yuri
cheers

that Pectoralls Major Triceps Brachli stretch . .so much win

http://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/stretch_ch23#5
Yuri
cheers

For some reason, the nonchalant-ness makes it feel less Yuri-y to me.