She did have a chance to satisfy those who want a guaranteed yuri-couple ending, and she definitely passed. But why she passed and what the implications of that are still remains to be seen.

She passed that right at the start. This was advertised as "girls friendship" from the get-go, but it seems no one bothered to check the scanlator's webpage, where this was clearly stated for over a year now. Back when people genuinely complained about the subtext tag and demanded the yuri tag added (and even sent tag requests to that end, repeatedly), this fact was brought up, but it seems no one payed it the slightest attention, and is now yet again becoming an issue, due to that tweet.

While the romantic interpretation of their relationship requires very little (or basically nothing) in the way of mental gymnastics, I very much doubt the ending will go beyond what was already established here. Basically, a really, really close and emotionally deep friendship that can be viewed as romantic with minimal effort from the audience (but which never outright states as much).

While the romantic interpretation of their relationship requires very little (or basically nothing) in the way of mental gymnastics,

The turtle has had it pegged from the get-go.

Eventually the shark as well.

I'm not sure that analogy makes 100% sense. If we were to pinpoint the main narrative focus of Nettaigyo, it would be "the relationship between two girls who bond over their shared loneliness and gradually open up to each other by overcoming the hardships of communication", which is pretty much the same thing as the Salamander short story the whole idea for the manga comes from. Something like the relationship possibly being romantic is rather incidental to that and despite there having been tons of scenes that can be interpreted romantically, there hasn't been a single time so far where any character explicitly said or thought anything about the possibility of being in love, which is the line that would need to be crossed for the subtext to become main text (the 'passing through objects' that would definitely be a supernatural element). I still understand if someone is upset that the series will apparently never go that direction since it could be considered a waste of potential and of things that were set up, but I feel it has more to do with personal expectations than with the author writing a certain way and wanting a different meaning to come through. My personal take on it has always been that from the way it was written, the series could eventually go either the route of explicit romance or to leave things implicit and that as long as it was written well, I'd be fine with either.

I'm not sure that analogy makes 100% sense. If we were to pinpoint the main narrative focus of Nettaigyo, it would be "the relationship between two girls who bond over their shared loneliness and gradually open up to each other by overcoming the hardships of communication", which is pretty much the same thing as the Salamander short story the whole idea for the manga comes from. Something like the relationship possibly being romantic is rather incidental to that and despite there having been tons of scenes that can be interpreted romantically, there hasn't been a single time so far where any character explicitly said or thought anything about the possibility of being in love, which is the line that would need to be crossed for the subtext to become main text (the 'passing through objects' that would definitely be a supernatural element). I still understand if someone is upset that the series will apparently never go that direction since it could be considered a waste of potential and of things that were set up, but I feel it has more to do with personal expectations than with the author writing a certain way and wanting a different meaning to come through. My personal take on it has always been that from the way it was written, the series could eventually go either the route of explicit romance or to leave things implicit and that as long as it was written well, I'd be fine with either.

Just wanted to say that I think this was a solid take that’s worth leaving up (IMO) even when the crossed-wires posts that it’s responding to are taken down.

Thanks. Honestly I don't think you guys' posts necessarily had to be removed since it was still a very civil discussion with some very light banter that got quickly recognized as such, but you do you.

Thanks. Honestly I don't think you guys' posts necessarily had to be removed since it was still a very civil discussion with some very light banter that got quickly recognized as such, but you do you.

Well, we were talking past each other with more of an edge than was necessary; I'd rather save that for when there's a real issue. :)

It's remarkable that such a sweet-hearted series generates as much tension among readers as it does.

Maybe that's because the characters, especially Koyuki, are realistically teenaged, i.e.; really smart and really blockheaded simultaneously--sometimes you want to just reach into the story and knock their heads together and say, "Look, you f*cking LIKE each other--now decide if you're going to kiss or not!"

Since that's not possible, readers focus their frustrations on the author first, and then each other. lol

So, before I start reading it, is it still subtext after all these chapters, or did it move forward?

Yes, is subtext and still not lizard

last edited at May 16, 2019 3:09PM

Aight, that's a skip for me then, at least for now.

This isn't really related, but the author uploaded a vlog and she added English subtitles herself so that foreign fans could follow along, so I thought I would share: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY918zKK_P8

Whenever I see a series like this where the author is like "No, see, they're just friends!" it makes me wonder...Like, did she have a friendship like this, and not realize that they were totally crushing on each other?

^ When an author pulls that shit, I usually get very suspicious from that point onwards. But I suppose this case is different because they didn't really deny any possible romantic development in the future and I think we can attest to the fact that this is a story about a friendship between girls (with mild yuri subtext).

Not to mention that they have done a bunch of yuri in the past (like, almost exclusively), so I think they can be trusted... unlike others.

last edited at May 29, 2019 9:11AM

When does the next chapter come out? You're killing me here, mangakasan. First you come out and say the obvious Yuri story isn't a Yuri because 'your rights', then there's a giant months long cliffhanger. Then you post a blog of you eating tasty food and going to a park?

Get back to work! >:(

June 27th, as you can see on the last page of the latest chapter. Hang in there.

June 27th, as you can see on the last page of the latest chapter. Hang in there.

Can't wait. :)

When does the next chapter come out? You're killing me here, mangakasan. First you come out and say the obvious Yuri story isn't a Yuri because 'your rights', then there's a giant months long cliffhanger. Then you post a blog of you eating tasty food and going to a park?

Get back to work! >:(

I get the frustration. However writers need to take some break, too, to keep them creative juices flowing. I'm certain she's working on some chapters little by little even while on hiatus. Keep the faith going mah dude.

While we wait for the chapter, here's the cover art for volume 5.

Oh I found nemo

Heavensrun posted:

Whenever I see a series like this where the author is like "No, see, they're just friends!" it makes me wonder...Like, did she have a friendship like this, and not realize that they were totally crushing on each other?

Whispering you A love song

last edited at Jun 25, 2019 12:17PM

im even more depressed after reading the new chapter. i need i cream.

We reach level of useless lesbian i never know we can reach.Feel like the "don't talk about your problems" trope is going so far through the roof that even Kanade give up. Also no friendship triangle because Kanade friend ship those two.

last edited at Jun 28, 2019 7:45AM

Subtext injection

Finally, the yuri is coming?

Even though this isn’t defined as yuri (which I definitely see why, we have a lesbian so useless that even a shipper like Kaede can’t help her out) I do feel like this is a turning point for Konatsu. As the reader, this is the first time we really get to see her point of view on things, and we can tell that she doesn’t feel okay drifting apart from Honami. Maybe we won’t get a kiss, but there could be some friendship hand holding at the end of this arc? Also I’m expecting a slew of Konatsu titles chapters after all of the Honami ones we just got.

The not lizard is strong in this one.

Wow, I like how this manga is going. Really natural pacing and characters.