The first episode of Luminous Blue anime:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=81&v=4SSBM2kW9do

Well, not really animated... but the voice acting is great. ^^

The first episode of Luminous Blue anime:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=81&v=4SSBM2kW9do

Well, not really animated... but the voice acting is great. ^^

Thank you! Loved the voices. Ichijinsha got pros to do it, that's certain.

being told that smiling doesn't suit you is pretty toxic, that's a rather neat concept to explore

Amane is really unlucky and I guess too naive

Amane is certainly naive but néné is far from being a nice girl either....

Kou burns down King's Landing

Can that place ever take a break?

People throw around the word "toxic" like it's nobodies business it seems (But also like it's everyone's business)

The word toxic hasn't been used once in like 4 pages. I think you might still be stuck on the last chapter.

I mean in more general terms, it's frequency of use has skyrocketed lately, I don't think you can deny that.
Hasn't been used once in four pages is a decent enough benchmark I suppose.

The Toxic Avenger shall solve all!

So Nene was deeply damaged by everyone telling her not to smile (the bastards) and Kou is once again the best. Just as I expected.

Now to shoot for the poly end. Come on, make it happen, Iwami.

(Totally) Spoilers: It won't.

last edited at Jul 29, 2019 6:34AM

As far as the "cutting ties for your own good" trope goes, I think this one had one of the better reasons behind it, since the problem was Nene's own terrible feelings-- which she was promptly disturbed by.

Cutting ties with Amane doesn't solve anything. The problem is not Amane to begin with. Nene had issues from before she met Amane. She has to face those issues.

Yes, Amane wasn't the problem, that's what I said. No matter how you look at it Nene's own feelings are the issue here-- she realized them and decided to promptly cut ties with Amane because she figured she'd eventually only end up hurting her in one way or another. From a reader's perspective it's easy to say "that's stupid just sort it out with her", but as far as fictional drama goes I don't think this was bad reasoning.

As far as the "cutting ties for your own good" trope goes, I think this one had one of the better reasons behind it, since the problem was Nene's own terrible feelings-- which she was promptly disturbed by.

Cutting ties with Amane doesn't solve anything. The problem is not Amane to begin with. Nene had issues from before she met Amane. She has to face those issues.

Yes, Amane wasn't the problem, that's what I said. No matter how you look at it Nene's own feelings are the issue here-- she realized them and decided to promptly cut ties with Amane because she figured she'd eventually only end up hurting her in one way or another. From a reader's perspective it's easy to say "that's stupid just sort it out with her", but as far as fictional drama goes I don't think this was bad reasoning.

...and then she promptly failed to follow through with even that and instead ended up rubbing salt into the wound in a weird passive-aggressive limbo relationship until Kou came along.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

As far as the "cutting ties for your own good" trope goes, I think this one had one of the better reasons behind it, since the problem was Nene's own terrible feelings-- which she was promptly disturbed by.

Cutting ties with Amane doesn't solve anything. The problem is not Amane to begin with. Nene had issues from before she met Amane. She has to face those issues.

Yes, Amane wasn't the problem, that's what I said. No matter how you look at it Nene's own feelings are the issue here-- she realized them and decided to promptly cut ties with Amane because she figured she'd eventually only end up hurting her in one way or another. From a reader's perspective it's easy to say "that's stupid just sort it out with her", but as far as fictional drama goes I don't think this was bad reasoning.

...and then she promptly failed to follow through with even that and instead ended up rubbing salt into the wound in a weird passive-aggressive limbo relationship until Kou came along.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I hate it that I have to quote Tony Abbott on this one, but...
Y'know, shit happens sometimes, right?
¯_(ツ)_/¯

As far as the "cutting ties for your own good" trope goes, I think this one had one of the better reasons behind it, since the problem was Nene's own terrible feelings-- which she was promptly disturbed by.

Cutting ties with Amane doesn't solve anything. The problem is not Amane to begin with. Nene had issues from before she met Amane. She has to face those issues.

Yes, Amane wasn't the problem, that's what I said. No matter how you look at it Nene's own feelings are the issue here-- she realized them and decided to promptly cut ties with Amane because she figured she'd eventually only end up hurting her in one way or another. From a reader's perspective it's easy to say "that's stupid just sort it out with her", but as far as fictional drama goes I don't think this was bad reasoning.

...and then she promptly failed to follow through with even that and instead ended up rubbing salt into the wound in a weird passive-aggressive limbo relationship until Kou came along.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Yeah, this was a version of Kdrama Noble Idiocy without the nobility.

As far as the "cutting ties for your own good" trope goes, I think this one had one of the better reasons behind it, since the problem was Nene's own terrible feelings-- which she was promptly disturbed by.

Cutting ties with Amane doesn't solve anything. The problem is not Amane to begin with. Nene had issues from before she met Amane. She has to face those issues.

Yes, Amane wasn't the problem, that's what I said. No matter how you look at it Nene's own feelings are the issue here-- she realized them and decided to promptly cut ties with Amane because she figured she'd eventually only end up hurting her in one way or another. From a reader's perspective it's easy to say "that's stupid just sort it out with her", but as far as fictional drama goes I don't think this was bad reasoning.

...and then she promptly failed to follow through with even that and instead ended up rubbing salt into the wound in a weird passive-aggressive limbo relationship until Kou came along.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Yeah, sure, but that's not what I'm talking about.
I was saying that I'm fine with the explanation given, not that she succeeded in what she wanted to achieve. She probably wanted to cut ties entirely. For the record, I'm not trying to take some moral high ground and give moral advice to fictional characters, I'm not saying what she did was right or wrong, I'm strictly just talking about the writing behind the conflict and how I don't dislike it

last edited at Jul 29, 2019 9:55PM

Doesn't really make a difference since she immediately demonstrated her own inability to actually let go of the relationship. Best laid plans don't really mean squat if you're utterly incapable of realising them.

Yes, and if it did work out we probably wouldn't have a story here. I'm not sure why you keep replying to me talking about how Nene's failed to execute her plan when I wasn't talking about that in the first place.

Mostly just an observation of the fact that whether tie-cutting was a sensible course of action to pursue is something of a moot point since she promptly demonstrated herself incapable of actually doing it in the first place.

And then essentially hoisted the responsibility of achieving that onto Amane by trying to drive her away by being gratuitously nasty, which strikes me as rather putting compound interest on an already dick move.

If I understand correctly, Nene expressly decided to go to the same high school as Amane, even after she had decided to break up with her.

If she really believed that cutting ties was necessary (either for her own psychological well-being or to protect Amane from the consequences of the toxic way their relationship was making Nene feel), she could have gone elsewhere.

So going to the same school and then torturing Amane emotionally negates any positive spin you could put on her decision to break up.

I’m saying that I do dislike the writing choice here, because to make it work (i.e., to make Nene seem more like a conflicted adolescent and less like a sadistic narcissist) we would have needed more and earlier insight into Nene’s decision and more nuance in how she treated Amane (and Kou, for that matter—that business of “flaunt the new relationship in the place that used to be the Special Place with the old girlfriend and where the OG now works” is almost as shitty a thing to do to the new girlfriend as to the old).

If she really believed that cutting ties was necessary (either for her own psychological well-being or to protect Amane from the consequences of the toxic way their relationship was making Nene feel), she could have gone elsewhere.

But we couldn't had the story then.

This is so sad, so sad...
They forbid her to smile, she restrained herself to love back the girl who loves her, she broke her heart and made her cry.
And now two photos are competing against each other, their happiness and their sorrow.
Luminous blue is such a good title for this manga...

I'm so sorry for Amane, she suffers the most. It's really not good to break the heart of the girl, leaving her without reasons and explanations. I would hug Amane and comfort her.

If she really believed that cutting ties was necessary (either for her own psychological well-being or to protect Amane from the consequences of the toxic way their relationship was making Nene feel), she could have gone elsewhere.

But we couldn't had the story then.

That’s not the point. By setting the breakup between middle-school and high school, the author specifically put that “Nene could have gone elsewhere” option on the table. Hypothetically, the story could take place between first and second year when Kou transferred in, or there could be an explanation that family issues required that Nene attend that particular school. That doesn’t mean the author intends for us to think that Nene intentionally came to that school in order to torture Amane; it could just be slightly sloppy writing. (I.e., the start of high school seemed like a natural break point in the characters’ lives, but the author didn’t think through what that timing might suggest about Nene.)

Just because we generate interpretations by hypothesizing alternative courses of action for a story doesn’t mean “but then we wouldn’t have the story.”

By setting the breakup between middle-school and high school, the author specifically put that “Nene could have gone elsewhere” option on the table.

Yeah but we know that Nene still love Amane so i think she couldn't bring herself to leave Amane all of a sudden and come with that twisted plan.

By setting the breakup between middle-school and high school, the author specifically put that “Nene could have gone elsewhere” option on the table.

Yeah but we know that Nene still love Amane so i think she couldn't bring herself to leave Amane all of a sudden and come with that twisted plan.

I've been saying that for some time now, yes. Though it's rather less of a "twisted plan" than "inability to either compromise or choose between two directly contradictory impulses" (ie. her love and hate/envy for Amane) and duly kind of half-assing the whole thing at the other party's expense. Or as she puts it herself, "she has to hate me" - because however chronically mixed up her feelings about Amane were she still balked at going the full mile and conclusively breaking things off for good, ergo she had to try and push her into doing that instead.

People do the damnedest things to cope with their weaknesses and often enough at somebody else's expense.

If I understand correctly, Nene expressly decided to go to the same high school as Amane, even after she had decided to break up with her.

If she really believed that cutting ties was necessary (either for her own psychological well-being or to protect Amane from the consequences of the toxic way their relationship was making Nene feel), she could have gone elsewhere.

So going to the same school and then torturing Amane emotionally negates any positive spin you could put on her decision to break up.

I’m saying that I do dislike the writing choice here, because to make it work (i.e., to make Nene seem more like a conflicted adolescent and less like a sadistic narcissist) we would have needed more and earlier insight into Nene’s decision and more nuance in how she treated Amane (and Kou, for that matter—that business of “flaunt the new relationship in the place that used to be the Special Place with the old girlfriend and where the OG now works” is almost as shitty a thing to do to the new girlfriend as to the old).

In my opinion, there doesn't need to be a "positive spin" on her break up. The most sensible spin would be if she actually stopped being in love with. All I'm saying is that it's a "solid" explanation. Getting a backstory onto why she did what she did doesn't mean the writer is trying to redeem her. Obviously backstories like these carry those connotations but I really don't see it that way. I believe it's too early to say "this doesn't work" and it's generally why I refrain from getting into following up on these kinds of conversations without the talked about drama being resolved. All I'm saying is that the point felt solid and multi-layered enough to carry the drama on in a fresh way, hopefully leading to a good resolution of not only their relationship but also Nene's complex. Obviously I can't guarantee whether the mangaka's writing ability can achieve that, but I also believe calling this badly written just because we don't sympathise with Nene's actions after her sad backstory is tad pessimistic.

If I understand correctly, Nene expressly decided to go to the same high school as Amane, even after she had decided to break up with her.

If she really believed that cutting ties was necessary (either for her own psychological well-being or to protect Amane from the consequences of the toxic way their relationship was making Nene feel), she could have gone elsewhere.

So going to the same school and then torturing Amane emotionally negates any positive spin you could put on her decision to break up.

I’m saying that I do dislike the writing choice here, because to make it work (i.e., to make Nene seem more like a conflicted adolescent and less like a sadistic narcissist) we would have needed more and earlier insight into Nene’s decision and more nuance in how she treated Amane (and Kou, for that matter—that business of “flaunt the new relationship in the place that used to be the Special Place with the old girlfriend and where the OG now works” is almost as shitty a thing to do to the new girlfriend as to the old).

In my opinion, there doesn't need to be a "positive spin" on her break up. The most sensible spin would be if she actually stopped being in love with. All I'm saying is that it's a "solid" explanation. Getting a backstory onto why she did what she did doesn't mean the writer is trying to redeem her. Obviously backstories like these carry those connotations but I really don't see it that way. I believe it's too early to say "this doesn't work" and it's generally why I refrain from getting into following up on these kinds of conversations without the talked about drama being resolved. All I'm saying is that the point felt solid and multi-layered enough to carry the drama on in a fresh way, hopefully leading to a good resolution of not only their relationship but also Nene's complex. Obviously I can't guarantee whether the mangaka's writing ability can achieve that, but I also believe calling this badly written just because we don't sympathise with Nene's actions after her sad backstory is tad pessimistic.

I’m not saying I hate it—I just think the writing and characterization isn’t as tight and nuanced as it could be. Maybe it’s the author’s intention to have readers’ attitudes about the central characters ping-pong back and forth as information gets revealed (we all but had a lynch mob in here about Amane’s character at one point; now that weathervane has shifted around completely). Or maybe not.

I'll patiently wait for updates.