uta: goodbye
kaoru, suddenly realizing she's bi:

I screamed. Anyways I’m wondering if there’ll be a time skip to where Uta is a little more grown and she ends up meeting Kaoru one day

You know I just realized this but wouldn’t the childhood friends tag be appropriate?

After all it's Yuri manga, i'm almost sure becouse of some unexpected miracle Uta and Kaoru will find TRUE LOVE and idk they'll bang each other and they'll have kids or something like that. I assume.

IDK, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Kaoru only married Reiichi because she was actually subconsciously in love with Uta, but social pressures and heavily ignored feelings made her settle for the next best thing that also permitted her to keep close to Uta.

(I'm being facetious of course.)

Actually, that seemed to be the exact setup for the first chunk of the story.

And frankly, it’s the only escape hatch to a U/K endgame.

I dunno, at this point I think her feelings for Reiichi were real, and I get the sense that she never thought about Uta that way until after Uta's confession. I think she loves Uta and wanted to be her family, but it never even occured to her that romance was an option. And now...she might be considering it? We haven't really gotten to see any of her POV since the confession. The knowledge that her husband is probably cheating, the fact that she's always been the pursuer andd never the pursued before this...There are a lot of things that might be causing her to reevaluate her feelings for Uta, so I don't think "Reiichi was always a substitute" is the only way to an Uta/Kaoru finale.

The big question mark here is Reiichi. Like how much does he know? We know he married Kaoru out of guilt and obligation, and he occasionally seems a little bit aware of what's going on. But did he keep his distance from Kaoru because he suspected his little sister had a crush on her? Is he going behind her back with Risako just because he's selfish and in love with her, or is he just unable to commit to Kaoru because he feels guilty? (Or am I just reading way too much into his little behaviors?)

I mean, I think the author could do a lot of interesting things with a setup like this, but it would require that they quit faffing about with secondary characters. Chloe/Kuroe and her girlfriend are kind of interestingly messed up, but we've just spent way too much time on them, and their relationship just doesn't have much chemistry.

The big question mark here is Reiichi. Like how much does he know? We know he married Kaoru out of guilt and obligation, and he occasionally seems a little bit aware of what's going on. But did he keep his distance from Kaoru because he suspected his little sister had a crush on her? Is he going behind her back with Risako just because he's selfish and in love with her, or is he just unable to commit to Kaoru because he feels guilty? (Or am I just reading way too much into his little behaviors?)

I mean, I think the author could do a lot of interesting things with a setup like this, but it would require that they quit faffing about with secondary characters. Chloe/Kuroe and her girlfriend are kind of interestingly messed up, but we've just spent way too much time on them, and their relationship just doesn't have much chemistry.

This (the withheld info part) has been my main complaint about the story all along. The setup is not uninteresting in terms of the questions about these characters it raised, but the author hasn’t seemed very interested in shedding light on any of the issues that were initially set up.

Reiichi at this point is more of a cypher than ever, and except for the Exposition-Dump-Mom From Hell chapter, have we gotten any real insight into the backstory of these characters at all? Why would the author have Risako reappear out of nowhere, only to add nothing that we don’t already know—just to remind us of her existence?

When I asked similar questions some time ago, I got several lectures informing me about what “suspense” was, and how authors create interest by gradually revealing the characters to us. (Side note: I already knew that.) I can’t say that I’ve seen much payoff in this regard since then, however.

And any parallels between the secondary characters and the main plot that some readers have claimed to see seem strained at best. I don’t particularly dislike those characters, but those stories just seem to me to be all but irrelevant to the main story.

Uta stepping up and moving forward has been the main recent point of interest for me. The problem there is that at this point the logical trajectory of her personal growth takes her up and out of the story entirely.

And any parallels between the secondary characters and the main plot that some readers have claimed to see seem strained at best. I don’t particularly dislike those characters, but those stories just seem to me to be all but irrelevant to the main story.

Maybe author just want to buy some time to create good and interesting payoff & solution for all of these problems which story have now, and that's why right now we (author) focus more on side characters stories.

And any parallels between the secondary characters and the main plot that some readers have claimed to see seem strained at best. I don’t particularly dislike those characters, but those stories just seem to me to be all but irrelevant to the main story.

Maybe author just want to buy some time to create good and interesting payoff & solution for all of these problems which story have now, and that's why right now we (author) focus more on side characters stories.

That’s called “dithering and marking time.”

Maybe author just want to buy some time to create good and interesting payoff & solution for all of these problems which story have now, and that's why right now we (author) focus more on side characters stories.

If the side characters are interesting and engaging, you can get away with that, but if they aren't, it hurts the flow a lot. Chloe's emotionally stunted and Miyabi's a doormat. Independently either of them could be interesting, but their relationship is lopsided and unsatisfying, and doesn't really go anywhere or have any connection to the main plot. It's a kinda pointless, meandering b-story, and it's just dragging down the flow.

Without the side characters, I feel like the main plot would have a decent pace. With the side characters, it drags. If the side characters were more tied in with the main plot, it would feel like less of a diversion, but as it is, it just feels like every now and then the author stops making one manga and makes a different (less interesting) manga set in the same universe for a couple of months.

last edited at Aug 15, 2019 12:18PM

The lack of connection really hurts the secondary story, honestly. It would be one thing if Uta was -learning- something by interacting with these side characters. That would inform and influence the main plot and how she deals with her problems. Instead, they're just there.

Like, I keep thinking about how in Bloom Into You, you've got all these little side plots and secondary characters, and they're fun and we like them, but more important than that their experiences inform the perspectives of the protagonists. The protagonist in that manga -learns things- from hanging out with her ace friend, she recognizes her own anxieties in her bestie's heartbreak and draws confidence from her peer's encouragement. Her sister gives her perspective and encouragement as well.

I can't think of anything Uta has really gained from watching Miyabi pine for the affections of someone that isn't into her but is dating her because eh why not I guess whatever just don't expect much

last edited at Aug 15, 2019 12:11PM

I can't think of anything Uta has really gained from watching Miyabi pine for the affections of someone that isn't into her but is dating her because eh why not I guess whatever just don't expect much

I kinda loved Kuro at first--the familiar side character who the main character can talk to about her problems, but who in this case was kinda snarky and uninvolved, with zero chance that she secretly liked Uta--just a mildly interesting variation on a stock character role.

Then it turned into Chatting at the Dysfunctional Tea Room . . .

The lack of connection really hurts the secondary story, honestly. It would be one thing if Uta was -learning- something by interacting with these side characters. That would inform and influence the main plot and how she deals with her problems. Instead, they're just there.

This. The side characters' love story is this manga's weakest plot point. Not only because they don't being nothing for the protagonist, but also their love is kinda awful. I really don't see why that girl loves Kuroe. Kuroe is nice for a friend or/and a side character, but for a love story she is like 5 times worse than Mei from Citrus.
I only didn't mind reading about them because I needed a break from the main plot's heaviness.

I can't think of anything Uta has really gained from watching Miyabi pine for the affections of someone that isn't into her but is dating her because eh why not I guess whatever just don't expect much

I kinda loved Kuro at first--the familiar side character who the main character can talk to about her problems, but who in this case was kinda snarky and uninvolved, with zero chance that she secretly liked Uta--just a mildly interesting variation on a stock character role.

Then it turned into Chatting at the Dysfunctional Tea Room . . .

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
(points enthusiastically) All of that, yes.

She was great on her own, Miyabi having a crush on her would be cuter if it just wasn't reciprocated (and might provide a situation where Uta has someone to relate to instead of just someone to confide in.)

The story with kuroe is only to bring "humour" to the other events that are the arrival of the mother of uta, the rejection of kaoru to the declaration of uta and the departure of uta... this story is only for that.
The author must absolutely accelerate on important points important priority on the risako-kaoru-reii trio with a parallel on the reunion between uta and his parents.
But it is true that the author does not have much logic about interesting priorities such as the feeling of kaoru that we hardly see expressed after his rejection and which would have been much more interesting than rather pathetic dialogues with the secondary characters.
Or he takes his time and his manga will be 60 chapters long.

At this point we can just drop that shitty manga or have a hope that in near future there will be a... idk some kind of promise i guess about good & intresting story from author...

It's not that bad as Citrus but... That story could be so much more enjoyable without "fillers"...

But it is true that the author does not have much logic about interesting priorities such as the feeling of kaoru that we hardly see expressed after his rejection and which would have been much more interesting than rather pathetic dialogues with the secondary characters.

Yes, although I've been pretty snarky about her as a character--and probably will continue to be--I would very much welcome more substantive development of Kaoru.

Even in the segments that apparently "focus" on her, we don't really get as much insight into her thoughts and feelings as we should--a lot of her scenes are repetitive or just unrevealing.

(Unless the whole point is that she's a ditherer who wants things that either are impossible--like everything at home going back to "the way things used to be"--or that she's unwilling or unable to figure out how to try to get, like a more honest relationship with her husband.)

Btw we know how many chapters that story will have?

Btw we know how many chapters that story will have?

No mention for its end, we can base ourselves on the potential volumes which contain 5 chapters... Se which means that we will certainly have at least 5 chapters because the last volume comes out this month if containing chapters 21 to 25. But given the time the author takes to develop his story it would take between 15 and 20 chapters in my opinion. For the record, no chapter this month.

last edited at Aug 17, 2019 8:23PM

did yall see that this shit was getting an english release or did i miss that whole discussion
im afraid of preordering in case this really does end up bombing but man the cover art for them is beautiful.

like damn it's really tempting

^I can feel the suffering in Uta's face...

^I can feel the suffering in Uta's face...

Being Uta is suffering.

did yall see that this shit was getting an english release or did i miss that whole discussion
im afraid of preordering in case this really does end up bombing but man the cover art for them is beautiful.

like damn it's really tempting

Gosh I am such a UtaxKaoru shipper, if this story has any other ending I will flip out lol Kaoru, please open your eyes and stop being so useless!

And the worst part is that I have no clue about what could happen for Kaoru to realize she is attracted to Uta...the situation is so complicated :( maybe if there is a time skip...

And the worst part is that I have no clue about what could happen for Kaoru to realize she is attracted to Uta...the situation is so complicated :( maybe if there is a time skip...

oh fuck no... Timeskips are the worst things ever created in fiction...

I just noticed... Uta always seems to wear that triangle hair pin. Coincidence or a symbol of the love triangle?

I just noticed... Uta always seems to wear that triangle hair pin. Coincidence or a symbol of the love triangle?

this symbolism is delicious

uta: goodbye
kaoru, suddenly realizing she's bi:

I screamed. Anyways I’m wondering if there’ll be a time skip to where Uta is a little more grown and she ends up meeting Kaoru one day

...and then Kaoru's pushing a pram with her and Reiichi's twins while Uta's with her gf...