I think the ones frustrated with the story are mostly because there is no yuri payoff and it's likely there won't be.

You really need to stop projecting opinions onto other people--you're not a mindreader. I for one don't particularly care about a "yuri payoff." I just think that this is a series that once had a lot of potential for developing an interesting story that has been fumbled in the execution. As several people have noted previously, the series in general suffers from a notable lack of focus.

I disagree that the characters (with the possible exception of Uta) have been "well-developed." Characters behave erratically, information is withheld from readers for no reason, important scenes are chopped up almost randomly (like Uta's "cliffhanger" confession that only got replayed several chapters later in a flashback), and plot lines get picked up and dropped with little or no discernible rationale.

If this were just poorly done in general, it would be easy to ignore. But for me the frustration comes from its occasional flashes of interesting development that just remind us of that initial promise, holding out a glimmer of hope that it might someday recall what it was supposed to be about.

I disagree that the characters (with the possible exception of Uta) have been "well-developed." Characters behave erratically, information is withheld from readers for no reason, important scenes are chopped up almost randomly (like Uta's "cliffhanger" confession that only got replayed several chapters later in a flashback), and plot lines get picked up and dropped with little or no discernible rationale.

This just isn't true. Kaoru is extremely well-developed (her character is what's keeping me interested), the pacing of scenes is pretty traditional and normal for manga, and I haven't seen any plot lines get dropped... what are you referring to?

If you, personally, don't like Kaoru, then of course you're going to dislike this manga: she's one of the two main characters! But this isn't the story going off into unfocused chaos, just because you'd prefer it to be about a different character than it's about.

I disagree that the characters (with the possible exception of Uta) have been "well-developed." Characters behave erratically, information is withheld from readers for no reason, important scenes are chopped up almost randomly (like Uta's "cliffhanger" confession that only got replayed several chapters later in a flashback), and plot lines get picked up and dropped with little or no discernible rationale.

This just isn't true. Kaoru is extremely well-developed (her character is what's keeping me interested), the pacing of scenes is pretty traditional and normal for manga, and I haven't seen any plot lines get dropped... what are you referring to?

My attitude has nothing to do with anything as puerile as “liking” the character of Kaoru—it has to do with the way the mangaka has constructed the story.

You’re obviously reading a series I’m not. Enjoy it.

last edited at Nov 16, 2019 10:33PM

god this manga really hit me like a truck i wanna scream and kinda cry
i'm trying to have faith in uta/kaoru give me this ending please

last edited at Nov 16, 2019 10:55PM

Karou is sad all the time right now and it's killing me.

Dat ch27 credits page tho... I was kind of hoping it was going that way lol

Lol! I was definitely getting those kinda vibes from that panel though and the 2 panels following that xD So the credit page was win!

There are lot of approaches to story telling, like painting has realism, impressionism etc, ultimately even plot is optional.

I enjoy reading this, it is among my favourite manga, and I get a feeling of happy anticipation whenever I get a notification for a new chapter, so I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that the author is doing something right.

It isn't obvious where things are going, but I don't feel like the lack of plot direction is a particular problem. I don't really have the background to get in to technical literary criticism (I opted out of English in school at the earliest opportunity), but I think what sets this story apart is the emotion. The emotional "images" in this story are incredibly vivid, Uta's painful unrequited yearning, Kaoru's empty aimlessness, and the little moments of contentment they find together. Even the "side stories" add depth and detail to the thoughts and emotion of the two main characters (remember mostly they are stories that Uta is observing or being told that she is reflecting on to understand her own feelings), and get the reader thinking about the nature of love and relationships.

I do agree with some of the other posts noting that serialisation isn't the best way to read this story, since reading a number of chapters in a burst is much better to build an emotional "flow", but I guess that is just a good excuse for regular re-reading ;)

Anyone else disturbed by how many readers find Risako gaslighting Kaoru to be romantic?

Her friend was looking to her for reassurance, and she lied to her, waited until she was vulnerable, then implied she was paranoid and guilted her into apologizing.

Anyone else disturbed by how many readers find Risako gaslighting Kaoru to be romantic?

Her friend was looking to her for reassurance, and she lied to her, waited until she was vulnerable, then implied she was paranoid and guilted her into apologizing.

I mean, it's obviously not romantic if she is actually having sex with Kaoru's husband. But we don't know that's why she was with him and why she lied. That scene was so deliberately odd, with Risako bringing up the issue, then getting bizarrely flirty, then looking surprised when Kaoru dropped it, it's hard to know what's going on until Risako gets her own chapter.

I think the ones frustrated with the story are mostly because there is no yuri payoff and it's likely there won't be.

You really need to stop projecting opinions onto other people--you're not a mindreader. I for one don't particularly care about a "yuri payoff." I just think that this is a series that once had a lot of potential for developing an interesting story that has been fumbled in the execution. As several people have noted previously, the series in general suffers from a notable lack of focus.

I said I "think". No need to get defensive as I wasn't talking about you or anyone in particular.
I fail to see how the series has suddenly changed from the beginning to now. To me it has been consistent since the start.

I disagree that the characters (with the possible exception of Uta) have been "well-developed." Characters behave erratically, information is withheld from readers for no reason, important scenes are chopped up almost randomly (like Uta's "cliffhanger" confession that only got replayed several chapters later in a flashback), and plot lines get picked up and dropped with little or no discernible rationale.

If this were just poorly done in general, it would be easy to ignore. But for me the frustration comes from its occasional flashes of interesting development that just remind us of that initial promise, holding out a glimmer of hope that it might someday recall what it was supposed to be about.

You are talking very vaguely. Like you're not mentioning what is that the story is lacking right now. What glimpses of hope you're referring to?

This manga is such a slow burn. When I stop and read this whole thing from start to finish when it ends, I bet I'll love it, but until then, I'll just keep trucking along waiting for somebody to explode

So those who think that reichii and risako don't cheat towards kaoru then why reii lie to kaoru by telling her that he is prolonging his work and he sleeps or during this time there? at the hotel? at the Hospital he is on a phone call with risako and he blames himself by saying "but what are you doing!", that risako says she has never seen again since her marriage....
If they don't cheat then they lie to her shamefully and why?
There is clearly a hidden objective at risako but we don't really know what else.

I feel like this cheating angle has been prolonged way too much to not have any other significance than just Reiichi cheating.

Also regarding Risako. She may very well be in love with Reiichi and cheating, but on the other hand her words this chapter don't add up with this angle much.
When she was asked about her love life she had nothing to talk about. Instead she avoided the issue and said she was in love with her job. But then admitted she didn't like being single.
We also learn from their friends that men hit on her often.
So my question is, even if she was in love with Reiichi, why wouldn't she at least try dating someone, since she doesn't like being single and also knows Reiichi is married and not available in the way she wants to?
Also we know Reiichi liked her in highschool and not Kaoru. So why did she break up with him in the first place?
If her love for Reiichi was this strong as for her to meet him in secret now and not even try to move on and date someone else, then I find it hard to believe she would break up with him for Kaoru's sake in the first place.

do something gay already! please~

Yes it is the biggest mystery of this manga for the moment, risako has been introduced very early with small distinctive appearances... she pleases men but says that she is not more interested in it than her... it seems that she slows down her love life for a reason, for kaoru? why? This story has been going on since high school and maybe reicchi is just a bridge between kaoru and risako, especially for the latter.
Personally I see the manga evolving on the evolutions of kaoru and uta each on their own, how they will solve their respective problems and find some kind of peace. For the moment we are on kaoru but the author will do the same thing with uta.
Once all this is over, they will find each other again, not necessarily for love but to find each other soothed about their family problems.

So like when exactly will Kaoru reach that point of rock bottom?

I feel like this cheating angle has been prolonged way too much to not have any other significance than just Reiichi cheating.

Also regarding Risako. She may very well be in love with Reiichi and cheating, but on the other hand her words this chapter don't add up with this angle much.
When she was asked about her love life she had nothing to talk about. Instead she avoided the issue and said she was in love with her job. But then admitted she didn't like being single.
We also learn from their friends that men hit on her often.
So my question is, even if she was in love with Reiichi, why wouldn't she at least try dating someone, since she doesn't like being single and also knows Reiichi is married and not available in the way she wants to?
Also we know Reiichi liked her in highschool and not Kaoru. So why did she break up with him in the first place?
If her love for Reiichi was this strong as for her to meet him in secret now and not even try to move on and date someone else, then I find it hard to believe she would break up with him for Kaoru's sake in the first place.

The questions in your post are good examples of what I see as less-than-satisfactory execution of this story. Where some see a "slow burn" or "unpredictable plot," I see a muddled and erratic focus. We learned very early on that Reiichi first liked Risako and not Kaoru; how the situation got from there to the narrative present was one of the central questions posed by the series.

But except for the fact that Reiichi and Uta's mother had something to do with Kaoru's mother's death (and so MAYBE there was some element of guilt in his marrying Kaoru--it seems likely, but it's never actually stated), although we've seen a good deal of these characters, we haven't actually come any closer to understanding their true relationships; in fact, it's less clear than ever.

Those are just a fraction of the issues and questions raised by this story that either haven't been addressed or that have been given erratic, inconclusive, or contradictory attention. For an almost random instance, there was going to be something about R & U's father (remember the phone call that interrupted Kaoru's half-hearted attempt to confront Reiichi?), but that never went anywhere. (The father contacted Reiichi for the first time ever and insisted on seeing him, because . . .?)

It would be one thing if all these underlying relationships started out being vaguely defined and then were slowly revealed to us in detail, but as the many questions people keep posing indicate, we actually haven't been given very much real development. And when we were given concrete information about the past of these characters, it wasn't done via subtle revelations, it was the mom bursting in pretty much from nowhere with a bunch of direct exposition, and then leaving again.

"Character development" means two different, but related, things:

• Something done by the author to reveal who a character is and what they are like. Kaoru has received a fair amount of this sort of attention--she's passive, conflict-avoidant, and insecure.

• Something that happens within the story to a character to change who they are and how they act. Uta certainly has undergone development in this sense.

Kaoru, on the other hand, says in Chapter 13, "I have to stop pretending that everything is all right." In the latest chapter (i.e., 14 chapters later), she says, "I want to keep believing the words of those I care about," indicating that she hasn't really changed since then. She goes on to say, "But just one more step and I won't be able to do that anymore." Kaoru has been about to act to make a change in her life a number of times, but she has very rarely actually done it so far, and she has passed up several opportunities to do so. (Clarifying Uta's feelings for her was one exception, and in that case Uta really didn't give her much choice.)

None of this even touches on the list of "apparent cliffhangers that went bust" or the "we interrupt this domestic melodrama to bring you another episode of the Schoolgirl Yuri Club After-School Special."

The "glimmer of hope" I mentioned previously is that, because the plot apparently can veer in any direction at all, it's theoretically possible that the story might suddenly start focusing on what it seemed to be about in the beginning. After all, anything could happen.

So like when exactly will Kaoru reach that point of rock bottom?

I'm thinking about the next suspicion she'll have, like for example reicchi going on a business trip a little too long or something like that or she really intends to ask reicchi for explanations or risako.
She's mentally preparing to act. Kaoru has always needed to think before acting.

So like when exactly will Kaoru reach that point of rock bottom?

I'm thinking about the next suspicion she'll have, like for example reicchi going on a business trip a little too long or something like that or she really intends to ask reicchi for explanations or risako.
She's mentally preparing to act. Kaoru has always needed to think before acting.

When do you see Kaoru as actually acting? I mean this seriously--I can much more easily remember occasions where she decides that she's going to act and then doesn't, or she starts to ask important questions but allows herself to be deflected by the answers.

None of this even touches on the list of "apparent cliffhangers that went bust" or the "we interrupt this domestic melodrama to bring you another episode of the Schoolgirl Yuri Club After-School Special."

Not sure if you're referring to the secondary characters here like Kuro. I agree on that. But this chapter wasn't about her, so I don't think this is relevant right now.

Regarding the cheating not being explained, that's just how a story works. Leaving some mysteries throughout a story is better than explaining them fast. That's a good writing actually. Don't serve everything on the reader's plate right away.
And it's also good because the "cheating" showcastes Kaoru's character. It would be different if it didn't serve any purpose and was only used to prolong the story.
But that's not the case, because it has pushed Kaoru's inner conflicts to come out and help her grow in the process. It is a plot device that is intertwined with character development.

Also pretty sure we will see more about Uta's family situation when we change to Uta's perspective again.
It would be bad writing if the story ended and these things you've mentioned were left without an answer. The story is still ongoing.

Regarding the cheating not being explained, that's just how a story works.

Please, I'm very well aware of "how stories work"--analyzing narratives is what I do for a living.

There's a difference between a story built around mysteries and simple withholding of information about characters and their motivations. For chapter after chapter readers have had occasion to argue that we're just about to learn important information about these characters and their past and present relationships, but we very rarely do. Or else the plot suggests that something major is just about to happen, but it doesn't (and if it ever does happen, it will be several chapters down the line).

There's no reason to think that Reiichi isn't cheating except for the fact that final, definitive evidence has been withheld from us. Was Kaoru delusional when she thought she saw them together? No, Risako admitted to Uta that she was at the accident. Was there some innocent explanation for why they were together? If so, Reiichi declined to mention it when Kaoru was in the hospital.

Getting around to clarifying the events of Chapter 10 by Chapter 27 would be the farthest thing from "explaining them fast," and I actually don't expect that the story will end with no explanations at all. However, given the many occasions where readers have been mis-led into anticipating that important information will soon be revealed or a significant change is about to occur in the plot, there's no reason to believe that such explanations will occur except in a massive info-dump when the series is about to end.

So like when exactly will Kaoru reach that point of rock bottom?

I'm thinking about the next suspicion she'll have, like for example reicchi going on a business trip a little too long or something like that or she really intends to ask reicchi for explanations or risako.
She's mentally preparing to act. Kaoru has always needed to think before acting.

When do you see Kaoru as actually acting? I mean this seriously--I can much more easily remember occasions where she decides that she's going to act and then doesn't, or she starts to ask important questions but allows herself to be deflected by the answers.

I know she is full of compromises, but for example when she finally decides to clarify the feelings of love for uta, she has made her decision.
Now we must not forget that since the departure of uta (and kaoru who says it) she retains less her words towards reicchi already, the baby test confirmed her in the fact that he was not really serious with her. She got angry with her husband, which is not at all usual according to her friends, by the way. I'm sure she won't accept a reiichi or risako becoming now. We would all like it to go faster but kaoru evolves slowly but surely towards a less submissive character, is realistic because it takes time to change years of repression of itself.
Now it is obvious that the author takes all his time but I think you have to get used to this fact. We may have many other chapters on developments both in kaoru and uta. But the denouement of this reiichi-kaoru-risako triangle is vital for the story and the author must know exactly what conclusion he wants to write.
So I don't agree that the mangaka doesn't know where his story goes.

However, given the many occasions where readers have been mis-led into anticipating that important information will soon be revealed or a significant change is about to occur in the plot, there's no reason to believe that such explanations will occur except in a massive info-dump when the series is about to end.

I think you're making a big assumption here. If you analyze stories for a living, then you know this is a character centric story, right?
The information is being withheld because it serves a purpose. It pushes for character development.

I personally don't see any big foreshadowing of upcoming information reveal like you said. Care to use some examples?
And well, the latest chapter has pushed the possibility of Reiichi not cheating slightly higher imo. That's also an assumption, but I tend to not find it impossible because the author has already given us some deeper character development than the usual cliche yuri stories.

The pace is good if you read all of the chapters in one. Maybe the waiting between the chapters only to get a slower development is the frustrating part for some readers. Not referring to you in particular, just in general.

She got angry with her husband, which is not at all usual according to her friends, by the way. I'm sure she won't accept a reiichi or risako becoming now. We would all like it to go faster but kaoru evolves slowly but surely towards a less submissive character

Kaoru is pretty pathetic. I don't like her as a character but I find her interesting nonetheless. Of course she wouldn't do a 180 turn and fully confront her husband head on.

last edited at Nov 17, 2019 12:09PM

Since this is a story about unrequited love I'm putting my bets on Risako having an unrequited love with Kaoru, especially since it was already stated Reiichi had an unrequited love with Risako.

"Cheating" storyline is still not clear. They're lying to her about something between them, but I'm still not convinced it's something as simple as (I'm stealin your man) cheating. Feels too drawn out and obvious if it was, but who knows, maybe it'll disappoint us again and it actually is plain cheating (without unrequited yuri love).

It's a fiction, so the goal is that in the end we don't stay on status quo...
The purpose of the story centred on kaoru and uta is to see their development, all the more reason why they are separated by distance and can no longer help each other (especially kaoru).
For me kaoru is finally making a personality change and I hope that the author will demonstrate it later.
The manga will not end like uta and kaoru will stay away from each other and everything and finished....