So, I went to animate Ikebukuro and bought lots of Adashima stuffs (almost all the kind of merch they have, yeah that's just how I love this series), including the LNs, and well duh, I didn't understand a thing, but in volume 5, chapter 5, i think they reconciled immediately as there was an illustration with the two of them five or six pages after the chapter started. So there goes my worries. Still, looking at the raws just made me hundred more times excited about the translation of next chapters. Also, this may not be the right thread to share this but please let me. I was really surprised that there weren't many Adashima goods in Akihabara, Shibuya,etc. It took me 1 day, 30K steps until I found that damn Adashima calendar in Ikebukuro. What is more frustrating is that my hotel room is located in Ikebukuro, and I decided to check that area last, lol. I was so happy that I found the calendar that I decided to buy the other available adashima merchs too. Hope that there will be more stuff once the anime aired, since this is a really good series.

I'm totally sure more will come out as the anime gets super popular!

Yeah. I can't wait for that. Speaking of, I wonder when are they planning to tell the airing date of the anime, or on what season.

The longer they take to announce the airing date the more I hope we might get a two-cour season, so I‘m not that impatient about getting to know the premiere date.

The longer they take to announce the airing date the more I hope we might get a two-cour season, so I‘m not that impatient about getting to know the premiere date.

The more episodes the better!

There's not really a decent stopping point for a one-cour show anyway. This latest translated chapter was the first major turning point of their relationship and it wouldn't fit in one cour unless they skipped around a lot, and it would still need some aftermath to be satisfying.

If it's just one cour, it'll end up being like Bloom Into You, where they unfortunately build up to the stage show but fail to get to it.

last edited at Feb 2, 2020 1:10PM

This took a while for me to get to reading but wow what a phone call. I really really hope Shima's "What a pain." statement means that she is now on her way to Adachi's house to comfort her and mend her broken heart.

I'm imagining it taking more of a reaffirming of some ground rules. Shima got to practice this in much less serious times when she told Addachi what she thought their freindship should be in the early chapters. (Can't remember which one) And Shima possibly advising against this note-book all about herself Addachi has, should that come up.

Course I could be dead wrong on this.

I have no outside knowledge, but I have to think Shimamura is definitely on her way to Adachi's house. Like it would just be too brutal to do practically anything else, the audience would lose patience with Shimamura entirely. And we only have like two more chapters to end this book, and I doubt the author's gonna leave things hanging entirely until the next book.

I have no outside knowledge, but I have to think Shimamura is definitely on her way to Adachi's house. Like it would just be too brutal to do practically anything else, the audience would lose patience with Shimamura entirely. And we only have like two more chapters to end this book, and I doubt the author's gonna leave things hanging entirely until the next book.

I am so hopeful this is the case; I've been morbidly depressed for nearly a week. If you would have told me last year I'd be so dedicated to this story, I'd have laughed at you with a "sure, okay."

I hesitate to call the phone call a break or psychosis or ascribe it to some sort of mental illness requiring a therapist. Adachi was not socially awkward, she was actively disinterested in social interaction. She had never been hurt that she would acknowledge before. She had no friends, her mom couldn't care less about her and she, also, simply didn't care. Then, all of a sudden she cared. Deeply, earnestly, awkwardly cared, only to have that thrown back in her face it would hurt. If you look back on the chapters Shimamura may have been thinking about Adachi often and enjoyed the thoughts but never let on she was. Adachi always had to make the first move. Always had to fight against her own nature to gain any closeness to Shimamura and thus, to see Shimamura seemingly put effort into getting closer to someone else would more than sting, it would be a punch to the gut. I'm not saying Shimamura's a bad person, but she is insensitive and clueless.I think, honestly, Adachi needed Shimamura to hang up on her. Adachi needs distance.

I don't think her mom doesn't care. I think she just doesn't know how to deal with Addachi.
Addachi has mentioned being taken to things like the park (and maybe the zoo?)as a child. So it seems she did try. Mom even made an effort to spend time with Addachi after Shima insisted she do so.

Wonder where the dads are. I'm so use to anime/manga giving parents non roles that this is all the more surprising it's suddenly part of the discussion.

You're right in a very real way. I said Adachi's mom didn't really care, what I should have said is Adachi's mom didn't show she cared which is not entirely the same thing. The important thing is that Adachi thinks her mom doesn't care or, more precisely, thinks her mom hates her which is just as devastating.

I have no outside knowledge, but I have to think Shimamura is definitely on her way to Adachi's house. Like it would just be too brutal to do practically anything else, the audience would lose patience with Shimamura entirely. And we only have like two more chapters to end this book, and I doubt the author's gonna leave things hanging entirely until the next book.

I am so hopeful this is the case; I've been morbidly depressed for nearly a week. If you would have told me last year I'd be so dedicated to this story, I'd have laughed at you with a "sure, okay."

I'm with you there, I saw it being talked about on reddit a year ago, people were talking about it with the likes of bloom into you, I was like pfff nah I'm not gonna read this, who knew just a few months later I'd be absolutely enamored with this story, like it's now my favorite yuri, like holy shit I love this story so much.

I gotta hand it to this author, not many people can get me to read a story where absolutely no development happens for over fifteen hundred pages.

Although I admit that I lost patience somewhere along the way and now I just skim through most of it.

I gotta hand it to this author, not many people can get me to read a story where absolutely no development happens for over fifteen hundred pages.

I wouldn't say no development. After all, we started this with two almost complete strangers that were both doing their best to avoid any close relationships, and, while the progress has indeed been slow, we have come to Adachi becoming the mess that she is where Shima is concerned, and even Shima reaching the point of not only frequently having Adachi on her mind, but also going as far as to arranging the Nagoya Valentine's surprise.

Tarumi's appearance has meant more pages spent away from the developments specifically between Adachi and Shima, but even then their interactions with Tarumi have again made them develop in other ways, especially Shima, and while it did eventually lead to the current disaster, which should hopefully be resolved soon, especially seeing the next chapter titles, has mostly been beneficial.

I would've likely grown very impatient had I been following the series since it started in 2012, but reading the translations at such a good pace since mid last year I've had no issues with the slow development, I think there's been meaning in every chapter so far and some of the slowness is felt due to the medium itself, as a novel takes time to read and can afford to spend a lot of words on describing actions and feelings. Look at Adachi and Shimamura's manga adaptations and their pacing is inevitably a lot faster, though I'd say they lose a lot in the transition between media.

I think there's been meaning in every chapter so far and some of the slowness is felt due to the medium itself, as a novel takes time to read and can afford to spend a lot of words on describing actions and feelings.

Dude, I'm an actual writer lol

Maybe I wasn't fair, there have been developments. It's just that, after 1500 pages, Shimamura still has no clue about Adachi's feelings. At this mark Frodo was probably halfway to Mordor, and Tolkien was famous for his slow pacing. The entire His Dark Materials trilogy is shorter than this, as is the Hitchhiker's Guide "five book trilogy". Voldemort had come back to life. You get the idea.

I think we can all agree that Hiruma-sensei's writing style is exceptionally slow paced even for novels. That's not necessarily a bad thing, of course. You can see from this forum just how many people love this story, and that's just within Dynasty's internet bubble.

It's just that for me, personally, the pacing is a big deal, even if I like the setting and the characters.

(Edit: and yes, I know novels are measured by word count rather than pages, there are probably discrepancies in what I said before. But I'm not gonna estimate the word count on these novels for the sake of an internet argument, so just roll with it)

last edited at Feb 3, 2020 8:21AM

You're comparing adventure series to a slice of life, but yeah, I don't think anyone will debate you on the pacing being slow.

Funny thing is if i remember correctly, Shimamura asked herself the question early on of "What if Adachi said she love me?" or something like that but she seem to totally reckon that after.

I mean Shimamura has explicitly considered the possibility multiple times and then her brain immediately goes HAHA NO JUST KIDDING IT'S JUST FRIENDSHIP! She even thinks about how her explanations don't actually make any sense. Or we get sequences where Shimamura just refuses to consider the meaning of her own actions - buying that flower hair clip that matches the one she's already got for Adachi, for instance.

I think sometimes the author pulls it off better than other times, but overall he's pretty clearly established that Shimamura's just in denial. She'll follow Adachi's lead wherever it takes them, but she refuses to think of any of the implications beyond the moment.

last edited at Feb 3, 2020 11:45AM

she refuses to think of any of the implications beyond the moment.

Sounds like the synopsis of my life.

I think it’s possible Adachi has multiple personality disorder. In the beginning of the novel she was calm towards Adachi. It seems as time has gone on Adachi has became more attached to Shimamira. I’m guessing Adachi seeing Shimamira with that girl at the festival caused some sort of psychotic break.

No.

Look, I appreciate the need for awareness of mental health issues. But this is not multiple personality disorder. All the people throwing around psychological conditions need to cool it, because it isn't productive to point at a teenager being a teenager and suggest that they're mentally ill. Especially when she isn't exhibiting any of the symptoms of that extremely specific and controversial mental illness.

Adachi -might- be neurodivergent, I seriously doubt anyone here is qualified to say so, but it is perfectly normal for a teenager, especially a queer teen, to have feelings for somebody, not know how to handle them on literally the first try, and have an irrational outburst over it. Moreso if their parents are distant.

If a baby is hungry, it cries and wails, because the hunger is literally the worst thing the kid has ever felt, and crying is the only way it knows how to communicate. Adachi has no perspective, and weak communication tools. That's what this outburst was.

If this came from a 20 year old, then yeah, that girl needs therapy. But Adachi is a child. She needs guidance and advice so she can learn the right lessons.

If this came from a 20 year old, then yeah, that girl needs therapy. But Adachi is a child. She needs guidance and advice so she can learn the right lessons.

In fairness, that’s part of what therapy is for

If this came from a 20 year old, then yeah, that girl needs therapy. But Adachi is a child. She needs guidance and advice so she can learn the right lessons.

In fairness, that’s part of what therapy is for

Everyone needs therapy, honestly. We all think we're capable of managing our decisions, emotions and traumas by ourselves, but most of the time we're not.

I think it’s possible Adachi has multiple personality disorder. In the beginning of the novel she was calm towards Adachi. It seems as time has gone on Adachi has became more attached to Shimamira. I’m guessing Adachi seeing Shimamira with that girl at the festival caused some sort of psychotic break.

No.

Look, I appreciate the need for awareness of mental health issues. But this is not multiple personality disorder. All the people throwing around psychological conditions need to cool it, because it isn't productive to point at a teenager being a teenager and suggest that they're mentally ill. Especially when she isn't exhibiting any of the symptoms of that extremely specific and controversial mental illness.

Adachi -might- be neurodivergent, I seriously doubt anyone here is qualified to say so, but it is perfectly normal for a teenager, especially a queer teen, to have feelings for somebody, not know how to handle them on literally the first try, and have an irrational outburst over it. Moreso if their parents are distant.

If a baby is hungry, it cries and wails, because the hunger is literally the worst thing the kid has ever felt, and crying is the only way it knows how to communicate. Adachi has no perspective, and weak communication tools. That's what this outburst was.

If this came from a 20 year old, then yeah, that girl needs therapy. But Adachi is a child. She needs guidance and advice so she can learn the right lessons.

This has very little to do with mental health issues. This is simply a girl who is tackling emotions and feelings she's never had to deal with for the first time with no support system in place. She has no friends to talk to as the only one she could talk to is the one she is in love with and parents who are virtual strangers. This is an outburst by a person who is scared and hurt and angry, plain and simple. While mental health awareness is very important continuing to speculate about multiple personality disorders, autism, et al is not the right answer in my opinion, especially given how the author hasn't intimated anything of the sort in the entire story.

All the people throwing around psychological conditions need to cool it, because it isn't productive to point at a teenager being a teenager and suggest that they're mentally ill. Especially when she isn't exhibiting any of the symptoms of that extremely specific and controversial mental illness.

Your honor, I'd like to show the court exhibit A:

the more i read, the more it seems that adachi is on the spectrum. so many little things that seem to fit. rocking when excited, difficulty understanding the nuances of jokes, etc. cute!

I could go back through the story and point out some examples on my own, but I haven't got to the point of ire yet that I want to. I'm getting close though.

Adachi -might- be neurodivergent, I seriously doubt anyone here is qualified to say so, but it is perfectly normal for a teenager, especially a queer teen, to have feelings for somebody, not know how to handle them on literally the first try, and have an irrational outburst over it. Moreso if their parents are distant.

I literally am on the spectrum. I'm also finishing up the classes needed for a Psy minor (debating on going for a dual major for it starting this summer)

Adachi has no perspective, and weak communication tools. That's what this outburst was.

That's part of what being autistic is!

still a bit to go to catch up, before i can participate with this conversation properly, but:

i just read the bit where nagafuji surprised hino by going over her house for a sleepover. i really love these two a lot. so cute! so gay!!

i always look forward to reading about them getting gayer at the end of most chapters.

another note: the first chapter of of volume 4 confused me a bit. im sure that was intentional. was the sakura from the first section a different aloof sakura from the past that shimamura was also gay for? i guess she has a type...

another note: the first chapter of of volume 4 confused me a bit. im sure that was intentional. was the sakura from the first section a different aloof sakura from the past that shimamura was also gay for? i guess she has a type...

I think it was suposs to be a what if situation as Adachi and Shimamura never encounter each other before the high school.

another note: the first chapter of of volume 4 confused me a bit. im sure that was intentional. was the sakura from the first section a different aloof sakura from the past that shimamura was also gay for? i guess she has a type...

I think it was suposs to be a what if situation as Adachi and Shimamura never encounter each other before the high school.

I think it was a different person and not Shimamura. Chapter 1 of Volume 4 is not a what-if scenario. Right?