I didn't realize this was getting updated because the thread wasn't getting bumped.

Ashima is a little shit. I understand her situation is tough but she also doesn't want to help herself and just passive aggressively wants to drag Sakura down too.
Also are we supposed to ship them? Their story is interesting but they're half sisters and I'm not into incest but whatever.
That kid catching them kissing reminded me of NTR and the guy leaking the pics of the girls almost doing the deed.

This is the most lukewarm story I've seen from Kodama. I think it's fine but not great either, and my main issue is that I find Rin boring and they don't appeal to me as a couple. There isn't much into her character and there is also no morale from her story for the readers.

I understand her situation is tough but she also doesn't want to help herself

Way to contradict yourself within a single sentence.

and just passive aggressively wants to drag Sakura down too.

Near as I can tell Ashima's feelings about Sakura are one big conflicting mess. On one hand, she's one of all of like two people in the entire town, and only one in the family, who Ashima can think of as "being on her side" even if she really can't do very much to concretely help (Mayumi doesn't exactly count here since Ashima A) has basically lost all faith in teachers and the like to begin with B) currently perceives her as an intruder violating her one real refuge at Rin's). It's not like she doesn't appreciate the sentiment, and she does seem to return at least some of Sakura's Mochi Seal of Approval beyond-sisterly affection too.

OTOH, Sakura has the social and familial position that has been arbitrarily denied Ashima through no fault of hers and this is something their surroundings rub her face in daily at ever turn. Ashima's need to be the goddamn Buddha to not feel hella bitter and jealous about all this, and tempted to vent her misery at Sakura - who is pretty much the only one she can take her frustrations out on anyway - on occasion.

All of which practically appears to boil down to Ashima's treatment of her sister fluctuating wildly depending on her current emotional state. If she's been served a particularly stinging rebuke of the colossal unfairness of her situation, as with the shoe incident back when Sakura was first introduced, she's wont to pass it along by being passive-aggressively mean. If she's in a stabler mood (presumably having been left in relative peace recently), as in the most recent chapter, she's pretty friendly in her particular taciturn fashion albeit still prone to yanking Sakura's chain so to speak.

Sakura, for her part, seems determined to grin and bear it all. Partly because she's gay for her sis obviously, partly, I suspect, because one of the very few concrete things she can do to make Ashima's legitimately shitty situation a bit more bearable is to accept some of the burden by proxy when the latter needs to unload. Plus she likely has one Hell of a nagging conscience about the whole situation and her own inability to do diddly squat about it, as well as her own in comparison quite privileged and pampered position. A way to make amends and even the scales even a little bit, so to speak.

All of which isn't really very healthy behaviour from either of them, of course, but then what do you expect in the context? They're two middle-school kids stuck in a situation that's practically psychological horror - "Hell is other people" as it were.

understand her situation is tough but she also doesn't want to help herself

Way to contradict yourself within a single sentence.

How is that contradicting? She has Rin, the sensei and Sakura trying to help her, but she opts to let her anger on Sakura instead.
There's a point where tough life situations stop being an excuse.

I understand her situation is tough but she also doesn't want to help herself

Way to contradict yourself within a single sentence.

and just passive aggressively wants to drag Sakura down too.

Near as I can tell Ashima's feelings about Sakura are one big conflicting mess. On one hand, she's one of all of like two people in the entire town, and only one in the family, who Ashima can think of as "being on her side" even if she really can't do very much to concretely help (Mayumi doesn't exactly count here since Ashima A) has basically lost all faith in teachers and the like to begin with B) currently perceives her as an intruder violating her one real refuge at Rin's). It's not like she doesn't appreciate the sentiment, and she does seem to return at least some of Sakura's Mochi Seal of Approval beyond-sisterly affection too.

OTOH, Sakura has the social and familial position that has been arbitrarily denied Ashima through no fault of hers and this is something their surroundings rub her face in daily at ever turn. Ashima's need to be the goddamn Buddha to not feel hella bitter and jealous about all this, and tempted to vent her misery at Sakura - who is pretty much the only one she can take her frustrations out on anyway - on occasion.

All of which practically appears to boil down to Ashima's treatment of her sister fluctuating wildly depending on her current emotional state. If she's been served a particularly stinging rebuke of the colossal unfairness of her situation, as with the shoe incident back when Sakura was first introduced, she's wont to pass it along by being passive-aggressively mean. If she's in a stabler mood (presumably having been left in relative peace recently), as in the most recent chapter, she's pretty friendly in her particular taciturn fashion albeit still prone to yanking Sakura's chain so to speak.

Sakura, for her part, seems determined to grin and bear it all. Partly because she's gay for her sis obviously, partly, I suspect, because one of the very few concrete things she can do to make Ashima's legitimately shitty situation a bit more bearable is to accept some of the burden by proxy when the latter needs to unload. Plus she likely has one Hell of a nagging conscience about the whole situation and her own inability to do diddly squat about it, as well as her own in comparison quite privileged and pampered position. A way to make amends and even the scales even a little bit, so to speak.

All of which isn't really very healthy behaviour from either of them, of course, but then what do you expect in the context? They're two middle-school kids stuck in a situation that's practically psychological horror - "Hell is other people" as it were.

I like this analysis. Sakura obviously has feelings for Ashima or she wouldn't put up with all this BS, but I'm not sure the opposite is true -- though who would think of "punishing" someone by kissing unless they have some attraction going? So I guess Ashima has some feelings too.

understand her situation is tough but she also doesn't want to help herself

Way to contradict yourself within a single sentence.

How is that contradicting? She has Rin, the sensei and Sakura trying to help her, but she opts to let her anger on Sakura instead.
There's a point where tough life situations stop being an excuse.

You do realise you just shifted the goalposts from "help herself" - which was a self-evidently ridiculous demand - to "letting others helping her" right. Plus elementary psychology says someone in her position A) is reflexively suspicious of people and their motivations by default (and you can bet she's had zero reason to have any faith whatsoever in teachers etc. so far) B) accumulates quite the surplus of pretty justifiable resentment and anger on a daily basis, and people can't just hold all that in forever. Troubled teenagers far less so.

And have you even been paying attention to what she does to Sakura? Because it's extremely mild given her laundry list of grievances. There's a bunch of obvious emotional knives she could readily twist if she wanted to hurt her, like the flagrant favoritism she gets from their parents or her inability and/or unwillingness to clearly stand up against the bullying Ashima suffers at school, but what Ashima does instead is prod at their incestuous relationship - usually while indirectly and sardonically invoking her own social stigma as "the whore's daughter". (Which incidentally suggests that while Ashima is justifiably bitter about the blatant unfairness of the different treatments the two of them get she does not hold it against Sakura personally.)

Come think of it at least as far as we've seen the sisters never ever bring up such obvious elephants in the room between themselves. It's like they have an unspoken agreement to avoid the painful issues neither can really do anything about.

You do realise you just shifted the goalposts from "help herself" - which was a self-evidently ridiculous demand - to "letting others helping her" right.

I thought it was obvious what I meant by "help herself". It's in the sense of accepting the help others are trying to give her. The teacher is practically chasing her to help her and she goes all "hey do you like Rin-Chan?" as a type of threat.

^ How do you possibly read that as a threat...?

It's an emotional manipulation tactic meant to make the other person uncomfortable. Just like why she kisses Sakura too. Whether she is actually attracted to her, right now she doesn't kiss her because she likes her.
She uses it to her advantage, knowing it will make them uncomfortable and will drive them on edge or unsettle them.

That's not quite the same as a threat, though.

And while it does have that effect to some extent, it is lessened a lot by their mutual surprise at each other's reactions and mostly seems to be simply her noting the reason she thinks Mayumi doesn't have a problem with her unusual relationship in a mostly quite a bit more conservative Japan, even more so in such a remote place. Really more a simple "Oh, I see...", and not a conscious attempt to unsettle her.

last edited at Apr 30, 2020 6:09PM

I always read this in the Spanish scanlation (as they are way ahead, chapter 12 last time I checked) but, since Dynasty made this large upload today, I decided to reread it. It made me remember how much I hate that stupid pissy rotten brat who told on Ashima & Sakura. Grr!

Hi, do you know where I can read in Spanish?

I assume you have never visited the Tumanga/Lectormo reader?

https://lectortmo.com/

It's prolly the best online place to read manga scanlated in Spanish. Practically all groups upload their releases there. As for Seagull Villa Days, the Spanish scanlation keeps the Japanese name (Umineko-sou Days) and you can read up to chapter 12 in the relevant page. Here:

https://lectortmo.com/library/manga/43065/umineko-sou-days

No I hadn't. Gracias!

Really more a simple "Oh, I see...", and not a conscious attempt to unsettle her.

She kisses Sakura to unsettle her. She does the same to Mayumi. Mayumi was annoying her because she felt she was taking Rin from her. She is the classic Kodama Naoko character and if you've read some other mangas of her, all of them use sneaky ways like this for manipulation.

This manga is juicy and good. Not a fan of drama but the story is pretty coherent and u can easily tell what the characters are feeling 10/10

Does anyone know who is publishing the official english ver and where to buy it thanks! And also thank you mii and squiggles for making the translation to bad I gotta wait for the official release but thats good for the author. I will be buying these volumes.

Does anyone know who is publishing the official english ver and where to buy it thanks! And also thank you mii and squiggles for making the translation to bad I gotta wait for the official release but thats good for the author. I will be buying these volumes.

https://sevenseasentertainment.com/series/days-of-love-at-seagull-villa/

Does anyone know who is publishing the official english ver and where to buy it thanks! And also thank you mii and squiggles for making the translation to bad I gotta wait for the official release but thats good for the author. I will be buying these volumes.

https://sevenseasentertainment.com/series/days-of-love-at-seagull-villa/

Thank you! Should of guessed it'd be sevenseas lol

I'm so sad! The story was just getting rolling... now I have to win the lottery to keep reading it.

Or learn to speak Spanish... lottery is much more likely :p

MacySan posted:

Ashima is a little shit. I understand her situation is tough but she also doesn't want to help herself and just passive aggressively wants to drag Sakura down too.

It's pretty standard behavior in a fucked up situation like Ashima's. And you really can't expect her to be making mature decisions because she's, y'know, in freaking middle school or so. When people are so continuously mistreated by everyone around them, it becomes natural for them to shut out those who are trying to help them as well. It's a defense mechanism even though it can make things worse.

Try to think of this from Ashima's point of view. She hasn't done anything wrong yet her own family completely shuns her, with the exception of Sakura, and the other people in town clearly look down on her as well with the exception of Rin. She's clearly going to have mixed feelings about Sakura since Sakura is in the exact situation Ashima herself should be in. But through no effort of their own, their situations are completely different. Ashima's situation is her father and stepmother treating her as if she's a burden at best and making it clear they couldn't give two shits about her. Sakura's situation is that she's well loved by her family and treated quite well. It's common for siblings to get frustrated about perceived favoritism under normal circumstances and end up lashing out at the sibling in some way. In this situation it's not even perceived favoritism, it's been communicated quite clearly what the parents think of Ashima despite the fact she's done literally nothing wrong.

Complaining about her not wanting to help herself and trying to drag Sakura down is like trying to tell someone suffering from depression that they wouldn't be depressed if they didn't actually want to be depressed or getting mad at them for acting up towards someone who can't fully comprehend their situation. And that's latter point is especially valid here. Despite seeing Ashima's situation firsthand, Sakura cannot truly understand what her sister is going through. By all accounts she's have a very good life herself with little in the way of suffering or anything actually resembling it.

People should really try to be more empathetic here.

Complaining about her not wanting to help herself and trying to drag Sakura down is like trying to tell someone suffering from depression that they wouldn't be depressed if they didn't actually want to be depressed or getting mad at them for acting up towards someone who can't fully comprehend their situation. And that's latter point is especially valid here. Despite seeing Ashima's situation firsthand, Sakura cannot truly understand what her sister is going through. By all accounts she's have a very good life herself with little in the way of suffering or anything actually resembling it.

People should really try to be more empathetic here.

I explained above. The fact that someone is depressed doesn't give them a free pass on their actions either. Her actions are understandable to a certain degree, but what I don't excuse is someone trying to do bad to others who are not in fault of their situation. If she acted like that towards her step mom for example I'd get it. But she is lashing on people who are not at fault here and are trying to help her.
This conversation can go on cycles and we can keep on repeating the same thing with different words, because there is no objectively right in this situation and everyone sets the line on a different level. But it's not about not showing empathy. Almost everyone has their reasons of faulting others, does that mean they have the right to do so?

I just find how she treats Sakura pretty distasteful, because Sakura had nothing to do with her unfortunate situation.

But she is lashing on people who are not at fault here and are trying to help her.

But it's not about not showing empathy.

Way to both miss the point directed at you, and specifically demonstrate your inability to empathise with the actual problem.

For the record that kind of indiscriminately bitter lashing out is something that routinely comes up in the retrospections of people who were bullied as children. It's basically just symptomatic behaviour anyone who's serious about wanting to help them has to accept until they recover enough to get over it; rather like how injured animals in pain are wont to bite anyone who comes near.

Way to both miss the point directed at you, and specifically demonstrate your inability to empathise with the actual problem.

Maybe you should stop replying to someone with a lack of the ability you possess then. Or maybe stop turning the conversation to personal attack.

For the record that kind of indiscriminately bitter lashing out is something that routinely comes up in the retrospections of people who were bullied as children. It's basically just symptomatic behaviour anyone who's serious about wanting to help them has to accept until they recover enough to get over it; rather like how injured animals in pain are wont to bite anyone who comes near.

My problem with her character is that it seems like she is conscious about hurting both Sakura and the teacher, not simply "lashing out" on them because she is hurt. These characters of Kodama's works always have that side of them who are consciously morally at fault too.

You can be bullied and lash out on people who try to help you without actually meaning to hurt them.
You can be bullied, but consciously try to unload your frustrations to anyone you can, both into innocents and the perpetrators. In this case the innocents.

Again, I'm not saying what she does is way out of proportion either, I get it, but I'm also pointing out she isn't completely innocent here either. I'm sure she will eventually get help, but right now she is also being a perpetrator. Depression is not a free pass to hurt others, otherwise everyone in this world would end up recreating the cycle.

Way to both miss the point directed at you, and specifically demonstrate your inability to empathise with the actual problem.

Maybe you should stop replying to someone with a lack of the ability you possess then. Or maybe stop turning the conversation to personal attack.

Look. This keeps going in circles because you insist on arguing from the point of ignorance about pretty basic human psychology and instead rely on vague superficial moralising that doesn't lead anywhere.

My problem with her character is that it seems like she is conscious about hurting both Sakura and the teacher, not simply "lashing out" on them because she is hurt. These characters of Kodama's works always have that side of them who are consciously morally at fault too.

You can be bullied and lash out on people who try to help you without actually meaning to hurt them.
You can be bullied, but consciously try to unload your frustrations to anyone you can, both into innocents and the perpetrators. In this case the innocents.

Again, I'm not saying what she does is way out of proportion either, I get it, but I'm also pointing out she isn't completely innocent here either. I'm sure she will eventually get help, but right now she is also being a perpetrator. Depression is not a free pass to hurt others, otherwise everyone in this world would end up recreating the cycle.

The "innocence" which you seem to be fixated on is a completely irrelevant concern here in the first place. People in pain only too readily and often lash out in ugly, counterproductive and contrafinal ways, this is a well-attested fact of anguished human behaviour. It does not somehow magically disqualify them from help or sympathy; to repeat, it's something anyone serious about helping them needs to cope with if they want to do any good. Deep reserves of patience are pretty much a job requirement for counselors etcetera if they are to be any good at their jobs.

Sakura puts up with Ashima's occasional antics without more than nominal protest because she recognises it isn't out of any personal ill-will but rather her own pain and anguish boiling over. Not that Ashima didn't have ample reason to bitterly resent and envy Sakura's position as the favoured child who gets all the love and affection she herself has been arbitrarily denied essentially all her life, of course, but she clearly tries to not hold it against her - and she also loves her both as her sister (possibly more) and the one person in the family who doesn't treat her like a damn leper at best.

Those contradictory impulses - heavily compounded by Ashima's current emotional state - are the fundamental root cause of her fickle behaviour towards Sakura.

"I disapprove of [character's actions]" in itself is pretty much a conversation stopper. The question I consistently have next is, "So what?"

Having articulated one's disapproval of the depicted behavior, what are the implications of that beyond the specific moral judgment? Is the character's behavior alleged to be a mistake on the part of the author? Is it that the behavior itself disallows any understanding of its causes? Is it a desire to see the character punished for their transgressions against the code of proper behavior?

Terms like the character not getting a "free pass" and the reader's unwillingness to "excuse" the behavior suggest that there's some implied consequence beyond "I don't like what this character did," but I do not understand what it is.

The "innocence" which you seem to be fixated on is a completely irrelevant concern here in the first place. People in pain only too readily and often lash out in ugly, counterproductive and contrafinal ways, this is a well-attested fact of anguished human behaviour. It does not somehow magically disqualify them from help or sympathy; to repeat, it's something anyone serious about helping them needs to cope with if they want to do any good.

I never said she is disqualified from getting help. You don't sound like you want to understand what I'm trying to say, you just want me to agree with you.

"I disapprove of [character's actions]" in itself is pretty much a conversation stopper. The question I consistently have next is, "So what?"

Having articulated one's disapproval of the depicted behavior, what are the implications of that beyond the specific moral judgment? Is the character's behavior alleged to be a mistake on the part of the author? Is it that the behavior itself disallows any understanding of its causes? Is it a desire to see the character punished for their transgressions against the code of proper behavior?

Terms like the character not getting a "free pass" and the reader's unwillingness to "excuse" the behavior suggest that there's some implied consequence beyond "I don't like what this character did," but I do not understand what it is.

You're describing a bad case of being unable to tell fiction from reality.

I've often noticed that problem in Westerners. Japanese fans are really good at keeping things in their proper place. They can and will enjoy any story as long as it's interesting and entertaining, and won't bother with moral judgments -- or any sort of judgment that tries to slam a reader's own personal real-life issues into a fictional world.

Ashima’s actions definitely feel like someone lashing out because it’s her defense mechanism.

She’s pushing people away, hurting them before they hurt her. Her refusal to accept help is understandable. She feels people who offer are insincere.

In her mind, they want to help for their own betterment, not because they genuinely feel affection for her.

Which sounds like some emo teenage angst but in her case, it’s true. No one seems to have really taken the time to understand and help her through her stuff or even taken the time to put her ahead of their own selves. No one has stood up for Ashima.

Rin is there but she hasn’t exactly shown that she’s willing to stick her neck out for Ashima. Which is understandable because she has her own stuff going on. Its more like “you’re here and I don’t see you as a bastard child of a prostitute” which isn’t enough for a girl who has to live with the constant disparaging of a whole community.

Ashima doesn’t feel like she’s in love with Rin. It seems like she’s equating the perfect family dynamic with what her father and Sakura have. For her 3 makes a perfect family, which could be another reason why she’s pushing Sakura away.

Mayumi will probably be the one to help Ashima deal. Right now, Ashima is questioning her motives so she’s testing her. She just has to show Ashima that she’s not doing it because it’s “the right thing to do” or because she’s her teacher.

IMO Sakura should be the one to stick up for Ashima. Sakura has been a member of their society, is actually part of Ashima’s family in all the ways possible, plus it’s romantic. But Mayumi will probably help Ashima because it’s better for Mayumi’s character progression and it establishes a connection between her and Ashima outside of their ties with Rin.

Sakura lets Ashima do things because she’s hoping to create some intimacy between them so they may retain the closeness they once had but it seems like it’s backfired because she’s going to find herself wishing for more.

Does Ashima feel the same? Is that why she started to sexualize her relationship with Sakura or is she merely assuming her role as the whore’s daughter?

I wonder what trouble Touko will be bringing.