I'm always contemplating reading the raws because the translation comes out so fast there really isn't a need to, but this time I REALLY couldn't help myself. In the process of google translating a few lines that caught my eye lol

Thank you. Back when translations had just started out and Hachimitsu was going off volume releases and was thus behind by a couple chapters around chapter 10, I was so thirsty for more that I first went to read Spanish magazine TLs (close enough to my native language), then raws on LHscan, so I know the feel.

There is that issue of the thematic boundary between "girls who discover that they like another girl in a very, very special way" and "girls who discover that they want to kiss and get naked together."

You can usually tell the latter is the case when one of the girls go "Wow her eyelashes are so long/pretty/any kind of obscure description of eyelashes lol. One thing thing that I find so interesting and novel about this manga is the lack of these rather tropey predictable physical descriptions. The most we get out of this manga is one calling the other "cute" and the other (Most of the time Koyuki) completely fizzing out. It's kind of a nod towards how "underdeveloped" or " innocent" their minds are in that aspect, where evaluation of physical characteristics are never in an sexual or creepily detailed way If you've read Urasekai Picnic you would know that about 30 percent of the text is spent on how beautiful Toriko's " " is

Looking at how these two characters started with zero earnest social skills or friendship knowledge, it'll probably be 20 more chapters before Koyuki realizes that Konatsu's ponytail hits different than Kaede's.

I mean, it's not said in words as often, but especially earlier on there's plenty of cases of the girls being very aware of each other's physical presence - especially Koyuki. The first chapter ends on her freaking out over an indirect kiss - which is one of the oldest yuri subtext tropes there is -, there's the moment when she realizes how close their faces are like they're about to kiss when she's helping Konatsu catch a fish, etc.

There is that issue of the thematic boundary between "girls who discover that they like another girl in a very, very special way" and "girls who discover that they want to kiss and get naked together."

You can usually tell the latter is the case when one of the girls go "Wow her eyelashes are so long/pretty/any kind of obscure description of eyelashes lol. One thing thing that I find so interesting and novel about this manga is the lack of these rather tropey predictable physical descriptions. The most we get out of this manga is one calling the other "cute" and the other (Most of the time Koyuki) completely fizzing out. It's kind of a nod towards how "underdeveloped" or " innocent" their minds are in that aspect, where evaluation of physical characteristics are never in an sexual or creepily detailed way If you've read Urasekai Picnic you would know that about 30 percent of the text is spent on how beautiful Toriko's " " is

Looking at how these two characters started with zero earnest social skills or friendship knowledge, it'll probably be 20 more chapters before Koyuki realizes that Konatsu's ponytail hits different than Kaede's.

I mean, it's not said in words as often, but especially earlier on there's plenty of cases of the girls being very aware of each other's physical presence - especially Koyuki. The first chapter ends on her freaking out over an indirect kiss - which is one of the oldest yuri subtext tropes there is -, there's the moment when she realizes how close their faces are like they're about to kiss when she's helping Konatsu catch a fish, etc.

Oh, yeah I completely forgot about that. I kind of just wrote that off as "Someone is this close to me" instead of "She is this close to me" With Koyuki, stuff like that is hard to gauge because she's so new to everything, like when Kaede offered to feed her like Konatsu did, she kinda had the same reaction.

I was looking more in Konatsu's case, where she has more of an understanding regarding relationship boundaries (before the whole "we're going down together" mindset during the Karaoke event). Mostly, we haven't had one of those "Wow, Koyuki's x is x" type description, that is totally explicit. A lot of character's actions can have an alterior meaning than what we really think (Like how Konatsu called Koyuki on the phone during her school trip- we now know that it isn't really something to be happy about because she must have done it due to unbearable loneliness and not gay angst.)

I really can't wait until we go back into Koyuki's mind, though, she's had a lot of growth, like going over to Surprise Konatsu, and really acting like a senpai, but our understanding of her has become less than our understanding of Konatsu at this point in the story.

cue chapter 31 starting with "Yesterday I had a dream where I kissed Konatsu on the lips"

cue chapter 31 starting with "Yesterday I had a dream where I kissed Konatsu on the lips"

And she turned into a frog when I did.

You can usually tell the latter is the case when one of the girls go "Wow her eyelashes are so long/pretty/any kind of obscure description of eyelashes lol. One thing thing that I find so interesting and novel about this manga is the lack of these rather tropey predictable physical descriptions. The most we get out of this manga is one calling the other "cute" and the other (Most of the time Koyuki) completely fizzing out. It's kind of a nod towards how "underdeveloped" or " innocent" their minds are in that aspect, where evaluation of physical characteristics are never in an sexual or creepily detailed way If you've read Urasekai Picnic you would know that about 30 percent of the text is spent on how beautiful Toriko's " " is

Looking at how these two characters started with zero earnest social skills or friendship knowledge, it'll probably be 20 more chapters before Koyuki realizes that Konatsu's ponytail hits different than Kaede's.

Now that I think about it, Nettaigyo works quite well as a demisexual romance. The girls think of each other as special, but don't experience overwhelming, clear-cut sexual urges (even the moments where they get flustered are sporadic and situational). They feel a sense of longing, but it isn't easy to classify- the more they think about it, the harder it gets to figure out, and the less they think about it, the more it builds up. To top it off, they're both rather cynical and don't believe in love at first sight, so it's doubly confusing when one out of one out of a hundred sights stirs something inside them, but the next ninety-nine don't. The closest terminology to describe this would be a squish- not quite a full-blown, giddy, fantasy-filled crush, but definitely not apathy either. Koyuki and Konatsu fundamentally just want to hug each other and go, "This is my person!", but it sounds so odd that they can't even say it out loud. Basically, it's like Bloom Into You if both parties were Yuu, gravitating towards each other precisely because they both feel excluded and different from society, and then getting even more confused when they start developing feelings for each other. Even the spoilers from 31 tie into this- the attraction that Koyuki feels is so ambiguous and unclear that a literal vision from her subconscious is required for her to understand it. At this point, I'm not sure if knowing that her angst is explicitly of the gay kind would give Koyuki a clearer idea of what to do, or if it'd just spark a new cycle of agonizing uncertainty, but I definitely can't wait to find out.

You can usually tell the latter is the case when one of the girls go "Wow her eyelashes are so long/pretty/any kind of obscure description of eyelashes lol. One thing thing that I find so interesting and novel about this manga is the lack of these rather tropey predictable physical descriptions. The most we get out of this manga is one calling the other "cute" and the other (Most of the time Koyuki) completely fizzing out. It's kind of a nod towards how "underdeveloped" or " innocent" their minds are in that aspect, where evaluation of physical characteristics are never in an sexual or creepily detailed way If you've read Urasekai Picnic you would know that about 30 percent of the text is spent on how beautiful Toriko's " " is

Looking at how these two characters started with zero earnest social skills or friendship knowledge, it'll probably be 20 more chapters before Koyuki realizes that Konatsu's ponytail hits different than Kaede's.

Now that I think about it, Nettaigyo works quite well as a demisexual romance. The girls think of each other as special, but don't experience overwhelming, clear-cut sexual urges (even the moments where they get flustered are sporadic and situational). They feel a sense of longing, but it isn't easy to classify- the more they think about it, the harder it gets to figure out, and the less they think about it, the more it builds up. To top it off, they're both rather cynical and don't believe in love at first sight, so it's doubly confusing when one out of one out of a hundred sights stirs something inside them, but the next ninety-nine don't. The closest terminology to describe this would be a squish- not quite a full-blown, giddy, fantasy-filled crush, but definitely not apathy either. Koyuki and Konatsu fundamentally just want to hug each other and go, "This is my person!", but it sounds so odd that they can't even say it out loud. Basically, it's like Bloom Into You if both parties were Yuu, gravitating towards each other precisely because they both feel excluded and different from society, and then getting even more confused when they start developing feelings for each other. Even the spoilers from 31 tie into this- the attraction that Koyuki feels is so ambiguous and unclear that a literal vision from her subconscious is required for her to understand it. At this point, I'm not sure if knowing that her angst is explicitly of the gay kind would give Koyuki a clearer idea of what to do, or if it'd just spark a new cycle of agonizing uncertainty, but I definitely can't wait to find out.

"the more they think about it, the harder it gets to figure out, and the less they think about it, the more it builds up."

This really encapsulates conflicts in this manga completely. Everything is so internal.Looking at how Konatsu was being dubbed as a worrywart for trying to figure out how Koyuki felt during their first meeting, she then choses to for get about it but looking at ch 30, it all comes back. There is no escapism in this manga, all of the characters must confront their conflicts whether it is sooner or later.

I think I've said this before, but I think there needs to be a catalyst in the manga, not only to see the potential Yuri goodness, but just in general. in the past there always has been something that caused a big event to occur, whether its Kaede dragging Konatsu to karaoke to make Honami realize that there really is something wrong, Koyuki's hot and thoughtful dad telling Konatsu to invite her to festival, leading to the events of chapter 8 and 9, there are so many instances of this happening that I'm sure the author knows that there could be one in the "omg I'm gay" aspect.

Of course, this could not be what the story is about, and that would be perfectly fine, but if she were to go into that direction, I feel like there would be something that causes a character to fall into a Bloom into You-esque ponder about love looking at ch 30 spoilers, though I don't want to go into depth because it isn't translated yet, Konatsu hides the frog from Koyuki when she sees it, obviously implying that there are some things left to be resolved. I'm not sure if we are still a chapter behind regarding releases due to the author having to take a two month break, but we must be left with something to set up this next character arc, maybe that's it?

Edit: Random, baseless theory here but: What if we don't get introduced into the romance aspect until after Koyuki leaves? Maybe I'm still salty about MUL, but what if we get to see the two's independent development for a while, and then that serves as buildup for a confession? It makes about the same amount of sense as squeezing in a romance in these last few months of high school. However, this is only plausible if the story becomes a romance, there is obviously the chance that it never will.

last edited at Oct 26, 2020 5:17PM

Personally by reading the last raw chapter I am more optimistic for an good evolution of their relationship. We feel that they are asking questions about their emotions towards each other and not just as simple friends.Precisely for the story of the frog it may be that koyuki by this symbol would like to become the frog again with respect to konatsu and still not what was hidden in the koyuki drawer .. more on the flashback of the fairground and the fireworks at the beginning of the story , where konatsu asked if she was special for koyuki, she finally answers her ...
While waiting for the translation I think that the anguish of konatsu and koyuki is due to the fact that the departure for tokyo of koyuki is approaching and that they do not have much time to spend time and definitely discover what they are. feel towards each other.

last edited at Oct 26, 2020 8:13PM

We are predictably getting that break next month at last, so let's hope the translation for this chapter feels super satisfying, lol.

Personally by reading the last raw chapter I am more optimistic for an good evolution of their relationship. We feel that they are asking questions about their emotions towards each other and not just as simple friends.Precisely for the story of the frog it may be that koyuki by this symbol would like to become the frog again with respect to konatsu and still not what was hidden in the koyuki drawer .. more on the flashback of the fairground and the fireworks at the beginning of the story , where konatsu asked if she was special for koyuki, she finally answers her ...
While waiting for the translation I think that the anguish of konatsu and koyuki is due to the fact that the departure for tokyo of koyuki is approaching and that they do not have much time to spend time and definitely discover what they are. feel towards each other.

The Mangaka really tried to tell us stuff with Konatsu's body language in this chapter, a lot of panels spent on her hand placement, and overall body expression through the chapter reveals a lot about how she's thinking... I might go back and do a re-read to see where else that happens, because it was as though she diliberatley wanted us to see her timidness and anger in some of those panels. Maybe she recently acquired an obsession with hand paneling lol

I read Chapter 30 RAW more than thrice...and I should admit that this is a development I want to see. Also, there's an impact when Konatsu starts calling Koyuki with her given name. Unlike another serialization, Hanigare takes a different approach in this aspect. Sure, start calling someone with their given name means you're getting closer with them. But since Konatsu and Koyuki are also bounded in a senpai-kouhai relationship, Konatsu calling Koyuki without the proper suffix means much in their relationship.

Then, I don't think Konatsu tried to hide the frog had a hidden meaning, it's more like that she was surprised that Koyuki woke when she was touching Koyuki's private belonging. She also didn't bring the topic to Koyuki because... well we know what kind of person Konatsu is.

I'm seeing that Konatsu starts to realize that her feeling about yearning for Koyuki is mutual. Koyuki once wrote "It'll be nice if we can be together forever" when she read the "Salamander" and we know that Konatsu also feels the same way. We're seeing salamander and frog only in Konatsu's mind, but we also know that Koyuki put Konatsu's words seriously (and that she also cherished it), in a form of the paired plushies. Konatsu learned that the plushies is in fact a pair (not that kind of "same thing" or "couple", but metaphorically... one exist for another). I forgot whether Koyuki wanted to give the frog one to Konatsu at first, but the current ownership of the paired plushies also have a meaning. Both of them will be separated soon, the plushies they are holding symbolized that they will always be together. Koyuki with the frog (Konatsu), and Konatsu with the salamander (Koyuki).

Trivia: Hanigare's main characters uses three different words for "I".
Konatsu: watashi (わたし)
Koyuki: watashi/watakushi (in kanji, 私)
Kaede: atashi (あたし)
The differences make it easier to distinguish the dialogue and somewhat their demeanor.

last edited at Oct 26, 2020 9:25PM

Unlike another serialization, Hanigare takes a different approach in this aspect.

Shade? lol

Then, I don't think Konatsu tried to hide the frog had a hidden meaning, it's more like that she was surprised that Koyuki woke when she was touching Koyuki's private belonging. She also didn't bring the topic to Koyuki because... well we know what kind of person Konatsu is.

I'm bringing this point up primarily due to the sheer number of panels spent on this. I can't help but get the feeling that she doesn't want Koyuki to know she touched that specific item, not because it isn't her property, but because she knew that bringing it up would probably bring up more conflict she wanted to include herself in. (Basically what you said) If it was the dolphin or whatever, Konatsu wouldn't have too much of a problem, since she's spent literal hours in Koyuki's room before, she probably already knows what she has in there. It's the frog that's the only new thing, and it has a special meaning to Konatsu.

I forgot whether Koyuki wanted to give the frog one to Konatsu at first, but the current ownership of the paired plushies also have a meaning. Both of them will be separated soon, the plushies they are holding symbolized that they will always be together. Koyuki with the frog (Konatsu), and Konatsu with the salamander (Koyuki).

She wanted to give her the frog but she thought it would be too bold, since its essentially saying "I want to be with you forever", something they actually haven't discussed yet (They both know what the other is saying, but Konatsu doesn't know that Koyuki found out what it meant to be a frog.

Honestly, granted with what happened chapters 26-28, we can assume that Konatsu is actually the salamander, so their plushies actually match one another.

EDIT: removed the spoiler bars since the chapter is out.

last edited at Oct 28, 2020 12:12AM

Personally by reading the last raw chapter I am more optimistic for an good evolution of their relationship. We feel that they are asking questions about their emotions towards each other and not just as simple friends.Precisely for the story of the frog it may be that koyuki by this symbol would like to become the frog again with respect to konatsu and still not what was hidden in the koyuki drawer .. more on the flashback of the fairground and the fireworks at the beginning of the story , where konatsu asked if she was special for koyuki, she finally answers her ...
While waiting for the translation I think that the anguish of konatsu and koyuki is due to the fact that the departure for tokyo of koyuki is approaching and that they do not have much time to spend time and definitely discover what they are. feel towards each other.

The Mangaka really tried to tell us stuff with Konatsu's body language in this chapter, a lot of panels spent on her hand placement, and overall body expression through the chapter reveals a lot about how she's thinking... I might go back and do a re-read to see where else that happens, because it was as though she diliberatley wanted us to see her timidness and anger in some of those panels. Maybe she recently acquired an obsession with hand paneling lol

Yes it seems that there are a lot of "bodily" signs from koyuki unlike konatsu who remains .... konatsu.
But some looks towards konatsu, show a certain feverishness but also an evolution of koyuki which no longer hesitates to look konatsu in the eyes while smiling, which confuses konatsu ...
Then it will take a good translation because there are certain passages where they speak to each other with poetic and abstract sentences, like riddles, konatsu moreover on the end seeks to understand the meaning as well as the surprise to see the frog soft toy. . hard to tell who the salamander is and who the frog is at the moment ... konatsu seems to have accepted the situation and koyuki's departure, but koyuki seems to conflict with that, she is frustrated .. .
In any case, the author is very good at getting certain messages across in this scan, to make us ask questions, to leave the possibilities completely open, which is sure, is that she will take her time, and for me the denouement and the translation of this story of salamander and the frog, of which is which by them even! and finally it looks like koyuki is bought and put away something that must be intended for konatsu or related.

Chapter out since literally a minute ago on HS' website. EDIT: And here.

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch30#44
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch01#55

Talk about the long-winded foreshadowing. I'd actually been waiting for it since the beginning of the series.

last edited at Oct 27, 2020 7:58PM

Well well, the classic literature reference game is confirmed to be received and surreptitiously reciprocated, at last. Konatsu, please continue "push push", I'm sure senpai will definitely "push push push" back.

I thought I was going to be okay with a friendship ending, but this just keeps making me want a solid romance more and more

Alright, so I'm dedicating an entire post to callbacks because there are so many that the author is basically plagiarizing herself lol
First we have this one, pretty easy to spot

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch09#28
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch30#33

Then we have this one here, which may be a little bit of a stretch, but it really just shows a marker of Koyuki becoming a newer person:

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch28_5#15
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch30#34

Not really a callback, but its obvious that Konatsu's texting her dad
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch01#35
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch30#38

If we evaluate character actions as development, it appears Konatsu is around where Koyuki was here:
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch19#39
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch30#13

I thought that this was a cute callback. I think its pretty cool how Konatsu was presented as the one who had her life together and was totally level-headed, only to devolve into this:
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch13#27
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch30#19

I'll note here that its even nighttime in both instances she says "morning"

It looks like Koyuki has a resting wake position whenever she has a dream about Konatsu:
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch10#3
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch30#20

Here, it actually appears that Koyuki had been wanting to bring up the festival with the intention of apologizing for a while. Also, Konatsu seems to be really embarrassed from getting lost:
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch28_5#3
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch30#22

Another OBVIOUS callback here:
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch08#36
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch30#28
EDIT: This also happens here:
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch14#31

Konatsu has done this one 162738494 times, so I'm only putting the most recent one here:
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch26#6
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch30#47

Once again, this one is a little vague, but I'm sure Konatsu has mentioned this so many times, because its engrained in my memory. If someone can find a better panel on it, plz do
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch28#19
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch30#47
EDIT: Koyuki has said this too. I'm not even sure what they talk about Their hot and thoughtful dads?
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch15#43

This page is what Koyuki is presumably referring to, when she says "This always happens"
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch13#10
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch30#8
EDIT: and here too:
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch15#37

EDIT: These people need to finally finish that sentence omg:
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch14#32
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch30#48

EDIT: More parallels between the two characters here:
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch13#39
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch30#43

I think that's all for now, I'll probably go back and look over it to see if I missed anything

last edited at Oct 27, 2020 9:50PM

Lot to unpack in this chapter. First off, the title is almost identical to that of chapter 12. In that case, Konatsu was trying not to be dependent on Koyuki as she wanted to prove herself to have become a fully-fledged member of the aquarium club able to help her out, in a display of selflessness. This time, she has become the president of the club and not being dependent means taking on the burden that was Koyuki's by herself (if not a larger one since there are more junior club members compared to when she was the only one). As opposed to the previous time, Kaede and then Konatsu herself put into question whether this selflessness is ideal or if she should be more selfish and dependent. The other club members almost certainly won't factor in significantly to easing Konatsu's troubles like she did Koyuki's, so I think this is setting up a reversal where Koyuki herself will come in and help Konatsu out with the club, whether on her own accord or prodded by her.

Then, the matter of the summer festival callback (which I totally called, yay). Back then, not only did Koyuki not have a good answer as to why she called out to Konatsu on her first day at school, she couldn't even understand why she'd ask that, while Konatsu was discouraged by their first meeting not being special to Koyuki as it was to herself. Now, Konatsu realized there didn't need to be a deep reason in the first place and that Koyuki calling out to her in the spur of the moment and appearing in her life to ease her loneliness is what truly matters. As for Koyuki, she finally gained the understanding of why she was asked that question and that their meeting was indeed special because Konatsu also saved her from being lonely.

This leads into two of my favorite pages: https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch30#33 https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch30#34 They stand in direct contrast to this scene from the festival: https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch09#28 Back then, their distance made it so that Konatsu felt too awkward to look at Koyuki and when the latter noticed, she averted her eyes. This time, it's Koyuki who keeps staring at her and smiles upon being noticed, bringing the previous year's fireworks scene full circle.

On to the frog in the room. Konatsu notices the plushie and realizes through Koyuki's later words that she must've figured out the reference she made to the Salamander short story and accepted Konatsu's wish of being the frog to her salamander. Of course, there is already a ton of baggage here with how the metaphor has been applied and twisted throughout the series, but above all else I'd like to recall the elements that have hinted at this version of the story going a different way from the short story itself. On Koyuki's side, when she figured the reference out, she outright changed the story's ambiguous ending by adding "I wish we could always be together.", something she proceeded to be embarassed about and that even led her to not giving Konatsu the frog plushie like she intended. Konatsu has been struggling with her career aspiration after high school and wrote "frog" on the survey. Like Koyuki did with her original ending, she erased what she wrote as she thought it wasn't something she could do. Then the author slammed us over the head with how this version of the short story ends with the salamander and the frog finding a way out and staying together by outright drawing the whole thing. I think it will all lead to Konatsu and Koyuki eventually finding the courage to tell each other they wish they could always be together as girlshipfriends and to make their inevitable separation only temporary.

Last but not least, god fucking dammit, the art is beautiful. It seriously deserves props for how far it's gotten since the early chapters, made particularly apparent by the several flashbacks in this one. I want to bury my face in Konatsu's hair.

last edited at Oct 27, 2020 9:39PM

Y'all are putting a lot of thought into this series. It's pretty cool to see.

https://twitter.com/haginomakoto/status/1321316247217209344

(per google translate) "Finally, the story of Konatsu and Koyuki goes to the final chapter. Everything is connected."

That's clearly not a literal final chapter since volume 8's dropping in december so we've got at least one more volume to fill out, but I wonder if this means volume 9's our last? At any rate, seems meaningful that Hagino-sensei's starting to signal the off-ramp for us after pointedly declining to do so after Konatsu and Koyuki reconciled before.

Been a wonderful run, however long we have left ahead of us.

This time, she has become the president of the club and not being dependent means taking on the burden that was Koyuki's by herself (if not a larger one since there are more junior club members compared to when she was the only one). As opposed to the previous time, Kaede and then Konatsu herself put into question whether this selflessness is ideal or if she should be more selfish and dependent.

I think this is a good point to make. Konatsu has cause a lot of problems for herself and for others (Specifically Koyuki) because she was't being outright with how she felt. Looking back at all of their progress, she's gotten far, but there are still things that she withholds from Koyuki (Specifically the "I want us to always be together" that comes with wanting to be a frog) An interesting thing about her is that she seems to be super dependent but also someone who does not want to become a burden on others. I really think that this is something the author may address with the next arc. Konatsu's words are essentially contradicting her actions (Standard in any romance manga ever) where she tells Koyuki she needs to focus on herself, she can do things on her own, yet she speaks about how lonely she is without Koyuki, and how much she wants to spend time with her, to the point where she can't even have fun without her (This happens both during the culture festival, and in this chapter)

Another thing that really has been catching my eye is the fact that they keep stating that they don't understand each other. Like THEY DO, but they're just talking about everything but that. They both have a pretty long way to better communication in their relationship. if we use what Koyuki has been thinking internally this chapter (granted that we get some chapters from her perspective starting December) It looks like she might go on towards the route of trying to understand Konatsu:

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch30#32

I love that this chapter is basically saying that you can meet someone on a whim and still be the closest person to them. They acknowledge that their relationship isn't one of childhood friends and was strictly situational, yet it had the ability to grow into what it is because they wanted it to.

I've mentioned this already, but Konatsu's hands have begun to tell a lot about her thoughts:
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch30#31
Taking a look here, both her and Koyuki are holding the fireworks the same way

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch30#35

In the top left panel, we can see that she completely forgot about the fireworks and is probably thinking "A pretty girl is looking at me" This very much parallels their first meeting:

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch01#11

It's kind of confirmed when Konatsu says "You were trying to distract me!" the next panel. If I put on the Yuri goggles, this would be confirmation that Konatsu is physically attracted to Koyuki, is aware of it, and tries to bury it away by not actually mentioning it.

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch30#11

Here in the bottom right panel, her hands (and her overall body language) reflects how she feels. You can see in the next page, as she gets less reserved with her thoughts and becomes more assertive, she starts to physically open up:

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch30#12

I actually kind of feel bad for Kaede here. It's the first time that she hears Konatsu refer to Koyuki by her first name. After that, she immediately retracts her bath offer and leaves to go take one by herself. Knowing her, she's probably hiding how she actually feels. Hopefully we will get a chapter where we can see how she feels about her place in their relationship. This all could be part of her grand shipping scheme lol

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch30#16

Looking at the top right panel here, we see her asking if it okay to depend on her, she looks like a little kid who has lost a parent at a store. We have really yet to hear about Konatsu's life before she moved here, there have been a couple of drops, but unlike with Koyuki, where Kaede and her dad have filled us in on it, we don't have anything regarding Konatsu other than "She tends to get lonely very easily".

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/nettaigyo_wa_yuki_ni_kogareru_ch30#26

More hands on this page when she's talking about her dad not coming back.

Just to close off this weird hand commentary/analysis, I'll go back to what I said after the first half of 28 came out. I really think that Konatsu wants to properly define her relationship with Koyuki. I see a lot of parallels between this story and "Watashi no Shounen" where the characters first have their relationship, they know what it is, and despite defining what it consists of, that definition doesn't really fit into any conventional category. Theres even a chapter where the two main characters ask each other how would their relationship be like if they were co-workers, Mother and son, or classmates. I really like where we are headed, I think there are plenty of amazing scenes that will be referred back to in this next arc, (hopefully we will get a callback to the whole moon thing) and that the author keeps up her amazing storytelling.

https://twitter.com/haginomakoto/status/1321316247217209344

(per google translate) "Finally, the story of Konatsu and Koyuki goes to the final chapter. Everything is connected."

That's clearly not a literal final chapter since volume 8's dropping in december so we've got at least one more volume to fill out, but I wonder if this means volume 9's our last? At any rate, seems meaningful that Hagino-sensei's starting to signal the off-ramp for us after pointedly declining to do so after Konatsu and Koyuki reconciled before.

Been a wonderful run, however long we have left ahead of us.

I'm gonna guess volume ten, so maybe about 8 chapters? nine volumes seems a bit too little since we still have to solve Kaede's problems and there needs to be AT LEAST 3-4 chapters of internal monologuing about whether someone should do x y and z

I'm guessing she's saying that the final arc is up next, which is basically them conveying that they always want to be together. Honestly, can't see how you can continue on from something like that anyway lol. It would make sense since we thought that 28.5 would be an end, but chapter 30 has introduced a new conflict that needs to be resolved.

last edited at Oct 28, 2020 1:51AM

Koyuki: I didn't do anything unfair.

Konatsu's thoughts: Yes you did! You looked at me with those beautiful eyes and that soft smile of yours.

And if I put my yuri goggles on, them mimicking eachother is a sign of attraction.

Though, I sure remember when I was at my friends sleepover, and got out my comfy spot on the floor to go caress my friend's hair while she was sleeping, but possibly still awake.

Okay in all seriousness, I really liked this chapter I'm a sucker for callbacks and for them finally talking a bit about their relationship. Konastu just needs to give herself another push, or well maybe Kaede does, or her hot and thoughtful dad, so she can say what she really wants to say and that is girlshipforever. Thanks for the chapter. Can't wait to see wherever we're headed.

Ps: really lovin the effort y'all are putting into those comparisons.

Man these two are just too intense for friendship, if they liked each other romantically then this series makes sense otherwise it's just kinda weird

I haven't read this for a while because the subtext got to be too much for me (stretch was painful) but after coming back and they're still doing the sam e sort of thing like I just can't see how this can be seen as friendship because that friendship is just Too Much

But then also I can't see a Yuri ending after this much subtext unless some open ended interpretation ending happens

Hmmm

last edited at Oct 28, 2020 3:13AM

Man these two are just too intense for friendship, if they liked each other romantically then this series makes sense otherwise it's just kinda weird

I haven't read this for a while because the subtext got to be too much for me (stretch was painful) but after coming back and they're still doing the sam e sort of thing like I just can't see how this can be seen as friendship because that friendship is just Too Much

To be fair, the girls here are probably just as frustrated and confused as everyone in the forum. Therefore, the author intends for you to experience this sense of unfilfillment.

I guess Nettaigyo really is the Dark Souls of the {I-Can't-Believe-It's-Not-Yuri (Or Maybe It is) [It's Complicated]} genre.

This subtext is so frustrating QnQ it could make such a great Yuri QnQ