It was only a matter of time. Let's see where this goes.

Just feels like "hey, we need another pairing, let's just force these two togther because they spent some time together."

That's how HaruYuzu shippers come off to me at times.

AAAAYYYYYYYYYY! THAT KISS FROM MATSURI MADE ME HAPPY!!! HAHAHAHAAH

new version just been uploaded here too,hope makes everything clearer now

new version just been uploaded here too,hope makes everything clearer now

Thank you for your hard work.

Oh yeah, I forgot Matsuri was an edgelord child prostitute. Did that get retconned? The series hit the breaks on the edginess after the forced/extortion prostitution setup

For the record, I love Citrus and all the characters. Even Mei. Stop hating Mei.

last edited at Nov 20, 2020 6:40PM

Oh yeah, I forgot Matsuri was an edgelord child prostitute. Did that get retconned? The series hit the breaks on the edginess after the forced/extortion prostitution setup

For the record, I love Citrus and all the characters. Even Mei. Stop hating Mei.

I liked old Mei--the Mei-bot, not so much.

Which Mei is that? She isn't really in book 10, and she's super expressive in book 8. Or is it just a feature of Citrus+? Book 9 is pretty clutch too. I vaguely remember your concerns at the time, but was that just from waiting on the serialization? 'Cause I noticed serializations and comment sections drastically alter the reading experience.

last edited at Nov 20, 2020 7:25PM

sadhomu82 posted:

new version just been uploaded here too,hope makes everything clearer now

Any excuse for me to read this chapter again is welcome! hahahaha and yeah it helps!

HELL YEAH FINALLY!
After waiting for so looong YESSSSSSS

YESSSS, FINALLY!
I've been waiting for them to kiss since the chapter when Matsuri mentioned seeing Harumin's crack in her armour and how she'll be keeping an eye on her.

Man, I'm getting spoiled this week with all the mangas and webcomics I read.

Which Mei is that? She isn't really in book 10, and she's super expressive in book 8. Or is it just a feature of Citrus+? Book 9 is pretty clutch too. I vaguely remember your concerns at the time, but was that just from waiting on the serialization? 'Cause I noticed serializations and comment sections drastically alter the reading experience.

No, I liked the Mei after she got over her assaultive phase and before she turned into a mute quivering nun--around about Chapter 24 of the original series. She was confident about her public persona, sexy, and brave. I wanted to see that Mei open up to Yuzu and the two of them go forward together, learning about each other and about themselves.

I certainly did not expect to see Mei, lo! these many chapters later, still using her teddy bear as her intimacy surrogate, or her being so repressed and tongue-tied that she would need to enlist Harumin as a go-between for communication with the person she sleeps with every night.

No, I liked the Mei after she got over her assaultive phase and before she turned into a mute quivering nun--around about Chapter 24 of the original series. She was confident about her public persona, sexy, and brave. I wanted to see that Mei open up to Yuzu and the two of them go forward together, learning about each other and about themselves.

I certainly did not expect to see Mei, lo! these many chapters later, still using her teddy bear as her intimacy surrogate, or her being so repressed and tongue-tied that she would need to enlist Harumin as a go-between for communication with the person she sleeps with every night.

Student Council Arc Mei would slap the shit outta extra "...." Citrus+ Mei.
Also I 100% agree with ya, it made me sad to see my girl get her character nerfed.

FINALLY! This is what I've been waiting for since this sequel series started. It's definitely just the beginning, though. I sense a rocky road ahead...

A lot of people seem to feel that Mei got nerfed after the election arc. While I can understand that, I personally disagree. The way I see it, after the election arc is when Mei truly began to open up to Yuzu, but as she said in chapter 26, she doesn't know how to handle those feelings. She did start becoming demure from vulome 8-10, but that was because of the guilt she felt for going through with her arranged marriage.

Now, in Citrus+, we are seeing Mei start to act like her confident old self again, like when she told off her father for trying to give relationship advice, standing up to the academy board and declaring herself the first chairwoman, pushing over Yuzu to reveal her bruise, and shooting down Sayaka's attempts to criticize her changes to the school policies. of course, she still has moments of emotional vulnerability, like when she asked Harumin to help Yuzu because she understands her better. I believe Saburouta has found the perfect balance between Confident Mei and Vulnerable Mei with Citrus+, and I find this version of her to be both compelling and adorable.

But to each their own, of course. I know some people who claim to love Citrus but still hate Mei all across the board.

Random question but why do you guys think Matsuri is always so formal with Harumi ? She has never called her by her frst name unlike her other senpais. I kind of like it cos it means their bond is special.

More because all the weird tension between those two. Neither of them tends to act all that "natural" around each other.

While this is purely just my own inferred opinion, but I think it's probably because she knows Harumin doesn't really like her, and to portray the 'distance' between them to keep Harumin comfortable. In Japanese she uses polite speech to speak to Harumin, sure she drags an intonation or two, but the sentence structure and format falls within Japanese Keigo. Usually you use formal speech with people who are older than you, unless you are close friends. Matsuri is aware that Harumin doesn't like her, and so keigo is her way of keeping the distance between them comfortable.

Honestly if Matsuri were to suddenly break into casual speech patterns with Harumin, Harumin would probably be like "Geh! Why are you speaking so casually to me! -Sigh- well it's fine I guess..." I think in this case it's also more for her own sake. Matsuri has feelings for Harumin, has since vol 3, and has been constantly bugging and pestering Harumin but staying within Harumin's 'safe zone'. Keigo might be her own version of 'self defense mechanism' against going overboard and have Harumin pull away. Although if they do get closer and Harumin makes a comment like 'it feel kinda lonely that I'm the only one you're still so polite with' we might see some changes... Though Matsuri would probably stick to 'senpai' and we all know Harumin secretly likes being called senpai by Matsuri, despite trying to show otherwise.

Also, this is purely my own fantasy but I think that Matsuri will continue calling Harumin 'Taniguchi senpai' when they're in public and with their friends, and only switch to calling her "Harumi" in private. First name, not nickname, no honorifics.

last edited at Nov 20, 2020 11:47PM

A lot of people seem to feel that Mei got nerfed after the election arc. While I can understand that, I personally disagree. The way I see it, after the election arc is when Mei truly began to open up to Yuzu, but as she said in chapter 26, she doesn't know how to handle those feelings. She did start becoming demure from vulome 8-10, but that was because of the guilt she felt for going through with her arranged marriage.

Now, in Citrus+, we are seeing Mei start to act like her confident old self again, like when she told off her father for trying to give relationship advice, standing up to the academy board and declaring herself the first chairwoman, pushing over Yuzu to reveal her bruise, and shooting down Sayaka's attempts to criticize her changes to the school policies. of course, she still has moments of emotional vulnerability, like when she asked Harumin to help Yuzu because she understands her better. I believe Saburouta has found the perfect balance between Confident Mei and Vulnerable Mei with Citrus+, and I find this version of her to be both compelling and adorable.

Well said, saved me from making those points. Mei is a mess of contradictions, it has been explicitly noted as one of the things Yuzu loves about her - if people don't see that it is no wonder they feel the central story/pairing doesn't make sense.

I have to admit I find it strange to find people in a yuri focused site be against more official gay girls in a manga.

It is all fun and games until the shippers riot over the "betrayal" (or "bad writing") when it turns out their over-optimistically declared YAY!! CANNON!! ship wasn't canon after all.

But on a more serious note, I read yuri because I find female protagonists more relatable (f/f => double my value) and the relationships also often tend to hit the notes I like (power balance, emotional dynamic etc), but all and any f/f "just because", no thanks.
There are also other things I like, such as queer themes (identity/alienation, undermined if "everyone is gay"), but I don't want to go on forever.

Focusing on yuri also has the convenient effect of cutting the vast unmanageable universe of anime/manga possibilities to a more manageable locality.

A lot of people seem to feel that Mei got nerfed after the election arc. While I can understand that, I personally disagree. The way I see it, after the election arc is when Mei truly began to open up to Yuzu, but as she said in chapter 26, she doesn't know how to handle those feelings. She did start becoming demure from vulome 8-10, but that was because of the guilt she felt for going through with her arranged marriage.

I’m quite familiar with the defense of the latter-day Mei on “realism/consistency of character” grounds. I don’t look at Mei as a imaginary person; I see her as an authorial construct, and as such I find her to be much less interesting and much more two-dimensional than she was earlier in the series.

I used to be genuinely curious about what Mei would do; now I’m just relieved when she does anything at all.

last edited at Nov 21, 2020 1:05AM

I'm happy we finally got HaruMatsu Canon (I've been looking forward to it since the first series because their Cat and Mouse dynamic is fun), but not sure how I feel about the kiss. On one hand I felt it was totally in character for it to be random like that from Matsuri, but on the other hand I still don't really get why she did it or got the urge to? Like I assumed it's because she was touched Harumin was worried and cared enough to check up on her, but even with the new translation, this chapter's dialouge was all over the place or too vague for me to understand what exactly was going on.

Also would've wished for more of a reaction from Harumin, but we already knew very few things Matsuri does actually phase her since she figures it's Matsuri acting up again.

I hope the later chapters will be able to clear things up their motives a little more, but I felt a bit disappointed with how it played out between the two.

I’m quite familiar with the defense of the latter-day Mei on “realism/consistency of character” grounds. I don’t look at Mei as a imaginary person; I see her as an authorial construct, and as such I find her to be much less interesting and much more two-dimensional than she was earlier in the series.

Mei's characterization in Citrus Plus, is still the right approach from an authorial construct since is the logical evolution of her character both through the events Saburota laid before her to develop her character and the reveal of more facets of her character.

I find this criticism about Mei to be baffling. First Mei is a horrible character because she keeps ignoring Yuzu's advances and just acting out of her perceived selfish desires. Then Mei is shown to learn from her mistakes and work hard to make up for her previous actions while having a more open and honest relationship with Yuzu, and now she's a horrible character because she no longer has the "no fucks given" attitude.

I’m quite familiar with the defense of the latter-day Mei on “realism/consistency of character” grounds. I don’t look at Mei as a imaginary person; I see her as an authorial construct, and as such I find her to be much less interesting and much more two-dimensional than she was earlier in the series.

Mei's characterization in Citrus Plus, is still the right approach from an authorial construct since is the logical evolution of her character both through the events Saburota laid before her to develop her character and the reveal of more facets of her character.

I find this criticism about Mei to be baffling. First Mei is a horrible character because she keeps ignoring Yuzu's advances and just acting out of her perceived selfish desires. Then Mei is shown to learn from her mistakes and work hard to make up for her previous actions while having a more open and honest relationship with Yuzu, and now she's a horrible character because she no longer has the "no fucks given" attitude.

See, this is still all judgements about an imaginary person—absolutely none of which I made, by the way. Mei is not a “horrible” character—she’s just not a source of significant narrative energy anymore. She’s passive, insecure, lacks communication skills that she used to have, and is no longer the driver of significant plot or character developments.

I’m not surprised that people find the quivering “broken bird” version of Mei appealing, but to me “nerfed” is absolutely a precise description of what the author has done to the character.

and now she's a horrible character because she no longer has the "no fucks given" attitude.

More like because now she no longer has any attitude, period.

—she’s just not a source of significant narrative energy anymore. She’s passive, insecure, lacks communication skills that she used to have, and is no longer the driver of significant plot or character developments.

Also Mei in Citrus+: Stands up to the academy board declaring herself the first chairwoman, works with Yuzu to help Sayaka, convinces Harumin to go after Matsuri.

Just sayin’

last edited at Nov 21, 2020 2:50AM

my 10c worth: for me everything from deliberately drawing attention to Harumi's flawed relationship with her big sister at the start, to the hints at Matsuri secretly not coping at the end seems to point to this arc being about Harumi starting to find herself as a role-model/mentor big sister figure, and Matsuri learning to accept that sort of influence in her life.

Kids (even adults) need boundaries, and I think Matsuri is drawn to Harumi as the first person to consistently call her out on her shit. But I don't think it is romantic, not every human tie is based around sex (which is another thing Matsuri needs to learn). Both of them are being pushed outside their comfort zones (and since we now know Matsuri is a big sister, it is a role-reversal for both of them), it should be interesting.