This silly girl still dreaming of HaruYuzu while there's HaruMatsu flirting going on right in front of her...

There a few other subtle differences: https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/citrus_july_4th#1
The girl right over Sayaka's shoulder changes her arm, and the girl to the left shows a bit more leg on page 2.

Anyway, how cute and horrifying is this... juicer? https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/citrus_july_19th
"Please enjoy my brains."

It's a shaved ice maker I believe but yeah that was funny

This silly girl still dreaming of HaruYuzu while there's HaruMatsu flirting going on right in front of her...

Where ?

And so Mei realizes that Yuzu secretely take Mei's ring with her to the bathroom to do some questionable thing with it.

Poor poor Mei rip

yuzu didn't wear the ring too
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/citrus_july_19th#19
not on her neck not on her fingers soooooooo what Mei is seeing is!? the rings or........???
i have been reading citrus since highschool and now i already graduated from college gosh

OK, I'll give it to Saburouta for making the 4th July chapter a hilarious one. She only had 5 pages for that chapter, and she used them well. Well, at least the last page.

The chapter after that, however, is the same middling performance as usual

last edited at Dec 22, 2020 6:04PM

The amount of blush lines on Yuzu's face equals the amount of times
I've been disappointed by the lack of sexy time in this spin-off.

last edited at Dec 22, 2020 9:47PM by

The amount of blush lines on Yuzu's face equals the amount of times
I've been disappointed by the lack of sexy time in this spin-off.

The mere thought of "things she'd like to do with Mei" got Yuzu so worked up she had to run off... that could be seen as pretty sexy (I doubt getting clean is the only thing she is going to do once safely in private...).

Saburouta clearly hasn't forgotten about sex, we've been seeing a lot of signs that Yuzu is having trouble holding herself back (Mei is too to some extent), eventually it will come to a head. It may have been two years for us, but it has been less than two months in-universe.

Citrus has always been about the tease and the tension - but exposed to first series level tension, Y/M are now in a place where they'd "just do it"... safe to say the only way is down for those sorts "sexy times" from this point (since very unlikely we will get anything explicit, tension is all there is, and once Y/M get over their hesitation even that will mostly go).

Although the promotion of the anime might give people a different impression, Citrus is a romantic drama written for young women (primarily, at least), and the portrayal of sexuality (and the nature of fan service) will differ at times from what other demographics might hope for. It may frustrate some readers, but for the target audience Yuzu and Mei being hopelessly and adorably in love with each other could probably carry the series even if they never have sex.

safe to say the only way is down

I saw what you did there.

Citrus Plus will be about how they can restart intimacy from a 60-floor luxury condo apartment building fire (metaphor for her burning down their relationship and lying to her and running away).

To your “one-dimensional Yuzu” point (not that I hold it against her—at least one of the MCs is consistently written), is there any indication that Yuzu holds even the slightest resentment (or any other kind of negative feeling) against Mei for that sudden breakup (let alone for Mei not saying anything about the eventual arranged marriage while they were together)?

Yuzu just seems relieved and happy to have Mei back after her successful rescue mission. (I’m starting to see Yuzu’s role as basically the same as the protagonist in hero-dog stories.) So if in fact Mei’s current character is a function of her guilt about hurting Yuzu, it’s yet another example of her carrying everything inside without communicating with her supposed life-partner.

Yeah, that blows a pretty big hole in the story. I think Mei and Yuzu are supposed to be awkwardly dancing around the subjects that matter at this point. Why don't they communicate their thoughts and feelings and why isn't that shown? The "I love you" conversation was a mere glance at their relationship resuming. Clearly you would eventually have to answer for the loss of security, trust and intimacy in your resumed relationship. Otherwise why try to restart something you 'esplodid'.

Clearly Mei is the silent, introverted kind of Japanese person but this level of miscommunication is pretty severe. Maybe I'm reading too deep into it.

At least we know we'll get what, fireworks and lovey dovey soon? So that seems to be the point where we'll finally get Mei to say...something? She really is the crypt-keeper. She keeps all her secrets hidden deep down below.

If they are going to resume physical intimacy, I feel like Yuzu would have to be vouchesafed in a pretty serious manner as to whether Mei is endgame on all of this. I feel like Mei needs to prove she's into this. Otherwise she doesn't deserve Yuzu at all. Yuzu is far too kind and stupid to keep getting used. I think what I want to see is a couple's fight. They need to have out on everything. Mei needs to turn it around dramatically or she's just a spectator. No more secrets and closed doors.

What have we settled? Mei won't date her grandfather symbolically anymore, he's now just an old dude. Mei actually cares for Yuzu. Mei has moved back in...but the whole thing is severely tense and Mei knows it. Yuzu was crying FOR-E-VER. Her mom watched her daughter go through depression FOR-E-VER. So Mei casually walks back in? Stand up for yourself, Yuzu! I get that you love her but don't just let her walk all over you. She left you for dead in the middle of the night. Mei must answer for her sins, a relationship that glances at the graveyard of their troubles and keeps walking past mindlessly is destined for trouble and breakup.

Mei has to atone with more than 'I love you'. Mei has to change more than simply being a wealthy Japanese introvert who now WON'T have a symbolic het baby-making relationship with her arranged partner. Mei has to prove her individuality more than she has. Maybe that comes with time, and maybe that's what Citrus Plus is all about, but who IS Mei?

That's what we haven't ever determined. Who IS this person? Goddamnit Saburu, that's all we ever wanted.

last edited at Dec 23, 2020 5:09PM

If they are going to resume physical intimacy, I feel like Yuzu would have to be vouchesafed in a pretty serious manner as to whether Mei is endgame on all of this. I feel like Mei needs to prove she's into this. Otherwise she doesn't deserve Yuzu at all. Yuzu is far too kind and stupid to keep getting used. I think what I want to see is a couple's fight. They need to have out on everything. Mei needs to turn it around dramatically or she's just a spectator. No more secrets and closed doors.

Mei has to atone with more than 'I love you'. Mei has to change more than simply being a wealthy Japanese introvert who now WON'T have a symbolic het baby-making relationship with her arranged partner. Mei has to prove her individuality more than she has. Maybe that comes with time, and maybe that's what Citrus Plus is all about, but who IS Mei?

There is an expression that seems to fit here "still waters run deep". It is important to remember that just because stoic people don't show emotion doesn't mean it isn't there (coming from a family of stoics, I'd point out is is important irl too - you can't expect that people will always shove their feelings in your face, sometimes you have to look for other signs; tbh the same applies to malice too). It can be a challenge for writers to convey this, especially in more visual media (less scope for expository narrative; it is a pet peeve of mine that movies/TV so often have supposedly stoic characters having breakdowns/tantrums bc the writers are out of ideas on how to subtly convey emotion).

I think Saburouta has done a pretty good job with Mei - we have quite a few clues to the broad strokes of Mei's emotions, although like Yuzu we have to learn to look for them. It has been made very obvious that Mei is madly in love with Yuzu, and pretty much worships the ground she walks on; her makeover of the school rules was an early sign of just how much she values who Yuzu is, and what she has given her. When Yuzu wanted to date, and when she gave her the ring Mei truly believed their relationship was doomed, but loved Yuzu so much she didn't have it in her to say no. All the time she was rushing into her engagement and marriage she wore Yuzu's ring next to her heart (and Yuzu knows that); that separation hurt Mei at least as much as it hurt Yuzu. When she told Yuzu that she ran away because she wouldn't have been able to leave if she saw her, it was nothing but the truth.

After they reconciled, Mei took Yuzu to the school board meeting and declared that they were a package deal, she took her most precious ambition, the thing that had motivated her to leave in the first place, and shared it with Yuzu. She is doing her best to show Yuzu her love in her own way; Mei isn't someone to make showy conventional emotional gestures, to do so would be contrived even dishonest. Saburouta even draws attention to this in series, having Yuzu gush so much over Mei's small but genuine gestures, perplexing their friends.

I think the tension is more "walking on eggshells" than guilt/resentment/insecurity. The problem at the moment seems to be that they are going too far to show their devotion: both "standing back", Yuzu is avoiding asking for much for fear of pressuring Mei, trying to let her set the pace, but Mei is anxious to "do it right", conscious of her lack of experience and afraid of making a mistake (and would probably prefer Yuzu to take the lead), so things are moving very slowly. eg they would probably both like more physical intimacy in private, but neither wants to pressure the other. They have had some bad experiences - early on Mei's clumsy attempt to show her appreciation by giving herself to Yuzu at Christmas led to a major rift; and just when they were getting comfortable making out (nb Yuzu led) on the camp/trip, the hammer fell with the arranged marriage thing. It hasn't occurred to Yuzu that Mei would actually find sex in private much easier than PDA, and it hasn't occurred to Mei that the "proper order" of those two is entirely up to the participants (and that as much as she loves PG romance, Yuzu is also horny af).

Mei wants to talk about their relationship, particularly what she can do for Yuzu. She sighed when Yuzu fled instead of talking about what she wants (Ironically Mei's eagerness to please is probably one of the reasons Yuzu is so coy about her naughtier desires).

As for why things are quite so cool... with feelings that intense, when you start seriously making out... in the bed that you share... sex isn't far behind. It is something that would throw quite a shadow both for the characters anxious about taking that step, and from the fourth wall perspective of pacing, we probably won't see things heat up much until Yuzu, Mei and Saburouta are ready for things to go all the way fairly quickly.

Holy shit, it's actually going to happen (at some point). Iirc this is the first sign we've been given that this was going to be something that would be dealt with in this series. I was starting to think they might be saving it for marriage!

Waiting for updates ^^, .. hopefully the anime will have a season 2 also .. :)

https://twitter.com/_saburouta/status/1342069008288206849
Seems like Sabu took pity on Nene

last edited at Dec 25, 2020 2:52AM

What have we settled? Mei won't date her grandfather symbolically anymore, he's now just an old dude. Mei actually cares for Yuzu. Mei has moved back in...but the whole thing is severely tense and Mei knows it. Yuzu was crying FOR-E-VER. Her mom watched her daughter go through depression FOR-E-VER. So Mei casually walks back in? Stand up for yourself, Yuzu! I get that you love her but don't just let her walk all over you. She left you for dead in the middle of the night. Mei must answer for her sins, a relationship that glances at the graveyard of their troubles and keeps walking past mindlessly is destined for trouble and breakup.

i sadly don´t see that happening at all. There´s not a single instance of mei apologizing or taking responsability for her actions, usually the manga shifts the blame to yuzu for "not understanding mei" (wich is baffling to me)

mei´s not a horrible person for teasing and playing with yuzus feelings at the beggining of the manga and then ignoring her althogether, mei has suuuch a tragic past that all her wrong doings are justified, apologies? no no no we don´t do that here, besides yuzu realize that was her fault for "not understanding mei" so everythign is fine

the incident with sara was also yuzu s fault, how dare she reject mei s crypted and rushed advances what a horrible person

remember that chapter where yuzu was so sad because she realized her friends were big jerks that made fun of same sex couples and mei told her that they would face those problems together when the time came, to then proceed to accept an arranged marriage behind yuzus back. That was also yuzus fault for not realizing sooner and "not understanding mei", besides she felt sooo bad about it, the letter said it so it must be true

or the chapter where mei realize that she wasn´t fullfilling yuzu´s needs as a partner and tried her best to have a perfect date but at the end yuzu was like "yo our relationship is perfect the way it is and it was selfish of me to expect something out of you"

at saburo uta eyes mei´s a prefect being that can´t do wrong and doesn´t need to change or take responsability for her actions

Mei has to atone with more than 'I love you'. Mei has to change more than simply being a wealthy Japanese introvert who now WON'T have a symbolic het baby-making relationship with her arranged partner. Mei has to prove her individuality more than she has. Maybe that comes with time, and maybe that's what Citrus Plus is all about, but who IS Mei?

That's what we haven't ever determined. Who IS this person? Goddamnit Saburu, that's all we ever wanted.

i don´t think mei will get a personality anytime soon, mei really is just yuzu s girlfriend that´s her whole character and her role in the story

remember that chapter where yuzu was so sad because she realized her friends were big jerks that made fun of same sex couples and mei told her that they would face those problems together when the time came, to then proceed to accept an arranged marriage behind yuzus back.

This was the crux of the entire series. The first big narrative movement ended exactly as you describe—Mei and Yuzu together, and determined to face their problems together going forward.

Then it soon became crystal clear that Sabu either had no idea how to actually write the story of Mei and Yuzu facing their problems together or no real interest in doing so.

So we got all that other stuff.

remember that chapter where yuzu was so sad because she realized her friends were big jerks that made fun of same sex couples and mei told her that they would face those problems together when the time came, to then proceed to accept an arranged marriage behind yuzus back. That was also yuzus fault for not realizing sooner and "not understanding mei", besides she felt sooo bad about it, the letter said it so it must be true

You seem very concerned with right/wrong and fault, I don't actually recall much in-text blaming - we see some of Yuzu's regrets and self recriminations because it is primarily from Yuzu's pov; we don't see the same from Mei because we don't see her pov (Mei is presented as an enigma, the way she appears to Yuzu).

In your example above a bit of selective memory seem to be at work - Look back at what was actually said and how:

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/citrus_ch24#26

Mei said that they can't control what other people think. After that Yuzu asked if she could stay be her side, etc and after a long pause and with an expression that certainly wasn't happiness or confidence Mei agreed with a simple yes. She was cornered, with Yuzu crying on her shoulder, it was the only thing she could say (and even as she doubted it it's likely she wanted it to be true). Mei's inner conflict was blatantly advertised.

As for hurting herself, Mei wore Yuzu's ring secretly the whole time they were apart, she didn't do that for kicks.

You seem very concerned with right/wrong and fault, I don't actually recall much in-text blaming - we see some of Yuzu's regrets and self recriminations because it is primarily from Yuzu's pov; we don't see the same from Mei because we don't see her pov (Mei is presented as an enigma, the way she appears to Yuzu).

it doesn´t matter because again there´s not a single instance of mei taking action to solve a problem or emend her mistakes at the end is always yuzu powering everything by herself

In your example above a bit of selective memory seem to be at work - Look back at what was actually said and how:

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/citrus_ch24#26

Mei said that they can't control what other people think. After that Yuzu asked if she could stay be her side, etc and after a long pause and with an expression that certainly wasn't happiness or confidence Mei agreed with a simple yes. She was cornered, with Yuzu crying on her shoulder, it was the only thing she could say (and even as she doubted it it's likely she wanted it to be true). Mei's inner conflict was blatantly advertised.

As for hurting herself, Mei wore Yuzu's ring secretly the whole time they were apart, she didn't do that for kicks.
i am gonna be honest

you can give the meaning you want to that chapter, despite her best intentions everything she said ended up being a lie and my point stands at the end the one that pushes through the problem is yuzu, while mei takes a backseat (as always) while given all the excuses of the world

You seem very concerned with right/wrong and fault, I don't actually recall much in-text blaming - we see some of Yuzu's regrets and self recriminations because it is primarily from Yuzu's pov; we don't see the same from Mei because we don't see her pov (Mei is presented as an enigma, the way she appears to Yuzu).

it doesn´t matter because again there´s not a single instance of mei taking action to solve a problem or emend her mistakes at the end is always yuzu powering everything by herself

pov strikes again, Mei smoothed things over with her grandfather when Yuzu was going to be expelled, and she changed the school rules on dress code - neither of those things would have been trivial or incidental, but they occurred "off-screen" so you didn't see the effort.

She has also pushed out of her comfort zone over and over again for their relationship, which is no small thing for someone so reserved. Presenting Yuzu to the board as her partner wasn't some impulsive gesture to impress Yuzu, it was a strategic move in building their legitimacy. More recently with the Sayaka thing, Mei put aside her instincts and experience to instead support Yuzu handling it her way. Even though Yuzu had been reckless, and done something Mei had specifically asked her not to (revealing their relationship at school), she refused Yuzu's attempt to take the blame and handle it by herself, instead insisted that they talk it though and work as together as a team supporting each other with their different approaches.

Seeming inequality in relationship roles is only a problem if it is a problem for those involved. It is natural hand healthy for any sort of partnership, or even team, that people do more of the things that come easily to them, taking the burden off those who find those things difficult. Yuzu is outgoing and enthusiastic she will probably always be taking point more often than Mei, it doesn't mean the relationship as a whole is unequal. If this was a heterosexual relationship and Yuzu was the guy, would anyone really be surprised that "he" was doing most of the wooing?

Mei smoothed things over with her grandfather when Yuzu was going to be expelled, and she changed the school rules on dress code - neither of those things would have been trivial or incidental, but they occurred "off-screen" so you didn't see the effort.

She has also pushed out of her comfort zone over and over again for their relationship, which is no small thing for someone so reserved. Presenting Yuzu to the board as her partner wasn't some impulsive gesture to impress Yuzu, it was a strategic move in building their legitimacy.

Mei’s confronting the school’s board about her ambition to lead the school, and dealing with the ramifications of her changes in the school’s policies were the logical things for the story to have dealt with—dozens of chapters ago, in the main series.

There was no compelling reason for, and ultimately very little accomplished by, all the nonsense with Shirapon, the interminable fireworks festival, etc., to say nothing of the return of the zombie plot point of the arranged marriage. The “Mei characterization” issues and the “botched plotting” issues go hand in hand—Sabu jerked Mei around like a puppet with little consideration of what the implications of the forced plot points were for the characters she had established.

Mei and Yuzu facing together the problem of their maintaining their relationship against the family pressure on Mei for an arranged marriage would have been story arc worth reading.

But Mei going along with months of romantic shenanigans with Yuzu knowing all the while she would ultimately marry some guy turned Mei into a deceiver and Yuzu into a doormat—not, I suspect, the effect Saburouta was going for.

Mei’s confronting the school’s board about her ambition to lead the school, and dealing with the ramifications of her changes in the school’s policies were the logical things for the story to have dealt with—dozens of chapters ago, in the main series.

Mei's move was more than a simple declaration - the translation is a bit rough, but afaics she tricked her father (ie he didn't know she intended to run for chairman) into presenting the reform package (that matched her plans) with all the weight of his experience (and patriarchal authority) while abdicating decisively to the point of proposing a non-family member as chairman. With the way cleared, she ambushed him by putting herself forward as an alternative, seeming to the board as if she had his blessing (and her chutzpah secured his blessing for real). Needing those pieces in place it couldn't happened much earlier. Making a power play without proper support and a clear way would have just been childish.

There was no compelling reason for, and ultimately very little accomplished by, all the nonsense with Shirapon, the interminable fireworks festival, etc., to say nothing of the return of the zombie plot point of the arranged marriage. The “Mei characterization” issues and the “botched plotting” issues go hand in hand—Sabu jerked Mei around like a puppet with little consideration of what the implications of the forced plot points were for the characters she had established.

On a certain level in a teen romantic drama story, teen romantic drama is an end in itself, a bit of fun low-stakes tension as entertainment. Shirapon as Yuzu's friend highlighted the vast gulf between Yuzu and high society, and provided a fresh perspective on Mei (inscrutable even to her social peers) . She also provided a relatively "safe" source of scrutiny (interested, but unlikely to go after them maliciously) to highlight the practical difficulty in having a secret relationship (Matsuri already knew, and the rest of their friends were too polite or oblivious to be nosy).

It is not a zombie plot if it wasn't dead the first time. The first incident only addressed a single sleazeball fiance, not the structural problem of Mei's socially prescribed "duty" (and her belief in it). It was more character establishment for Yuzu than it was plot. If we want to make a connection to the later engagement, it was foreshadowing of the main event.

Mei and Yuzu facing together the problem of their maintaining their relationship against the family pressure on Mei for an arranged marriage would have been story arc worth reading.

How would that even work in 21st century Japan? This isn't the middle ages where her family could literally force her into marriage, it is about how much power Mei chooses to give them. Either they are in the closet and lying to everyone, or her family is willfully ignoring her feelings; neither sounds like much fun.

You thought we had slow plot movement before? Presented with a match, either she says yes, she says no or she stalls - none of those options do anything to advance the cause of her relationship with Yuzu.

To be very clear I'm not saying that homophobia isn't a problem, just that there isn't much room for reasoning or persuasion, either you take the gamble on disapproval or you knuckle under in some way (even if only lying to keep them happy/you safe).

And if we aren't talking homophobia, but just the idea of "proving" the relationship, the only opinion that mattered was Mei's, and that is how the story went.

tbh I think Saburouta made a smart choice with the family approval twist; there are only so many permutations of plucky-couple overcome contrived family disapproval one can take before it gets boring. None of them would have been real villains, so it would have just been trivial/petty reservations, with trivial resolutions.

The only thing the first series resolution was ever going to be about was Mei's preparedness (or not) to defy convention and embrace their relationship. In Citrus+ we are starting to see them working together to handle challenges (Sayaka), you don't seem to have been particularly impressed.

But Mei going along with months of romantic shenanigans with Yuzu knowing all the while she would ultimately marry some guy turned Mei into a deceiver and Yuzu into a doormat—not, I suspect, the effect Saburouta was going for.

Up until the rings it was fair game. Mei made no commitment and teenage liaisons aren't exactly eternally binding. By the time it came to a head, they were both in too deep.

Mei had the choice of:

Telling Yuzu: either providing the final blow crushing Yuzu's sprit, or if it went "well", spending the rest of her time with Yuzu arguing pointlessly about an engagement that hadn't even been decided yet.

Not telling her: embracing the present and making Yuzu happy, while hoping for a miracle so she didn't have to choose between Yuzu and her duty/ambition (which she got, sort of, in the form of Yuzu persuading her it was possible to have both).

It may not have been the most mature choice, but it wasn't in any way malicious, Mei is hardly the first person to ignore an inconvenient truth. Yuzu's post-reconciliation choice is very simple - is she happy to have Mei back? You bet she is. Yuzu asserted herself and got what she wanted, not really doormat territory. Agonizing endlessly because the relationship "score" isn't arbitrarily even, now that might make someone a chump.

It is not a zombie plot if it wasn't dead the first time. The first incident only addressed a single sleazeball fiance, not the structural problem of Mei's socially prescribed "duty" (and her belief in it). It was more character establishment for Yuzu than it was plot. If we want to make a connection to the later engagement, it was foreshadowing of the main event.

This is nonsense—the first arranged marriage didn’t “foreshadow” anything. After that matter was resolved early on, nothing in the plot indicated to readers that an arranged het marriage for Mei was still a ongoing live issue until it emerged again full-blown, pulled out of Sarubouta’s ass.

The only thing the first series resolution was ever going to be about was Mei's preparedness (or not) to defy convention and embrace their relationship.

Your ability to fanfic/headcanon sloppy ad-hoc writing into nuanced, thematically coherent craft is truly second to none.

The fact that Sarubouta couldn’t even be bothered to write the actual scenes resolving all the central conflicts that the series had so tediously and laboriously set up is evidence of a very different real-life creator than the one you have worked so hard to conjure up.

You were nice enough not to mention it, but I'd like to apologize for the overly aggressive/attack tone that crept into parts of my post... sometimes it gets away from me. Gives me a bit of empathy for characters that slip into doing things they wouldn't plan, I guess.

It is not a zombie plot if it wasn't dead the first time. The first incident only addressed a single sleazeball fiance, not the structural problem of Mei's socially prescribed "duty" (and her belief in it). It was more character establishment for Yuzu than it was plot. If we want to make a connection to the later engagement, it was foreshadowing of the main event.

This is nonsense—the first arranged marriage didn’t “foreshadow” anything. After that matter was resolved early on, nothing in the plot indicated to readers that an arranged het marriage for Mei was still a ongoing live issue until it emerged again full-blown, pulled out of Sarubouta’s ass.

There was literally dialogue explaining that arranged marriage was the norm for that social sphere.

I know it is considered a bit tired to bring up the cultural thing, but it is a big factor here - in the West we have the idea of arranged marriage as some damsel in distress being married off to some specific man/villain as part of some years old deep laid deal or plan (and that they can be simply "rescued" from it and live happily ever after). But the cultural reality of arranged marriage, particularly in Japan is that it usually isn't about a specific partner/deal, it is about a "suitable" (socially/economically compatible) candidate from a wide field. Marriage "interviews" are often literally that, and although the degree of pressure would vary, normally the couple would have the deciding say. There was nothing special about the fiance Yuzu "defeated", in the system he was utterly replaceable - and would be replaced.

It may have been unfamiliar to Yuzu, but Japanese readers would mostly have some awareness of this as part of their cultural preconceptions about arranged marriage. The arc highlighted both the social expectation of arranged marriage and Mei's acceptance of it (not to mention Yuzu's lack of comprehension about it) - neither of which were resolved, setting the scene for the main conflict later. In this context the implication is that Mei's passivity and lack of involvement was essentially her own doing (even if only by inaction) - definitely a portent of what was to come.

The only thing the first series resolution was ever going to be about was Mei's preparedness (or not) to defy convention and embrace their relationship.

Your ability to fanfic/headcanon sloppy ad-hoc writing into nuanced, thematically coherent craft is truly second to none.

The fact that Sarubouta couldn’t even be bothered to write the actual scenes resolving all the central conflicts that the series had so tediously and laboriously set up is evidence of a very different real-life creator than the one you have worked so hard to conjure up.

A 40 chapter serial isn't going to be entirely built around a one chapter resolution, there will be other stuff going on, a certain amount made up on the fly, corners will be cut and mistakes will be made. But in the broad strokes the story drama was based around will they/won't they misunderstandings and romantic pursuit, it seems fairly self-evident that the resolution would be on the same field of play.

This is nonsense—the first arranged marriage didn’t “foreshadow” anything. After that matter was resolved early on, nothing in the plot indicated to readers that an arranged het marriage for Mei was still a ongoing live issue until it emerged again full-blown, pulled out of Sarubouta’s ass.

There was literally dialogue explaining that arranged marriage was the norm for that social sphere.

I know it is considered a bit tired to bring up the cultural thing, but it is a big factor here

This is entirely missing the point—that dialogue about the so-called “norm” was an obvious after-the-fact patch to excuse the late-series plot ass-pull.

Obviously, any regular reader of manga will be familiar with the “ojou-sama/arranged marriage” trope—sometimes it’s used in regard to a given social stratum, and sometimes it’s not.

And sometimes it’s brought up once and then disposed of, as was unequivocally done in Chapter 4 of the main series, when the grandfather, after describing how he was too harsh and inattentive regarding his granddaughter, says to Mei,

“It’s time for you and you alone to decide how to live your life.” (Emphasis in the original)

In-universe, there was absolutely no kind of foreshadowing whatsoever that a requirement that Mei marry someone for the sake of the family fortune was still in effect after the departure of Sensei McRapey. Grandpa doesn’t say, “For now,” or “until we need the cash flow,” or anything remotely like that. In subsequent volumes there are no cryptic cues or flashes of clandestine meetings or anything else in the body of the text to indicate that an arranged marriage for Mei is still on the table until it suddenly comes out of nowhere in Chapters 32-33.

Even temporarily granting for the sake of argument the premise that the arranged marriage was part of Saburouta’s plan all along, that makes the whole “ring acceptance” arc a deep indictment of Mei’s personal integrity; her failure to be truthful turns the ring exchange into a cruel prank played on Yuzu’s emotions, exponentially compounded by the vicious irony that Mei’s Intended eventually turns out to be the very manager who urges Yuzu to go all-out in buying the rings and expressing her emotions.

(I don’t think that’s at all the case, of course—I believe the couples-ring arc was supposed to be just as romantic as it seemed at the time, and that Manager-san was later dragged into the arranged-marriage plot fiasco because he was established as such a benign figure that it would be plausible for him to give Mei and Yuzu his blessing when Mei inevitably jilted him.)

Until that plot swerve bridging Volumes 8 & 9, there’s simply nothing in the text to indicate that a cultural norm about arranged marriage would continue to apply to this particular story, or that the grandfather’s statement about Mei “living her life as she alone decides” is partial, qualified, or only temporary.

last edited at Dec 27, 2020 10:34PM