Subtext my ass...

Frog and salamander

"The moon is beautiful"

"I cherish her more than a friend"

We've got Xena levels of subtext here.

Don't forget the hugs and the touching of hands

h-how scandalous!

Seriously, I like how this has been going. This is subtext done well. I feel I'm not being left hanging or dreadfully wanting more clarity and explicitness (not like the way I felt with MUL). Instead, there's just this positivity that what Konatsu and Koyuki mutually feel for each other will continuously grow.

Oh! They gay now!

They gay now?

They gay now!

last edited at Jan 31, 2021 8:34AM

Ugh. They should just date already!!! Gay or not!!

Aaaaaghblbhgh!

The author is either trying to misdirect or is deluding themselves, because there's no platonic explanation to what happened here.

I would have said that platonic love is exactly what is shown here: affection without a sexual relationship. It's difficult to put too fine a point on it simply because the definitions of platonic love and romantic love have changed so much over time, but I think my favorite description is that platonic love (in the modern sense) is the attraction of souls rather than bodies.

The way I read what Hagino-sensei has said about this story is that it's not a "yuri manga" – that is, she's not interested in sticking to the tropes and plot patterns of the genre. Whether it's editors trying to guide stories to fit what they believe their audiences are expecting or want, or readers looking for familiar story beats, there's a lot of gatekeeping around most manga genres, and BL and yuri seem to be tighter than most. You can see a lot of that gatekeeping in this very thread.

What I don't see her as having said is that this story is not about love between girls, or that they're not going to get together. I agree with the folks that say this chapter reads like a climax for the series. I was incredibly tense reading it because there was a lot on the line, and so many things were brought together for Konatsu and Honami. Given how close to the end of the story we are, to me it's pretty much definitive at this point that this has been a romance about the relationship between the two of them, and the ways in which it deviates from a typical romance story are due to the specific nature of Konatsu, Honami, and their friends.

Even if it was indirect, that was as intense a confession scene as I've read anywhere. I don't think there's any doubt at the end of the chapter how the two feel about each other, to each other or themselves. The expectation that those feelings would be confirmed, whether by kissing or otherwise, I think is one of the exact conventions that Hagino-sensei doesn't want to be held to. And I don't think the story really needs it. The salamander and frog have come out of the cave; neither Konatsu nor Homani are lonely the way they were at the beginning of the story; both of them know the role and importance that the other has to them. It could stop here and I'd be satisfied.

last edited at Jan 31, 2021 7:24PM

This kind of relationship is definitely something the author has been trying to express throughout the whole series and why she said she'd rather not give it a label and let the work speak for itself. There's the infamous 'girlship' but that's just a marketing term rather than something that comes up in the context of the story. I wonder if she's come to her own answer considering both this chapter and the volume 9 preview at the end of volume 8 have been setting up Koyuki figuring out what Konatsu is to her and how to call that.

Honestly I'd almost see it as a bit of a cop-out at this point if they simply agreed to become girlfriends and start dating as the note to end the series on. They are definitely soulmates and both have expressed their desire and need to always be with each other, but the series went so deeply into their rawest feelings and insecurities that they managed to reach this conclusion without going through the usual motions of discovering a physical attraction to each other, which to me is a necessary part of a romantic love story. We've had things like Koyuki hugging Konatsu, Konatsu later hugging her back and stroking her hair while she was asleep, but they were always actions that punctuated specific emotional developments rather than being the point of the developments themselves, such as one hugging the other because she felt the desire for physical contact. It's telling that their most climactic instance of physical contact thus far has been them simply touching their palms while agreeing to use a first-name basis from then on, to signify that the distance between them had been finally closed. It's the most basic and stripped-down form of connection two people can have, through the full extension and contact of the body part a person uses to interact with the outside world, without any of the cultural and emotional baggage a hug, a kiss or even holding hands comes with.

In this context, I feel like making a kiss the big climax of the last two chapters would be out of place to me. If I've understood anything about the author in these past three years, is that her personal view of this relationship is one where romantic expression is off to the side and almost irrelevant. Of course people will come to the conclusion that they love each other that way, but their love is one that runs way deeper.

last edited at Jan 31, 2021 7:25PM

Also it is super weird seeing Honami smile so much. But nice.

@othiym23 You beat me by a few minutes and you expressed a lot of the same things I feel. For all intents and purposes I think it's safe to say this chapter was the confession. It was never about them saying "I love you".

Gorgeous chapter and development and fulfillment of Koyuki and Konatsu's characters. This chapter was everything I didn't know I needed from a climax in this story. Even barely remembering anything from most of the story and not having thought about it as much, I remember enough (because the story has been that deliberate and thoughtful in its repetition of main ideas) to still deeply appreciate the salamander and the frog finding their way out of the cave.

What a beautiful friendship

In so many of these school-age stories, the families are either invisible or only serve as either comic relief or source of drama. I love how much the families of the MCs are integrated into the story here. It gives it so much more depth and dimension.

This manga has always been so great, the character arcs were important and crucial, it showed so many complex emotions well, and just showed how so many things tie together. It's not explicit yuri as they don't make out every other chapter, but I felt the teenage romance, I'm happy with this ending.

51-page chapter this month.

"次号, 最終回"
Chapter 34 releasing on March 27th will be the last.

That's a loooot of pages, I am truly blessed

I may not understand if there are romantic undertones to all their "salamander/frog" talks (imo it doesnt really matter if it ends on friendship anyways), but I know I really love their relationship at this point where they're openly admitting their loneliness and how they see each other. It really is a shame that they have to be apart so soon after they've achieved this soulmate level of mutual understanding.

last edited at Feb 27, 2021 6:23PM

I wasn't expecting that to be Konatsu's decision, but thinking about it, it makes sense. They know they're not alone anymore even if they're apart, and Konatsu wants to be able to stand on her own, plus she finally found a place where she belongs and her belonging isn't only identified with Koyuki. The uniform change, being in a different class from Kaede and Yamagishi and spontaneously talking to the lonely-looking girl she saw herself in all nicely cap off her growth. I felt like the last few chapters had focused mostly on Koyuki, so I'm glad Konatsu got her due before the end.

As for said end, now I'm wondering if the final chapter takes place several years later going by the preview in volume 8. Koyuki muses about who she wants by her side in it and Konatsu essentially expresses the same thing in this chapter when she says she doesn't know if she'll be something for someone else or be Koyuki's frog, and with the talk about heading towards the future at the end of the chapter, maybe the last one might hold the answer they've come to rather than just reiterating this chapter's general feeling of wanting to move forward and be something. Either way, I'm looking forward to it. I'll be sad but also glad to have seen it through.

last edited at Feb 27, 2021 7:28PM

Screw it, I'm calling this confirmed. Don't fight me on this, I will cry.

Nearly Over :"( years truly fly...

last edited at Feb 27, 2021 8:21PM

I see, so Author-san is saving the "love" confession for the very last chapter. Yep, that's what we're getting next, mhmm, can't wait.

well, it was a fun run

So, the tag is "not lizard" coz they're "frogs".

So, the tag is "not lizard" coz they're "frogs".

mystery solved