Longest. slowburn. ever
Bitches in their 40's before making a move.
Kaoru waiting for that adult Uta fineness.
Teen Uta wouldn't believe she'd become so fine that Kaoru couldn't hold back her horny and finally makes a move.

Uta making Kaoru's life livable is reason for them living together, but not for romance.

Kaoru's interesting amounts of skinship with Uta could point toward romance/sex after shedding the husband... which would have been interesting to actually see, and probably not after five or more years[1]. Instead we timeskipped from angsty resolution to drunken "snap gay".

We got a destination but skipped half the journey.

[1] Uta was a senior in high school, we skipped past college, they've been living together while Uta worked, so at least 4 + 0.5 + 0.5. I forget if there was a statement of even more years passing...

That.... Sucked. Wasted time with this one.

The epilogue played out like a doujin.

Hot damn this BURN!

princess_daphie posted:

I'm surprised either endings are so divisive!!! I loved them both. At first, I was okay with some open end, I mean it was still kinda sad, but at least they were going to live together, so it was huge, and it left the possibility of who knows what might happen in the future, you know?! And now we got the epilogue?! I feel like it's that "who knows what might happen", that turns out to be super positive! I was smiling when I read it, and I'm still smiling thinking about it!

The need to spell out a happy ending, vs leaving it to the imagination of the readers is debatable.

Obviously, at first, the author was going for the latter (Cf the title itself), but ended up doing the former.

Whether under the pressure of fans, of the editor, or because they had second thoughts about it, we will never know.

People who wanted to stay with the first ending can just ignore this chapter and consider it as non-canon, or as an alternate ending.

Yeah the epilogue did feel like a fanfiction/doujin because we didn't see the little bits of realizations Kaoru had about Uta. Spoiler tag person was saying it'd be boring to portray. I don't think it would be. I really want to see how the brother and them reconciled, plus I wanna know what Ritsuko's deal is!

Also seems too convenient that she falls for her. Guess emotions and logics attached to them are weird though.

I agree with the other person that I was talking about this author going back to one shots. Those love live one shots were freaking magical. So I'd prefer to see more one-shots than serialized manga.

It just feels like a slap in the face that the author ends it on unrequited love, and then decides nah let's make it required. I don't like the back pedaling.

last edited at Feb 18, 2021 7:30AM

Uta with long hair is pretty sweet

I prefer this to the open end, but also goddamn Uta really girl, living with Kaoru as an adult for a year not expecting anything but also you're living together and ???

Ah man, whatever, was still kinda cute even though I think Uta is a sucker for being a doormat

Ah man, whatever, was still kinda cute even though I think Uta is a sucker for being a doormat

She was a sucker, but now she's getting laid! Wait long enough, hanging around your target until everyone else leaves, and payoff! It's the Nice Girl Way! :D

The real question is whether they've had separate bedrooms. Remember when Kaoru needed to hold Uta's hand to fall asleep?

last edited at Feb 18, 2021 5:03PM

Oh no she died
To think she spent the whole of her life in an unrequited love and the very moment that love was requited she died from it.
This is truly a tragedy

Ah, it's finally over.

Mixed feelings about this. Waaay earlier discussions about "Kaoru snaps gay" seems to have come to fruition. Would you look at that.

I can't blame Kaoru for feeling loving carnal desire towards Uta.
Uta has grown up to be a fine-looking and loaded lesbian.

I can't blame Kaoru for feeling loving carnal desire towards Uta.
Uta has grown up to be a fine-looking and loaded lesbian.

She sure has, that's my main takeaway from this, seeing Uta's fine-looking self again. And it was nice seeing Kaoru too, her character might suck, but she's also gotten hotter.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK YES.

Though I would've totally been fine with a bittersweet realistic ending.

Nice to see that have been getting a few positive comments, I liked the little extra epilogue/sequel and the negativity was a bit overwhelming for a while there.

A couple of posts commented that "chapter 38" didn't really seem to fit in with the flow of the others... there is a reason for that... it isn't actually part of the main story, it is a separate one shot first released with a limited edition of the Japanese volume 7 for the series, but also being sold separately. Observant readers might have noticed the finality of the note at the end of ch37, the lack of a ch38 title page and no link to a Yuri Hime volume. The credits image is the cover of the story with its own title 紡いだ糸のその先で (tsumuida ito no sonosaki de/ Beyond the spun thread) making it clear it is outside the main series, cf たとえとどかぬ糸だとしても (tatoe todokanu ito da to shite mo Google translate says "Even if it's a thread that can't be reached" which goes to show about machines and figurative language... somewhat beyond my Japanese fluency, but I think the key elements are "even if" and unfulfilled wish/desire).

I discussed the relationship to the main story in a post made when the raws started circulating, but that quite some time ago, so I thought it could stand repeating now the translation is up. https://dynasty-scans.com/forum/posts/655457

It might be nice if the distinction was made a bit clearer for casual readers, eg by calling it something other then chapter 38 and/or an explanatory panel at the start of the chapter (hint, hint). That said I hope it is included in the official English translation, since I think confirmation broadens the appeal (and avoids endless arguments about whether they are canon as a couple).

I have to say it is nice to be vindicated in my feeling that Risako would be supportive of Uta/Kaoru if she knew. I never felt like her behaviour really lined up with wanting Kaoru for herself, just that she was convinced Reiichi was wrong for Kaoru.

As for Uta's "torment", the main series made it clear she had decided being close to Kaoru was worth the pain, she said as much. She chose her torment, as part of being true to her identity, and I'm not sure why some people don't get that (but the fact that they don't makes in unsurprising they don't get the rest of the story).

The story/resolution was about coming Uta to terms with her own feelings (and secondarily a similar path for Kaoru), not about getting together as a couple, that is very much epilogue stuff.

I also don't think there was much untold mystery in Kaoru "breaking gay"; even at the start of the series she was most of the way there already, deeply invested in a ersatz relationship with Uta; discovering Uta's romantic feelings didn't discourage her (she even drew comfort from it)...by the end they were planning a Boston Marriage together. It isn't a huge leap that once she got her life in order and was living together with Uta without all the other stuff hanging over her head that she realised she did want more. Given their painful history, and Kaoru's past mistakes it also feels realistic that the hang up for Kaoru would be about confessing and changing their relationship, not about actually having gay feelings.
Because of her own experience Kaoru respects Uta's right to hang onto her feelings; but she also knows the pain of uncertainty - if she was 100% sure she would never have romantic feelings for Uta she would have told her as much (Uta knows Kaoru better than anyone else does, and her takeaway at the end of ch36 was that there might be a chance some day).

I'd also like to say that I consider that it was an important distinction that it wasn't that Kaoru needed to get drunk to unlock feelings for Uta... as her words and Risako's make clear, it had been weighing on her mind for quite some time before that, she had even been trying set up an opportunity to talk to Uta. She was just afraid to make the leap and actually confess to Uta.

circamoore posted:

it isn't actually part of the main story, it is a separate one shot first released with a limited edition of the Japanese volume 7 for the series, but also being sold separately.

So I was right it was a doujinshi.

discovering Uta's romantic feelings didn't discourage her (she even drew comfort from it)

Yea. She only pretended nothing happened for next few days and then when she finally decided to confront Uta about it, she was disappointed she didn't deny it, because she didn't want to destroy what they had and in general she only felt conflicted by them. She confronted Uta hoping she misunderstood her and she wasn't in love with her and once she confirmed it, she made sure that's it and soon it'll be all in the past. Again, I feel like we read different stories. Are you sure you're commenting in right thread?

I'd also like to say that I consider that it was an important distinction that it wasn't that Kaoru needed to get drunk to unlock feelings for Uta... as her words and Risako's make clear, it had been weighing on her mind for quite some time before that, she had even been trying set up an opportunity to talk to Uta.

Which she told Risako about every time she got drunk.

Nevri:

Again, I feel like we read different stories. Are you sure you're commenting in right thread?

I don't think Dynasty supplies separate threads for headcanon.

EDIT: Remember back when people were idiots for not realizing that the story wasn't about Uta and her feelings at all, but was completely an ensemble piece? Good times, good times.

last edited at Feb 20, 2021 10:52AM

discovering Uta's romantic feelings didn't discourage her (she even drew comfort from it)

Yea. She only pretended nothing happened for next few days and then when she finally decided to confront Uta about it, she was disappointed she didn't deny it, because she didn't want to destroy what they had and in general she only felt conflicted by them. She confronted Uta hoping she misunderstood her and she wasn't in love with her and once she confirmed it, she made sure that's it and soon it'll be all in the past. Again, I feel like we read different stories. Are you sure you're commenting in right thread?

All Kaoru's moves were aimed at finding an excuse to carry on being close to Uta without having to feel guilty. The last thing someone who is carrying out a deniable "not affair" wants to hear is a confession from their "not lover". Kaoru was shocked, and found it inconvenient, but it didn't dent her desire to be close to Uta at all.
EDIT: as for seeing a different story, on the basis of some of my frequent sparring partners, I concluded that long ago.

last edited at Feb 20, 2021 7:31PM

All Kaoru's moves were aimed at finding an excuse to carry on being close to Uta without having to feel guilty.

What is your textual evidence for this assertion? The entire premise of the story from the start is that Uta loves Kaoru and Kaoru loves Uta, but the nature of the “love” each one feels is not the same.

Starting in Chapter 1, we learn about Kaoru’s feelings toward Uta: she loves her deeply as a friend and as a family member; she finds her comforting and reliable; she relies on her emotionally. When Uta leaves, Kaoru wishes that things could go back to the way they were.

Kaoru responds to Uta’s love confession by saying: “I’m sorry. I’m grateful for your feelings. But I can’t respond to them. I can’t accept them either.”

Absolutely nothing in the text from Chapter 1 to Chapter 37 indicates that the nature of those feelings change—certainly not the climactic scene in Chapter 36, where the only changed feelings are Uta’s, who previously thought it was too painful to be around Kaoru but now is willing to put up with the pain of living with Kaoru despite her own feelings.

Until the supposedly non-canonical epilogue, the text tells us that a) Kaoru wants to be with Uta, and b) Kaoru’s deepest wish is that Uta’s romantic feelings for her would just go away.

last edited at Feb 20, 2021 9:41PM

It's so sad to hold onto an unrequited love for so long. But maybe it's in some people identity, indeed, wasnt that the whole point of this manga ? To give those people something to relate to, and not false hope like that last chapter ?

Dont get me wrong, I like that new ending. I prefer it 1000 times. But it doesnt feel right.

As for me I'm happy I became able to move on. It's sometimes harder than anything I did and it threw me rock bottom many times. (and when I say rock bottom I mean it) But I keep looking for requited love, and that's a skill I'm happy to have learnt.

Wow, no wonder people weren't happy with the OG ending. Hallelujah for this new ending

To me the epilogue gave us a happy ending! Finally, Kairo did fall in love with Uta after living her for a year! Previously, Kairo never think that way because her mind was all about her ex-husband. The author is kind to take care of fans feelings and I really like it. No doubt in reality this type of relationship won't happened, better cut it off fast if you have feelings towards your sis in law. I like the ending because the author really care and this is a lot better ending than WFTFS has given us!

Unfortunately commercial media and artists being dependent on their readers and publishers for income often has a big negative effect on anything that gets published. If artists were all financially independent, they could write their stories as long or short as they want, and would have far less need to reach some conclusions in their narratives, just so they have a chance to get some contracts in the future. You could have more surprises that aren't just edgy twists as well. But that won't happen unless we get a global artist sponsorship going on at some point.

Money is not the sole issue. The other issue is attention and popularity. For any artist that is fully committed to their craft, it's painful not get noticed, so it's only natural that many get carried along by trends of whatever seems popular. This effect is especially pronounced on twitter, which is where every Japanese artist has been moving to recently.

It was a decent read, the only thing I couldn't quite get over was the precocious teenagers, like, they were getting philosophical every chapter or so, it felt really funny tbh

last edited at Mar 26, 2021 2:55AM

27th7 posted:

It was a decent read, the only thing I couldn't quite get over was the precocious teenagers, like, they were getting philosophical every chapter or so, it felt really funny tbh

It's a common trope in manga. Teens get all deep, like they experienced a life's worth of tribulation in a few weeks of high-school and they suddenly aged into their 40s. Then, once the monologue has been said, everyone has an epiphany and moves forward.

Convenient.

last edited at Mar 26, 2021 3:27AM