I'm okay with this either way. True yuri would have been nice, but it's possible for friendships to be as deep as romantic love. It would be nice to have a friend like this someday.

I'm glad this is ending because the story doesn't really seem to know how it wants to present its focus. The bond ironically seemed stronger between Konatsu and Koyuki earlier in the story than where it is now. I guess the only real development has been the resolve to become strong? I don't know, but this story dragged on for a lot longer than it needed to be for the amount of actual development it had.

Welp, I'm along for the ride no matter how this ends.

I'm not really sure why these 'gay or noy gay' arguments are still going on. Well, I know the reason, I just don't understand why some still think this dead, already skeleton horse is still worthy of being kicked. This read to me as a relationship that sits firmly in the ambiguous area between platonic and romantic love. If you want romantic love, that's fine, there are other series out there, but this kind of approach to yuri isn't any less potent than gayest series out there. It's like Futaribeya except not explicitly romantic.

I welcome series like these that are explicitly ambiguous. They're not just gay-baiting, but they're also not locked in to the outdated, binary way of looking at relationships as either just platonic or romantic. It's evidently just as potent regardless. People are still invested in this relationship to this degree even now.

I do agree that the series kind of lost me around the halfway mark. It was a slog to go through. I got its point, and it was a good point, but it could have done that in half the length.

last edited at Mar 15, 2021 3:51AM

Honestly, this was the one manga where I thought I'd be fine without any explicit romance because the early part did such a good job of showing how valuable their relationship was to them either way. But the more clearly I could see that, the more all their meandering annoyed me.

It's ended.
Of course, it's still salamandership till the end. And for me it's the best to stay that way.

Also, there's a tweet saying in English that Hagino-sensei is preparing for a new serial.

https://twitter.com/MangaMoguraRE/status/1375564175490048006?s=19

Since Hagino-sensei herself retweeted it, should we take it as confirmed?
If so, it's a good thing that she chose to continue as mangaka, contrary to what she had said last year during her unrecorded twitch stream.

also this:

Fine, my main hope for the ending is that they go on an aquarium date in Tokyo.

You must be really happy that it turned into reality.

"Do you like salamanders?" is the lesbian version of "The moon is beautiful, isnt it?" and you cant convince me otherwise.

Even if it isn't yuri, I think the story overall was really good! I think everyone deserves a friend in their life like this.

Thank you Hachimitsu Scans for working in this manga until the end, and thank you Hagino-sensei for creating it, wish her the best in her next project and life in general.
This one has been one of my favorite mangas for the last 3 years and I am glad I got to read it until the end

last edited at Mar 28, 2021 2:34AM

Glad I know what side of the subtext coin in ended on so I can read it for what it is without getting my hopes up

"Do you like salamanders?" is the lesbian version of "The moon is beautiful, isnt it?" and you cant convince me otherwise.

nah it's just a variation of "Do you listen to girl in red?"

I'm a bit disappointed, I was hoping for some more dialogue between them for the end
I feel like Kaede was to fill in the chapter
Anyway, thanks for the translation, I really enjoyed this manga and it's sad that it's over.
I remember that I started reading it because I thought it was "yuri" so I am not interested in his next project currently I only follow a few yuri manga

I am so glad it finally ends! What the fuck with the end anyway? Does anyone bore to spoil it for me please :D

@Adnegel
I agree with you, her name has been in my blacklist since almost the half of story went. I would stop following this author from her main works and doujins as well. Sick of those mercenary people like these.

last edited at Mar 28, 2021 2:50AM

You're a salamander, Koyuki

Do you like salamanders?

* dramatic pause, look into each other's eyes *

Yes

No one can tell me this isn't gay.

last edited at Mar 28, 2021 2:54AM

@Zoetrophy: "No one can tell me this isn't gay."
The author: "Hold my bloody pen!"

Same tag than Stretch applies : Super Friends

last edited at Mar 28, 2021 3:21AM

[Sigh]

Owari..

last edited at Mar 28, 2021 3:29AM

Damn, I can't believe it is over. But I liked the ending, it tied everything together in a pretty satisfying way even though there was no explicit yuri (F for the Dynasty Reader readers that are pretty much used to everything being yuri in a way lol).
Gonna miss these two dorky protagonists.

last edited at Mar 28, 2021 4:03AM

No kisses. No smut. No explicitly obvious declarations of love.
And it was still one of the gayest things ever.

man, this manga REALLY went full slog and angst drama in the middle after starting out strong :/ those slew of chapters in the middle volumes, where basic human communication and sense would have solved everything, just ruined the story for me

hate when authors rely on dumb tropes and clichés for drama, but this manga went much worse by dragging on said drama for muuuch longer than ever needed -_-

so in the end, meh manga overall for me. Started off good, middle ruined it and an okay ending. The art was top notch throughout.

Though I am glad the author didn't actually do anything between the brother and Kaede. Like how the hell was it that there were actually a few people who wanted a 11-12 year old kid to get with a 17-18 year old girl... those comments were just... ugh -_-

Now I'm not that bothered that it ended as "friendship", seeing as the story was more about the theme of loneliness and such, but it's clear that the execution was really messy.

I have a feeling the story started out with a more clear yuri route (the early chapters were clearly going for yuri, later chapters still had "more than friends" stuff going on all over despite switch to platonic, even this ending) but something changed in-between to wanting a more platonic relationship with yuri implications

and ya, everyone is using friends in quotes cause this is the most yuri "just friends" relationship I've seen in a while~

last edited at Mar 28, 2021 6:20AM

Fine, my main hope for the ending is that they go on an aquarium date in Tokyo.

You must be really happy that it turned into reality.

I had the dumbest grin on my face.

I'm firmly on the camp that likes the relationship depicted here. Tonally, it's definitely in that ambiguous zone between platonic and romantic relationships, and I really want more stuff like that handled well. More or less, I think the series handled it well. There were some issues, but it remained very potent throughout the series. And the best part is, if you wanted them to be a romantic pair by the end, you can very easily interpret their relationship as eventually becoming that. There's a lot going for it. I prefer the ambiguous route, so I'm satisfied with their relationship.

I'm not with everything else. The series had a great start with a lot of possibilities, but towards the end, it just deflated and became an absolute slog and pain to get through. It felt like a hollow version of the story I'd been reading in the previous chapters. That's not even just because they're not a romantic relationship or something, I don't think I would have had a problem with that when all is said and done. Rather, it's because it was just so frustratingly glacial and more importantly, so goddamn avoidable. I don't want miscommunications to disappear in yuri, if handled well, they can enhance the realism and the immersion of the story. Handling them well is being careful with your doses. The author decided to just wantonly and carelessly dump it all at once, and even if I can believe a situation like that can exist in real life, as a story, it is ungodly boring and plain terrible to read through. The worst part is, I thought it had a good point to make. I thought a situation like that would have made the series a lot better. But taken to a ridiculous extreme? It only becomes just that, a ridiculous extreme. And to me at least, wasted potential feels worse than a series that had little to none in the first place.

The final act fixed things a bit, but a middle act that bad has already done its damage, and something of that scale is irreperable past a certain point, which the series definitely ran a mile beyond from.

It was still a good series. I still enjoyed it. But I can't help but leave it feeling like it could've been something a lot more.

I'll follow Hagino's next series just to see if it piques my interest, but even then, I don't think she's gained much good faith from me with this series. Enough for me to want to at least have some passing interest in her next work, but not enough that I can say I'm actually interested in her next work or follow her regularly. Again, I still enjoyed it, but it could've been a lot better.

last edited at Mar 28, 2021 7:29AM

I remember reading and liking the earlier chapters but I dunno about subtext. Too much meandering in that tag

I actually like the drama part, for me it's nostalgic and honest story. I also really like this kind of relationship. There's not much works covering ace feelings (it's obviously niche and considered strange even by strange). So I'm just glad this little manga exists.

I find it sad to see that so many people grew tired of or were disappointed by this series. I have to say, I only picked it up by the end of volume 8, so I didn't really have to wait for chapters for the greater part of the story. However, I didn't feel like it was dragging on or anything. Honestly my favourite were probably volumes 6 and 7 that dealt with Konatsu's loneliness. I don't know, maybe I just like exaggerated drama...? xD

Anyway, I thought this was a very well planned out series and I don't think it got sidetracked or lost its original goal. To me it seemed that the author had thought of how it was going to go from the beginning, and it was only the readers' expectations that made it seem otherwise. And I was actually happy that it ended this way and not with an explicit romantic relationship because that wasn't the point of the story. It was a story of loneliness and creating strong bonds with others (not only those with friends but with family members as well) and that's what makes it unique.

last edited at Mar 28, 2021 6:59AM

I find it sad to see that so many people grew tired of or were disappointed by this series. I have to say, I only picked it up by the end of volume 8, so I didn't really have to wait for chapters for the greater part of the story. However, I didn't feel like it was dragging on or anything. Honestly my favourite were probably volumes 6 and 7 that dealt with Konatsu's loneliness. I don't know, maybe I just like exaggerated drama...? xD

Anyway, I thought this was a very well planned out series and I don't think it got sidetracked or lost its original goal. To me it seemed that the author had thought of how it was going to go from the beginning, and it was only the readers' expectations that made it seem otherwise. And I was actually happy that it ended this way and not with an explicit romantic relationship because that wasn't the point of the story. It was a story of loneliness and creating strong bonds with others (not only those with friends but with family members as well) and that's what's made it unique.

I agree with you and I wish people would go back and read it in one go now to see that it does flow well, but it was indeed a grind to follow monthly, especially since there'd also be break months two or three times a year, and that understandably wore some people off expectations or not.