It is slapped together because she is an inexperienced writer, this being literally her debut.

While she may get better with experience, other writers do well in their debut work. The question of talent versus incentive remains.

The author actually chose the horseback riding as one of her good memories, I cant even

You know, it made me genuinely laugh when I read it the first time. But now that I have read the comments and saw similar reactions, I thought it over and I am starting to think, could it be that at least part of what I call bad writing is intentional? I have a hard time imagining the author writing that serious and deep emotional confrontation only to include that panel to showcase how good and fulfilling their relationship was. Like, it has to be deliberate...

A) create a bog-standard misunderstanding (Liz turns away, Maki spots her and chases after her to explain It's Not What It Looks Like, and then probably apologizes to Liz. Bonus points if Liz then slaps Maki.)

B) actually introduce an entirely new character who has the hots for Maki and Wants Her to Be Happy (with Her), creating a whole Maki Starts a New Life arc, until Maki realizes that Liz, yadda yadda yada.

If A) happens and Liz slaps Maki I’ll be obligated to mark this as a masterpiece. That would be probably the most hilarious thing I’ve seen in any drama since the “maldita lisiada” or the epic “maldita peluquera”

All that said, thanks for team for continuing working on this considering basically everyone here hates the eveliving shit out the series. Hell I don’t even like commenting here but this one just takes the cake.

All that said, thanks for team for continuing working on this considering basically everyone here hates the eveliving shit out the series. Hell I don’t even like commenting here but this one just takes the cake.

A good reminder--my sincere thanks to the translation team for bringing us what in any event is likely to be a classic series.

At first this seemed like it was going to be a really good, really interesting story. Now I feel like a member of the National Transportation Safety Board who gets to watch a plane wreck happen in real time.

In either case, I am unable to look away.

It is slapped together because she is an inexperienced writer, this being literally her debut.

While she may get better with experience, other writers do well in their debut work. The question of talent versus incentive remains.

Not everyone does well in their debut works, so it is hardly an actual argument. Plus, there is a facet of the incentive premise that you are not even considering. From what I remember from her interview (and it has been a long time since I read it, so I could be slightly off), she is basically having fun with this, mashing all her favourite yuri tropes. If her incentive for writing this is to simply have fun doing something she always wanted to do, she is pretty much fulfilling it. She is a voice actress, her career is not really hanging on this manga performing well, so the "incentive to get better" at writing might not even be there at all, or at least it might not be prevalent.

You linked the writing problems to either a lack of competence or a lack of incentive in terms of readers demanding better storytelling. Lack of competence is certainly a factor, it can not not be with someone who is not a professional writer and is basically doing this for the first time. But the lack of incentive, in the way you presented it, is simply not a factor at all, in my opinion. I do not think she would radically alter her course if some of the readers did rebel. She is doing this for fun and is clearly not planning and mapping it out in excruciating detail beforehand.

Also, Tomoko has Momono Moto as the artist on this, who actually is a decent writer herself. Now, it could be considered uncouth for the artist to critique or offer advice to the writer (after all, Moto is not the editor), that is certainly possible. But it is equally possible that Tomoko just does not care, hence why even with an experienced and good writer working beside her, she is still ploughing headlong into this mess, lmao!

last edited at Nov 27, 2021 11:48AM

Why do I keep reading?

All that said, thanks for team for continuing working on this considering basically everyone here hates the eveliving shit out the series. Hell I don’t even like commenting here but this one just takes the cake.

A good reminder--my sincere thanks to the translation team for bringing us what in any event is likely to be a classic series.

At first this seemed like it was going to be a really good, really interesting story. Now I feel like a member of the National Transportation Safety Board who gets to watch a plane wreck happen in real time.

In either case, I am unable to look away.

Thanks to you both! Reading comments is my favourite part of working on Liberty. Too bad I can't read them on MD anymore.

I didn't even read yet, but expecting utter garbage... Let´s go...

Edit: Yes! That's right! Fuck you Liz! You don't deserve to be happy! (As if... This writer is such trash in their art they'll make Maki cave in like the pathetic pushover she is with no development in her character whatsoever.)

last edited at Nov 27, 2021 12:24PM

I'm gonna go back to reading Hana ni arashi

Are those two dating? Do their friends know?

hmmmm (´ω｀)

She has babby? RUN AWAY! Good thing I didn't torpedo my other relationship, OH WAIT. But who am I kidding, Maki will definitely take her back.

It is slapped together because she is an inexperienced writer, this being literally her debut.

While she may get better with experience, other writers do well in their debut work. The question of talent versus incentive remains.

Not everyone does well in their debut works, so it is hardly an actual argument. Plus...

Consider for a moment that this series is one of Galette's flagship series, one of the only ones allowed to continue when the magazine was in rough shape due to covid and tightening budgets. Like you say, it's basically a VA having fun, and it sells books. Keeping an indie publisher afloat during the pandemic is an impressive debut no matter how you slice it.

It might be more interesting to speculate why the hell it manages to do it's job so well. Here's to another 5 years of it!!

It is slapped together because she is an inexperienced writer, this being literally her debut.

While she may get better with experience, other writers do well in their debut work. The question of talent versus incentive remains.

Not everyone does well in their debut works, so it is hardly an actual argument. Plus...

Keeping an indie publisher afloat during the pandemic is an impressive debut no matter how you slice it.

Oh, that was actually not what I was driving at with "not everyone does well in their debut works", lol. I was talking exclusively about the quality of writing, which, let us face it, is quite far from stellar.

It might be more interesting to speculate why the hell it manages to do it's job so well. Here's to another 5 years of it!!

Soap opera sells. Like, when you think about it, most soap opera features contrived plots, badly done and inconsistent characterisations, and plenty of morally reprehensible characters, so this fits perfectly. And as I said, this stuff sells well.

I compared Tomoko with Kodama previously, but it is my impression that in the realm of soap opera authors like Kodama are actually the exception, who put actual nuance and reasoning behind their characterisations.

So I am not in the least bit surprised this is performing nicely. Hell, I actually quite like it myself (no surprise, as fan of Kodama it stands to reason I would like Kodama-lite as well). Literally my only gripe with it was the massive contrast between the first several chapters and the rest of the story. Even the bad writing is not something that bothers me, it genuinely makes me laugh at this point and that is a plus in my book.

Keeping an indie publisher afloat during the pandemic is an impressive debut no matter how you slice it.

It might be more interesting to speculate why the hell it manages to do it's job so well. Here's to another 5 years of it!!

Literally my only gripe with it was the massive contrast between the first several chapters and the rest of the story. Even the bad writing is not something that bothers me, it genuinely makes me laugh at this point and that is a plus in my book.

This is a key point, I think. If had all been "ride the Maki-pony" hijinx or over-the-top melo tropes from the beginning, that would be one thing, and we'd have known what to expect.

But I was genuinely interested in Maki's personal struggles and in the mystery of sexy, elusive Liz, until the "mystery of Liz" began to be revealed, and that mystery turned out to be . . . what it has turned out to be--a stupid, narcissistic mess bordering on psychopathy, a reading of Liz of which the writer seems to be unaware.

It's as if we tuned into a taut psychological mystery movie that suddenly switched into a National Lampoon parody (but the producers didn't realize that's what they were making).

Honestly it would be better ending if they didn't end up together. It could be a nice surprise if that happen but probably Maki will take her back

I don't remember the earlier chapters or her name, but this is the same girl Maki was with when Liz and her lover got busted, not a new character. The hug looks nice, but imho it's just a lazy cliffhanger so we can get some satisfaction until the .... hits the fan in the next chapter.

From what I saw so far, these type of yuri stories never survive the 20+ chapter mark, and they never really have a proper redemption arc, or some kind of poetic justice at the end, so I am pretty sure it's going to end in like one or two chapters with Liz and Maki reconciling like nothing happened.

Truly I don't understand people's hate for this series. Liz needs an arc!

The author started her with unprocessed baggage that's festered into a driving bitterness that leads to her hitting rock bottom by her own actions. To me it's more meaningful that she actually did a cruel, unjustified thing because of the scars of her previous relationship.

It seems that some people have designated her a "bad person" who doesn't deserve redemption or happiness out of some sense of punitive justice. I think she's a product of her environment and her own anxiety about being vulnerable. This doesn't justify her behavior, but it means that she's capable of being better.

I want to see her get better by realizing that not everyone she opens up to is going to hurt or abandon her. She can still fuck up and deserve happiness! She has to learn to do better by being hurt and seeing the consequences of her actions hurting others.

last edited at Nov 27, 2021 1:42PM

Im pretty sure its not what it looks like but still, Fuck you Liz, i reaaaaally hope Maki decided to value herself and dont return with that cheating bitch but we all know where this is going to.

Truly I don't understand people's hate for this series. Liz needs an arc!

The author started her with unprocessed baggage that's festered into a driving bitterness that leads to her hitting rock bottom by her own actions. To me it's more meaningful that she actually did a cruel, unjustified thing because of the scars of her previous relationship.

It seems that some people have designated her a "bad person" who doesn't deserve redemption or happiness out of some sense of punitive justice. I think she's a product of her environment and her own anxiety about being vulnerable. This doesn't justify her behavior, but it means that she's capable of being better.

I want to see her get better by realizing that not everyone she opens up to is going to hurt or abandon her. She can still fuck up and deserve happiness! She has to learn to do better by being hurt and seeing the consequences of her actions hurting others.

The problem with this is that the deep trauma she endured which caused her to behave as a borderline psychopath is being dumped in high school. I am not saying that such an experience is a pleasant one, or that it leaves no emotional scars, but I am saying that the levels to which she is traumatised are way, waaay too high for such an affair.

Just to illustrate my point, let us return to one of the earliest WHAT THE FUCK moments, the earrings. Maki gifts Liz some nice earrings. Liz suffers a mental breakdown, because it is a deep trauma (let me reiterate, all of this stems from being dumped by her high school girlfriend). Maki proceeds to apologise (for doing nothing wrong, she had no way of knowing that particular shape of earrings had any sort of traumatic meaning for Liz). Liz responds to the apology by slapping her, because that is what a mentally stable person does under such circumstances. And Maki's first thought afterwards is whether or not Liz is alright, because of course a chronic doormat like her would think that.

Liz is being a "victim" of a failed high school romance, for which she proceeds to vent in massively disproportionate ways on people who did her nothing wrong and showed her only kindness and love. She is not exactly the shining example of a flawed but sympathetic character that makes you root for her happiness.

I don't remember the earlier chapters or her name, but this is the same girl Maki was with when Liz and her lover got busted, not a new character. The hug looks nice, but imho it's just a lazy cliffhanger so we can get some satisfaction until the .... hits the fan in the next chapter.

Actually, there's one cliche we haven't considered: Maki's ex is back! (The one who dumped her, came begging back, then ghosted her.)

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/liberty_ch16#4

We only see her in a chibi version, but the hair color, length, and bow are all there.

No trope unturned indeed.

I don't remember the earlier chapters or her name, but this is the same girl Maki was with when Liz and her lover got busted, not a new character. The hug looks nice, but imho it's just a lazy cliffhanger so we can get some satisfaction until the .... hits the fan in the next chapter.

Actually, there's one cliche we haven't considered: Maki's ex is back! (The one who dumped her, came begging back, then ghosted her.)

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/liberty_ch16#4

We only see her in a chibi version, but the hair color, length, and bow are all there.

No trope unturned indeed.

You can actually see her in page 2 and 3. I keep thinking she's just a throwaway character they made just for cheap drama.

I don't remember the earlier chapters or her name, but this is the same girl Maki was with when Liz and her lover got busted, not a new character. The hug looks nice, but imho it's just a lazy cliffhanger so we can get some satisfaction until the .... hits the fan in the next chapter.

Actually, there's one cliche we haven't considered: Maki's ex is back! (The one who dumped her, came begging back, then ghosted her.)

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/liberty_ch16#4

We only see her in a chibi version, but the hair color, length, and bow are all there.

No trope unturned indeed.

You can actually see her in page 2 and 3. I keep thinking she's just a throwaway character they made just for cheap drama.

You're right--I wasn't paying enough attention to read that as a flashback scene that connected to the next conversation. She's even wearing the same outfit and scarf.

I don't remember the earlier chapters or her name, but this is the same girl Maki was with when Liz and her lover got busted, not a new character. The hug looks nice, but imho it's just a lazy cliffhanger so we can get some satisfaction until the .... hits the fan in the next chapter.

Actually, there's one cliche we haven't considered: Maki's ex is back! (The one who dumped her, came begging back, then ghosted her.)

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/liberty_ch16#4

We only see her in a chibi version, but the hair color, length, and bow are all there.

You actually do see her in normal mode as well, and the actual scenario is slightly worse than what you presented. She did not dump Maki at first, Maki caught her cheating, that is why the ex came running crying and Maki took her back. Then afterwards that same cheating grillfriend dumped Maki, lmao!

I don't remember the earlier chapters or her name, but this is the same girl Maki was with when Liz and her lover got busted, not a new character. The hug looks nice, but imho it's just a lazy cliffhanger so we can get some satisfaction until the .... hits the fan in the next chapter.

Actually, there's one cliche we haven't considered: Maki's ex is back! (The one who dumped her, came begging back, then ghosted her.)

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/liberty_ch16#4

We only see her in a chibi version, but the hair color, length, and bow are all there.

You actually do see her in normal mode as well, and the actual scenario is slightly worse than what you presented. She did not dump Maki at first, Maki caught her cheating, that is why the ex came running crying and Maki took her back. Then afterwards that same cheating grillfriend dumped Maki, lmao!

Yes, Yuricchin just showed me that was the case. That's our Maki, for sure.

OK, I'm now totally down with "Liz slaps Maki and makes her apologize for cheating with her ex"--this series needs to have the courage of its convictions, even if it has nothing else.

(And maybe Liz rides her home, for good measure.)

All that said, thanks for team for continuing working on this considering basically everyone here hates the eveliving shit out the series. Hell I don’t even like commenting here but this one just takes the cake.

A good reminder--my sincere thanks to the translation team for bringing us what in any event is likely to be a classic series.

At first this seemed like it was going to be a really good, really interesting story. Now I feel like a member of the National Transportation Safety Board who gets to watch a plane wreck happen in real time.

In either case, I am unable to look away.

Thanks to you both! Reading comments is my favourite part of working on Liberty. Too bad I can't read them on MD anymore.

Just wanted to say I appreciate the work!

I’m not surprised people don’t like this, but I’m not gonna pretend like it’s not wildly entertaining on a low level. Like this this hands down shlock, but that doesn’t mean it’s not fun to read.

Cheating horrible and I’m not gonna say Liz gets some kinda free pass to do it, but I do also believe people can make mistakes and earn a 2nd chance. She’s genuinely put Maki through the blender, and it’s pretty sad to see such a good person just get absolutely dragged through the dirt for like a dozen chapters while Liz keeps making mistake after mistake behind her back. But I isn’t looking away from the shit show lol