Forum › If You Could See Love discussion
with how little f/f/f polyam stuff there is in general it's kinda depressing that one of the few times something actually feels set up for it the author goes for the mono route
I've been rooting for the osananajimi route the whole time but deep inside I know poly won't be as bad, but it was great. I wish to see them in college days too like couple life or something so I wish this won't be tagged as completed yet
So this is it huh? Was this... Uh... Axed? I'll assume it was. Although my issues with this will stand no matter the circumstances.
I won't get into the poly stuff, because people can set up themselves for whatever and feel disappointed. It's that type of story, where you introduce multiple love interests and "someone will get disappointed". Be it people who shipped certain pairs, or wanted a harem route. I personally haven't seen any kind of baits, just an... Well, an awkward attempt to have a "moral" for lack of a better word.
As for my issues with the story? Well now. When I first stumbled upon this story, I really liked the premise. Those arrows were what made it for me. I think a lot of people got curious about that. It's not something super unique, a superpower around love, but it's not that often used and I don't think I ever saw actual arrows pointing from one person to another. While they were used as an initial setup for things, they sort of... Never got resolved. Now, they disappeared because Mei finally fell in love (I mean I assume that in a short-story-short kind of deal) but... That's my point. They never really... They weren't touched aside from them being and then suddenly not being there. I'm not asking for an explanation of the supernatural phenomenon, but at least some kind of foreshadowing that it's because she had issues with romance? I'm not sure what I would expect, but I sure didn't expect it to just... Resolve itself like that. That's really my main grudge with this series.
Like I mentioned before, this really feels rushed at the end there. With the author having a specific couple in mind, but since Rinna didn't deserve to be just a side attraction, let's give her the focus at the end there and just show her as this sparkling fountain of love.
With the initial setup with the president and her sister AND the talk about arrows and helping people out, I really thought this would be a story similar to the one we got in the "Kindred spirit on the roof". With a troubled protagonist, who starts helping others in their love journey, while getting occupied by it to the point they haven't noticed their own arrow or something similar. Their own love, basically. Which I'd go for personally. I don't care if the "love" at the end would be towards one two five or ten people. Instead, we got... Well, this.
Now the story wasn't horrible. If anything, it's just frustrating because it had so much potential. The art was pretty neat. This story has plenty of cute and wholesome moments. I really do hope that this author will make some more stuff in the future, but try something... Simpler? Or at least something they'll be able to control more.
last edited at Feb 13, 2022 12:43PM
you can't tell me that the author didn't write a poly ending and then need to recycle a bunch of pages and panels to make a janky mei/sayu ending
Re: the arrows
There seems to be a tendency in stories where the protagonist has a special sense about others (one that isn't an actual superpower) for that special power to just get lost or sort of phased out by the end of the series.
One example is a manga where the protagonist can see when people are lying (they appear as black shadows or something--sorry, no hope of recalling the title).
It happens more than a few times in Kdramas (I distinctly recall The Girl Who Sees Smells, where it started out with said girl helping the police solve crimes, but by the end her special ability seemed to be almost entirely forgotten.)
I don't know if the writers get tired of the gimmick, or they haven't thought through how the powers work into the endgame, or what, but it does seem to be somewhat of a pattern in certain kinds of stories.
last edited at Feb 13, 2022 12:55PM
Threesome failed... :(
Definitely disappointed in this ending. Felt like there was much more planned to build up their relationship that got cut short, even if the end goal was Sayo from the start (which I personally don't think it was), even then it felt weirdly rushed and unfinished.
Pretty art and lots of promise but in the end a letdown, sad.
An interesting concept but I guess it wasn't popular enough to keep the story going. If it was going to end so quickly it's tragic that about as much time in the middle got spent on minor characters as the relationship between the leads.
I guess the market can't support angsty but fairly chaste love triangle stories
last edited at Feb 13, 2022 3:02PM
If you're wondering why there's so much belief in a poly ending for this manga, you might want to re-read chapter 8. That's the one where Mei learns two of her teachers are in a poly relationship, and that the three of them met while students and roommates at Mei's school.
It draws some pretty strong parallels between those three and Mei, Sayo and Rinna. Mei even returns from this meeting and tells them both - at the same time - that she loves them, in addition to smiling when she sees a love arrow going from Rinna to Sayo. She then takes both of their hands and sits on the bed with them (again, all together) and the chapter ends with a photo of the three adults when they were at the same age as the main trio.
I get that fans can get unrealistic ideas stuck in their heads and then get disappointed when they don't pan out, but to say that series never teased a poly ending seems incorrect. It may or may not have been the "original" plan, but it clearly was put on the table as an option.
Ultimately, I think if it was planned, it likely was more a casualty of time than cowardice or meddling. The author likely was told the series was cancelled with only a couple of chapters left to wrap it up, and since Mei's relationship with Sayo had been more explored (so far, at least), it "defaulted" to that ending. Notice how Rinna was just kinda...there at the end. It seems like the author had to rush to figure out a halfway happy ending for her after not having one ready, so they went with the "well, she loves everyone and everyone loves her" thing.
I'm certainly disappointed in how it ended, though I guess it could be worse. And I definitely will indulge in a little headcanon and say that Mei and Sayo got together with Rinna now that they're all adults, because it makes me happy and you can't stop me! :P But I'll mostly just put this one in the "I liked it, but it ended too soon" bin and move on.
Say, I noticed one thing about the last chapter that, unless someone corrects me, really underlines for me a certain "trying too hard" going on. That is, didn't the MC stop being able to see the love arrows after she fell in love? But now, after the time skip, just to reassure us that the triangle/poly is off and there's really no hard or lingering feelings, suddenly she can see the other love interest's lotsa-little-arrows-but-none-really-pointing-at-the-MC.
So, why can she see that, aside from it being convenient for beating us over the head with "It's cool, no lost love to see here"? Did the ability come back and I missed it, or something?
Say, I noticed one thing about the last chapter that, unless someone corrects me, really underlines for me a certain "trying too hard" going on. That is, didn't the MC stop being able to see the love arrows after she fell in love? But now, after the time skip, just to reassure us that the triangle/poly is off and there's really no hard or lingering feelings, suddenly she can see the other love interest's lotsa-little-arrows-but-none-really-pointing-at-the-MC.
So, why can she see that, aside from it being convenient for beating us over the head with "It's cool, no lost love to see here"? Did the ability come back and I missed it, or something?
I think it was a "cheeky" way to show that she's belowed. One panel might be "from the past" where she still saw it. Others are just that I think, a cheeky way to "show" it.
Sayo is so cute, this is trully a happiness cries tears of joy
Sigh. Another disappointing ending. Maybe one day we'll get a good one.
Ultimately, I think if it was planned, it likely was more a casualty of time than cowardice or meddling. The author likely was told the series was cancelled with only a couple of chapters left to wrap it up, and since Mei's relationship with Sayo had been more explored (so far, at least), it "defaulted" to that ending.
Didn't stop Luminous to have a poly ending with less buildup.
Say, I noticed one thing about the last chapter that, unless someone corrects me, really underlines for me a certain "trying too hard" going on. That is, didn't the MC stop being able to see the love arrows after she fell in love? But now, after the time skip, just to reassure us that the triangle/poly is off and there's really no hard or lingering feelings, suddenly she can see the other love interest's lotsa-little-arrows-but-none-really-pointing-at-the-MC.
So, why can she see that, aside from it being convenient for beating us over the head with "It's cool, no lost love to see here"? Did the ability come back and I missed it, or something?
The author didnt even explain the arrows thing tho some were easy to figure out, and I wonder the same... If the reason she stopped seeing the arrows was cause she found love according to the school prez, I wonder why she was able to still see them. We will never know.
Sigh. Another disappointing ending. Maybe one day we'll get a good one.
Hopefully someone decides to drawn a proper wholesome manga with a poly ending. I mean we have the "an easy introduction to love triangle" tho the ending was... eh. That manga would have been better wuth Rin and Mayuki. The author forgot to make Akira to be a better character. We also have Luminous blue tho that manga never developed a romantic relationship between the MCs tho it's a quite decent end. There are other but they are H. But anyway.
last edited at Feb 13, 2022 7:26PM
In my opinion, for a poly relationship to truly work, all the parties involved have to love each other. That wasn't the case in this manga so I never saw a poly ending as an option. If the manga went there, it would have felt forced to me.
Thank you. I don't like how so many of the readers were trying to force these characters into a relationship none of them wanted to be in. They are the equivalent to when a person picks one girl instead of a harem, even though none of the girls want to be in a harem. It's kind of insulting to the characters tbh
A V-shaped relationship is still poly. The idea that poly needs to be a completely equal triad isn't how poly works in real life and there's no reason it needs to be that way in media.
And until the ending, there was plenty of potential for the character arcs to end up in a poly direction. No one's forcing characters into a relationship. We're just expressing our hope for a particular ending.
A V-shaped relationship is still poly. The idea that poly needs to be a completely equal triad isn't how poly works in real life and there's no reason it needs to be that way in media.
And until the ending, there was plenty of potential for the character arcs to end up in a poly direction. No one's forcing characters into a relationship. We're just expressing our hope for a particular ending.
This.
last edited at Feb 13, 2022 8:15PM
I'm wondering... did Rinna have a chance from the beginning? since earlier chapters, the series screamed Sayo. Even every moment happened lead Mei to think about Sayo's feeling. Of course, Rinna made Mei flattered here and there, but compared to Sayo, their relationship was so underdeveloped I didn't even think she was a rival to Sayo. Somehow, it feels like Rinna was just there for a plot device of love triangle with no chance to win.
Also, I don't think poly route works since Sayo clearly didn't want to share her love (hence there was no arrow grow from Sayo to Rinna ever. she even got jealous when Mei and Rinna were cleaning the bath together). People started to expect poly ending only when there was a poly chapter. Even that chapter ended with a small and frail arrow from Rinna to Sayo, then never developed after.
Also, I don't think poly route works since Sayo clearly didn't want to share her love (hence there was no arrow grow from Sayo to Rinna ever. she even got jealous when Mei and Rinna were cleaning the bath together). People started to expect poly ending only when there was a poly chapter. Even that chapter ended with a small and frail arrow from Rinna to Sayo, then never developed after.
Many people have this misconception that jealousy is not a thing in polyamorous relationships or that it shouldn't be there to be "real" polyamory and that's just completely off the mark.
Jealousy is a natural emotion and just experiencing it doesn't mean anything, what matters is how one deals with it. To that point, while Sayo did feel jealous, there were also points where she was clearly exhibiting compersion (basically the opposite of jealousy) so that's really nothing that would count against a polyam goal.
I'm wondering... did Rinna have a chance from the beginning? since earlier chapters, the series screamed Sayo. Even every moment happened lead Mei to think about Sayo's feeling. Of course, Rinna made Mei flattered here and there, but compared to Sayo, their relationship was so underdeveloped I didn't even think she was a rival to Sayo. Somehow, it feels like Rinna was just there for a plot device of love triangle with no chance to win.
Also, I don't think poly route works since Sayo clearly didn't want to share her love (hence there was no arrow grow from Sayo to Rinna ever. she even got jealous when Mei and Rinna were cleaning the bath together). People started to expect poly ending only when there was a poly chapter. Even that chapter ended with a small and frail arrow from Rinna to Sayo, then never developed after.
There was sometimes where Mei said she wanted to be with them, and that she likes both of them. Even in 14.1 she was doubting whether to choose both or no one. Rinna just sacrificed herself for the sake of Mei and Sayo. That's how I felt 14.1. The story was focused on both at first, them on Sayo, so I thought next one was gonna be Rinna but no suddenly she was friendzoned twice. That's why I wonder what happened. She didn't got jealous, she felt left out. I never saw she wanted her for herself. We will never know just the author know whether this was gonna end in poly or mono since the beginning. Like someone said before maybe the manga wasnt popular in japan and that may be the reason the rushed the story. It's not the first time tho "seifuku no vimpireslod" wasnt popular according to the author and the editorial forced him to axed it. Author said it was gonna be 7 volumes, but reduced the story and managed to draw a quite decent end in 3 volume. So... sad but we can just speculate
Awww I feel so sad for Rinna, it really looked like they were going to build up for a poly route
