The West culturally rewards extraversion more than the East and the East has some sort of weird Idol culture going on too. Taking those factors into account is enough for me to suspend my disbelief and go “eh, maybe something like that bleeds in elsewhere” and assume that mangas just turn that “something” up to eleven.

Also I have seen it where someone in an American university is not more than an acquaintance with their department, not on bad terms with anyone, and yet also everyone knows who they are. She was really pretty and spoke in class often so I would say those two factors had a lot to do with it.

EDIT: No parties, no socializing after hours, not bubbly, not Hinata-like.

last edited at Mar 30, 2022 6:26PM

It’s tanuki time

So, this is gonna be a lesbian youkai harem series, huh? Not what I was expecting but I’ll go with it. It does make sense that an aspiring bartender would need more that one customer.

last edited at Apr 14, 2022 5:26PM

Same anons same.
Naori is just too cute, I wanted to cry too.

Lol Naori's cute and I like her fashion sense as a college student too.

So much Mikage!
also some plot-related stuff

Oooh we're getting some other supernatural elements into the mix now. I think this series is super cool and I always want more.

Oooh that hand-kiss was cute!

The yokai worldbuilding is expanding better than I expected, which is a welcome change of place. And Mikage has a more nuanced plot role as a contact to that world, rather than just being a family envoy and cantankerous grump.

Beautiful heavy drinker incoming, judging by what we've seen. The tanuki is probably going to turn out to have a female human form that makes Naori blush, then the tankuki blushes a lot after drinking. That bartender is awfully generous and pliable around beautiful women. Not that Naori is likely to give mixed messages or fail to set boundaries and undermine her bond with Hinata, but a harem of admirers may become annoying.

I wonder when Naori will make a non-alcoholic cocktail, for good or as a defense. I haven't forgotten that "ogre-killer" from Naori's grandpa in the first pages of ch 1. Her recipe may be lacking something blessed or cursed though, otherwise it just seems like starving someone.

last edited at Apr 14, 2022 9:59PM

Didn't expect to be rooting for some Mikage and Naori action, but here I am. I can't say I want them to go the poly route, but Mikage slowly falling in love with Naori is too good to be left out.

Mountain monster is most likely a Tanuki but I'll believe she is a fox until proven otherwise.

Um. Naori picking up Hinata's chain in that imagine spot? Might be one of the most romantic things I've ever seen.

Mikage's really elevating this series for me? Like, it was pretty neat based on the premise alone, but Mikage's introduction largely serves as the key into the deeper aspects of the setting and world, offering us just a glimpse of an older, stranger side of Japan whispered of in folklore and passed down in hushed voices, a realm of midnight figures and liquid shadows, of tricksters dancing under moonlight and monsters swapping yarns round mountain fires. I also love how it does ultimately tie back into the central theme of alcohol, the spirits that go into spirits, the things you can only see when inebriation blurs the lines between dreams, imagination, reality and Something Else. Each sip of the tale brings you closer to strangeness, to the fluid, undefined and unrestrained, to a point where chains of all kinds melt off and the world coheres via incoherence, swirling into a freedom that accepts everything- Naori's desire to be loved and to spread happiness, Hinata's desire to fly free and transcend her limitations, and Mikage's will to fully become herself, not just the oni as a shadowy beast, but the oni as a people, in all their traditions of unrestrained exultation, honesty and courage, which the curse has impeded them from embracing. So yeah, I'm really interested in what the story's going to do with Mikage, because I think there's a lot of potential to explore the oni not just as a stereotypical group of monsters who just want to be like Everyone Else or an analogue for a big, oppressive noble family that Hinata has to escape to pursue her dreams, but as an entire culture, a vast and diverse group with their own history both parallel to and separate from that of Human Japan. I'm not really concerned with the shipping part, but I just hope the giant, proud oni lady gets at least a couple chapters wherein she stalks down starlit roads in places beyond civilization and communes with phantoms from ages forgotten. I'd also love if we got more characters like her, because there's a certain Touhou-ness to this premise with its mixing of the ancient and modern in smoky cocktails that I think would really bring out the story's full potential.

Kissing the hand being held?
head explodes

Mikage's really elevating this series for me? Like, it was pretty neat based on the premise alone, but Mikage's introduction largely serves as the key into the deeper aspects of the setting and world, offering us just a glimpse of an older, stranger side of Japan whispered of in folklore and passed down in hushed voices, a realm of midnight figures and liquid shadows, of tricksters dancing under moonlight and monsters swapping yarns round mountain fires. I also love how it does ultimately tie back into the central theme of alcohol, the spirits that go into spirits, the things you can only see when inebriation blurs the lines between dreams, imagination, reality and Something Else. Each sip of the tale brings you closer to strangeness, to the fluid, undefined and unrestrained, to a point where chains of all kinds melt off and the world coheres via incoherence, swirling into a freedom that accepts everything- Naori's desire to be loved and to spread happiness, Hinata's desire to fly free and transcend her limitations, and Mikage's will to fully become herself, not just the oni as a shadowy beast, but the oni as a people, in all their traditions of unrestrained exultation, honesty and courage, which the curse has impeded them from embracing. So yeah, I'm really interested in what the story's going to do with Mikage, because I think there's a lot of potential to explore the oni not just as a stereotypical group of monsters who just want to be like Everyone Else or an analogue for a big, oppressive noble family that Hinata has to escape to pursue her dreams, but as an entire culture, a vast and diverse group with their own history both parallel to and separate from that of Human Japan. I'm not really concerned with the shipping part, but I just hope the giant, proud oni lady gets at least a couple chapters wherein she stalks down starlit roads in places beyond civilization and communes with phantoms from ages forgotten. I'd also love if we got more characters like her, because there's a certain Touhou-ness to this premise with its mixing of the ancient and modern in smoky cocktails that I think would really bring out the story's full potential.

We need a shrine maiden also :v

Lots of hand-holding happening, very nice

Huh, so we're going somewhere with this plot. I'm not complaining if it went one or the other, I was just wondering if it would turn out to be a very slice-of-life type of manga with random youkai/monster girls jumping in to ignite jellyness from our favorite gyaru oni with plot jumping in from time to time to remind us that, in fact, we were doing something.

This series has quickly become one of my favorites

This new chapter was ogre too soon

last edited at May 19, 2022 12:06AM

Laughing at the tequila gun because I didn't expect it in the story. I have seen it in real life and my parents own a pair haha

So I don't get the conflict here. Why would she ever object to getting drunk? Especially if it's to find the way out? Drinking alcohol is, like, her whole thing.

^ cause it means using her ogre powers and she’s a self hating ogre.

Next chapter: "Tequila Mockingbird"

So I don't get the conflict here. Why would she ever object to getting drunk? Especially if it's to find the way out? Drinking alcohol is, like, her whole thing.

Basically what Naori has to do here is get Hinata drunk specifically to use her ogre powers to escape their situation, as opposed to just giving her food she needs to live. While I won't spoil how this plays out in the next chapter, Naori's main concern is that Hinata hates being an ogre, hence the whole search for the Kinpen Sudoku Sake, so the idea of forcing or even tricking Hinata to drink specifically to become an ogre isn't something Naori's keen on doing.

Next chapter: "Tequila Mockingbird"

AAaaarrrggghhhh!!!!

So I don't get the conflict here. Why would she ever object to getting drunk? Especially if it's to find the way out? Drinking alcohol is, like, her whole thing.

Basically what Naori has to do here is get Hinata drunk specifically to use her ogre powers to escape their situation, as opposed to just giving her food she needs to live. While I won't spoil how this plays out in the next chapter, Naori's main concern is that Hinata hates being an ogre, hence the whole search for the Kinpen Sudoku Sake, so the idea of forcing or even tricking Hinata to drink specifically to become an ogre isn't something Naori's keen on doing.

Huh. I guess I always characterized Hinata's distaste for being an ogre originating from the limitations it placed on her, particularly by requiring her to be dependent on other people for food. I didn't think she had any inherent problem with being an ogre, just its limitations. Under that light it would have made sense for her to even be happy or excited about finally having some aspect of her burden being useful, which is where I assumed the plot point was going.

So I don't get the conflict here. Why would she ever object to getting drunk? Especially if it's to find the way out? Drinking alcohol is, like, her whole thing.

Basically what Naori has to do here is get Hinata drunk specifically to use her ogre powers to escape their situation, as opposed to just giving her food she needs to live. While I won't spoil how this plays out in the next chapter, Naori's main concern is that Hinata hates being an ogre, hence the whole search for the Kinpen Sudoku Sake, so the idea of forcing or even tricking Hinata to drink specifically to become an ogre isn't something Naori's keen on doing.

Huh. I guess I always characterized Hinata's distaste for being an ogre originating from the limitations it placed on her, particularly by requiring her to be dependent on other people for food. I didn't think she had any inherent problem with being an ogre, just its limitations. Under that light it would have made sense for her to even be happy or excited about finally having some aspect of her burden being useful, which is where I assumed the plot point was going.

There's also the resemblance of what she's preparing to do to what the fuckheads in chapter one were doing: pressing Hinata to drink with an ulterior motive under the pretext of wanting her to enjoy herself.

Frankly, I think it'd be better for Naori to be fully up-front about it and hope that's where the story goes.