Petition to remove the romance and yuri tags, and replace them with a yuri crush tag. The story ended up being a Big Friendship™ where one of the 2 has a one-sided crush on the other and it leads nowhere because they never end up dating (one of them is literally not even interested in romance!) and end up becoming super friends forever. That ain't yuri.

I agree. I really enjoyed the story (though I'm sad Rio just disappeared...) but it's definitely not a yuri romance. They don't even end up living together which just... really made me sad for Matoi. The end was pretty deflating. They time-skipped 6 years and were in the exact same place. Definitely glad to see some aro/ace representation but ahhh I just feel like there was a lot of unfulfilled potential.
I think maybe the yuri tag is fine but romance should definitely be removed.

last edited at Apr 29, 2022 5:03PM

well, it was not a bad read but i can't say i really enjoyed it, quite flat all along.
The art was good so if the author make a yuri one day i'll read it for sure.

wow...and it's over. honestly I'm sad, I really enjoyed this manga and it stuck true to its core the whole way through.

I really look forward to whatever they do next!

So the younger sister ends up dating that one guy from the store? Didn’t they only have like one interaction that we’ve seen? Didn’t he like yuriko for a little while too? This can’t really be categorized as romance either since it’s more yuri crush than anything maybe even subtext or just have the yuri tag without the romance. Rio and the other two girls that were a couple seem to have just….. disappeared I guess? Ultimately her one sided crush on yuriko continued with them just being in the same place they were at already just neighbors. I’m surprised she still seems to like her and rio actually did like her so they could have maybe gotten together instead of teasing us that they MAY be living together then to find out they aren’t. I’m not really sure how I feel about the ending either

last edited at Apr 29, 2022 5:47PM

I think both yuri and romance are still appropriate for this series. It's a story about a romantic relationship between two women. Aro people can be in relationships just fine, it's all about finding a comfortable distance. This ending makes perfect sense for this series.

Nice and calm, I like it. The sister and gas station guy were unexpected, but maybe they're just both similarly airheaded?

That was a fantastic manga and the author's note at the end was one of the absolute best I've ever read!

As for the chorus of "That ain't yuri" comments. Why the heck not? It's about a loving, committed relationship between two women. In the final chapter, it is clear that Matoi is still very much in love with Yuriko, but also still hyper-aware of the fact that Yuriko isn't one who feels that type of emotional connection, though she loves Matoi in her own way. Neither of them have any interest in a sexual relationship and would be uncomfortable sleeping together because of that. One might think that sharing a two-bedroom apartment would be less expensive, but that would also involve renting it together as adults and inviting other people, like their landlord, to butt their noses into their relationship and make assumptions about them. Living next door to each other means that they are close and can rely on each other for support without the baggage related to living together in a society that doesn't recognize same-sex relationships, let alone same-sex platonic partnerships, as valid. It was also made clear that they share household tasks since they discussed stopping by to pick up some cleaning cloths on the way home and the other one mentioned that they had just stocked up on them last week. So they share cleaning supplies and, most likely, food and other necessities.

There was one point in the final chapter where I thought Matoi's hyper-awareness about Yuriko's aro-ace status was getting in the way of her appreciating how dedicated to "being with" her Yuriko is. When they were returning to Tokyo and she made the comment that, as a friend, she didn't really need to go all the way out to the countryside for the wedding and Yuriko responded with, "Huh? I thought I counted as family!" This, and the conversation Yuriko had with Matoi's mother, made it clear that Yuriko and the rest of Matoi's family perceive her as being in a "partner" like relationship with Matoi, despite the fact that they don't "date". (Though it certainly sounded like they were arranging one at the end of the manga...)

last edited at Apr 29, 2022 5:29PM

Though how the hell did the sister get with that guy???? That's a story that needs to be told too.... or maybe not, honestly, I'd probably find it annoying lol

Lol true, I don't think I really want to see that either.

Anyway, I really enjoyed this story. In the end they remain close friends it seems? (Could something like this be considered QPR or not? I seriously have no idea XD)

I liked this bit of dialogue:

"Since you're a friend..."
"Huh? I thought I counted as family!"
"Well, who knows?"

It was cute. And, well, if they don't really know themselves I guess it's pointless for me to try to put a name to their relationship haha

The Romance tag definitely needs to go, though I'd keep Yuri.

Edit:

I think both yuri and romance are still appropriate for this series. It's a story about a romantic relationship between two women. Aro people can be in relationships just fine, it's all about finding a comfortable distance. This ending makes perfect sense for this series.

It is not a romantic relationship though. Even if an aromantic person can be in a romantic relationship, as you say, neither of the two see their relationship as romantic.

last edited at Apr 29, 2022 5:34PM

Everything else aside, I'm missing some sort of closure for Rio. She just kinda vanished after seeing the two together, never to be seen again :/

I would second that the romance tag should be pulled. Since both leads are ace and at least one is described as aromantic, it feels like misrepresentation to call this story a romance. The only characters interested in romance are secondary characters at best, and none of their romances are central to the plot.

It's not bad for what it is but I feel PROFOUNDLY ripped off

I think I'm the only one who doesn't care much about the ending (I don't find it surprising after the author explicitly dropped "asexual" in first chapter and then reinforced it in the character bios or whatever)...

... but the fact that the author just straight up demolished a house in the second to last chapter for no apparent reason other than moving the plot drives me nuts - did I miss something really obvious before, like did they mention somewhere that demolition is planned? Also, that wasn't even necessary for the plot to move, Yuriko could have just decided to move to Tokyo because she wanted to spend more time with Matoi.
I know it's kinda stupid to hyperfixate on a detail like that but it makes absolutely no sense to me. She didn't even sell the house, it just got fucking demolished, what the hell, why. They even alluded to moving back in the last chapter, well guess what, you could have done it but you demolished your house.
Did I mention yet the house got demolished? Yeah I'm out.

last edited at Apr 29, 2022 5:45PM

I’d be interested to hear from ace/aroace readers if they resonated with this story or were pleased with the ending. I can’t help but feel a little unsatisfied, but I’m pretty distinctly neither aro nor ace, so it might just be a disconnect along those lines

Massive "meh" from me as it is 20 chapters too long.

Can somebody take a look at my nose? I think I broke it when I crashed into that wall labeled "END". I don't mind the time skip and the "friends without benefits" relationship. But, I feel like 1 more volume could've helped, with the loose ties and pacing into a less jarring ending. Maybe, sprinkle some hints towards the sister's and the coworker's marriage and give Rio some closure, as well. I'm not even entirely sure what Matoi's job is, after all that time focusing on what she wants to do for a living.

Rio really got bonked by the mangaka. The coworker's last appearance, pre-time skip, kind of mirrored hers. Seeing the girl they liked going off with someone more special than themselves. But, at least the guy got to be with someone by his actual last appearance.

Maybe the author's setting up for a Rio spinoff?

Yeah, okay. They're not in a romantic relationship, but they're committed to being together. I can get on board with that. I feel like they should probably just live together, at this point, but having them be neighbours is pretty much perfect as a visual metaphor for the relationship they have, so I can't really complain.

On the whole, I feel like this could very well be the best asexual romance story that we could possibly have gotten, for better and for worse. It fully explores the depths of their feelings for each other without cheapening their identities, and shows them growing and becoming fuller people together. Even so, it still feels a little anticlimactic. I think we're straining at the limits of the genre, here - maybe the takeaway is, stories centering deep aromantic partnerships can be great, but don't structure them as romance.

As far as the writing itself goes, I feel like they took the realism and made it super-easy to digest. Not my preference - and I certainly don't like it as much as the other yuri series on the site - but overall I feel like this is a 10/10. The writing was great, the characters believable and relatable, the character development fluid and consistent, and the overall message conveyed without relying on popular tropes like fanservice, comedy or excessive drama.

People can disagree with me, but those are just my two cents.

overall a good read, the last chapter having them live separately right next to eachother is a bit much though even if I can see it was done to drive home that they're in a close but not romantic relationship. Like at that point literally you can just be roommates.

It did resonate with me to a certain extent, Matoi is just very similar to how I look at my own sexuality so that was really fun to see, Yuriko being unflinchingly Aro Ace in what posits itself as a romance story is also really fun to me. So I like this a lot actually, even if the ending feels the need to drive the message home a little too hard to consider what would be more satisfying. Literally nothing would have to change for them to live together, it'd be fine so them being direct neighbors is a little funny all things considered.

I feel like this is a series that can be very good if you make an effort to empathize with Ace people and the characters but it's not going to be fun for you if you refuse to.

So I like this a lot actually, even if the ending feels the need to drive the message home a little too hard to consider what would be more satisfying. Literally nothing would have to change for them to live together, it'd be fine so them being direct neighbors is a little funny all things considered.

Thinking about it, I feel like the better effect could have been achieved by having them have that exact same "Well, goodnight!" moment going into different rooms in the same apartment, rather than neighbouring ones. I think I would have been happier with that.

This kind of just reinforces to me personally that having a legitimate aromantic character be a lead in a romance story just doesn't really work with the genre. I feel like you'd be better off doing a biographical type story, drama, comedy, or slice of life. Pushing it into a romantic narrative by its nature is just going to let people down given the climax people are always hoping for in a romantic story is always well... Romance. So, you end up with an anti-climax for that whole narrative. I liked a lot of the story, and did like seeing an aromantic lead, but ultimately feel it would have done a lot better with a different genre.

It could be that one of them is still "I might move elsewhere" so they don't want to be tied together in a lease. Or maybe they have very different tidiness habits and shouldn't share a bathroom/kitchen.

not that I dislike "stories for the sake of telling stories", but the whole wind up throughout the 20 chapters is a story that warranted a resolution. Feel like if the author had simply wanted to make "ace meets aroace" they'd tell a different story.

ah well, interesting fresh read nevertheless.

Hm. I dunno how I feel about that ending. The story was cute and I definitely enjoyed it, but the ending just didn't feel satisfying. Maybe because it felt a little bit rushed? I've never been big on those "all of a sudden, it's years later" endings. I prefer that kind of thing as more of an epilogue than a finale. Yuzumori-san was the same way.

last edited at Apr 29, 2022 6:06PM

So I like this a lot actually, even if the ending feels the need to drive the message home a little too hard to consider what would be more satisfying. Literally nothing would have to change for them to live together, it'd be fine so them being direct neighbors is a little funny all things considered.

Thinking about it, I feel like the better effect could have been achieved by having them have that exact same "Well, goodnight!" moment going into different rooms in the same apartment, rather than neighbouring ones. I think I would have been happier with that.

Yeah, I really feel that. Especially since it'd really push forward the idea that Yuriko can actually trust being in the same apartment as Matoi without being worried about her making any advancements. And since it just would be more convenient for the both of them for a number of reasons. Like this, it feels like she can't trust being in the same room as her, despite it being a major plot point earlier that she does.

last edited at Apr 29, 2022 6:09PM

Ok... I usually like stories that makes me think but bruh this one made my head hurt trying to understand how it works, and quite my heart hurt too bc of Rio, only there as a plot device just to be heartbroken and thrown away... I cant say i didnt saw that end coming but i would have liked a bit more development... Yeah i guess this is just the way it is but still... Damn.

Yeah, I really feel that. Especially since it'd really push forward the idea that Yuriko can actually trust being in the same apartment as Matoi without being worried about her making any advancements. And since it just would be more convenient for the both of them for a number of reasons. Like this, it feels like she can't trust being in the same room as her, despite it being a major plot point earlier that she does.

Edit: and yeah i agree with this

last edited at Apr 29, 2022 9:06PM