It's kind of funny. Some people are saying that the lack of romance as a driving factor in the story was a problem that made it boring or bad. That it didn't work because the author was trying to tell a non-romantic story within the framework of a romantic one.

The way I see it, it's not the lack of romance that's the problem. It's the lack of people's ability to comprehend a story without it. This is what normativity is about. Heteronormativity takes away society's ability to see gay as normal. Allonormativity takes away the ability to see ace and aro as normal. Obviously the people on this site would mostly see gay relationships as normal, but that's not what this story is about.

The author isn't "using the wrong kind of storytelling". The reader is, to put it plainly, expecting the wrong story. This has, from the very beginning, been a story about ace-spec people. The text is quite clear on that. At no point has it been anything else. The idea that there wasn't any payoff is built upon a pre-conceived notion of what the payoff would have looked like.

I was happy with the ending. It could have been better, but it wasn't bad. The only complaint I have is something many others have touched on: Rio was completely unmentioned despite being a pretty significant character. She was at least as important as Matoi's sister, that's for sure.

Regardless, I enjoyed myself. The afterword was fascinating. I had no idea that the meaning of "asexual" in Japan was more equivalent to aro ace in the west. I was a bit surprised the author knew there was a difference, but they seem to have put a lot of work into getting things right, so it makes sense that they'd know. I wonder if the author is ace-spec? I assume so, but I'd have to look into it to be sure.

Oh, also, it's definitely yuri. I don't know for sure if it should be tagged romance or not, but I'd say yes.

We need asexual and aromantic tags on dynasty. demisexual too, probably. That said, finding any media with ace-spectrum characters is nigh impossible, so there'd probably only be like...one or two things with those tags.

well, that's.... disappointing.

Beautiful and completely new side to romance for me. I'm sad but the ending as well as whole plot aren't disappointing one bit. I waited for every chapter and read it with joy. Thanks to author and the team. It was a great time. I'd read more from them)

I rly like this serie, tho I would like a bit better ending, without a big time skip... Feels kinda weird for me ( alone ending is nice tho)

Dang, as an AroAce, I appreciate the sentiment. But at the same time, I kinda wanted to at least see some more definite resolution at least for other characters like Rio. It was hard not to support her, but she wasn't mentioned once. Instead, we got a bitter end with her when she was left behind with no mention. I have a feeling this might've been axed?

well, that's.... disappointing.

I disagree. This is actually the "perfect" ending as it doesn't compromise the characters for cheap fanservice

I really enjoyed this one! It's very rare to meet topics like asexuality in yuri manga which made this one very refreshing.

Made an account to say this was trash. Change the tag.

Was the series axed? As much as I appreciate the ending where they don't really go against their set values I feel like it was just a tad bit rushed. And I'm really curious about Rio.... She was a great character and it's sad to see her go unmentioned at the end ESPECIALLY since she just got left in the dust :/

puts on forensics outfit ah yes, axe wounds, truly unfortunate, to see a series ended before it's time.

Ending rushed so fast they dropped Rio and didn't go back to pick her up.

last edited at May 2, 2022 3:07AM

Reading the comments I'm getting a lot of allos mad Yuriko's aro/ace characterization was maintained and respected rather than being "cured" (I literally cannot think of a better word to use) of her aceness and realizing romantic feelings for Matoi.

Your mean Aro-ness dont you? Asexuality just relates to sexual attraction not romantic feelings.

I should really stop letting this bread sandwich of a series take up as much rent in my head as it's doing, but the drama in the discussion is much better than anything I was given in the story itself.

I know Rio is irresistible to Dynasty readers as [The Other, More Overtly Lesbian One], but in terms of the overall story she's just a dropped plot stitch. The real problem with this as a series is its failure to directly deal with the main relationship issue it raises.

That is, the story does a decent job (I take it) of depicting the different individual orientations of the MCs toward romance and sex, but then it doesn't show how the two of them ultimately resolve their central difference--that is, neither of them are interested in a sexual relationship, but Matoi is interested in romance while Yuriko is not. As several people have pointed out, that leaves Yuriko getting what she wants out of the relationship, but with Matoi wanting more than she can ever get. That's a perfectly viable story conflict, and Matoi could be shown to come to terms with the situation in any number of ways, but the issue deserves more than to just be glossed over.

And then the "two apartments" ending leaves the Unfortunate Implication that they've decided not to live together because sharing the physical space would be an undue emotional burden on Matoi because of her one-way feelings. (Sure, some people just "want their own space"--even at Tokyo real estate prices--but the key scenes in the MCs emotional development took place in the shared space of Matoi's apartment. So no more such scenes for them!)

tl;dr: Matoi seems happy enough at the end--but why?

last edited at May 2, 2022 12:40PM

I mean, Rio was also a potential source of some kind of conflict, kind of like Yuriko's scars, but equally fading out of relevance before much exciting happens. Which is why I came to my descriptor of "bread sandwich." Plain, boring, you could say it gets the job done but it'll probably leave you wanting when you're finished.

I mean, Rio was also a potential source of some kind of conflict, kind of like Yuriko's scars, but equally fading out of relevance before much exciting happens. Which is why I came to my descriptor of "bread sandwich." Plain, boring, you could say it gets the job done but it'll probably leave you wanting when you're finished.

You're quite right. The story is certainly a kind of breakthrough for aro-ace representation, but at various points it seemed to have something more than simply that on its mind, but it was never entirely clear what it was.

Glad I didn’t read this based on comments and the last chapter. Yes, there are such relationships IRL, but it doesn’t have the literary payoff for readership (they’re not even ROOMMATES! God what a let down). Good luck getting this picked up for publishing stateside.

This manga deserves the “non-binary” tag as the relationship went no-where by choice.

That's...not what non-binary means?

Am I missing a joke here?

What kind of ending is this ^^ frankly I want there to be a romantic friendship but this is a lazy and illogical ending. It looks like a repressed love and therefore a future big regret.Nothing positive to pretend to be close friends, knowing that if one meets love the other will take it badly, in short disappointment. Another author who does not have the courage to assume his story, and joins the list of manga with great potential but spoiled by a botched end.

So I see a lot of people debating whether this should be tagged yuri, and I understand the wish to be inclusive to ace folks. They also deserve representation and don't get much of it and I'm old enough that my bisexual ass remembers how much that can hurt.

That said, there are a bunch of series on this website that forewent the yuri tag because the primary couple never crosses the line from friendship to actual romance, even though there are strong romantic overtones. Often the characters are even clearly life-partners who fully intend to spend forever together, but if they don't kiss or at least declare their love and do some lewd lewd handholding, it's not "yuri"

Should Stretch have a yuri tag? It's a "relationship between girls." Should Nettaigyo wa Yuki ni Kogareru? New Game? Shinmai Shimai no Futari Gohan? Ayakashiko? Living with my Brother's Wife? None of those are tagged "Yuri" (even though in some cases there are explicitly gay characters) because their main narrative is not about explicitly romantic relationships between women. A lot of series on this site sit untagged as "Yuri" until you get a direct confession or explicit indication of romantic interest, but here is a series about a specifically non-romantic relationship that had the tag I think from the start.

I want to be clear, I'm not saying this shouldn't be tagged yuri, nor am I saying those things shouldn't be. But there's an inconsistency here, and It's worth asking what the tag is for, and how Yuri is defined. And if you're gonna define Yuri more broadly than the site tends to, that's okay, but then there are probably a lot of things that should be conciously handled differently WRT other series.

Tags serve two main functions, in my experience. They help people find what they're looking for, and they help people avoid what they aren't. Yuri is such a broad tag and such a huge part of the site's identity I strongly doubt anybody is using it to know what to avoid. So then the question becomes "Is this series what people searching the Yuri tag are looking for?"

Romance is the same way. If somebody searches the "Romance" tag, are they going to be satisfied or feel baited by this series about two asexual people in an aromantic relationship? Yeah, sure, there are -other- romantically inclined characters in the series. Are -any- of their romances central enough to the narrative to be featured as tags? Star Wars has romances in it, that doesn't mean it would deserve the tag.

I'm not saying the story is bad. I thought it was an interesting read and insight into the ace/aro experience. The ending falls a bit flat, but I recognize that might be because I'm not the target audience. But as someone who comes to this site for same-sex romance, the tags sure are aimed at convincing me that this is directed at me when it isn't.

Either way, there should be an ace tag, like, yesterday. I'm actually shocked it isn't already a thing.

I'm not very invested in the issue of tags generally except as a fairly abstract taxonomic exercise. But there's arguably a distinction to be made between boundary cases like several that Heavensrun ^ mentions, where a series seemed unwilling to take the final plunge into overt yuri territory because of a self-imposed authorial restriction or an editorial intervention, and those instances where the story sets out to develop aro-ace characters, as this one explicitly does, (but which very few others that I can think of actually do).

I know that characters are routinely claimed as being examples of aro-ace representation, some of which turn out to be anything but that (most notoriously Yuu in Yagakimi), and lacking explicit in-text labeling like in this story I don't know exactly how one would definitively distinguish between the two types. But I would foresee not doing so leading to a lot of tagging wars.

I know that characters are routinely claimed as being examples of aro-ace representation, some of which turn out to be anything but that (most notoriously Yuu in Yagakimi), and lacking explicit in-text labeling like in this story I don't know exactly how one would definitively distinguish between the two types. But I would foresee not doing so leading to a lot of tagging wars.

I've never really seen Yuu as aro-ace rep but rather as a really great example of demi rep, even if not intended as such. At least she resonates very much with me and my own deminess~

What would Matoi, as a romantic asexual, want that Yuriko isn't giving her?

I've never really seen Yuu as aro-ace rep but rather as a really great example of demi rep

Early in the series, Touko and especially Yuu were both plausible aro/ace candidates. This changed as the series progressed. Maki(?), the guy cheering Yuu on, still seems ace though.

What would Matoi, as a romantic asexual, want that Yuriko isn't giving her?

A reciprocal romantic relationship?

Or is the definition of romantic asexual not "does not desire sex but does desire romantic relationships"?

I guess I'm asking what an asexual romantic relationship looks like.

I guess I'm asking what an asexual romantic relationship looks like.

Romantic feelings without a sexual element to them, we desire close companionships that you don't get from just a friend.

I think Pieta kind of hits close to what I'd consider an asexual romantic relationship.

I guess I'm asking what an asexual romantic relationship looks like.

The details would probably vary from person to person, I'd think.