I swear I see that cliche of a bunch of guys hitting on a girl (waiting for somebody) way too often...

I swear I see that cliche of a bunch of guys hitting on a girl (waiting for somebody) way too often...

Roving packs of feral boys is one of Japan's most underreported environmental issues. Citizens and visitors are advised to avoid spots where these undomesticated young men like to congregate:

• Arcades and video stores while hanging out with your cute childhood friend;
• The sidewalk outside of a convenience store when your cool girlfriend is stopping off to buy something after school;
• A popular shopping area after you finally work up the courage to ask your pretty senpai out on a "date," but maybe she thought you meant friend-date and now you're really nervous;
• When you're walking home after a drinking party where your coworker had a little too much and all the trains have stopped running, so the only polite thing to do is invite her to stay the night at your place.

If you are approached by any loud and oblivious boys who attempt to hit on you or your companion despite your obvious discomfort and uninterest, please use these strategies to safely and quickly extricate yourself from the situation:

• Politely yet firmly say, "She's with me" while taking her hand in yours and glaring directly at the offending guys while thinking about how you've never liked being so much taller than other girls, but now you're glad you are, especially when it lets you rest your chin on her head while you're sitting together;
• Take your companion's hand and start running in a random direction; even if the feral boys attempt to pursue, their primary diet of convenience store snacks and years of loafing behind school buildings leave them ill-prepared for sudden chases;
• Unfurl your brightly colored neck-frill and begin screeching and spitting acid.

Keep these warnings in mind, and you can ensure that you and your female friend that inspires feelings that you can't quite name, but are equal parts exhilarating and heart-rending will be able to enjoy your time together, whether it takes numerous volumes of incremental development and longing or has a promising start, but then is suddenly canceled, requiring a rushed ending that's decent and not quite unsatisfying, but you definitely would have preferred having a little more space to develop things naturally.

last edited at Oct 8, 2022 3:29PM

@Gellydog: that was fantastic. I had tears in my eyes by the end I was laughing so hard.

• Unfurl your brightly colored neck-frill and begin screeching and spitting acid.

I've had one of those this ENTIRE TIME?! College mixers would have been so much easier.

I know this trope is used excessively in fiction, but I've yet to actually witness this in real life. Those guys would be verbally torn a few new ones if they tried that where I live. Is this really a thing anyone here has seen or experienced?

Cutest expression this artist has done yet

"It's more than enough for me that you understand 'I love Kyouku's boobs'" - that's it Miku, unleash your inner Chiaki lol

I like the plot of this manga. But I really dislike the drawing style, it makes everything worse. The characatting in this are not just not cute. I would be puking if they were real persons.

I know this trope is used excessively in fiction, but I've yet to actually witness this in real life. Those guys would be verbally torn a few new ones if they tried that where I live. Is this really a thing anyone here has seen or experienced?

Definitely happens. This is a pretty good vid of a few incidences caught on camera https://youtu.be/8sM1mpS36K4. First 3 are in Japan. You can read the comments section for even more experiences from other people.

I remember when I visited Japan for vacation and even in the few days I was there I saw women (they were often alone) being harassed by men. It was a busy area that was full of promoters, but it's hard to tell if it was a worker or not though since they wore regular clothes. Either way looked like a pushy guy trying to talk with a girl who was clearly uncomfortable and just politely smiling/laughing to get away.

I haven't had it done personally to me in a long time since I'm pretty much a hermit nowadays, but man I remember a time few years ago when I was just getting off work as an emt (I was still in uniform) and was randomly hit on by a guy as I was walking to my car at 2am.

Common tropes are common for a reason.

last edited at Oct 9, 2022 9:40AM

I like the plot of this manga. But I really dislike the drawing style, it makes everything worse. The characatting in this are not just not cute. I would be puking if they were real persons.

“If people in real life were like manga characters are drawn.” Lol

No noses from the front, tiny sharp points in profile—that’s just normal.

And then there are the eyes . . .

I've seen so many manga that have scenes where a group of boys walk up to the main characters and say a variations of the line "Wanna come play with us". To me, a gang of boys rolling up on a couple of girls and saying something like that, always seems less like a pick up line and more like a threat of sexual violence.

I've seen so many manga that have scenes where a group of boys walk up to the main characters and say a variations of the line "Wanna come play with us". To me, a gang of boys rolling up on a couple of girls and saying something like that, always seems less like a pick up line and more like a threat of sexual violence.

That's the way it's often played in manga--the key tell on the "potential threat" version is when there are more boys than girls.

Other times it's just a clueless pair of boys looking to hang out with cute chicks as a setup to a "She's with me!" intervention by one of the MCs.

So far, so good.

The characatting in this are not just not cute.

I'm sorry for being dumb but i'm not sure what that word is supposed to be

I've seen so many manga that have scenes where a group of boys walk up to the main characters and say a variations of the line "Wanna come play with us". To me, a gang of boys rolling up on a couple of girls and saying something like that, always seems less like a pick up line and more like a threat of sexual violence.

That's the way it's often played in manga--the key tell on the "potential threat" version is when there are more boys than girls.

Other times it's just a clueless pair of boys looking to hang out with cute chicks as a setup to a "She's with me!" intervention by one of the MCs.

That's seems to be sensible guideline for interpreting the mood, the author is going for. Either way though, it still seems like a creepy thing to say to start a conversation. Maybe it's just a common line in japan, that just doesn't translate well. I've noticed that many time translators use the word "play" when I think they mean something like "hang out". "Wanna come hang out with us" feels less threatening than "Wanna come play with us", to me at least.

last edited at Oct 9, 2022 4:13PM

I've seen so many manga that have scenes where a group of boys walk up to the main characters and say a variations of the line "Wanna come play with us". To me, a gang of boys rolling up on a couple of girls and saying something like that, always seems less like a pick up line and more like a threat of sexual violence.

That's the way it's often played in manga--the key tell on the "potential threat" version is when there are more boys than girls.

Other times it's just a clueless pair of boys looking to hang out with cute chicks as a setup to a "She's with me!" intervention by one of the MCs.

That's seems to be sensible guideline for interpreting the mood, the author is going for. Either way though, it still seems like a creepy thing to say to start a conversation. Maybe it's just a common line in japan, that just doesn't translate well. I've noticed that many time translators use the word "play" when I think they mean something like "hang out". "Wanna come hang out with us" feels less threatening than "Wanna come play with us", to me at least.

I think I agree with you across the board, johnb:

• As someone recently reminded us in another thread (I think), English speakers probably should avoid putting too much emphasis on the translation of single words, which may have connotations that just don't come across to a Western audience. That said, the verb "play" is sometimes used by one high-school girl inviting another home after school (in a non-sexual context) when you'd think they'd be older than that, so I dunno.

• I've seen the "pickup guys" trope used for everything from an innocuous way for one of the MCs to step up and say "Buzz off!" to the prelude to an attempted gang rape.

• I don't think I've ever seen it used where one or more of the "target" girls actually goes off and has a good time with what turn out to be inoffensive guys--the tapestry of the manga universe being various and manifold, I could be wrong about that.

Enough, I hate the character designs. The story is always too much drama. I give up.What a waste of time.

Enough, I hate the character designs. The story is always too much drama. I give up.What a waste of time.

This is actually very tame Yoshitomi Akihito, whose characters always look exactly like that.

So Yoshitomi Akihito is obviously not for you.

"Watersports" said the tag, and I read with trepidation.

I should have known that, in Miku's hands, it would turn into something incredibly silly. ᐠ( ᐛ )ᐟ

This chapter was brought to you by, the letter "P."

This was a really good chapter that balanced the typical wackiness with real sincere moments. I liked how Miku kept bouncing back and forth from being sensible to her usual crazy self in a single sentence lol

This chapter was brought to you by, the letter "P."

"-- and I know how much you guys love P."
- Archangel Gabriel, Gabriel Plays Ultrakill

The author continues to take the piss... or a piss, not good at English sorry

^It looks like we're headed towards both....

dont think ive ever seen a character in yuri sincerely talk about having a piss fetish and being self conscious of it so honestly this is kinda nice lol