"No point to get a priest, you can't exercise out The Gay."

Gay exercises? For lesbians?

Something like this, I guess.

Lol, I think they wanted to type exorcise but... they subconsciously pictured hot gay girls exercising, and... y'know, Freudian slip. XD

And this is from where? I'm certain I don't know them.

And this is from where? I'm certain I don't know them.

Chinese yuri manhua, name is When We Get Closer and it's really good in a completely different style than Lass.
The two gym girls in the pic are the main characters.

I liked the ambiguity when Yundou stared at Xiaoen being awkward for a bit and said "I hear you", then agreed to her request. Did Yundou mean she's just going along with a reasonable request or that she can also "hear" Xiaoen's unspoken intentions to pursue someone she's interested in? It's unclear at first if Yundou is referencing or being comfortable with Xiaoen's intentions. But unlike Sixi, Yundou figured out what's going on. I think Yundou is probably surprised and not sure it will turn out well for Xiaoen, but is passively supportive.

So far the town hasn't showed a hint of homophobia; it's only Xingyuan's family. Bigotry is part of the plot but it's not connected with the social atmosphere of this aspiring tourist-town or its repeated love (peaches) festival. Regardless of whether Xiao Bai the nail artist without a partner is gay, Xiaoen's staff had no anxiety about her. Hopefully the town doesn't give off any bad vibes for a while, Xingyuan clearly could use a safe and stable place while coping with the trauma and alienation from her family.

And like others have said, that beautiful cinematographic art... It creates a kind of kinetic language and sense of space that feels great to read. Together with the watercolor palette and the often-playful lineart, this story is an eye massage.

last edited at Oct 14, 2022 6:09PM

Great manga so far, and yeah, it is being carried by art. Hard.
I wonder if the shots of office-lady carressing FMC were supposed to show jealous perspective of the other FMC, or if they were supposed to be from the perspective of the office lady... Not a fan of destined-to-loose friend characters.

Oh? You too?
I've been a fan of the Carmilla series since it premiered on Vervegirl. I remember eagerly waiting for more episodes while following the characters in the social networks and replying to their messages, haha.

Those were good times! Literally just finished season 3, all's left to rewatch is the movie.

I hadn't thought of it... but now that you mention it, it sounds plausible. It's a small town and most families must have close ties, so it wouldn't be surprising if these two are cousins to some degree.

If anything else, I'd wager they definitely grew up together, but I'm pretty sure they're related. Hopefully the next chapter or so clears things up!

Like many others in this thread have pointed out, the art is fantastic! I also love the story so far too!

But this is the REALLY serious question: How is that ice not floating?!
(First page of chapter 10)

last edited at Oct 15, 2022 7:38AM

Like many others in this thread have pointed out, the art is fantastic! I also love the story so far too!

But this is the REALLY serious question: How is that ice not floating?!
(First page of chapter 10)

I think this "ice" are pieces of fruit (probably peaches, they are pinkish-white). Cant confirm thoug.

last edited at Oct 15, 2022 10:44AM

Like many others in this thread have pointed out, the art is fantastic! I also love the story so far too!

But this is the REALLY serious question: How is that ice not floating?!
(First page of chapter 10)

I think this "ice" are pieces of fruit (probably peaches, they are pinkish-white). Cant confirm thoug.

I was thinking that at first too, but they're kind of chunky and there's bubbles rising up from them. Very big plot questions.

Peach metaphors. She really wants to sink her claws in Xiaoen. And now a piece of Xiaoen is stuck in her. :D

It's 4am, I just woke up from a nightmare, and this chapter just made me completely forget about whatever was scaring me. This author has such RANGE!!! I'm struggling because this might have become my favorite chapter yet—here we're now seeing that Shi is in as over her head for Mu as Mu is for her, and it's terrifying both of them for different reasons. Initially I thought Shi's whole problem was that she feels ashamed of her desiring girls, but this chapter shows that it's so much more than that. She's obsessed with Mu, and the strength of that torrential set of emotions looks like it's completely new to her, and none of her prior coping mechanisms are fitting the situation, since Mu is just as down bad for her. Considering what strides we've seen Mu take with her own issues in just the last few chapters, I don't think it's going to take a long time to work through this, especially since Shi finally broke in this chapter and seems to be taking the path of least resistance when Mu finds her at a low point.

I am now certain of three things:

1. The peach tree no. 9 requires the blood of two, silly little sapphics to quench its sadistic, unending thirst (same tbh?)

2. Shi was super fucking jealous that she wasn't able to touch and compliment Mu"s nails

3. These two, little shits are going to help each other grow out of their prior positions and social shackles

I am SO buckled in for the ride.

Peach metaphors. She really wants to sink her claws in Xiaoen. And now a piece of Xiaoen is stuck in her. :D

Oh dang that’s good!

Good chapter, really feeling Xingyuan's confusion not only about being attracted to girls in general but violently attracted to this one girl in particular. I'd say that besides the traumatic experiences with homophobia it is also this feeling of being a stranger in Mu Xiaoen's world that's causing her pain. We can see this in Xingyuan's reactions to seeing Xiaoen in the nail studio or with her supposed cousin and the kids, Xingyuan very carefully observes Xiaoen's close interaction with everybody and in one chapter even comments that "this is her world", sort of implying that she herself is but a stranger there.

Xingyuan's experiences with homophobia might add to this by making her feel unable to enter Xiaoen's world due to her "impure" intentions, but ultimately it is a sense of distance to a person that she's become immediately enraptured by which causes her pain, she see's Xiaoen's world but fails to see that there could be a place in it for her or that Xiaoen would even want to have her in it. Psychologically, this feeling is likely caused by Xingyuan's own past where she's been made to feel like an outsider due to her "abnormal" sexuality, so this mode of living has become permanent for her, making it hard to perceive herself as anything but a permanent outsider even if the people around her seem keen on making her a part of their community (as Mr Wang does) or when her "impure" feelings towards a girl are actually (rather transparently) reciprocated. Xingyuan feels hurt by seeing Xiaoen not just because of her repressed sexuality, but also (and I'd argue primarily) because seeing her move so smoothly through her own world makes Xingyuan feel all the more removed from it, she's awkward and uncomfortable with this world, she doesn't know or trust it and yet she still desires the person seemingly at its core, making her feel guilty and inadequate, further increasing the sense of distance to a person she wants to be close to.

So to cut a long story short, whilst a homophobic environment certainly seems to be the root cause for Xingyuan's insecurities, this story isn't a simple "I like this girl, oh no that's bad I shouldn't do that" story but rather a story about the psychological impact of homophobia. It's about a girl who through no fault of her own was cut off from her roots, most evident in being literally cut off from her family and whose now drifting about without a sense of belonging, alienated not only from the world around her but ultimately from herself as well. Someone like Xiaoen, who seems so in touch with her roots and in charge of her own world is thus almost a foil for Xingyuan, making her incredibly alluring and incredibly frightening at the same time.

In the end, this is why Xiaoen proactively seeking out Xingyuan is so important, Xiaoen is literally pulling her into her world, trying hard to show her that she's welcome as she is. It will take time for Xingyuan to learn to accept this (and thus to also learn to accept herself as part of that world) and will likely also involve a necessary breaking down of Xingyuan's seeming idolisation of Xiaoen by exposing her past and showing that she's not just Xingyuan's foil, but an independent human being on her own.
I can of course not guarantee that this is how the story will actually go, but I look forward to it nonetheless :)

The treacherous peach has been yeeted

The peach finally paid for its crime of cutting Xiaoen's breast

Edit: Oh yeah, kind of goes without saying, but ChikyuuNeko's post is one of the best posts I've ever seen on this forum.

last edited at Oct 19, 2022 3:24PM

ChikyuuNeko posted:

Psychologically, this feeling is likely caused by Xingyuan's own past where she's been made to feel like an outsider due to her "abnormal" sexuality, so this mode of living has become permanent for her, making it hard to perceive herself as anything but a permanent outsider even if the people around her seem keen on making her a part of their community (as Mr Wang does) or when her "impure" feelings towards a girl are actually (rather transparently) reciprocated.

So to cut a long story short, whilst a homophobic environment certainly seems to be the root cause for Xingyuan's insecurities, this story isn't a simple "I like this girl, oh no that's bad I shouldn't do that" story but rather a story about the psychological impact of homophobia. It's about a girl who through no fault of her own was cut off from her roots, most evident in being literally cut off from her family and whose now drifting about without a sense of belonging, alienated not only from the world around her but ultimately from herself as well.

So it's not about how psychological damage caused by homophobia affects you, but rather a story exploring how psychological damage caused by homophobia affects you. Did I got that right?

Nailed it.

ChikyuuNeko posted:

Psychologically, this feeling is likely caused by Xingyuan's own past where she's been made to feel like an outsider due to her "abnormal" sexuality, so this mode of living has become permanent for her, making it hard to perceive herself as anything but a permanent outsider even if the people around her seem keen on making her a part of their community (as Mr Wang does) or when her "impure" feelings towards a girl are actually (rather transparently) reciprocated.

So to cut a long story short, whilst a homophobic environment certainly seems to be the root cause for Xingyuan's insecurities, this story isn't a simple "I like this girl, oh no that's bad I shouldn't do that" story but rather a story about the psychological impact of homophobia. It's about a girl who through no fault of her own was cut off from her roots, most evident in being literally cut off from her family and whose now drifting about without a sense of belonging, alienated not only from the world around her but ultimately from herself as well.

So it's not about how psychological damage caused by homophobia affects you, but rather a story exploring how psychological damage caused by homophobia affects you. Did I got that right?

There's a difference between "oh no I'm gay, everybody is gonna hate me when they find out" and "being mistreated for being gay has caused me to dissociate from the world and I don't know how to engage in basic human relations anymore". But yes, that is also damage caused by homophobia

Good chapter, really feeling Xingyuan's confusion not only about being attracted to girls in general but violently attracted to this one girl in particular. I'd say that besides the traumatic experiences with homophobia it is also this feeling of being a stranger in Mu Xiaoen's world that's causing her pain.

Rather than paste the entire analysis again, I'll snag this much while I praise the whole thing in full. Holy shit, that was an excellent breakdown, and I really, really enjoyed reading it.

Got me good, I mean some random dust got my eyes good and I can't stop tearing up

"They're so pretty it hurts..."

I can't be the only one who thought of Girl in Red at the end of this chapter.

Got me good, I mean some random dust got my eyes good and I can't stop tearing up

I feel you so hard.

Up to now I was cool with everything that happened. I mean, a little angst in my yuri? Who's afraid of that? Bring it on! This was my take.

But this chapter got me right in the feelings. (sniff)

Btw, @ChikyuuNeko: great post! We know a story is absolutely crazy good when it inspires fans to write whole essays on the psychological subtleties of the characters, hehehe.

last edited at Oct 19, 2022 3:36PM

So to cut a long story short, whilst a homophobic environment certainly seems to be the root cause for Xingyuan's insecurities, this story isn't a simple "I like this girl, oh no that's bad I shouldn't do that" story but rather a story about the psychological impact of homophobia.

Great analysis, I loved this chapter because it feels so fresh compared to the typical “I like girls and am ashamed of that so I’m gonna sequester myself away for 10-20 chapters” (like Nevri said). Xingyuan did try to keep her distance but the way she immediately broke when Xiaoen shows up is so relatable and also keeps up the pace of the story really well too.

Did I miss something? It's seems like baker woman went from light and friendly flirting and then skipped straight to I need you so bad it's torture to be this close and not have you.

Did I miss something? It's seems like baker woman went from light and friendly flirting and then skipped straight to I need you so bad it's torture to be this close and not have you.

I don't think Xingyuan was ever doing "light and friendly flirting" (Xiaoen def was though). Especially on a reread she seems a lot more nervous and awkward to me, even at the beginning; it's just less noticeable from Xiaoen's perspective. Then the text from her aunt dredges up her PTSD and she starts spiraling.

last edited at Oct 19, 2022 6:20PM

Pretty damn good chapter.
Also, ChikyuuNeko, thank you for the amazing breakdown.

last edited at Oct 19, 2022 6:30PM