You don't get to decide where to draw the lines, noone does.

Is it me or does it seem like this story is starting to fall apart at the seems?

Is it me or does it seem like this story is starting to fall apart at the seems?

just you, seems pretty coherent to me

This girl keeps dialing up the smooth even though she don't know she's doing it. I'd be dead on the ground if I were Osawa.

Well, clearly, Aya has been listening to the Studio Killers. They just became friends, and she already wants to ruin it.

The biggest crime is knowing that, as much as this series deserves an anime adaptation, it will probably never get one. Would definitely love to see the story fleshed out more and fill in some of the time jumps. Like when she figured out Koga's true identity. It feels like she went from not having a clue to suddenly knowing.

We actually got that scene? Aya saw the playlist she sent 'Onii-san' on Koga's phone and panicked, and in the leadup to that she kept getting small flashes of Koga reminding her of 'Onii-san'.

I'm still following this, but I think it's impressive (not in a good way) that this story manages to feel really dragged out while being served only 4 pages at a time... and sometimes said 4 pages don't tell what is happening too clearly.

I want to like it, with cool art and all that, but it keeps falling short for me.

I feel ya. I am impressed as well

With each chapter, much of the time I'm left thinking "That's it??". Often covers very little and then jumps to the next day with the next chapter.

Gotta say I'm not feeling what you folks are. I don't really have expectations that a lot is going to happen in a 4 page chapter. If you took 8 of these chapters and strung them into a single 32-page monthly-manga style chapter, it would be a chapter where a bunch happened.

The author's painting with whitespace, which is less common in written works, but I like it for this story and I'm not sure if a more explicit, an slower paced, telling would work as well.

Edit: Apparently the forum doesn't like emojis? That's a bit unfortunate.

last edited at Nov 14, 2022 3:18AM

Koga is unaware of the effect she has on women

wait, did a linguistics argument sorta start here? and it seems like one between prescriptivist and descriptivist factions. If I have interpreted the situation correctly, then I know who I'm siding with.

every time a big argument/discussion happens where it's way too big brain for me and I have absolutely no idea what's happening, I feel like Jim in this moment

Oh my gods will you two just kiss already! [Incomprehensible gay noises]

Being a 4-page manga, pacing is indeed an issue in this story, but I think that sometimes it is justified to just skip and give incomplete answers to the readers since the answers themselves are trivial. We know at the beginning of the chapter that they did not have a full conversation, because if they did, we’d get to see it. The author is simply skipping the boring parts and leaving it for flashbacks and assumptions which, given the format, is ok imo.

You can't seriously say that these answers are trivial.

The story is ignoring all the tension and conflict that had been building up for several chapters. Whatever conversation happened after Mitsuki asked the question would not only contain the answer to the question but also continuations to many other things: the fact that Mitsuki is a girl, the fact she pretended to be a guy, her reasons for doing so, the distance they kept from each other for a bit, why they care, etc. All of this was built up and none of it is resolved, addressed or developed simply by having us assume Aya said "yes".

Besides, even if we could make assumptions that answer all of these questions, why not show it? You came up with your own headcanon about what happened so even if we assume you're 100% right about the events, wouldn't you still want to see them? We've just been denied a major culmination of this story.

Imagine if in The Lion King, the story went from Simba looking uphill to see the wildebeest stampeding toward him to Simba having already left and we only learn through dialogue that Mufasa died and Scar took over.
This is what just happened in this story.

A major issue with your point is that she never pretended to be a guy. She just never revealed her true identity. Yeah she could've but on the flip side she never had to do so. Now that she wants to be friends as herself and not her fake self Aya is happy, since that's what she was originally mad at. You're looking way too deep into the story.

Being a 4-page manga, pacing is indeed an issue in this story, but I think that sometimes it is justified to just skip and give incomplete answers to the readers since the answers themselves are trivial. We know at the beginning of the chapter that they did not have a full conversation, because if they did, we’d get to see it. The author is simply skipping the boring parts and leaving it for flashbacks and assumptions which, given the format, is ok imo.

You can't seriously say that these answers are trivial.

The story is ignoring all the tension and conflict that had been building up for several chapters. Whatever conversation happened after Mitsuki asked the question would not only contain the answer to the question but also continuations to many other things: the fact that Mitsuki is a girl, the fact she pretended to be a guy, her reasons for doing so, the distance they kept from each other for a bit, why they care, etc. All of this was built up and none of it is resolved, addressed or developed simply by having us assume Aya said "yes".

Besides, even if we could make assumptions that answer all of these questions, why not show it? You came up with your own headcanon about what happened so even if we assume you're 100% right about the events, wouldn't you still want to see them? We've just been denied a major culmination of this story.

Imagine if in The Lion King, the story went from Simba looking uphill to see the wildebeest stampeding toward him to Simba having already left and we only learn through dialogue that Mufasa died and Scar took over.
This is what just happened in this story.

A major issue with your point is that she never pretended to be a guy. She just never revealed her true identity. Yeah she could've but on the flip side she never had to do so. Now that she wants to be friends as herself and not her fake self Aya is happy, since that's what she was originally mad at. You're looking way too deep into the story.

Woah, woah woah. I don't agree with the previous comments about the story (this is a completely legitimate way to tell a story), you've gone off on your own unrelated tangent here, and also missed the main conflict.
Mitsuki didn't have to reveal that the store clerk was actually a girl, no. But she did hella need to stop stalking the girl at school under the pretext that they were different people. If you don't see what's wrong with that, then it's actually you who is the one preoccupied with the girl/guy revelations.

I want to give this comic a 1000 likes and more. Take all my love, author!!

You don't get to decide where to draw the lines, noone does.

https://iili.io/yrRzdP.jpg

Y'all semantically-challenged folks remind me of a post I saw on one of the queer forums I use that completely flabbergasted me: this girl came in asking if she can still call herself a lesbian even tho she finds one femboy really hot. That's the sort of astoundingly silly question one asks when they use merriam-webster as gospel. No reasonable person goes through a taxonomic process to determine the right words for sexuality and gender. It's about the vibe, not what an editor at oxford university press thought up, sorry

Aya is quite good at reading social cues, and she understood from the beginning that Mitsuki is socially awkward. She has been mad at her while understanding Mitsuki's dilemma at the same time. She clearly understood that Mitsuki didn't intentionally hide her identity from her, at least at first. She was mad because now that they were interacting at both school and at the shop, she wasn't coming clean. That's why she has been calling her "coward" in her mind. She knew there were no ill intent, just some lack of courage...

I don't think she is holding a grunge about all that. She was shocked at first, then angry, but now that Mitsuki have found the courage to come clean, Aya has already forgives her. Even in this chapter she recognized Mitsuki's social awkwardness...

I'm so fucking sorry to the one person whose lighthearted take I was trying to affirm for dragging you into a whirlpool of toxic jumper-ons. Your opinion was as chill and non-incendiary as anything else in this thread and you didn't deserve this heat.

last edited at Nov 14, 2022 9:53AM

The best Radiohead song is Black Star. I will be taking no questions.

wait, did a linguistics argument sorta start here? and it seems like one between prescriptivist and descriptivist factions.

Nah to be a prescriptivist or a descriptivist first you need to know linguistics. You need to have studied science and the scientific method.
This is between people who understand science and people who flunked English and Math at school and now are at war against the dictionary and basic arithmetic. And call others (I quote) "really dumb" and "astoundingly silly".

last edited at Nov 15, 2022 9:39AM

it's time to end this conversation. when things devolve to personal insults it's time to stop.

if it continues we will have to step in. if you insult forum members, i will ban you and delete your posts. thanks.

I'm lost in these last few pages of comments. I don't understand who stands on what side of what argument.

My take:

• Is Mitsuki trans? There's no evidence she is. I don't think the author factored that take in. So, I'll err on the side of "No, she's not".

• Can Mitsuki's experience in life (the outlier hiding their true self and feeling uncomfortable in their assigned role) be taken as something similar to what a transman would feel? Sure, if that's how you want to interpret it, you can. Just don't drag the author or Mitsuki herself in it.

• Are people taking gender politics too seriously? You bet they do.

nya-chan i'll assume you missed my post. we were probably typing at the same time. it's time to move on please.

Koga is unaware of the effect she has on women

And men. Let's not forget the kabedon Narita-kun experienced which made him automatically want to be friends with her.

True bisexual power!

This girl keeps dialing up the smooth even though she don't know she's doing it. I'd be dead on the ground if I were Osawa.

Chapter 30 spoilers: the girls are in the lockeroom for gym class and Mitsuki pulls an accidental smooth move, Aya just drops dead. The series ends.

last edited at Nov 15, 2022 6:48PM

Koga is unaware of the effect she has on women

And men. Let's not forget the kabedon Narita-kun experienced which made him automatically want to be friends with her.

True bisexual power!

This girl keeps dialing up the smooth even though she don't know she's doing it. I'd be dead on the ground if I were Osawa.
Chapter 30 spoilers: the girls are in the lockeroom for gym class and Mitsuki pulls an accidental smooth move, Aya just drops dead. The series ends.

How does she go from socially awkward SUPER DORK, to super smooth, charm master in seconds? Is this some kind of mutant power?

well, we hit the useless time.

Chapter 30 spoilers: the girls are in the lockeroom for gym class and Mitsuki pulls an accidental smooth move, Aya just drops dead. The series ends.

How does she go from socially awkward SUPER DORK, to super smooth, charm master in seconds? Is this some kind of mutant power?

Lack of awareness of personal boundaries. It's a double-edged sword. With strangers, it leads to faux pas and social anxiety. When dealing with someone that already likes you, it leads to heart-squeezing physical contact.

We haven't discussed the significance of Mitsuki's being masked while she works, which is the main element required to make Aya's mistake about her gender work. It's implicit that she doesn't want anyone who she knows to recognize her when she's working because she is phobic about "standing out" in school, as her "normal" look (black fingernails, multiple piercings, punk-ish clothes) would inevitably make her do.

There's no suggestion that she intends to present as male except when she lays that 'boku' on Aya and then immediately goes into a tizzy about what she's done. As I said before, an outfit consisting of jeans, a band or merch T-shirt, a hoodie, and Chuck Taylors is what dozens of women I know just call "clothes."

I know from experience that a school uniform can contribute to that feeling of "I just want to stay invisible at school then go home and be myself."