Wait there's already a trailer out?

I assume they're talking about the "flat fantasy school series" in question, The Iceblade Sorcerer Shall Rule the World.

An absolutely wonderful chapter. ^_^

I really hope this discussion will end well for Shiho. Ultimately, the two most important things that have brought her to where she is now (heartbreak and losing someone important) were out of her control, and she's turned bitter since that. If she can reconcile with Aki while keeping her ties with her current band, she might finally get out from the rut she's in.

Although I must credit this manga for not making the resolution obvious. With Aki's characterization, it's entirely possible that she will shoot Shiho down again, but explicitly this time. Which would be an acceptable resolution, because Shiho would still be able to go back to her band and finally cut ties with Aki's group, like she's tried to do for a while. Himari is the only other one who ties the two groups together, and the story doesn't necessarily have to accommodate her to give the best ending for her.

I'm still a bit annoyed by how Himari acted in this arc. Forcing Chiho to interact with her former crush even though she just wanted to forget her and cut ties was pretty disrespectful. So if she's the one feeling down at the end of the arc, I wouldn't really mind, as it's the logical result of her actions.

Of course, drama pay-off and characterization aside, seeing a happy side couple would still be my preferred outcome...

Yoooooo let's go! That last page of Shiho and Aki confronting each other gets me almost as hype as Goku and Frieza facing each other on Namek for the first time. Hoping we have an similar epic, drawn-out (verbal) beatdown coming!

I don't know what I want more, Aki just calmly and rationally destroying Shiho's bullshit within a few panels without room for backtalk, or a Ace Attorney - Style back and forth that lasts the whole chapter before Shiho breaks down in defeat.

Now, what we are actually gonna get is a completey different story. I'm guessing either some middle of the road BS or an exoneration for Shiho.
I just want the story to acknowledge Shiho is in the wrong, is that so much to ask?

I couldn't care less about the shiho/aki stuff but the himayori making out session was so good. Moar plz

YuriQueen01 posted:

I really love the cameos of the characters from the author's previous works! Also, super excited for the anime! So happy that Yuri/Shoujo Ai is getting more recognition!

Hahahha I thought those background characters were unusually well designed.

This is one of the best chapters, oh my God communication is sooooooooooooo sexy

Man the way Himari gets when Yori and her start making out is just gah <3 I think she would have been okay if Yori just took her in the middle of that hallway haha.

Very cute chapter we haven't got much of them two together as much as we deserve it was nice seeing them actually get some alone time.

Honestly will be glad when this festival is over I'm kinda tired of Himari splitting her time with the other band Probably still have at least two chapters of this festival with each team going up and preforming and the outcome.. I'm interested to see where it goes after that. Is graduation coming up? If so how is she going to cope with Yori graduating etc. So much angst could be ahead with such a fluffy wholesome series.

I couldn't care less about the shiho/aki stuff

I think you should, as their conflict is the most important part of the manga. Without it, there wouldn't be a story to tell in the first place. I mean, having Himari and Yori going into endless dates and doing cute stuff everyday with little to no drama at all (something like I Can't Defy the Lonely Girl) is probably what a lot of people here wants. Fortunately, this author wants something more sustancious for their series.

Very cute chapter we haven't got much of them two together as much as we deserve it was nice seeing them actually get some alone time.

This idea that "Himari and Yori spend little time together" is a complete misconception and I don't understand why so many people repeat it over and over again. Just reread the last 10 chapters or so and see for yourself. Again, I think the problem here is that you guys want a manga dedicated only to those two characters, rather than a proper story.

last edited at Jan 21, 2023 12:30PM

This idea that "Himari and Yori spend little time together" is a complete misconception and I don't understand why so many people repeat it over and over again. Just reread the last 10 chapters or so and see for yourself. Again, I think the problem here is that you guys want a manga dedicated only to those two characters, rather than a proper story.

The main characters are yori and hima is not unreasonable to expect a story centered around them instead of having them orbiting a conflict that barely has anything to do with them, heck yori is so disconnected of this plot that she and the main antagonist (shiho) haven't talked to each other a single time.

Btw can't deny the lonely girl is a proper story, a story doesn't need to have drama or angst, it really comes to personal preferences, some people enjoy more calm and fluffy slice of life type of stories and some prefer drama and angst, claiming that your preferences is the only way to tell a "proper" story is objectively not true and dumb

last edited at Jan 21, 2023 12:57PM

Just hopping into the comments to see if the Aki/Shiho arc is over yet or not. Looks like I need to wait a little bit longer still?

benja posted:

This idea that "Himari and Yori spend little time together" is a complete misconception and I don't understand why so many people repeat it over and over again. Just reread the last 10 chapters or so and see for yourself. Again, I think the problem here is that you guys want a manga dedicated only to those two characters, rather than a proper story.

The main characters are yori and hima is not unreasonable to expect a story centered around them instead of having them orbiting a conflict that barely has anything to do with them, heck yori is so disconnected of this plot that she and the main antagonist (shiho) haven't talked to each other a single time.

Btw can't deny the lonely girl is a proper story, a story doesn't need to have drama or angst, it really comes to personal preferences, some people enjoy more calm and fluffy slice of life type of stories and some prefer drama and angst, claiming that your preferences is the only way to tell a "proper" story is objectively not true and dumb

If the solution for this story is to be more like Can't Deny the lonely girl then I'm good with what we have lo/ I dropped that manga long ago I found it super basic and going through every single cliche they could find by making forced coincidences

I also don't want to have another Kase san, which is exactly just a pair and their struggles and nothing else... Eventually it can get frustrating seeing them repeat mistakes as they grow closer.

last edited at Jan 21, 2023 1:57PM

Btw can't deny the lonely girl is a proper story, a story doesn't need to have drama or angst, it really comes to personal preferences, some people enjoy more calm and fluffy slice of life type of stories and some prefer drama and angst, claiming that your preferences is the only way to tell a "proper" story is objectively not true and dumb

The irony is that the author actually tried to put drama into the story. It's just that they didn't know how to do it correctly (remember about Sora's mother? Yeah...) and decided to move on with a different approach for the second part of the series, until they couldn't prolonged any longer. I can assure you that most of its readers can't even remember what happened in the vast majority of the last 15 or 20 chapters, other than "they were cute together". Again, not necessarily a bad thing, but that should tell you something.

Although everyone has different preferences, two key elements when it comes to telling a story are the conflicts and its resolutions, both things in which Whisper me a Love Song seems objectively superior to me. Can't Defy the Lonely Girl was popular not because of its storytelling, but because is escapism at its finest.

last edited at Jan 21, 2023 2:32PM

This feels like an appropriate amount of drama for this kinda story. I feel like this will accumulate into something good for Aki. Compared to a lot of commenters here I'm pretty ambivalent towards Shiho. Like, do I wanna call her a nerd and shove her in a locker? Sure. But I don't think her existence ruins the story. I'm betting part of the struggle people have is the fact that we're reading it month by month. Reading this arc in a sitting will be different.

Also, I don't think the story has been lacking on HimaYori, but I'm always gonna clamor for more because I'm gay and they're cute lmao

While Yori hasn't been personally involved with Shiho, her jealousy at how Himari was spending time as Laureley's manager led to their relationship moving forward and her coming up with the SS Girls' new song. Shiho is already connected to enough characters anyway, I don't mind Yori not being pulled in directly.

last edited at Jan 21, 2023 3:03PM

God I really hope Aki tears Shiho apart next chapter, I don’t want any forgiveness, apologies, crap. I want Aki to tell Shiho she’s a fucking coward who attacks others when things don’t go her way. I don’t want them making up I want Shiho to get the verbal ass whipping that she deserves. And if Shiho tells Aki she loves her, Aki better tell her too little too late or something. If that happens, then MAYBE all the time this story has wasted with the crappy Shiho melodrama might not have been a complete waste of time. But this chapter was great tho

I think you should, as their conflict is the most important part of the manga. Without it, there wouldn't be a story to tell in the first place. I mean, having Himari and Yori going into endless dates and doing cute stuff everyday with little to no drama at all (something like I Can't Defy the Lonely Girl) is probably what a lot of people here wants. Fortunately, this author wants something more sustancious for their series.

Yeah I know. I do want drama after the main couple gets together, especially so fast without much slow burn, otherwise just constant fluff would be too boring. But I find myself not caring about it cause it was written in such a messy way that it just does not interest me. It's my opinion.

oh boy shit's about to go down

The irony is that the author actually tried to put drama into the story. It's just that they didn't know how to do it correctly (remember about Sora's mother? Yeah...) and decided to move on with a different approach for the second part of the series, until they couldn't prolonged any longer. I can assure you that most of its readers can't even remember what happened in the vast majority of the last 15 or 20 chapters, other than "they were cute together". Again, not necessarily a bad thing, but that should tell you something.

Even if sora´s mom arc was poorly executed (to put it nice) it was a problem that directly involved sora and ayaka, there was a sense of urgency and the main characters had agency on the plot. The beef between shiho and aki is not only unrelated to yori and hima but it´s also inconsequential, if shiho and aki decide to not make up nothing will change, everyone s life was better after shiho left the band, is not as if aki or any of the SS girls were actively trying to talk to her.
Everyone move on and continue with their lives. This whole arc has been hima desperately trying to fix something that´s clearly out her control and barging into peoples personals affair despite being told to stop while yori tries to find something to do

And i do remember a lot of lonely girl and i´m pretty sure i´m not the only one,

Although everyone has different preferences, two key elements when it comes to telling a story are the conflicts and its resolutions, both things in which Whisper me a Love Song seems objectively superior to me. Can't Defy the Lonely Girl was popular not because of its storytelling, but because is escapism at its finest.

lonely girl has conflicts and resolutions, there´s a lot of them actually : sora and ayaka confessing that they have been using each other, getting together, coming out to their friends, etc. It might not be as melodramatic as you´d like but there are conflicts with proper resolutions nonetheless. If you enjoy the current arc of sasakoi that´s prefectly fine, not everyone has good taste, but claiming that is objectively superior to lonely girl is simply not true. And come on dawg there´s a lot of good stuff about lonely girl, even if you don´t like it, claiming that people only enjoy it as escapism is just pretentious

last edited at Jan 22, 2023 2:42AM

Who's the girl smoking beside miki-chan?

I couldn't care less about the shiho/aki stuff

I think you should, as their conflict is the most important part of the manga. Without it, there wouldn't be a story to tell in the first place.

I think most people voicing their dissatisfaction about this manga (me included) have issue precisely with the fact that they made this conflict so central :P I would be completely fine with wrapping it up after like 15-20 chapters with a simple ending, but the manga suffers from its own success. Someone even brought out a Goku comparison earlier, which is very apt, because this conflict does feel like it goes on for like 20 chapters. At this point I feel like no matter how they resolve it, it's probably going to be disappointing.

But as they say, it is what it is :P It's not a bad manga by any stretch but I'm certainly not putting it on my list of favourites.

last edited at Jan 22, 2023 5:21PM

Again, I think the problem here is that you guys want a manga dedicated only to those two characters, rather than a proper story.

Such heresy. Couple life romance stories are the best yuri, unless you don't like yuri stories about actual relationships. Which is fine. Personal preferences and all that. Eating only the bottom part of muffins, waiting in line for a ride then walking away when you actually get to the rollercoaster, ending yuri stories when they finally get interesting.

How can all this angst get resolved by a battle of the bands, anyway? Do you think the author has set that up as a plausible solution to the Shiho dilemma?

Absolutely not, and after reading your post I'm now kind of excited to see how it all plays out (thanks for writing all that out!). We're moving into Liberty territory here, time to strap in and get hype.

last edited at Jan 23, 2023 6:43PM

feihong wrote a superb (long) post spelling out in detail precisely what’s wrong with the Shiho arc in terms of plot structure and balanced characterization:

https://dynasty-scans.com/forum/posts/823370

The problem isn’t “drama” or an unlikable character per se; it’s a lack of proportionate development and a wrenching tonal shift that’s unlikely to lead to a satisfactory payoff—as others have mentioned, if Shiho’s angst is resolved by who wins a battle of the bands it was never worth the attention it’s gotten, and if it isn’t resolved the band thing becomes much ado about nothing.

For my part, just give me more of Himari’s journey to becoming a thirsty little lesbian.

last edited at Jan 23, 2023 9:45PM

But I find myself not caring about it cause it was written in such a messy way that it just does not interest me. It's my opinion.

Its monthly release doesn't help, that's for sure. The experience improves by reading all the chapters in a row, at least in my opinion. This Arc is almost 20 chapters long so far, after all.

I think most people voicing their dissatisfaction about this manga (me included) have issue precisely with the fact that they made this conflict so central :P I would be completely fine with wrapping it up after like 15-20 chapters with a simple ending, but the manga suffers from its own success. Someone even brought out a Goku comparison earlier, which is very apt, because this conflict does feel like it goes on for like 20 chapters. At this point I feel like no matter how they resolve it, it's probably going to be disappointing.

That's a valid criticism. It probably wasn't the best decision to make an Arc longer than the rest of the series combined...

Such heresy. Couple life romance stories are the best yuri, unless you don't like yuri stories about actual relationships. Which is fine. Personal preferences and all that.

I like stories to have a balance. And for the record, Himari and Yori started to date more than 20 chapters ago. And since then there have been quite a few of those "couple life" moments you mention.

last edited at Jan 24, 2023 9:31PM

I put off reading this one for a long time, which was a seemingly smart decision. I actually really enjoy Aki and Shiho, but it's been how many chapters and we're still doing this battle of the bands thing, sheesh

YuriQueen01 posted:

I really love the cameos of the characters from the author's previous works! Also, super excited for the anime! So happy that Yuri/Shoujo Ai is getting more recognition!

Hahahha I thought those background characters were unusually well designed.

This is one of the best chapters, oh my God communication is sooooooooooooo sexy

Dang, I can't figure which ones are cameos.