I DON'T NEED SLEEP I NEED ANSWER

For anyone who is like “maybe Kaede didn’t actually kiss Nanami?”, can confirm from later on in the manga that it was indeed a kiss. Looking forward to the final volume being translated! Found some of the reading quite hard (ｰｰ;)

last edited at Feb 23, 2023 1:14PM

This series is like a worn out 70s Dodge. The gear-reduction starter just keeps whining, but nothing happens. Meanwhile, the anger grows. Had she actually kissed her: victory.

There’s some ambiguity there, I’ll grant you. But not much.

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/2dk_g_pen_alarm_clock_ch30#31

I really don't see how it matters in this case anyway. Very little about plot or character changes depending on whether she actually makes lip contact or leans in with incredibly obvious intent and comes within a millimeter. Either way, we suddenly go from:
Person A in love, had confession that was avoided, person B unknown but avoiding romance-related issues
to:
Mutual Feelings

How this can be considered nothing happening is beyond me.

I really don't see how it matters in this case anyway. Very little about plot or character changes depending on whether she actually makes lip contact or leans in with incredibly obvious intent and comes within a millimeter. Either way, we suddenly go from:
Person A in love, had confession that was avoided, person B unknown but avoiding romance-related issues
to:
Mutual Feelings

How this can be considered nothing happening is beyond me.

Yes, I agree. The kiss not that important (unless you just want to see them kiss, just to see it). What's relevant is the intent to kiss. Really important volume, here. Now everything is setup for the next volume, as I assume this one is ending if not already ended. Learned a lot about these characters (some by omission) and perceptions of Kaede and Aoi were shifted back and forth because of these events (which says a lot for what the volume sought to do). I wonder how Kaede will respond. It really seems Nanami is at her wits end and learned to move on from her convo with Aoi. But if Kaede does have these feelings she's been hiding, she'll need to make a move before Nanami pulls an Aoi and fully moves on. Aoi is an alternative version of Nanami and Nanami learned a lot from Aoi's history but it seems Kaede might have also learned a lesson from seeing Aoi's conclusion--interesting use of Aoi there from the author and much of it was setup from Aoi's first arrival.

last edited at Feb 23, 2023 3:53PM

... well I obviously knew he will be nowhere near the focus, but I'm still kinda surprised that Aoi's husband got basically no screentime :P No face, no name, no lines on his own wedding, we don't even know if he's at least sorta nice or not. Sure bodes well

Let's be honest, does anyone give a fuck about the husband? Maybe giving him a face would have been a nice touch, but no one wants Generic Japanese Man #403 to have too big of a part in a yuri manga. He was everything he needed to be for the story.

I mean, he's really just a plot device, right? He's "the surrender" of a "normal" life if you can't be with the woman you love. Aoi is bi, but it's clear she prefers women. So I doubt she's marrying this guy because she actually loves him romantically; all her current(?) girlfriends at the wedding made that pretty clear. As someone said, she's like a dark future vision for Nanami if she can't deal with her situation with Kaede.

In that case, keeping the focus off of the husband is probably meant so we don't start to feel bad for him. If he genuinely loves Aoi and we see how she's basically settling for this marriage and still plans to date women on the side, that would speak much more badly of her character. Or at least rub our faces in it more.

last edited at Feb 23, 2023 4:09PM

… all her current(?) girlfriends at the wedding made that pretty clear.

Just to clear this up too - the raws are much clearer that they are not former girlfriends but current girlfriends - emphasis in the original too.

last edited at Feb 23, 2023 6:03PM

Could almost feel the bittersweet, melancholic vibe in that last exchange between Kaede and Aoi. Especially when paired with the earlier sequence where Kaede asks about the boyfriend even Nanami had apparently forgotten about.

I suppose with the way Nanami and Aoi are mirrored, you could kind of extrapolate what the relationship between Aoi and No-Face is potentially like. Though it could be a Brides of Iberus like set-up too.

I wonder if Kaede still has some lip gloss on...

That's a power move, inviting all your exes to your wedding and then seating them at the same table

NTR chapter

That's a power move, inviting all your exes to your wedding and then seating them at the same table

Based on the comment above, it's even worse, inviting all of your side pieces to your wedding and seating them together.

Yeah Aoi is a bit shitty isn't she? But oh well, looks like her part in the story is over at any rate.

i want aoi’s husband to be bi too and i want him to have invited all his gay lovers and had them all sit at one table bc he’s still kind of a fuckboy and i want a parallel story to be happening in bl land where a pair of dude roommates are will-they-won’t-they-ing and aoi’s husband is the lynchpin of their nascent relationship… idk if a bl with this premise would ever be written. maybe a bara? hmm… much to think about

i want aoi’s husband to be bi too and i want him to have invited all his gay lovers and had them all sit at one table bc he’s still kind of a fuckboy and i want a parallel story to be happening in bl land where a pair of dude roommates are will-they-won’t-they-ing and aoi’s husband is the lynchpin of their nascent relationship… idk if a bl with this premise would ever be written. maybe a bara? hmm… much to think about

written by Yahsawa Oyoi

Man, I love Aoi as a character so much, flaws and idiosyncrasies and all. Poor Classmate-san, trapped in thinking that you can "earn" love like some kind of a performance bonus at work, when in reality, love can only be freely given to you (whether by yourself or by another), just like Aoi gives it freely. It's sad that Classmate-san at this point is satisfied with even this shallow, sex-only kind of love, but it will hopefully help her see past her misconceptions eventually and move on.

Also, this chapter left me with a feeling that Louko and Aoi are somehow on opposite ends of some kind of spectrum, but I am not sure how to start defining it. Anyone else feels that way?

Dammit, Aoi...

Louko randomly noticing them in Kyoto was fun, though. :D

Y’know I didn’t expect to come around to Aoi but I did! she’s kind of so shitty it’s funny

Also, this chapter left me with a feeling that Louko and Aoi are somehow on opposite ends of some kind of spectrum, but I am not sure how to start defining it. Anyone else feels that way?

I definitely agree with you there. It feels like Louko has other stuff going on in her life preventing her from going full Aoi (and she’s way too sincere to go that route anyway).

Tbh my heart goes out to Aoi: after the FIRST girl you fell in love with rejects her she moves on and then the SECOND girl she’s interested in turns out to have taken her place going after her first love

so taking advantage of a homophobic society by reaping the benefits of marriage while keeping side pieces around is kind of emotionally mild compared to that

Also, this chapter left me with a feeling that Louko and Aoi are somehow on opposite ends of some kind of spectrum, but I am not sure how to start defining it. Anyone else feels that way?

I definitely agree with you there. It feels like Louko has other stuff going on in her life preventing her from going full Aoi (and she’s way too sincere to go that route anyway).

I am not sure Louko can ever go full Aoi. Both are high-powered business women but Aoi is bitter and cynical inside from all of her losses, while Louko is highly idealistic in her outlook. Aoi lets her unrequited feelings drag her down into high-functioning despair, while Louko nips her negative feelings right in the bud and immediately turns them around into a go-getter attitude. In the end, both get what they want, but only Louko IMO has the potential of getting what she needs.

if you look up "useless lesbian" in a dictionary, this chapter is it.

"Am I really about to do this all over again?" should be the freakin' title of the manga.

Kaede was extremely unlikeable in this chapter, but it was in a way that feels true to her character. She's a shlub who keeps being given opportunities to grow up and keeps rejecting them, so sure, she'd somehow be dumb enough to miss how gay Nanami is, and then somehow be thoughtless enough to choose Koyuki of all people to whine about it to. If getting called out about it by a freakin' teenager doesn't wise her up, what's it even going to take?

It's always weird to me in manga like this that someone like Kaede never seems to find it particularly weird that women keep confessing their love to her. Earlier, Nanami's character arc actually dealt with the gay thing, so it's especially weird here. You'd think she would spend at least a little bit of time wondering why she's found herself gravitate to lesbians and bi women throughout so much of her life, something.

Damn. Anyway, those keychains go hard.

It's so refreshing when characters get called out on their bullshit, and while they've let Kaede amble and drag her feet through it, it makes it all the more cathartic that it happened. Keep trusting my dog Ohsawa Yayoi. She knows what she's doing.

last edited at Feb 28, 2023 9:43PM

That was a damn fine chapter.