This is painfully relatable in places lol. I love the way in which it’s telling the story though, it feels very grounded.

The art is a bit wonky with the tiny heads and wide faces, but I'm liking this.

My heart is broken. Poor Satsuki.

Hell yeah we got a whole Satsuki depression chapter gotta love when a parent makes their own child feel wholly inadequate because they l've been projecting their own issues onto the child.

But yeah Satsuki I'm sorry dude sucks that your mom is like that, sucks that your dad left, sucks that the chapter implies he still watches over you from afar but isn't doing anything to help you.

Sucks that running away from home was the best decision you probably could have made.

last edited at Mar 8, 2023 6:12PM

Poor Satsuki got hit by the Middle Child Syndrome super hard. His older brother at least seems nice. Might become a good supportive figure at some point, hopefully. The little one is a brat though.
So back in chapter 2 uncle Keigo said "some stuff happened" after he talked to Satsuki's parents, I guess we'll be getting that next chapter. Probably Satsuki will burn all bridges with his mother.

Also, Volume 1 was focused a lot on dealing with Rika's situation and his family. Volume 2 is shaping up to be about Satsuki. Maybe's on purpose by the author? Feels like a good way to split up the story.

last edited at Mar 8, 2023 7:04PM

Lol, the "yaoi crush" tag is such a cope-out. People desperately wanting Satsuki to be woke.

Satsuki is in love with what he can't help but see as a girl. And that's what is gnawing at him. "Yaoi crush" isn't where he's at I think.

last edited at Mar 9, 2023 3:05AM

We've entered the Satsuki Zone so probably won't see progress on this for a while, but now that we've gotten info on his crush my endgame for this manga is seeing Rika date (not necessarily her, but).

Mod Note

Deleted a swath of comments with little relevance to the manga. Banned the obviously transphobic commenter. This thread is for the manga After School Mate. Manga threads generally aren't the most appropriate place for long discussions about the essence of transness. Thanks.

Oh wow it was even worse?

I don't follow this series.
I don't know anything about it.
I just saw chapter 8 update with the wholesome tag on homepage. I thought I'd give it a shot since I was having a bad day.
A little distraught now, but no worries I'll live through it.
Feel like an total idiot that I missed the Abuse tag.

last edited at Mar 9, 2023 8:26AM

Lol, the "yaoi crush" tag is such a cope-out. People desperately wanting Satsuki to be woke.

Satsuki is in love with what he can't help but see as a girl. And that's what is gnawing at him. "Yaoi crush" isn't where he's at I think.

my dude got a crush on a dude, friend. don't overthink it

Been there, done that. I understand Satsuki. I did the same thing and ran away. I have never gone back to my family home again. I wanted to go back to the countryside where I was from. The one time I did go back to the family home, just proved that "it cannot be helped", and same thing happened again. I left for good after that.
The plot goes along nicely (I actually have already finished the manga). Without the Uncle, things would turned ugly.
Thank you for the hard work, it is actually not as easy as it reads, The second volume is really about Satsuki's background, and also trying to figure out what sort of relationship he wants to be with Rika.

last edited at Mar 9, 2023 11:33AM

justforthis posted:

Lol, the "yaoi crush" tag is such a cope-out. People desperately wanting Satsuki to be woke.

Satsuki is in love with what he can't help but see as a girl. And that's what is gnawing at him. "Yaoi crush" isn't where he's at I think.

my dude got a crush on a dude, friend. don't overthink it

I'm not overthinking it: he said it himself in the previous chapter. He sees Rika as a girl and has a crush on "her". Period.

Nothing yaoi here.

The translator made Satsuki refer to Rika as "he/him" (which is how Rika identifies and it's fine in itself), but Satsuki in the story doesn't actually readily identifies Rika as "he/him" and that's the crux of the drama. And that drama is muddled by the translation.

justforthis posted:

Lol, the "yaoi crush" tag is such a cope-out. People desperately wanting Satsuki to be woke.

Satsuki is in love with what he can't help but see as a girl. And that's what is gnawing at him. "Yaoi crush" isn't where he's at I think.

my dude got a crush on a dude, friend. don't overthink it

I'm not overthinking it: he said it himself in the previous chapter. He sees Rika as a girl and has a crush on "her". Period.

Nothing yaoi here.

The translator made Satsuki refer to Rika as "he/him" (which is how Rika identifies and it's fine in itself), but Satsuki in the story doesn't actually readily identifies Rika as "he/him" and that's the crux of the drama. And that drama is muddled by the translation.

While I agree for the most part, the thing about pronouns doesn't have to be the case. Satsuki can be attracted to what Rika hates about himself without implicitly misgendering him. Pinterest showed me a picture of pre-transition Elliot Page today for some reason and I thought "damn, he used to be hot." I didn't misgender him but it would still be awful to tell him that if I somehow had the opportunity to do so.

This issue about whether it's a het or yaoi crush is simply a matter of perspective. On the meta level It is a yaoi crush bc Rika is a guy and Satsuki, who's also a guy, is crushing on him.
But on a personal level for Satsuki, he's crushing on Rika "as a girl" bc of his conditioned perspective on Rika's outwardly female presentation.

Which is to say, his feelings may be straight (right now) but really, it's gay.

Ayyy the minute you ever imply to your child you wish they never had them you immediately lose your right to be a parent, that’s just the most bottom barrel behavior with some physical abuse heaped on top. Throw them in the garbage and start over.

Only consolation is that the other two brothers are relatively safe and stable due to mom’s repugnant favoritism, so at least it worked out for them

Page 18 is a real cool panel. The creator really knows how to visualize what a character is feeling.

Absolutely torn between my desire to wait so I can binge read this, and the overwhelming excitement when I see a new chapter >_<

What? There's no melon in melonpan!? My whole world is a lie!!

Seriously though, been sitting on this series a while and finally started reading it. I love how the author manages the subtle differences between things like acceptance versus understanding and reason versus instinct. The characters are beyond their years in ways, but still very much at their age. I hesitate to use the word "realistic" to describe it, but it's certainly "genuine." Feels like a topic that is close to the mangaka's heart.

I'm not sure why this even had the "wholesome" tag.

I don't super get the whole "im just the dad that abandoned him" perspective. Maybe if he really is that resentful, Satsuki wouldn't be receptive seeing his dad, but like. Mom has full custody. He can't see his kids, but if one of them is in trouble, can't he go see him?? I think it's worse in the long run that Uncle is hiding that he knows his dad. I've never been in that sort of situation before, though, so this is me just wondering.

I also wonder if Satsuki will work through his "het" attraction, or if he'll discover gay people exist and he's one of them.

I don't super get the whole "im just the dad that abandoned him" perspective. Maybe if he really is that resentful, Satsuki wouldn't be receptive seeing his dad, but like. Mom has full custody. He can't see his kids, but if one of them is in trouble, can't he go see him?? I think it's worse in the long run that Uncle is hiding that he knows his dad. I've never been in that sort of situation before, though, so this is me just wondering.

I also wonder if Satsuki will work through his "het" attraction, or if he'll discover gay people exist and he's one of them.

That could be one angle, but I still feel this is a literal confession of guilt. Satsuki is probably aware of homosexuality, it's harder and harder nowadays not to, it's just that he is gynophilic at this point. Does this mean he can't break through that? No, but that's a hurdle he's just starting to approach. He's realized the attraction, but it's in a way that is not respectful of Rika and so he's stuck in guilt mode right now. We'll see him work through it.

I don't super get the whole "im just the dad that abandoned him" perspective. Maybe if he really is that resentful, Satsuki wouldn't be receptive seeing his dad, but like. Mom has full custody. He can't see his kids, but if one of them is in trouble, can't he go see him?? I think it's worse in the long run that Uncle is hiding that he knows his dad. I've never been in that sort of situation before, though, so this is me just wondering.

I also wonder if Satsuki will work through his "het" attraction, or if he'll discover gay people exist and he's one of them.

The dad just left, and from what I can tell hasn't had contact with Satsuki ever since. It also appeared that the dad was the only role model that Satsuki had. I think it's reasonable that the dad make an attempt to see things from Satsuki's perspective and recognizes the potential consequences of overstepping on Satsuki's feelings, even if the assumptions he has is ultimately wrong. It's just the safer move for the father to proxy the relationship rather than risk the alternative.

And maybe you might be thinking it's not a big deal to just try and make contact directly just once. Maybe I'm projecting from my personal experiences but when it comes to this level of resentment even the act of trying to make contact is seen as a hostile action. The mother rejects Satsuki's mere presence, and thus it's unfortunately reasonable to acknowledge that it is possible for Satsuki himself to pick up this dysfunctional thinking pattern from the mother, despite his best intentions.

You may want to argue that, because it's a proxy relationship, it's become a betrayal of trust regardless of how Satsuki feels. But there are different levels of betrayal. The risk/reward calculation is that it's better to commit a guaranteed low, but sustained perceived betrayal, rather than coinflip everything on one giant gamble upfront. Again, since even making contact can be perceived as a slight, maintaining any sort of information travel at all is super important in setting up the foundation to rebuild a relationship

I don't super get the whole "im just the dad that abandoned him" perspective. Maybe if he really is that resentful, Satsuki wouldn't be receptive seeing his dad, but like. Mom has full custody. He can't see his kids, but if one of them is in trouble, can't he go see him?? I think it's worse in the long run that Uncle is hiding that he knows his dad. I've never been in that sort of situation before, though, so this is me just wondering.

I also wonder if Satsuki will work through his "het" attraction, or if he'll discover gay people exist and he's one of them.

I think Satsuki, in the emotional and mental state sense, isn't ready for see someone who abandoned him in the past. Seeing someone from your past who hurt you so much when you're in your worst, it will destroy you even more. My reasoning may be the same as his dad's.
I know it's strange for Satsuki's dad not try to see his son, but I think it's for the better, for now.

About his sexuality, I think it'll take time, but that's okay, attraction and identity are complicated for a teenager, especially when they're already suffering with other things. I know Rika is hurt (I would too if I was in his place), but it is complicated.

last edited at Jul 1, 2023 9:13AM

big wholesome vibes^^

That was so touching oh my god

It's easy to view these characters in a negative or critical light, but I really appreciate that this manga tackles the "ugly" feelings and emotions associated with teenagers figuring themselves out and exploring queer identities too.