Which should mean that the series still has a couple of volumes left, since, as you said, it's implied that there will be a kiss, but Aki has to develop romantic feelings for Shiho first.

I've wondered that for a while. It's at a point where it could go for a long while more or end after this volume. Lots of possibilities. She's set things up to give herself a bunch of creative freedom now and there are clear directions it could go. It's at a reset point. I wouldn't be surprised if it continues beyond their graduations, based on the discussions they had a few chapters ago.

It funny how there're so much Shiho hater on this site and western viewer in general. While when i read it on other site or translation group, Asian viewers absolutely love Shiho and don't take her rudeness that serious at all LOL. We just see her as a stundere and go with it. And the writing in my opinion is still as good as the start, i don't see anything went down like a lot of people said. More like where the story goes just don't fit their personal tatse so they're upset and hating LOL. Can clearly see they don't grow up watching drama series on television like the rest of us Asian.

I wouldn't generalise it as a western thing. Just have to remember that these forums are a select group of people and even within that there's a select group who comment. You're not even getting a full view of the opinion on here. ShihoxAki seems well liked, from what I've seen.

last edited at Dec 23, 2023 5:51PM

I've wondered that for a while. It's at a point where it could go for a long while more or end after this volume. Lots of possibilities. She's set things up to give herself a bunch of creative freedom now and there are clear directions it could go. It's at a reset point. I wouldn't be surprised if it continues beyond their graduations, based on the discussions they had a few chapters ago.

And i personally maintain that it would be for the better if it end soon. We somehow end up on a decently high note on that long drama-full arc and i don't need another arc with more dramas.
I think this chapter is a very good closure for Aki/Shiho and we just need a good closure on Hima/Yori and i think it could be a good way to end. Everyone got their happy end. let's be honest, you can only go so far in this kind of manga with fluff because of how drama-fueled the plot is.
OK it's popular but sometime it's good to not go too far.

And i personally maintain that it would be for the better if it end soon. We somehow end up on a decently high note on that long drama-full arc and i don't need another arc with more dramas.
I think this chapter is a very good closure for Aki/Shiho and we just need a good closure on Hima/Yori and i think it could be a good way to end. Everyone got their happy end. let's be honest, you can only go so far in this kind of manga with fluff because of how drama-fueled the plot is.
OK it's popular but sometime it's good to not go too far.

I trust her with whatever decision. This isn't a situation where there aren't good creative avenues to delve into and I am not bothered by dramatic work in stories. Honestly, I've become a bit confused with "drama" being used as a pejorative around yuri works especially. Either way, the story could continue in any direction. It was successful when it was fluffy. It's been very successful when it moved into dramatic arcs. She's shown that she can do both very well, while maintaining a large audience.

last edited at Dec 23, 2023 8:03PM

As long as i can have Hima/Yori moment without mention of Shion.

Shiho I love you too much

Kabu- posted:

I guess it wouldn't be a Yuri manga without the main couple (just kidding) going on a date at the aquarium.

I really don't like the position Shiho currently is in this relationship. It does makes sense for Aki to not have romantic feelings for her yet, so I can't complain about that, but I don't think anyone deserves to be with someone in the hope that maybe one day their love will be repaid. Also, considering Shiho's personality, it could lead to something bad. I guess it'll depend on how much the author wants to extend the story (and if they want to insert even more drama into the story), but it wouldn't be hard for me to imagine a situation where Shiho sees Aki and Yori getting along, laughing together or whatever (like Hima did at the beginning of the manga), and her insecurities and jealousy make her think "What would happen if Yori suddenly fell in love with Aki? Would Aki leave me for her?", or things like that.

Honestly, the most unrealistic thing in this series is the fact that Aki felt in love with Yori instead of Shiho. I wonder what kind of thought process went through her head to make that happen.

I have to disagree, a lot of relationships start from one side and the other person thinks "hey maybe I'll give it a chance, it might work and I'm comfortable with this person" of course just giving it a chance is not enough and Shino knows this so she ask "Can you kiss me too?" which implies things like "do you find me attractive in a romantic short of way?" and looks like she got her answer... I think they'll be fine, I mean surely they might fight and break up and then go back together again, but that's life and true love has friction from time to time.

They can make it work

It funny how there're so much Shiho hater on this site and western viewer in general. While when i read it on other site or translation group, Asian viewers absolutely love Shiho and don't take her rudeness that serious at all LOL. We just see her as a stundere and go with it. And the writing in my opinion is still as good as the start, i don't see anything went down like a lot of people said. More like where the story goes just don't fit their personal tatse so they're upset and hating LOL. Can clearly see they don't grow up watching drama series on television like the rest of us Asian.

Nationalistic/ethnic generalizations based on stereotypes are so enlightening. All Asians have exactly the same response to this story, and they’re also able to perceive the motivations for others’ responses to the story as well. So fascinating. . .

last edited at Dec 23, 2023 11:46PM

I love them so much! and of course it would be an Aquarium date lol

I have to disagree, a lot of relationships start from one side and the other person thinks "hey maybe I'll give it a chance, it might work and I'm comfortable with this person" of course just giving it a chance is not enough and Shino knows this so she ask "Can you kiss me too?" which implies things like "do you find me attractive in a romantic short of way?" and looks like she got her answer... I think they'll be fine, I mean surely they might fight and break up and then go back together again, but that's life and true love has friction from time to time.

They can make it work

While it's true plenty of people start dating with a "why not, I'll try it out" mentality, I think my issue with how this situation played out is how Aki made it seem like she only asked Shiho out because she knew Shiho would continue to avoid her if they were just friends. I think it's purely this part that makes me a little uncomfortable because it makes it seem like Aki primarily asked Shiho out out of fear of losing a friendship over genuine interest in her as a girlfriend.

So out of the gate, in this relationship we have this weird unhealthy cycle where one person is waiting for the other person to return her feelings and one person feeling pressured to return those feelings out of fear of losing that person.

(Which, again, usually I'm all for this toxic dynamic in stories, but the way it's portrayed as wholesome without acknowledging those issues is weird for me)

While it's true plenty of people start dating with a "why not, I'll try it out" mentality, I think my issue with how this situation played out is how Aki made it seem like she only asked Shiho out because she knew Shiho would continue to avoid her if they were just friends. I think it's purely this part that makes me a little uncomfortable because it makes it seem like Aki primarily asked Shiho out out of fear of losing a friendship over genuine interest in her as a girlfriend.

But that's not really what she's saying there, which is why it's portrayed as wholesome.

last edited at Dec 24, 2023 7:34AM

But that's not really what she's saying there, which is why it's portrayed as wholesome.

What do you mean? That's clearly what she's saying (or implying, I guess): Aki values her and their friendship so much that she's willing to go so far as to start dating Shiho in order to not lose her again.

"I don't have romantic feelings towards you, but I don't want to be apart from you."

We can see it as something wholesome because of the gorgeous art and because we know that Aki is a great person with no bad intentions, but it's a dangerous game to play, especially when on the other side is such a mentally fragile person.

I mean, it's really not all that different from how our first couple started.

"I don't have romantic feelings towards you, but I don't want to be apart from you."

We can see it as something wholesome because of the gorgeous art and because we know that Aki is a great person with no bad intentions, but it's a dangerous game to play, especially when on the other side is such a mentally fragile person.

You left out the most important parts of that segment. She said "If I were to think about whether I have romantic feelings towards you right now..." and "I'd probably thinks it's not that kind of feeling just yet."

With the heavy emphasis she's putting on the "not yet", it's pretty clear that she isn't "just" asking her out bc she's desperate to keep her around as a friend. She absolutely goes into this confession with the expressed intention to come to love her romantically as well.

While Shiho has had years of time to settle into her feelings, Aki is being given days. She just needs to be afforded some time to understand her feelings. That should be said first because it has a lot to do with where she is at right now.

She's not afraid of losing a friend. She's drawing a direct comparison between a potential romantic interest and her current closeness to Shiho, which she's still struggling to confidently label. She's not worried that Shiho would abandon her. She's worried that their current level of closeness and intimacy would not be the same.

Often the time and closeness you had with friends will diminish, as you spend that time with your SO. Aki has surveyed that future, deciding she would feel unsatisfied with that arrangement. She'd rather that time be for her and Shiho. She's choosing Shiho over everyone else.

In practice, she's confessing stronger more life-long emotions towards Shiho, than Shiho expressed towards her. It's not the case that she's not interested in Shiho, based on her actions here and previous chapters. She is just unsure of what her feelings mean and how to confidently label them as everything is happening very fast for her.

In that confusion, she's realized that she does already, confidently know a few things: she wants to be exactly this close to Shiho, able to do these same date-like things with Shiho and she's realized that she wants the freedom of these things over anything or being with anyone else. She doesn't want to share her time with Shiho, with anyone else, even a romantic interest. What does that sound like?

Their languages (and labels) are different but both of them are already far closer to the same page, and that's what the scene is communicating. It's basically a roundabout confession scene but in a less traditional way, which is why it's interesting and also why it's framed as such.

last edited at Dec 24, 2023 8:25AM

I mean, it's really not all that different from how our first couple started.

Yeah, the lines and sentiments are very close to chapter 1's end as well (Yori & Shiho's). There's been loose main couple parallels it's been pushing (i.e Yori to Shiho, Hima to Aki).

last edited at Dec 24, 2023 12:25PM

Throwback to Miki telling it like it is all the way back in chapter 6, very relevant xD

Meh. I still don't like her, so I still don't care about her budding relationship.

I mean, we all know that everything will work out given the nature of the series, but I still think it's a much delicate situation than most people here think, considering the context. We are not talking about two people who have just met (like it happened with Hima and Yori). If Aki doesn't end up having romantic feelings towards her, Shiho would suffer a tremendous second blow (and much harder than the first) from Aki, with the difference that now she is fully aware of what Shiho feels and everything she has suffered because of her unrequited love. Aki just put herself in a situation where she almost necessarily has to reciprocate those feelings now...

If Aki doesn't end up having romantic feelings towards her, Shiho would suffer a tremendous second blow (and much harder than the first)

One can always hope.

I mean, it's really not all that different from how our first couple started.

Yeah, the lines and sentiments are very close as well (Yori & Shiho's). There's been loose main couple parallels it's been pushing (i.e Yori to Shiho, Hima to Aki).

Yes, it's supposed to parallel HimaYori's relationship, with a key distinction. HimaYori's relationship doesn't have the messy history of one them already running out on the other one when her love did not pan out. Hima did not have the pressure knowing that could Yori potentially ghost her and act like an asshole again when she doesn't get her way. So while there are structural similarities, it's not the same dynamic in context.

She's not afraid of losing a friend. She's drawing a direct comparison between a potential romantic interest and her current closeness to Shiho, which she's still struggling to confidently label. She's not worried that Shiho would abandon her. She's worried that their current level of closeness and intimacy would not be the same.

I feel like this conclusion requires more reading between the lines than I'm comfortable with. The explanations in your comment feel like assumptions based on context that wasn't provided in text. The author could have completely left out page 25 and it would have been a fine confession that conveyed the same feelings. By including page 25, the author is bringing attention to a critical issue that Aki's worried about, which is that Shiho would abandon their friendship if things remain as they are. In your interpretation, you feel like that's not actually what Aki means. If that's the case, then this is poor writing on the author's part, because that leaves so much open to interpretation in a scene the readers meant to feel good about. This is a reoccurring problem with this series and that's why Shiho is such a polarizing character, because readers can easily interpret the scenes in drastically different ways. (Another scene that comes to mind was when Aki said "The one at fault is me" after finding out about Shiho's feelings.)

"I don't have romantic feelings towards you, but I don't want to be apart from you."

We can see it as something wholesome because of the gorgeous art and because we know that Aki is a great person with no bad intentions, but it's a dangerous game to play, especially when on the other side is such a mentally fragile person.

You left out the most important parts of that segment. She said "If I were to think about whether I have romantic feelings towards you right now..." and "I'd probably thinks it's not that kind of feeling just yet."

With the heavy emphasis she's putting on the "not yet", it's pretty clear that she isn't "just" asking her out bc she's desperate to keep her around as a friend. She absolutely goes into this confession with the expressed intention to come to love her romantically as well.

Even if it's not "just" because Aki is desperate to keep Shiho as a friend and Aki is expressing the desire to eventually love Shiho romantically, page 25 still leaves room for the interpretation that keeping Shiho in her life is one of Aki's main motivations for asking Shiho out. Shiho's reaction to the line, "If we were just to remain friends, and I found myself another lover, would you still stay with me as we are right now?," indicates that she hasn't completely grown out of the same mindset that caused her ghost in the first place. That's why I feel this confession happened too quickly. Yes, Aki didn't have the time to figure out her feelings yet, but she pulled the trigger before she was ready to prevent Shiho from running off again. I'd just feel better about this confession if the author had shown a time period where Shiho was friends Aki without expecting anything romantically out of her before Aki asked Shiho out. The time period doesn't even have to be that long. I'll even take a month (I know time is subjective), but it's only been like a few days (a week?) since everything happened.

To be clear, I like Shiho as a character and was rooting for AkiShiho to happen. I just wasn't happy with the way it happened. Not that I wanted the author to drag out this arc any further, but it would've been nice to see a few more chapters of the cast living their life (maybe start a new arc) while AkiShiho's repaired friendship simmered in the background before they got together.

Let just say, Shiho is the most interesting character for me. Yori and Hima has nothing interesting plot for me at their stage. What a romance story without some drama in it. Full Fluff story is the most boring thing to read for me.

Yeah, Shiho is carrying this manga so hard.

last edited at Dec 28, 2023 6:21AM

Let just say, Shiho is the most interesting character for me. Yori and Hima has nothing interesting plot for me at their stage. What a romance story without some drama in it. Full Fluff story is the most boring thing to read for me.

Yeah, Shiho is carrying this manga so hard.

Right, the author does nothing interesting with the characters, therefore the characters are boring. That's sort of how writing works.

So remember kids if you ever have a one sided crush just be annoying AF and she might date you out of obligation

Yeah, Shiho is carrying this manga so hard

I'm actually a bigger fan of Aki! Shiho has been interesting and sympathetic but for me, she's gotten a bit too much credit and focus, partly since those who dislike her can be pretty vocal. Her and Aki both played off each other well; and Aki was the one pushing much of the action, while Shiho was often reactive first, active second.

Himari was really prevalent too, pushing the action. The events gave her a lot more to do than just pine, crush and blush around Yori for 4 straight volumes, which I worried was where things were headed. She showcased more of herself, independently from Yori and now she's got a separate goal to work towards.

I'd say it's been the 3 of them together that have led things but Shiho was certainly at the center. The only person who got a bit left out at times was Yori, though that isn't so different from how she's always been. Certainly not perfect but it's been a fun time.

last edited at Dec 28, 2023 7:14PM

To be clear, I like Shiho as a character and was rooting for AkiShiho to happen. I just wasn't happy with the way it happened. Not that I wanted the author to drag out this arc any further, but it would've been nice to see a few more chapters of the cast living their life (maybe start a new arc) while AkiShiho's repaired friendship simmered in the background before they got together.

I'm only quoting this part but I completely agree with everything you wrote. After Chapter 44, once the festival was finally over, it was the perfect opportunity to focus on other characters for a while (like Aki's sister and her senpai, perhaps) for a while and put Aki and Shiho's relationship on hold, so that both of them can sort their feelings in a more natural way instead of this rushed development. Something like what happened in Yuri is My Job! with Hime and Yano after Volume 7, for example.

Shiho doesn't deserve to be in this uncomfortable and uncertain situation. It's entirely Aki's fault, and this time she has no excuse.