Well idk if anyone still thought there was ambiguity to the situation but I imagine this chapter should shoot down any remaining doubts

Yeah, probably.

Could still be room for "Miki is confused about her feelings, confusing sisterly possessiveness with romantic longing"; could even fit a story theme of not understanding your own feelings (like Himari). IIRC Miki has had a boyfriend before, but I forget if we know how into him she was. But I'm not betting on it.

IIRC Miki has had a boyfriend before, but I forget if we know how into him she was. But I'm not betting on it.

At this point I'm tempted to wonder if "boyfriend" was a mistranslation considering the lack of orientation talk (nobody even thought to warn Ayaka her crush might not be into girls, odd omission if she was dating a guy) and the anime seems to have gone very gender neutral when Miki mentioned her past.

For years I was all-in on the HajiMomo train, even after the Kyou death reveal, but just last week I read "The Summer You Were There" and I cried and cried and it's one of the greatest manga I've ever read and now I got PTSD and I'm not so sure if I want HajiMomo to just go out immediately. It doesn't feel so "right" anymore.

And when Miki was all like "I love Aya-senpai, but not romantically" I was like "I've heard this damn story before already with Himari -> Yori and Aki -> Shiho, they both fall in love for real, so just go out with Aya-senpai already, you'll get over your Nee-chan and fall in love with Aya-senpai for real before you know it"

last edited at Aug 21, 2024 7:03PM

For years I was all-in on the HajiMomo train, even after the Kyou death reveal, but just last week I read "The Summer You Were There" and I cried and cried and it's one of the greatest manga I've ever read and now I got traumatic PTSD and I'm not so sure if I want HajiMomo to just go out immediately. It doesn't feel so "right" anymore.

And when Miki was all like "I love Aya-senpai, but not romantically" I was like "I've heard this damn story before already with Himari -> Yori and Aki -> Shiho, they both fall in love for real, so just go out with Aya-senpai already, you'll get over your Nee-chan and fall in love with Aya-senpai for real before you know it"

No we need someone to play (whisper) a love song first. That's the name of the game and I'm wondering if we'll find some creative way of doing that here too. The first two were very different. I don't think Aya senpai plays music though so who knows, maybe Miki or Momo does something. Gotta keep music involved somehow.

last edited at Aug 21, 2024 4:27PM

For years I was all-in on the HajiMomo train, even after the Kyou death reveal, but just last week I read "The Summer You Were There" and I cried and cried and it's one of the greatest manga I've ever read and now I got traumatic PTSD and I'm not so sure if I want HajiMomo to just go out immediately. It doesn't feel so "right" anymore.

tbf, I'd say it's been long enough that even if we start moving in that direction next chapter I still wouldn't call it immediate.

For years I was all-in on the HajiMomo train, even after the Kyou death reveal, but just last week I read "The Summer You Were There" and I cried and cried and it's one of the greatest manga I've ever read and now I got traumatic PTSD and I'm not so sure if I want HajiMomo to just go out immediately. It doesn't feel so "right" anymore.

And when Miki was all like "I love Aya-senpai, but not romantically" I was like "I've heard this damn story before already with Himari -> Yori and Aki -> Shiho, they both fall in love for real, so just go out with Aya-senpai already, you'll get over your Nee-chan and fall in love with Aya-senpai for real before you know it"

No we need someone to play (whisper) a love song first. That's the name of the game and I'm wondering if we'll find some creative way of doing that here too. The first two were very different. I don't think Aya senpai plays music though so who knows, maybe Miki or Momo does something. Gotta keep music involved somehow.

Instrument training arc commences

IIRC Miki has had a boyfriend before, but I forget if we know how into him she was. But I'm not betting on it.

At this point I'm tempted to wonder if "boyfriend" was a mistranslation considering the lack of orientation talk (nobody even thought to warn Ayaka her crush might not be into girls, odd omission if she was dating a guy) and the anime seems to have gone very gender neutral when Miki mentioned her past.

I posted a similar comment in the Mangadex discussion. It would be odd if Miki previously had a boyfriend and neither Himari or Aki thought they should inform Aya about it when she was consulting them about confessing to Miki: "Not saying you shouldn't confess, but just giving you a heads up that based on Miki's dating history she might not be into girls".

I had also previously posted a comment after checking the anime where Himari and Miki talk about her ex to see if I could get any more info about the gender of Miki's ex.

That comment:
"It's at 6:50 of episode 3 if anyone wants to check. Himari uses the term "koibito", which to my knowledge is gender neutral and often translated as "lover". Miki talking about it also sounds gender neutral...but somebody who actually understands Japanese should verify my amateur understanding."

last edited at Aug 21, 2024 5:06PM

Hey so this Miki arc Will also involve Momo and probable Hajime as well.

I remember in the early volumes there is an art of the sisters with dolls of each others, like Hima has of Yori and Shiho has of Aki, makes me wonder if at some point their relationship was going to go into a diferent direction.

I hope eventually we get some kind of scene where Miki shares some of her one-chan's photos with Shiho, like maybe despiste how she feels abouth the situatión, she finds that she is happy seeing how much Shiho loves Aki, and maybe teases her with her exclusive album

Idk about everyone else but I’ve already had my share of unrequited gay crushes on straight girls, notably female friends who wouldn’t ever be able to respond. And at least for me, it never worked out. I’ve lost every friendship except the one now that I’ve never shared my feelings with. Since I’ve learned my lesson. We can only hold so much hurt, until it breaks and we need to heal. I personally couldn’t have healed while also loving my friends. It’s just impossible when the feelings have no words and it’s just the intensity that you have to even wrap your head around. I guess some can continue with friendship and they don’t need distractions. They don’t even need less time or boundaries from the other person. Something has to change to make emotions change - usually that is changing a belief or a fantasy. Otherwise emotions can run and run and run for a long long time. Keep you stuck.

For years I was all-in on the HajiMomo train, even after the Kyou death reveal, but just last week I read "The Summer You Were There" and I cried and cried and it's one of the greatest manga I've ever read and now I got traumatic PTSD and I'm not so sure if I want HajiMomo to just go out immediately. It doesn't feel so "right" anymore.

And when Miki was all like "I love Aya-senpai, but not romantically" I was like "I've heard this damn story before already with Himari -> Yori and Aki -> Shiho, they both fall in love for real, so just go out with Aya-senpai already, you'll get over your Nee-chan and fall in love with Aya-senpai for real before you know it"

No we need someone to play (whisper) a love song first. That's the name of the game and I'm wondering if we'll find some creative way of doing that here too. The first two were very different. I don't think Aya senpai plays music though so who knows, maybe Miki or Momo does something. Gotta keep music involved somehow.

Well, Miki's already in the Wind Instrument Club (insert blowing joke here), so she can at least make that love song. She might not be able to sing like Shiho/Yori but hey, Aki sung something, even though in-universe I think it wasn't as good, and she got the girl.

Momoka's part of Laureley with Hajime and Shiho, remember? lol I think she's the bassist. She could do the same.

I'm also wondering if Takeshima-sensei regrets writing Miki as having dated a boy. Surely she couldn't have just forgotten? I'm not going so far as to say the anime was an active retcon, but I dunno.

IIRC Miki has had a boyfriend before, but I forget if we know how into him she was. But I'm not betting on it.

At this point I'm tempted to wonder if "boyfriend" was a mistranslation considering the lack of orientation talk (nobody even thought to warn Ayaka her crush might not be into girls, odd omission if she was dating a guy) and the anime seems to have gone very gender neutral when Miki mentioned her past.

Just checked the raws for ch6 and they do say 彼氏さん (the term is also used in one of the upcoming anthology chapters). But it goes without saying this isn't one of those yuri series that gets hung up on the topic of sexuality. It's very much a "this person falls in love with this person" kinda thing.

IIRC Miki has had a boyfriend before, but I forget if we know how into him she was. But I'm not betting on it.

At this point I'm tempted to wonder if "boyfriend" was a mistranslation considering the lack of orientation talk (nobody even thought to warn Ayaka her crush might not be into girls, odd omission if she was dating a guy) and the anime seems to have gone very gender neutral when Miki mentioned her past.

Just checked the raws for ch6 and they do say 彼氏さん (the term is also used in one of the upcoming anthology chapters). But it goes without saying this isn't one of those yuri series that gets hung up on the topic of sexuality. It's very much a "this person falls in love with this person" kinda thing.

So the manga used "kareshi"(boyfriend) and the anime used used "koibito"(lover)? Wonder if @Mayjaplaya is on to something and Takeshima wanted to retcon it?
I've read plenty of yuri where they don't touch on sexuality and all the characters that fall in love are all assumed to like girls by default despite men existing (as opposed to the 404: Men Not Found yuri).
But I can't recall one where a character previously dated a guy and then fell in love with a girl where they don't touch on sexuality at all. Like...why go out of your way to write a character as bi but then just ignore the elephant in the room of sexual orientation after you've drawn attention to it?
If you don't want to touch on sexual orientation then just keep everyone as assumed to be lesbian the same way other authors do.

What makes it even worse for me is how the initial conflict of the manga is Himari trying to understand what love is and talking to Miki in an attempt to figure it out. Why would you write your characters having a discussion about love, make one of them bi, and then not touch on sexual orientation?

last edited at Aug 21, 2024 8:14PM

Here's a post from Mangadex user Manko-sensei (Lol surely trustworthy with that name) that gives a bit more insight https://forums.mangadex.org/threads/whisper-me-a-love-song-ch-51-bewilderment-lies-and-hesitation.1865907/page-3

In the anime she's using "aitsu" (koibito is completely neutral, so the translation is dependent of this term), that term is normally used for male partners, which is the counterpart of "yatsu", that's why it's translated as boyfriend. The thing is, nowadays "aitsu" is not only used to refer men, just someone you know well and in informal situations (or just in a derogatory sense), and nowhere in the manga or the anime that ex-partner is given a name, sex or even referred again. Considering yuri is completely normal in this series, a female partner is completely plausible, both language-wise and story-wise. If it wasn't specified is because this was not deemed important, and considering men are almost non-existent in most yuri series you can assume it was a girl, so unless the author decides to determine who was this ex-partner it should be assumed it was a she.

last edited at Aug 21, 2024 9:11PM

Did you all collectively forget that Miki's boyfriend was shown in the previous chapter?

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/whispering_you_a_love_song_ch50#15
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/whispering_you_a_love_song_ch50#16

Just from the back, but you can see he's wearing a male uniform unlike Miki.

I think you wanted this page

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/whispering_you_a_love_song_ch50#15

Did you all collectively forget that Miki's boyfriend was shown in the previous chapter?

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/whispering_you_a_love_song_ch50#15
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/whispering_you_a_love_song_ch50#16

Just from the back, but you can see he's wearing a male uniform unlike Miki.

Apparently my memory is awful because I'd previously made a comment in this thread after that chapter where I didn't question whether she dated a boy or not. It neatly summed up my frustration with Takeshima's choice of focus:

In a vacuum I don't mind the idea of an "incest arc". But what does annoy me about Miki looking inward to grapple with what seem to be incestuous feelings is that self-reflection would be better spent examining her sexuality.
She was previously in love with a boy so you'd think she or someone else would spare a thought to what role gender plays in attraction for her.
But no...we gotta focus on her loving her sister instead.

The first arc is built upon Himari not understanding romantic love and then trying to define it through discussions with others. Takeshima makes her best friend bisexual but doesn't bring up sexual orientation when Himari's discussing "how do you know if you love someone romantically" with her.
She creates situations that begs for the characters to at least mention sexual orientation and is even willing to tackle incest but apparently any talk of sexual orientation is just a bridge too far for her.

last edited at Aug 22, 2024 10:11AM

It seems a world where no one cares about orientation. No one bats an eye at girls dating girls.

She creates situations that begs for the characters to at least mention sexual orientation and is even willing to tackle incest but apparently any talk of sexual orientation is just a bridge too far for her.

It's simply because it's not what the series wants to focus on. It's first and foremost a story about love and its various forms.

She creates situations that begs for the characters to at least mention sexual orientation and is even willing to tackle incest but apparently any talk of sexual orientation is just a bridge too far for her.

It's simply because it's not what the series wants to focus on. It's first and foremost a story about love and its various forms.

I'm sorry but that doesn't make sense to me. You're telling me sexual orientation doesn't play an important role in "love and its various forms"?
I've read a number of yuri works where orientation isn't touched on and everyone is simply lesbian, which is fine. However, none of those go out of their way to create situations where not mentioning orientation feels like a glaring omission.

Why make her ex a guy in the first place if you're not touching on orientation? We have Himari discuss this ex with Miki when they're talking about "what is romantic love?" and then later have Miki conflicted on if she wants to date her female senpai.
Yet there's zero mention on how sexual orientation might play a role in romantic love for Miki?

Apparently Takeshima would rather focus on incest instead.

last edited at Aug 22, 2024 11:44AM

God, this series consistently has the worst comment sections.

God, this series consistently has the worst comment sections.

Yeah I shouldn't be spamming the comment section with my bitching. It doesn't give me any satisfaction and nobody wants to read that crap. I'll try to stop.

God, this series consistently has the worst comment sections.

Yeah I shouldn't be spamming the comment section with my bitching. It doesn't give me any satisfaction and nobody wants to read that crap. I'll try to stop.

I thought it was alright. Seemed tame. What else is discussion supposed to be? It's on topic, there's effort, it's fine. I would rather we avoided this angle with Miki but it's here to stay so I'm not planning on discussing it much.

last edited at Aug 22, 2024 12:32PM

Hmm... Time for Senpai's story now?

God, this series consistently has the worst comment sections.

Yeah I shouldn't be spamming the comment section with my bitching. It doesn't give me any satisfaction and nobody wants to read that crap. I'll try to stop.

I thought it was alright. Seemed tame. What else is discussion supposed to be? It's on topic, there's effort, it's fine. I would rather we avoided this angle with Miki but it's here to stay so I'm not planning on discussing it much.

Part of a discussion will be people voicing how they like and/or dislike a work. I see a lot of hate for Whispering on Dynasty and I don't really have much to add at this point. I enjoy the manga for the most part still and don't really want to debate or argue.

With this conversation in particular, I think I'm generally of similar mind as some other posts here,

Rainbow8:

It seems a world where no one cares about orientation. No one bats an eye at girls dating girls.

&

Goggled Anon:

It's simply because it's not what the series wants to focus on. It's first and foremost a story about love and its various forms.

It's fine if that doesn't work for some and they aren't enjoying the manga. I'm still mostly enjoying it as I said, so I'm just going to keep on reading, and right now I'm hoping for more cute date chapters in the near future.

There is exactly one time where the series has brought up sexual orientation so far:
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/whispering_you_a_love_song_ch28#23

I do agree that ignoring it almost-entirely-but-not-quite feels a little off. There's this one time Yori thinks about it when it comes off as silly considering every single relationship involving the people close to her including herself is homosexual, and there's Miki being the token straight character which I found funny earlier on in the series, but now that she's been brought into the fray of all the lesbian relationships herself it feels like that detail of her character is something the author didn't really think through and is being carried over just to avoid contradicting it.