Man, Wakaba is dense.

Komaki is what you would call a "self-sabotaging idiot".

I enjoy the manga but damn, Komaki is one of the most useless lesbians I've ever come across while Wakaba (although I can at least understand why sorta) is really living up to that dense protag mantle. I mean, Wakaba, is it really such a complicated mystery about what she loves when her barely disguised hints are literally kissing you in the face? Someone help these girls, lol

Wakaba isn't really that dense or in denial, she pretty openly cares about Komaki, she's just frustrated to do so because it sucks being in love with a bitch who hates you. I can barely comprehend why Komaki thinks Wakaba hates her and her consent is impossible to get

Wakaba is more consistent, and convinced herself that she hates Komaki. Yeah her love is obvious from an external point of view (both are), but that doesn't mean Komaki is going to feel confident in confessing. In fact, I seriously doubt Wakaba would even take such a confession seriously - she's convinced herself that Komaki is this heartless, distant person she has to bring back to heart, and doesn't seen that Komaki is already down to heart and right next to her. Well, at least if we were playing blame game, it would be pretty easy to say that Wakaba refusing to recognize that Komaki is in love with her despite her constantly making up "games" to be closer to her, both simply to spend time with Wakaba and to get intimate.

IMO it's pretty obvious both are in denial and refuse to admit how much the other loves them, and twist their own minds to justify not recognizing and confessing their own feelings. It was actually the point were the manga picked up for me, realizing Wakaba's mind is also quite twisted and distorts things, much like Komaki.

Also, while the intensity is obvious excessive and beggars belief, not to mentions materializes in... not the healthiest way to put it mildly, I like that the root cause of the distance between them remains simple and likely. Komaki sees Wakaba as a pretty, popular girl she likes, but who doesn't like her back for who she is, and wants to stay close to her but believes it pointless to confess. Wakaba sees Komaki as a rival, someone she loves being with but who doesn't want to say nice things about her, doesn't want to admit to herself how close they are.

I enjoy the manga but damn, Komaki is one of the most useless lesbians I've ever come across while Wakaba (although I can at least understand why sorta) is really living up to that dense protag mantle. I mean, Wakaba, is it really such a complicated mystery about what she loves when her barely disguised hints are literally kissing you in the face? Someone help these girls, lol

Komaki expresses physical attraction to Wakaba, but not romantic attraction. Given the occasional comments about Wakaba's "child-like" body, that physical attraction probably doesn't feel great or reflect all that positively on Komaki. Wakaba presumably just thinks Komaki objectifies her without actually liking her.

They are right for each other!!!

I definitely think the Bit with this one is gonna start wearing thin soon if they don't make some significant progress soon. I can only take oh-so-much toxic yuri before it turns from angst to unentertaining lmao

All this debate about "density" meanwhile I just think it's funny how Komaki had to eat dirt again because she was too stubborn to resist Matsuri's needling. She is so terrified of showing even a little vulnerability that it makes her do the most absurd things.

Edit: thanks rainbow8 idk what I was smoking

[snip] This manga feels so, so much worse than Arioto. As someone who was a little iffy on arioto, going back and reading it now makes it seem vanilla compared to this shit.

I don't think the comparison on that basis fair. Of course this manga (abbreviated as Ubaware from here) is darker for various reasons, but there has been no proper sex here so far, or even nudity. The level of sexual content in Arioto is erotica, but Ubaware is just suggestive. There are situations that are sexually charged, but even when Komaki made Wakaba strip it went nowhere. (Komaki cuddling a naked Wakaba and ogling her body was weird, but neither party was getting off.) It says plenty that the most sexual bit that you could latch onto was the bellybutton slurping, which was a short lived moment that also didn't escalate further. The fact that Ubaware so far contains no sex scenes also means that Komaki has not had the same "opportunities" to experience pleasure like Marika has.

I don't see why anyone would expect Ubaware to feel similar to AriOto or ShuuKura. This isn't really a romcom (the most important difference probably!), and it involves no casual or compensated dating either. The sexual situations are facilitated by a game, but the relationship is not casual, since the leads have a complicated history that goes back to their childhood. This is not a relationship that started with a game or a monetary transaction, instead the game is a toxic escalation of a pre-existing rivalry, where the formerly innocent stakes of the bets become weirder and more sexual.

When Wakaba loses a bet now, Komaki takes her body as payment. In Arioto and Shuukura the "dating" is the commodity and money is the payment, and in Arioto "dating" also forms the "gameplay" of a bet (if the dating simulation satisfies Marika enough to approve of lesbian relationships, she has to give Aya a "refund"). So you could say that Arioto and Shuukura are Pay for Gay, but Ubaware is Pay by Gay.

last edited at Dec 8, 2024 9:21AM

Matsuri had to eat dirt again because she was too stubborn to resist Matsuri's needling

I think you got at least one name confused.

This tendency for manga and light novels nowadays to have titles like this that are basically the first part of the story and super specific? Where did I see this before? My conclusion was the AO3 fan fiction site and its use of tags. If it didn't have tags, like the other site fanfiction.net doesn't, most AO3 writers would instead have titles like this.

what if you once comforted me in our childhood together and became the only thing anchoring me to my fragile sense of humanity while I embraced a falsely sunny way of living that allowed me to move through the world without friction so I could focus all of my attention on you. what if I became cold and twisted deep in my heart by my profound alienation from others and the knowledge that you might one day move away from me, and your attention moving to someone else shattered me so utterly that the only thing I could think to do was wound you in the deepest way I could, severing the connection between us and plunging me into a world of complete darkness and isolation for years knowing that you hated me. what if i embraced the knowledge that you would never love me the way I needed to so I tried to carve myself into you under your skin to prove that at some point I reached deeper than anything and anyone ever would. and what if, under it all, I found a girl who was torn and wounded by my desperate thrashing in a way I could just convince myself I wanted but who still held in her heart the same deep kindness and profound understanding I had loved so deeply, who would give it to my unworthy self, something so far beyond and yet so much short of what I wanted and needed from you, and it tore my own heart open again and again to see there was something beautiful there that I would never have, that I was choosing to smother completely so that I would at least have some place in your heart that would never slip through my fingers where I would be first and foremost, an undying wound to match my own, and what if you didn't let me because you had always hated the way I stood apart from others like I was some kind of broken angel, had always fought and struggled to tarnish me in a way that would split open my sealed off heart, let out all the hurt inside me and prove that you could reach the place I hung alone in the sky, prove once and for all that we were both girls.

^ This was gold.

what if you once comforted me in our childhood together and became the only thing anchoring me to my fragile sense of humanity while I embraced a falsely sunny way of living that allowed me to move through the world without friction so I could focus all of my attention on you. what if I became cold and twisted deep in my heart by my profound alienation from others and the knowledge that you might one day move away from me, and your attention moving to someone else shattered me so utterly that the only thing I could think to do was wound you in the deepest way I could, severing the connection between us and plunging me into a world of complete darkness and isolation for years knowing that you hated me. what if i embraced the knowledge that you would never love me the way I needed to so I tried to carve myself into you under your skin to prove that at some point I reached deeper than anything and anyone ever would. and what if, under it all, I found a girl who was torn and wounded by my desperate thrashing in a way I could just convince myself I wanted but who still held in her heart the same deep kindness and profound understanding I had loved so deeply, who would give it to my unworthy self, something so far beyond and yet so much short of what I wanted and needed from you, and it tore my own heart open again and again to see there was something beautiful there that I would never have, that I was choosing to smother completely so that I would at least have some place in your heart that would never slip through my fingers where I would be first and foremost, an undying wound to match my own, and what if you didn't let me because you had always hated the way I stood apart from others like I was some kind of broken angel, had always fought and struggled to tarnish me in a way that would split open my sealed off heart, let out all the hurt inside me and prove that you could reach the place I hung alone in the sky, prove once and for all that we were both girls.

holy shit you cooked.

This got me annoyed. I want them to actually talk about their feelings at this point but my fucking LORD. If she finds out she's in love with her then she can use that to get her back of she really hated her. Like COME ON GIRL FIGHT BACK ATLEAST

This manga is dragging so much that it's getting to look likes "How Do I Get Together With My Childhood Friend?".

nah it's great

This manga is dragging so much that it's getting to look likes "How Do I Get Together With My Childhood Friend?".

Nah it's got 17 more chapters to reach that level. It's been fine so far, only 10 chapters in. I don't think this will be a long series either based on being adapted from a single novel.

last edited at Dec 21, 2024 7:38PM

we are already of to a rough start. How lovely :)...
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/how_i_lose_bets_with_my_sadistic_gifted_childhood_friend_and_she_steals_all_of_my_firsts_ch10#3

last edited at Dec 22, 2024 4:38AM

Komaki noticing Wakaba's warning up to doing physical things with her and still doubling down on being a shit to her. Is it any wonder Wakaba's stance is that Komaki is pretty but too fucked up right now to want to be with?

God these girls are a pain
I'll have seconds, please

Komaki noticing Wakaba's warning up to doing physical things with her and still doubling down on being a shit to her. Is it any wonder Wakaba's stance is that Komaki is pretty but too fucked up right now to want to be with?

I don't think Wakaba's issue is primarily with the treatment--she seems to enjoy the treatment, though is a bit ashamed/in denial. The core issue seems to be her believing Komaki doesn't like her. If she knew Komaki likes her, I assume things would be different. Komaki's behavior makes it hard for Wakaba to understand things but that's intentional on her part and part of the "fun," for us.

Also, Komaki didn't really cross the line Wakaba made, which is why Wakaba asks again for Komaki to actually be rough with her if she indeed hates her so much. She seems to feel Komaki is treating her too nicely for someone who is supposed to be doing despicable things. This "gentle" treatment is also further intensifying Wakaba's feelings for Komaki which continues to make her uncomfortable ("chest aching" and all that). She'd rather be treated in a way that actually is terrible, so she'd not have these growing feelings.

last edited at Dec 22, 2024 10:49AM

God these girls are a pain
I'll have seconds, please

Yeah, I'll have some more as well, thanks.

All the right kinds of wrong

"You should show more dislike." "Then you should do things I dislike more."

Goddess, I think their flirting is really growing on me.

amazing

"You should show more dislike." "Then you should do things I dislike more."

Goddess, I think their flirting is really growing on me.

it really is fun watching two idiots in love pretend theyre not and do everything dramatic possible to avoid the inevitable supernova