I really like this kind of dynamic so I wish there were more works like this, just two individuals who love each other in their own way at their own pace. It was a nice read

I recently reached 20, did a reread on this manga and oh god, it hurted so much, compared to the first time I started reading it 2 years ago. Still not normal today portrays extremly well the crisis which young people, or specifically people who has anime-manga as a hobby have. Even though I fairly content with my own hobby most of the time, sometimes looking at my peers who have more "acceptable" hobby to the society or weeb friends who dropped their interests long ago makes me wonder if what I chose is right and if my life direction has gone the wrong way. The sense of being lost and the doubt I have for my own life decision, I can see them very clearly throughout Yamashita and Takahashi. They might be considered as outcast to this normal society but the fact they found each other is so amazing that it can be very difficult to find such trusting relationship in normal life. The core of the relaionship which Yamashita and Takahasa has was built on mutual trust and gentle caress they give to each other's feeling. They can be very straight forward, yet when the other felt loss or hurted, they were always there to soothe the pain, to reassure their dear partner that while life can be suck sometimes, at least it less sucks when they have each other's back, all through small actions that can be viewed as trivial and insignificant from outsider's perspective. This relationship wouldn't be achieved if they didn't have deep-seated respect to each other to begin with.
Still not normal today is a hit or miss type of manga. If you can relate to either one of the main characters then it will be so relatable that it hurts. Otherwise, it might be a bit incomprehensive and confusing to readers who can't find its appeal.

last edited at Oct 21, 2024 11:47AM

whats the artits twitter

I get that dissociating feeling Yamashita talked about when she said life moved on without her. Feeling like you're just a passive bystander while everyone else passes you by. To be a spectator in your own life, going through the motions with little agency or purpose.

last edited at Feb 1, 2025 3:41AM

This one has been painfully too relatable.
I wish it wasn't. This is a 10/10 shit for me, hope to get the physical collection one day.

Haha totally can't relat-- fuck it's February already?...

The 3 3 3 3 extra was cute though

This manga is such a vibe. I hope I can read U-temo's new manga.

This manga really hit home harder than I expected. Just two girls wandering, struggling to cope with a society that expect normalcy out of everyone, and doesn't care about anomalous, with some success and other times end up in pain.

Their relationship isn't even very romantic but I can say with degrees of certain it's much stronger than many romantic relationships I've seen.

(Wrote this after finished Chapter 15, they became pretty cute after this, heh)

(below are just me rambling, you can skip that)

Why is being normal so important that everyone seems to be chasing it? When us and the expectations put on ourselves diverge, shall we cave in and shape ourselves the shape they want us to be, or stubbornly refuse and let them move on without us?

last edited at May 11, 2025 11:58AM

The reason why this one is such a vibe is because the core is simple but important, and done well: our main characters are not normal, probably never will, and that's fine. It's not a glamorous reality, it's not like they are so weird that they end up becoming cool or whatever, it just is how it is and they enjoy one another's company, however they can, even if their relationship too is not normal. And it also doesn't lean into the other extreme of cynicism-porn, where the main characters are the victims of impossibly sad events one after another just for the hell of it, no it's just life.
I'm writing this off my memory, maybe I'll feel differently after re-reading this, but I did get a fairly mellow sense of time from the story, like somehow things simply are okay by their nature, even if there was some of the inevitable dread of being a young adult and seeing the "normal" you decided to reject because it wasn't for you.

Edit: I can see why people feel some angst reading this. The sense that people are "moving along" in life but that you aren't and such, the conflict between not wanting to do things you hate but also the loneliness that accompanies it. I think what keeps this interesting for me is that the main characters don't spiral into negativity but are simply there for one another, in whatever way they can. I think it's one of the better stories on this site and I'm glad that it didn't drag forever and ended properly. Just like the general theme of the story, things aren't properly "over" because nothing in life truly is, things just change and we can decide to accept it or not.

Also ch18.2 ending with "Yamashita 100" is so sweet.

last edited at Sep 30, 2025 1:48AM