Please not the overused, lesbophobic "character isn’t interested in girls, but she does love her girlfriend" trope. Im quite sick of it
i promise i'm not saying this to be rude but if that's what you took away from this chapter then i dont think you have a very good understanding of this series or these characters
Yes, how dare I am to have my own thoughts on the chapter not matching yours, my apology
Your username is what I'm bothered by. I also agree, though; not sure where you got that reading from. What about Shima implies that?
Pancho asks Shima if she likes girls and she said no, despite the latter being in a wlw relationship. If it is not the super old yuri trope that somehow refuses to die then what is it ?
Ok i can sort of maybe almost see how you came to this conclusion (still not really) if we view this chapter in a vacuum, but taking the entire rest of the series into account it falls apart (also im p sure shimamura was saying no to the "what a hottie part" but i digress). Shimamuras answer revolves around how she's viewed relationships up until this point.
Shimamura has spent the last few years of her life believing herself to be a fundamentally unkind person, and expected the rest of the world to just pass her by. Because of this, she hasn't really put much thought or effort into any of her relationships, familial or platonic (this is actually outlined later in this chapter when pancho says "you don't seem the type to take interest in anyone"). Earlier in the series (at least in the novels its been a while since i've reread the manga) in volume 6, shimamura talks about how, to her, human relationships are something almost inconvenient, becasue of this, I can't imagine shes had many nuanced thoughts about her own sexuality.
The way I interpret it, is that when shimamura says she's not interested in girls, it's because she's not particularly interest in anyone romantically (aside from Adachi). She wasn't even really fully aware of the scope of her own feelings for Adachi until Pancho pointed them out to her in this very chapter (this is its own topic but i'm not going to get into it right now).
What it all boils down to is that this is the first time in years that shimamura has actively cared for someone like this (Gon doesn't count), and so she doesn't really have a frame of reference for if she likes girls or not.
this paragraph is the main part that contradicts what you're saying, so you only really have to read this, but the rest of it gives a more solid argument I'd also point out that the trope you're referring to typically is "straight girl makes an exception for one lesbian" but there is absolutely no mention of guys when shimamura says no to Panchos question, i don't think shimamura has even interacted with a single male character her age in the entire series. It isn't "shimamura only likes guys except for adachi" it's "if not for adachi, shimamura wouldn't like anyone romantically"
I hope this makes sense and answers your question isn't just me rambling :)
(coming back to this bc im kind of afraid ive painted shimamura as some unkind uncaring person when that obviously isn't the case (plenty of evidence all throughout the series to prove that she isn't), it's just that she herself believed she was an unkind uncaring person)
last edited at Nov 27, 2025 1:26PM
