noighd
joined Oct 9, 2021
If I had a nickel for every time I translated a yuri manga about an awkward loner with weird eyes trying to get to the bottom of a ghost haunting her classroom without directly talking to her I'd have 2 nickels. Which isn't a lot but it's odd it happened twice.
We're certainly on the Hanamonogatari route; an anthology of bittersweet and wistful yuri. But I think Igarashi is determined to give every pair a happy ending. Now the real question: was SayoMizu the sickest it gets or is MiaBeh the sweetest it gets? Their flower is of course the Sunflower, but I've gone back and added a page at the end of chapter 12 for SayoMizu's less pronounced White Clover.
There's something to be said for how, even assuming there's no possibility of bad endings, the boxcutter leaves a looming shadow over the rest of the manga. Chapter 15 was unreasonably suspenseful at times. I hope Igarashi can maintain that unpredictable energy. In hindsight this is effectively a saccharine 58 page one-shot. The way they visually revert to their younger selves as Mia thanks Yamabe is a neat technique Igarashi was fond of in Dominant.
Igarashi described Yamabe as the kindest and most selfless character she'd ever written (trust me, nobody in Dominant is in the running) and felt emotionally overwhelmed drawing this chapter because good people deserve happiness. She told all those who had no faith in her to kneel and reflect on themselves (and said by that standard she'd need to kneel too). The world is at peace. I expect boxcutter dual wielding next arc.
Interesting that the volume should end here without returning to Kasumi and Haruyo. Though Yamabe and Mia's story is surely done. What's also interesting is the timeframe. Their reunion comes after Kasumi and Haruyo visited Yamabe, but then we get a 5 month timeskip. Which again doesn't mean anything; next chapter will surely be following Kasumi in the present. It's just something to think about, where Kasumi and Haruyo would be at by then.
And speaking of which, volume 3 released today.
Official chapter raws.