That's not how I interpret it. Kei-chan liked her back, but left to Tokyo for college. Then they reunite years later.

I agree with you, because later on they didn't only kiss again once but twice again. That felt like the love was conveyed. And then yeah, off to go do adulting. I'm confident that they'll get back together, although poor girl at the festival with Nao. She genuinely looked happy to be there with Nao.

Yeah she was saying ‘dont launch any’ or something about the fireworks but looks like they did anyway so seems like she’s jumpin back on that ship. Poor girl

I thought she said that she sees the fireworks anyway so it's not clear if they launched or that was just her vision of Kei.

You know, it does feel kinda icky to discuss this story compared to something like Asumi-chan

I think that's what's throwing me off a bit too. I'm not bothered by the prostitution angle, but Asumi-chan really found an arguably wholesome angle to it, and this one went the opposite way. I don't mind scummy characters either (Scum's Wish is one of my favorite manga), but it's the scumminess of the characters along with the romcom vibe that is throwing me off. So it's this combination that is making it hard for me to know how to react.

Might be seeing this wrong, but are Koga's fingertips bandaged up? Maybe like a trying to sow an apology gift or something?

It was mentioned on the previous page, but probably from guitar practice.

Somehow Nakano having shared naked pictures of her makes this so much worse. It was an active turn off for me from the chapter.

Nakano has been pressuring Miyako into sex since the very first chapter. She started pimping her out, without permission, in chapter 3. She's been consistently characterized as a bad person and Doumyou is literally 100% in the right for trying to stop her.

(This isn't a criticism of the manga, I'm pretty sure this was the intended audience reaction.)

I'm not saying I thought Nakano was a good person before, but I could see the weird, messed up, hentai logic of Nakano doing something that is good for Miyako in pimping her out. Miyako needs the money and Nakano is giving her the push needed. It's still highly messed up, don't get me wrong, but Miyako ultimately still has a choice in whether she engages with these people. Nakano is obviously highly coercive and in any realistic setting everything she's done amounts to some type of abuse, but in hentai logic I can squeeze my eyes and ignore it.

Sharing her nudes has no logic in which it would be ok. Miyako has no choice involved in that at all. I think that's why it strikes me as different.

Somehow Nakano having shared naked pictures of her makes this so much worse. It was an active turn off for me from the chapter.

So overall I think that Yurika would rather suffer and like Minamo as long as they're at least friends trope.

I think it's that, plus Yurika is still pretty traumatized from her disastrous relationship with Reika. Keep in mind it's only been like a few months since they broke up (and she met Minamo immediately afterward).

That's a good point. Manga time is always difficult to parse until put explicitly into words. I think we could also categorize this as the turning point in Yurika getting over Reika, so hopefully some of her romance hesitancy will also melt under Minamo's sincerity.

I appreciate how far we’ve come to where even the “nerdy plain” girl who’s studious and wears glasses can still have piercings

Piercings and painted nails are my favorite addition of the last few years of manga. Even something simple like the characters in Iruma-kun all deciding to pain their nails black kind of uplifts my soul.

Hinoka figured it out! Progress. Although this also confirms that she didn't think they were dating the last 5 years.

Also, lol at that "good luck". They know how dense Tsukushi is.

So yeah, now that she asked, I was also wondering what was up with the "what a shame". I assumed in the chapter that it was a reaction to when she stopped playing with the Lass's hair, but now I'm uncertain.

I think she was saying "what a shame you'll be gone so soon." There's this line, where the manager says that it's a shame she'll be leaving:

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/my_dear_lass_ch03#4

At the time, Mu Xioen brushes it off, but I think in response to their mutual flirting here:

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/my_dear_lass_ch04#4

She suddenly "gets" that it'd be a shame for Shi Xingyuan to leave, though she likely doesn't understand why she feels that way. Hence the sudden retreat, since that sort of feeling is very unusual for her. Mu Xioen doesn't seem to be very good at dealing with new, sudden situations or feelings (see: when Shi Xingyuan shows up suddenly at the farm, and she acts stiffly).

....good call. Now I feel stupid for forgetting that. My memory is terrible for weekly readings.

Just discovered this yesterday and caught up! I like it. Some small thoughts:

It might be just be based on contrast, but the new earrings look like Minamo's eye color, which is so perfect.

Obviously it feels like they like each other, we've had a bunch of badumps from Minamo which is the manga equivalent a big arrow pointing to feelings, but I do think it's interesting that Yurika has spent this entire time denying that she likes Minamo to everyone that knows she's gay. I don't know that it is any more significant than Yurika doesn't expect Minamo to be anything but straight and doesn't want to make her uncomfortable, but even with this pretty much confession, I think Yurika might still be hesitant to believe in something again. I hope I'm wrong, but I imagine there will be more aaaangst in the future as they realize their feelings and can actually name them out loud.

Also, with the way the story has been going so far, no way Yurika and/or Minamo isn't outed in some way at school.

So yeah, now that she asked, I was also wondering what was up with the "what a shame". I assumed in the chapter that it was a reaction to when she stopped playing with the Lass's hair, but now I'm uncertain.

"You have to be single to meet someone and have a romance with them"

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Mengo Yokoyari's laugh at this comment causes deep emotional scars.

yeah I'd figure Jing Xiu has been given the critic role of the judges but they probably gave her that role because she's already kind of like that as a person. Ji Youyan herself is playing the nice judge but she'd likely give the same type of advice even if she wasn't to play that role.

Honestly, I kind of disagree. I get the sense Jing Xiu is more the nice one between the two. It's hard to tell because we mostly see her when she's interacting with Ji Youyan and Jing Xiu is (very understandably) cold toward her, but there's been several scenes that show she's actually a highly considerate person. Otoh Ji Youyan has often been quite judgmental in her internal monologue.

That said, it's probably true that their judge roles match their public images. Ji Youyan has a much more "nice/feminine" appearance, she wore a frilly white dress for her performance while Jing Xiu did a fight scene thing, etc. So the audience might expect her to be the nice one and Jing Xiu to be the mean one.

Is Ji Youyan supposed to be actually mean or just relatively to Jing Xiu? I agree with you that Jing Xiu doesn't seem mean at all, but I would hazard that most people are judgmental some of the time in their thoughts. I don't think that makes Ji Youyan mean in and of itself. They can both be nice.

Unrelated, but I like how a good 80% of this page is blacked out.

yeah I'd figure Jing Xiu has been given the critic role of the judges but they probably gave her that role because she's already kind of like that as a person. Ji Youyan herself is playing the nice judge but she'd likely give the same type of advice even if she wasn't to play that role. And while we haven't seen the new guy before he's probably also more of a jokester as part of his celebrity persona and as a person.

So while Jing Xiu is definitely speaking her mind here, she's almost certainly being encouraged to do so to balance out the jokey and nice judge.

I think this might lead to "on air" tension between Jing Xiu and Ji Youyan that can be turned to some nice "off air" tension. They can battle it over the souls of the contestants, when really, they're battling over each other's hearts.

Filler chapter, but still cute. Auntie Ren is the cutest, I'm with Youzi, definitely best ship.

Ch. 51
Seriously, I understand that Sumika can be considered a hypocrite, but I don't think that detracts from her being sympathetic. Kanoko is completely irredeemable. I'm going to hate when this manga tries to redeem her and make her friends with everyone again. Even if she genuinely falls in love with Sumika, I really hope it doesn't go well. Sumika deserves better. And Hime deserves a better friend.

It's really nice that she's realizing that she's been in love with her a long time. A lot of stories like this have that initial moment, in this case, the dream be the signifier for change, so I like that she's recontextualizing her past.

Good character development on Evie went from trying to get Elsa to finding love from one of the main male characters in the original story to being perfectly fine with killing a kid if it means to keep Elsa safe.

and knows said kid was meant to be one of the love interests for elsa but is willing to anyways.

No, the adult male version is the love interest and here it's just a young girl and tbf she want tostealher magic so she is right to keep an eye on her.

She's not young. The implication is that the child body is a sign of having low energy. So in this case it's an adult female in a child body. And the further implication is that the Demon Lord is the gender of Elsa's sexual preference.

but calling someone a cheater for their hobby is pretty fucking stupid, and also obviously toxic.

What if your hobby is having sex with other people? Okay, great, we've established hobbies can be cheating. So how about fantasising about having sex with other people? It's not literally cheating, but it's cheating-adjacent, I'd say. Or perhaps just "emotionally cheating". Even if it's a fictional character, it feels pretty messed up to be devoting that kind of emotional energy to the point of buying sex dolls while in a relationship. Obviously if your partner is okay with it go for it, but calling the mere idea of someone being uncomfortable with it "fucking stupid" is the real toxic take here.

Never forget the golden rule: more than one waifu will ruin your laifu.

Sure context matters.

If your hobby is having sex with other people, then you should be in an open relationship or a poly one. There is a context in which this is not cheating.

I see nothing wrong with fantasizing about having sex with other people, as long as it doesn't negatively affect your relationship. Emotional cheating is not thinking about sex with other people, that's an entirely different thing.

Forget about the sex dolls thing, the first page of the chapter is senpai calling a 2D character cute and kohai calling it cheating. And on page 11 the woman says, "The moment you think about a girl other than me, you're a cheater." So what, once you're in a relationship you can no longer have friends of the gender you're attracted to? The sex doll is too much, but that's not the example of the toxic mindset I'm talking about.

I think there is a good point made about managing the amount of time you spend together as a couple versus on your own, but calling someone a cheater for their hobby is pretty fucking stupid, and also obviously toxic.

Each day I feel like Japan understands less and less what a cold actually is.

Colds are that thing you get when a drop of water hits you that almost kills you right?

I thought it was that thing where your stomach is uncovered for more than 5 minutes?

Either way it almost kills you.

Each day I feel like Japan understands less and less what a cold actually is.

Colds are that thing you get when a drop of water hits you that almost kills you right?

Kanoko wasn't mad at Mitsuki because Hime was unable to return Mitsuki's feelings, but because Hime wasn't able to reset like she usually does when someone confesses to her. Kanoko was mad because Hime had to take her seriously, unlike most people who confess to Hime. She sees Yano as a threat.

I agree with you on almost everything you wrote, but I'm a bit conflicted by this last part. Why did Kanoko try to convince Hime to go back to Liebe then? As I see it, either she doesn't consider Yano to be a real threat (just to clarify, by this I mean "someone Hime could fall in love with") or she does care about Hime's own happiness.

My best guess would be because she underestimated Hime's feelings for Yano. She thought if Hime could just reject Yano, then they could move on and things would go back to normal. If you go back, at first she thinks it's good Hime quit Liebe, but since her personality was affected by it, Kanoko wanted to her to go back. I mean, when she finds out Yano has the anklet that matches their accessories, she slaps Yano. She both sees her as a threat, accurately, but also thinks it's inevitable that she'll be rejected, also accurately. As far as why she wants her back at Liebe, chapter 12 answers that doesn't it? She gets more Hime time she would never get otherwise.

You raise some fair points. That being said, the narrative doesn't treat her actions as justified. Sumika refuses Kanoko's request to abolish the schwester system in no uncertain terms and was planning to do the opposite by making schwesterships permanent. In fact, both Sumika and Hime want Kanoko to make an effort to get along better with Mitsuki(who, despite her jealousy, tries to keep things civil between them).

I'm not so sure that Kanoko doesn't even care about Hime. Her anger toward Mitsuki isn't solely based in jealousy, but because Mitsuki's love confession caused Hime anguish due to her being unable to return Mitsuki's feelings, which is probably part of the reason why Kanoko hasn't confessed. She even tries to convince Hime to stay at the salon, whereas it would probably have been easier to let her go; Kanoko could still see her at school, whereas Mitsuki, who goes to a different school, would probably never see Hime again.

Considering the warnings Kanoko received about the consequences her jealousy might have, I personally think that Kanoko's going to eventually face some backlash as a result of her feelings for Hime and her jealousy of Mitsuki coming to light, since Hime only has an inkling of the latter and no idea of the former, and the fallout will probably make the drama between Hime and Mitsuki in Volume 7 seem tame. This will probably lead to her relationships with Hime, Sumika and Mitsuki changing, although it's too soon to say how.

In short, I'm not denying her flaws, but I still believe she can change for the better.

Kanoko wasn't mad at Mitsuki because Hime was unable to return Mitsuki's feelings, but because Hime wasn't able to reset like she usually does when someone confesses to her. Kanoko was mad because Hime had to take her seriously, unlike most people who confess to Hime. She sees Yano as a threat.

Look, I fully expect Kanoko to have a redemption arc of some kind down the line, but I think from everything we've had from her perspective she's never once taken the time to think about how anyone else feels. Even in the latest chapters she keeps thinking that Hime and Sumika are acting strange, and she means not how she wants them to act like. She is sorely lacking in empathy.

It's not about flaws. Like I said last time, it's not the jealousy that's the problem, it's the lack of self-reflection. That goes beyond a flaw to a personality defect.