Glad I didn’t read this based on comments and the last chapter. Yes, there are such relationships IRL, but it doesn’t have the literary payoff for readership (they’re not even ROOMMATES! God what a let down). Good luck getting this picked up for publishing stateside.
This manga deserves the “non-binary” tag as the relationship went no-where by choice.
Please don't use terms if you don't know what they mean. Non-binary has absolutely NOTHING to do with this manga or anything you said.
Re: tags. Rio is into Matoi that way. By Dynasty’s standards that alone makes it yuri, full stop.
I don't think that applies here, since Rio is only a side character. Of course it would add to the argument that this still stands as a yuri work (as would the appearance of the lesbian couple), even if there is no conventional romance between the main leads, but it wouldn't define it as such. (The same way having a female side character crushing on the main female lead of a het romance wouldn't make that work yuri).
If that's the case, then WTF are there so many posts about Rio? It seems like, to the readers, many of whom don't understand the concept of the relationship between Yuriko and Matoi and think Matoi should have gotten together with Rio, someone she NEVER expressed any romantic interest in, Rio was one of the main characters...
And it doesn't matter anyway, because Matoi makes a romantic confession to Yuriko, who gives that confession due consideration before answering her and also telling Matoi that she loves her, but not in a romantic way, but she still wants to stay by her side if she'll have her.
The problem with the ending is that Matoi is, subconsciously, unsatisfied with the non-physical/non-romantic relationship. She starts of the story thinking she may not have those kinds of feelings but it seems that they just hadn't bloomed until she met Yuriko. Six years is a long time holding back on what she wants, she may not have a strong drive for a physical(sexual)/romantic relationship but it is evident that she wants one.
There's more to their emotional states to be explored than to just randomly time skip SIX YEARS and have them living as neighbors, this needed another two or at least one more volume in order satisfy the audience with a resolved and fleshed-out ending. This was a good series but needed just a bit more development to make it better.
There is nothing in the entire story that gives any indication that Matoi is anything but asexual. The author outright states that the character is asexual in the author's note at the end. It's also clear, based on the final chapter, that MATOI is the one who is the most reserved about the current state of their relationship among EVERYONE involved. Matoi's mother treats Yuriko like a daughter-in-law, thanking her for always looking out for her and promising to send food soon, etc... Matoi makes a comment about Yuriko not being obliged to go to her sister's wedding and Yuriko practically takes offense at it, telling her that she thought she counted as family.
A little disappointed that they live next door to each other. What the heck??? Isn't rent kind of expensive in Tokyo? This story was supposed to be about the characters maturing, yet they're not mature enough to prioritize practicality over comfortable distance? SMH.
and
That felt a bit abrupt, but I'm mostly happy to see a manga representing acespec in such a wholesome, understanding way. While it does feel weird they don't live in the same apartment together (that's just wasteful monetarily imo), I'm glad they stuck to their queer-platonic relationship.
The only thing that really leaves a sour taste in my mouth is where we left Rio. I had personally kind of hoped for an acespec QP/Poly sort of... thingy? for the three of them
etc...
I guess nobody read my earlier post right after this chapter landed... There is another potential reason for the two of them not sharing an apartment in Tokyo: prejudice. In other manga, it has been mentioned that it can be difficult for two adult women to rent together because landlords don't like to rent to groups of single adult women. Single women, fine. College-age groups of women, fine. But multiple adult, working women they have problems with. It might stem from the assumption that young women of a certain age will be getting married soon and, when there are several of them sharing rent and one gets married and moves out, the ones left behind are more likely to not be able to cover the rent and have to be evicted. I'm not saying this is CORRECT or a good way to do business, but it is something I have seen in other stories.
If you factor in the fact that people might make assumptions about their relationship if they were living together, it could very well be Matoi who doesn't want to share an apartment. They also might be not sharing an apartment so there is less of a chance of Yurko being seen naked in passing by Matoi, which Matoi understands is upsetting to her because of her scars. If one thing was patently clear in this story, it was that Matoi is hyper-aware of things that might be troubling to Yuriko and tries to avoid them. In a way, that behavior delayed Yuriko from telling Matoi about her feelings about wanting to stay by Matoi's side because the first time she tried Matoi cut her off and told her that she understood that she would never fall in love with her and that was fine. Yuriko MIGHT have been about to tell Matoi that she thought she might be falling in love at that point because she did have feelings of some sort, but on further reflection, she realized that Matoi was right and her feelings weren't romantic but were still, in a sense, a type of love.
As for the thing with Rio not getting "resolution"... who was this story about after all? But seriously... I really can't understand why so many people WANT Matoi to get together with someone she has not expressed any interest in romantically and who would be just as "unsatisfied" in a relationship with Matoi as people seem to think Matoi SHOULD be in a relationship with Yuriko, because Matoi would not want to have sex or even kiss, while Rio was portrayed as being pan/biromantic and demisexual (though I thought she fell for Matoi awfully fast for that... Maybe they had been at school for a few months already and we only saw snippets?) I mean, why not the guy who confessed to Matoi at the beginning of the manga getting together with her, if you're just looking for someone who has a one-sided love for her? His feelings are pretty much equal to Rio's, except for the small fact that Rio fell for Matoi AFTER she had feelings for someone else and backed off... somewhat... gracefully. (She only pushed her feelings on her a few times after saying she understood and got those jealous eyes when she finally met Yuriko.) What if Rio was a guy? Would that have made a difference? Would people still be saying that a male Rio was "done dirty" and things like that? That's the kind of entitled speech that you hear from people who say they were "friend-zoned" by girls who were never interested in them in the first place but think that their feelings somehow magically give them the right to have a relationship with them. Sorry, but Rio didn't HAVE a love interest in the story. She had feelings for one of the protagonists that were not returned. Six years down the road would be at least four years after their graduation from trade school, so it wouldn't be surprising that they lost touch. They weren't in the same field, after all.
Ah... K?
