Also, be prepared to be disappointed by volume 3 when the manga or anime get to it. It was bad.

Is this for the web novel or the light novel? I'm about to purchase the translated ones on Amazon to give a read through... is it that bad bad?????

Light novel. It's a "I really didn't like it and this development feels like it came out of nowhere" bad but not complete shit. I could see some people liking it, I just didn't. And Volume 4 might still make it work and Volume 3 does have some good in it like some nice relationship development but the main plot just does not work for me and feels very unsatisfying, made worse thanks to volume 2's ending being fantastic which got me so hyped for 3

Lowkey worried, but I guess I can only give it a read to see how it goes. I'm coming straight from the "I Favor the Villainess" LNs / manga adaptation, so the bar is quite high for me in terms of both the treatment of plot, storyline progression, and relationships. Hope it's somewhat on par. Thanks for giving me a heads up in expectation. I'll lower it for now haha.

This is so crazy. Lol, I guess I'm kinda having a hard time believing that Aria had all that time to reason and realize that Al-Kamil (who killed literally all the old Lilu) would still be worth saving...?? Guess I really pegged her wrong and didn't realize she was that delusionally sentimental

If Al were your daughter, or your mom, would you personally execute her?

I'm not saying I wouldn't have an incredibly incredibly hard time, but as a dog-owner, if my dog turned rabid and the best thing for her and other people (including myself and my family/loved/cared ones) were to put her down, I would at least attempt to seek out a way to kindly do so to put her out of her misery and progressive deterioration.

I know everyone has their own set of morals and ethics but given that Al-Kamil has hunted down everyone (and looks to be finding a way to get rid of Aria), I think it's about time for Aria to accept that there is no other recourse left at this point. I find Al-Kamil's lust for blood, death, and needless murder to be acceptably like a disease to both her and those around her, since there seems to be no way to rehabilitate her at this point and she's actively spreading her "lineage" of murderous followers.

I mean I'd struggle for sure. I'm just hoping Aria chooses to kill Al this time around because she's cocky af and I'd like to see a happy ending instead of more peeps dying left and right :(

last edited at Dec 31, 2022 9:25AM

... and more importantly, ch27 is up and we got a nice, if short little moment between the pair of main characters... and a whole lot of stuff other than that, as always :P Which I think makes it interesting - this manga does seem to me mostly about the magical revolution itself and the princess, and the relationship with Euphie, while important, doesn't take center stage. Even if repeat myself incessantly about how it would probaby better if they cut the dialogues in half, I still like it.

I am okay with Anise and Euphie's personal relationship being a subplot rather than the main plot, because I am convinced that being the Queen Consort is still Euphie's destiny... just with Anise as her Queen Regnant. :3

Their relationship is the main plot in volumes 1 and 3 of the novels. Volume 2, which is where we're at right now with the manga, has it on the backseat. It'll probably keep alternating so volume 4 will again have it be on the side.
Also, be prepared to be disappointed by volume 3 when the manga or anime get to it. It was bad.

Is this for the web novel or the light novel? I'm about to purchase the translated ones on Amazon to give a read through... is it that bad bad?????

Well, now I want to see Tilty and Lanie get together

As a novel reader Lainie x Illya is where it's at

Called it, the moment I saw Lainie seek Illya for approval at all given moments. Am very down for this.

This is so crazy. Lol, I guess I'm kinda having a hard time believing that Aria had all that time to reason and realize that Al-Kamil (who killed literally all the old Lilu) would still be worth saving...?? Guess I really pegged her wrong and didn't realize she was that dilusionally sentimental

explicitly mentioned they intended to continue the series but they were still trying to get it back on schedule

Hope the author is doing okay! Seems like they had some stuff going on in 2022

Masina's spoiler

What the-- well, that's awkward. I hope the new chapters get scanlated soon so I can get a better read on Yuuna and those motives. I follow the author on Twitter and I'm pretty confident despite the gloom and all that this will be a happy ending.

I actually passed on reading this earlier this year because the comments and tags turned me off, but I accidentally started to follow the author and it's a really different vibe on their feed lol

Edit: I was only able to find up to ch 11 (I can't seem to find anything past that in tls) but so far it's been good! we finally move past the sister arc and we're starting to see the two leads go on dates!!

last edited at Dec 30, 2022 9:38PM

Honestly what a rollercoaster

Hmm. If you're in a pretend relationship and you have a tongue match with another girl, is that cheating or pretend cheating...? Call me a purist of sorts, but the wishy washy-ness of the MC is starting to irk me. If it doesn't go the good communicative poly route, I might just drop and come back to see what the ending is.

last edited at Dec 23, 2022 11:52AM

when the feelings are pure but the intentions are all over the place

ngl I like Jun and Nadeshiko so I root for the 3way route. If this was a male oriented hentai it would've already gone that way in the first 3 pages of her appearance lol

Im seeing ppl say Ruriko is definitely sexual and i dont get why? She reads to me as in love but i dont see anything or remember anything like that.

I think they mean she's a lot more straightforward and aggressive in her pursuit, which implies that she is self assured in her attraction to Kurumi. Although it's not definitive it's sexual in nature, I think the implication is at least romantic. It's just wanting to be intimate is one of the first things ppl associate with romance so I guess that's where the logical leap comes from. But I agree that we haven't read anything explicitly linking Ruriko with anything sexual in nature.

progression???? in my yuri??

"just like a doughnut" in another comment and I chuckled

So deep, so empty, I need thee

It’s been a fairly recent development that authors have been intentionally creating ace (or aroace) characters at all. What was much more common were lead characters reacting against comphet by claiming “they don’t understand love at all,” feeling abnormal, etc., then discovering that they had feelings about a same-sex partner, i.e., discovering their own lesbianism, with kissing/physical intimacy as the standard yuri-genre narrative endgame.

So, sure, some readers have reacted negatively to the mere presence of ace characters, but it’s much more common that stories with ace characters have confused readers about what kind of stories they are going to turn out to be.

You make a great point-- I guess I've gotten used to the trend, and admittedly, I was pretty tired with the comphet plotline now that I've moved on from that phase in my own life. I completely understand how this ending could seem lackluster if you expected the usual formula of confusion, slow realization, anticipatory build up, and some obstacles to propel in to the final grandiose climax of confession and love.

So the story ends with ... Hinako and Asahi becoming besties

The ace/demi erasure is strong with the comments lol. I'm not ace myself, but I would say having romantic feelings for another person hardly makes you platonic besties.

Also, this is kinda the whole point of this series-- both Hinako and Asahi were learning about themselves throughout and they were constantly asking themselves if the lack of sexual/physical intimacy desires meant they were lacking in the ability of loving someone. The fact that the resolution is that they both were able to come to terms in accepting themselves and wholeheartedly be able to say that they love one another is actually quite sweet. They did hold each other's hands in the last chapter, so it's likely they just have very very little desires in the physical (read: sexual) sense.

Also as an aside, everyone's level of intimacy is different. Not every ending to romance needs the main leads to bang/shag each other for there to be a sense of completion, no matter what the media formula tells us.

[completely off topic, but @Aunt_Rhody, is that dahyun in your pfp by any chance??]

last edited at Dec 8, 2022 9:53AM

Okay who's everyone's favourite girl so far? mine is Kaoru.
Kaoru is one of my favourite character too. Due to watching her I don`t have time and I got use to writing service https://us.essayassistant.net/dissertation-assistance-service/ which saving my time!!!

an ad in the yuri comments？？？？

I personally think Sakuragi is too attached to their characters to let them have bad endings lol, which is totally okay in my book. There's ominous moments, but they're usually resolved very quickly in this series instead of being dragged out, which I think is mostly attributed to good communication tbh

I'm glad I picked this back up after they became gfs. So cute.

volume 4, chapter 20 is the last chapter? i'm not ready to part with this cute little story...

I'm so glad Tama II caught the lycoris bug! this was so cute and so in character, I could almost hear them haha

The spirits in a classic martini are Gin and Dry Vermouth, for some reason it says "Dry Belmont" here?
for some reason

To clarify the 'some reason': Japanese makes no distinction between v/b and l/r, so Belmont is rendered in Japanese as ベルモント (Berumonto) and Vermouth is a very similar ベルモット (Berumotto). Pretty easy mix-up to make, particularly if the translator isn't a subject matter expert!

Oooh, that makes a lot more sense. I was pretty confused as well lol

Might be kind of fun too in a new school twist if the prez is a Sayaka also

bloom into you ptsd flashbacks as a sayaka fan

I can't root for them, i feel like being one of only who still ship with Mai. Even the author seem to have forgotten their own premise cause Mai is being more and more absent after the fake-out chapter to the point that people even forget who was Mei.
I could have root for them if the premise wasn't Asumi trying to found her childhood friend she had a crush on.I'm waiting to see if next chapter have a prostitute or not but i feel more and more scammed about that premise

lol I kinda feel the same way. I'm not super attached to Mai, but I think in this case this is the author's fault for deliberately neglecting that character in favor for Nanao's route. There are constant teases for the senpai route as well. The next chapter will be crucial as it either goes 1) Nanao / Senpai routes (either, or both), or 2) We get reminded of how Mai still exists for Asumi

At this point, I think the author is figuring out whether they want to prolong the series and risk it going off the rails off the childhood best friend trope, or if they're gonna start the last arc by having Asumi and Mai finally meet soon.

Honestly, I think it's getting prolonged for the sake of making the series longer, but if the author gives us a quality alt plot, that's okay. I'm not really a Nanao fan but I can roll with it and finish the series if that's the way it goes.

the comment section is wild lmaooo

It's like we forget it's a work of fiction lol but even so they're like 16 or whatever. MC has a bit of ptsd from her initial rejection dream and she just admitted to her feelings for the first time. Given what we know of her, she's liable to be frustratingly slow lol. This is her first rodeo at both love and with her female bestie at that.

Anyway, I love the range of expressions from this artist/author. It's so good lol

I've read some of the critique, but aside from the art bloops, everything else is really just subjective taste from the reader. I thought the strap usage was pretty in line with the title and the theme of the work of them going at it like dogs. My own take is that this was at its core a yuri work, just with BDSM and toy usage. The way that Maki and Honoka care for each other constantly throughout this work through reassurance, checking in with each other, and aftercare, is extremely full of love.

I frankly found this work a lot softer (emotionally) than other yuri works where it's a lot more about the sexual nature of the work than the emotional connection between the characters. Although there were obligatory POV shots for self-insert, I didn't really feel that it took away from the yuri aspect of it.

Though, if you dislike this work, that's also totally OK. Everyone has different tastes.