Can I just say that I love the kouhai's hairstyle? Short fluffy hair like that is supremely cute

Damn, that girl must have used a mossy lure because she surely seems to be attracting poison types

I've really come to look forward to these, I didn't feel great today but this honestly made me smile

Did Sakuma just forget that two women can date after literally asking her girlfriend to marry her about 2 days ago, with said girlfriend being in the same room? Heteronormativity is one hell of a drug

The video with them seeing each other again had definite tension between them, I'm sure we'll get more about their relationship once Riot decides to release something related to Mount Targon in the future. Problem with League lore is that since there's like 200 characters, you usually have to wait ages for the next bit of lore for a specific character

So far the only exception to that are all characters who appear in Arcane, which is progressing much faster for obvious reasons. Vi and Caitlyn are 100% going to be canon, otherwise that would be the bait of the century. And who knows, maybe there'll be a show about Leona and Diana in the future? One can only hope

I quite like Nao-chan and kinda want her and Asumi to get together too. Although, different from all the prostitutes Asumi had this is quite complicated, Asumi could previously have sex with as many girls as she liked without issue as it was just business, but if she gets an actual girlfriend both the brother visits as well as the possible reunion with Mai are difficult or even impossible. Interested to see how the Mangaka is going to develop the story with this

That feeling when you, a former ideal still famous around the entire nation and renown for your looks, are less appealing to your totally platonic crush than a simple succulent. Miyako truly has it rough

in this case Claire is still 100% her "Ohohoho"-ing himedere self

Please, please, don't remind me of that hideous laughter, it's a blessing we haven't had to see it in the recent chapters. Seriously, every time I read that, my brain automatically recalled that annoying Nanami from Revolutionary Girl Utena and god, do I wish to forget her...

I envy all you lucky people whose ears don't automatically hear Naga the White Serpent whenever that laugh comes up...

I'll admit, I have a real weak spot for ojou-samas and find the ohohoho quite amusing. It always makes me think of Constance von Nuvelle from Fire Emblem and she's just too cute

One thing about this chapter and which is a general thing about this story is that, as others have pointed out, Rei's ambitions are very limited to protecting Claire. What I think is very interesting though is how Rei is a goofy thirsty idiot most of the time, but can turn into this ruthless predator when it comes to protecting Claire. We see it in this chapter where she doesn't hesitate at all to put Claire to sleep and basically command Lene, something that is completely out of her usual character. Even her facial expressions are markedly different from her usual self, it's like a completely different side of her.

And I think there's a basic truth about her character here that might be the cause of frustration for so many readers who want her to be more proactive in liberating the commoners and preventing harm: Rei is not necessarily a very good person. She certainly has morals and it's clear already that she seems to have certain sympathies for the commoners' struggle, but it is central to understanding her character that all of this is secondary to her main objective: protect Claire. I'm pretty sure that girl would betray the commoners and see half the kingdom perish in a heartbeat if she thought that'd be the way to save Claire. Personally, I think that what makes her a good and interesting character. She is not interested in being good, in being the hero. She's scheming, she's ruthless and could just as easily become a believable villain, it's all down to the circumstances.

last edited at Jan 27, 2022 6:59PM

Things are about to go down, really looking forward to this

The size of the community is actually what turns me away from the discord server, there is just too much stuff going on and too many posts so I just get confused easily. Doesn't help that I'm not familiar with discord at all, so I get overwhelmed easily. Forums feels a bit easier since it's more linear and more fragmented between the various threads

Poor Elsa is literally dying there and the ultra-dense tsundere has no idea what she's doing

Really glad this is back, those 2 are just too adorable

Very cute. Also, I think Ayaka just didn't remember setting the app to allowing women, since she seems to have set everything up while drunk.

Another thing I just noticed: On the very first page of the first chapter, next to the picture of Shizuku and Kaori and Kaori's letter there's the axolotl plushie Shizuku bought for Kaori. If we assume that the room shown is Shizuku's, that pretty much confirms that Kaori is already dead at that point

I've just read the series and while it is very depressing I think it's executed quite well.

Kaori probably admired Shizuku because the latter was so energetic and lively, which for a sickly girl like her was probably a sort of ideal or foil to herself. From that angle it makes sense why she seems to have invested her last summer on earth to rescue that same girl from her depressed state and return her back to the vigorously living girl she once was. In a way, this reminds me of Useless Princesses, where one character is basically living through the other, although quite literally in this case. Her initial plan of just fading away from Shizuku after summer then kinda makes sense, her objective is to leave Shizuku as revitalised as possible without adding additional trauma. Of course, believing that she could just disappear without causing trauma is naive, but I think it's at least believable motivation.
It also explains why she is willing to use underhanded methods in order to force Shizuku out of her shell and force the meeting with Ruri as well, Shizuku is basically the avatar through whom she wants to continue living, so freeing her from her emotional baggage is Kaori's number one priority, which she pursues relentlessly. She might even be willing to risk Ruri for that, though I'd say that she also believed the meeting would help Ruri, and considering that she still seems to nurse that trauma and isn't really able to forget, that might even be true.

I'd imagine Ichihara and Kaori were in the same class, which is why they know each other. Ruri and Kaori probably spent a lot of time together in the hospital and became friends that way. That kind of raises the question why Kaori claimed to have just heard about the bullying through rumours, because that seems unlikely considering how close she is to both other girls involved. It looks like there's still a piece of information about their elementary school days that she hasn't shared yet, which is interesting.

Overall I would be really surprised if Kaori doesn't die in the end, the entire story seems to be guided by her trying to fix things before her death and Shizuku overcoming trauma, so her death will likely be the final piece of trauma that Shizuku will need to overcome before riding off into the sunset.

I'm getting second-hand brain damage from these two idiots

"We'll be together until we both die of Tetanus"

Yeah, we've officially graduated from subtext now
Interested to see where the story goes, I initially thought that Saki reacted negatively to the marriage sign because of some parent drama or something, but in retrospect it seems pretty clear that she just dislikes it being made up of man and woman.

last edited at Jan 16, 2022 3:30PM

It's cute, but is there any reason for this ship to be a thing? I saw a number of images of it here and it just kinda confused me as it seems like a complete long shot to me

Interestingly, but Sakura Trick is actually the only one that I know of in this regard. And it is not just Haruka, Yuu as well has no clue whatsoever. Two braindead bricks, literally ignorant that such a thing as dating exists. The only series in existence filled with two grills frenching each other from the get-go, yet by the end it turns out they are not considering their relationship to be anything other than friendship because they literally do not know other options exist. Shredded my suspension of disbelief in seconds, and caused me to viscerally hate the entire series. But that is also the only such instance that I know of, all the other stuff of similar nature fits more into what Blastaar described.

My memory of where else I read this is really fuzzy honestly, so I might very well be overestimating the amount of stories where stuff like that happens. I do, however, have a distinct feeling that I saw the trope it in at least another few stories and not in the way that Blastaar described. No idea though what series or if those were maybe just oneshots, so not really helpful, I know

At least the version of the trope that I've seen is more like "Everybody's talking about love and who they like but I don't feel anything like that." So it's not like they've never seen romantic relationships on TV or in the movies, but that kind of thing just doesn't seem to have anything to do with them.

But maybe I'm mistaking what you're talking about.

I guess the most egregious version I can think of is Haruka in Sakura Trick who even after being confessed to just doesn't understand what that means. That's the extreme, but there are a fair number of characters who literally do not seem to grasp the concept of love, rather than just not feeling it

Not sure if it's specifically a Yuri trope (I don't read much non-Yuri romance), but I really dislike the "I don't know what love is" trope where a girl somehow is completely clueless what a romantic relationship is even supposed to be. Unless the story is making a specific point that a character is extremely sheltered or maybe from a strict household were anything romance-related is strictly forbidden, it just feels super weird to me and just makes me want to roll my eyes

This series was... surprisingly sweet? Considering the premise of basically being a 200% more perverted Hino-san no baka with an MC that, whilst somewhat easily influenced, exudes genuine top-energy, I didn't expect it to end just genuinely nice.
Still mad they never became an official couple though :D

It still seems like Dorothy has some idea that there might be a reason for Yvonne to "bully" her, but rather than some kind of system, she probably believes that Yvonne has to at least pretend to be mean to her, since being a high noble means she needs to at least put up a front of looking down on her.
The "bullying" then looks like her seeking contact and being nice to Dorothy whilst technically following the patterns of behaviour that are expected from a high noble

Also, Dorothy took a page out of Rei's book there with the maid fantasy, brushing the ojou-sama's hair every day and whatnot

last edited at Jan 10, 2022 12:41PM