Is the author male? I can't tell if it's just the hentai style, but this felt noticeably male gaze-y.

The blonde being a sadist and aggressive kind of makes her my favorite. Somebody's gotta get the plot goin.

Aya's friends can tell she's got a fake smile on and looks miserable.

Regardless of whether he changed when he became a girl or not, I bet she would have been the top even in the past.

I don't know if it's Japan as a whole, or just that impression from manga, but they might be behind on concepts like those. I mean, there's a manga titled literally "Is It Wrong to Get Done by a Girl?".

This chapter blindsided me with how wholesome it was, feels like the first time the series focused mostly on discussing love over sex. It's kinda weird since at this point Nanao's feelings for Asumi seem more deeply explored than Asumi's feelings for Mai.

Was ever actually stated that Asumi has feelings for Mai? The way I understood it she basically just wants to meet an important person from her childhood and clear up a misunderstanding. I never had the impression that she had been in love with Mai all this time or something like that.

Maybe

Reading through that first chapter compared with Nanao is so interesting. Asumi already knows she's gay and is generally excited about the idea of having sex with another girl, whereas Nanao is questioning her sexuality and super freaked out about everything. The contrast is nice.

last edited at Sep 30, 2022 11:37PM

I was sure Nanao would mention Asumi to Ena by name and Asumi being revealed as a customer would happen, but I guess not. Surprised we got an episode with no Asumi in it. I guess Nanao is more of a main character than the senpai now.

It's nice that they're both aware they're flirting with each other. Only chapter 7, that's like 50 chapters earlier than most things.

I do think you're right that in general there is a push for more consensual stuff regardless of context, but I also think context matters. In a serious story questionable actions are taken seriously. When it has a more comedic vibe questionable actions feel more normalized which weirds me out.

I feel the complete opposite. When the story doesn't take itself seriously, why should I take it seriously? The comedic slant makes the questionable actions, in the context of this story with these characters, not something negative or harmful. Else, the author would have focused more on the harm these actions are causing. Since harm is not shown, I assume that no harm is done. In the end, this story is fictional. That's not saying that the questionable actions are good, just that since the actions are questionable context is required and this story already provides this context.

With respect to normalizing behaviors, I honestly can't see how comedic vibes normalize what's happening when it's fiction. But then again, some people can't understand the difference between fiction and reality so... For those who don't understand: hentai logic =/= real world logic.

I think my argument stems from a knowledge of TV trends over the years. Drama always seems heightened. If something dramatic and serious happens, that's contextualized in the show rather than applied to individuals. But comedy can really change the minds of viewers. Everyone's laughing and it's all ok, so it sets the mood of the audience to think the actions are also okay.

I wouldn't say it applies to everyone, but we're not talking about people with a developed sense of what consent means. We're talking about an average teenager that might come across this.

I kind of like how single minded Ji Youyan is. She doesn't seem to care much about this mentor thing, but she wanted to match scores with Jing Xiu. It's cute, and based on the smile it might be working a little. She's supporting her more than she is the contestant.

I do like how well the author is writing Yuzu's lines so they could be interpreted either way. They're just flirty enough to be suspicious, but not flirty enough to be definitely not just friends.

Are you guys really surprised that Nakano has no shame? My reaction was more like: "ohh, figures"

On a general level, I've pretty much realized that with this author's works the prime modus operandi is turn off brain enjoy bob and vagene. Like, Younger Senpai was not a literary masterpiece to say the least, you know.

i did enjoy that Younger Senpai didnt go with the cliches all the commenters wanted it to go with

as for Nakano it really is pretty straightforward, she is shameless, a bad influence, and helpfull. The vibes is get from Dynasty comments these days is that a lot of people crave "Healthy Environments" for their sexy stuff, But a lot of these writers dont care about having an inherintly healthy environment as long as the characters dont experiance anything unpleasant.

An example is when one character is being pushy about wanting to do it and another is like "im not in the mood atm" and the first character keeps on pushing until they are doing it and the second character ultimately goes "ahh fuck it, i like it". Some commenters calls that unconcencual and/or a bad way to adress concent even though that is a realistic variant of concent, go see "cutie beast" for a proper example of rape through lack of concent.

a lot of focus on how bad things could be rather than how bad it is.
Feel free to puplicly execute me now.

I do think you're right that in general there is a push for more consensual stuff regardless of context, but I also think context matters. In a serious story questionable actions are taken seriously. When it has a more comedic vibe questionable actions feel more normalized which weirds me out.

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.