I positively love Shimura Takako's works. All of them.

Her characters feel so real. They are fucked up, make bad decisions, are cowards, or just throw themselves forward because they are desperate. They change, they mature, or just can't move on... They are very real. I've rarely read manga where the characters reactions are so believable.

The husband's reaction is totally what you'd expect from a normal "good guy". You can't help but feel bad for him, but it does not mean he should "win". Ayano should just choose her own life.

I don't feel her manga are "edgy". She puts her characters in complicated situations and derives believable reactions from them. I never felt any discrepancy in her characters behavior along the story. She's really consistent in portraying people.

Lean too heavily into realism and you develop a sort of dreary feeling that isn't very fun to read for me.

Something about Shimura Takakos manga just puts me off, and I'm not even sure what it is, but I just can't get into this, or any of her other, manga.

They all have this awkward edge. They don't ever have a fulfilling romance thing EVER. Like a sort of anti-particle to Morishima Akiko's manga.

That might be it. Like I know her works are technically excellent, but something, that awkward edge maybe, just doesn't do it for me.

Something about Shimura Takakos manga just puts me off, and I'm not even sure what it is, but I just can't get into this, or any of her other, manga.

What I have a beef with is that it's yet again a manga with a catalog of LGBTQ+ people, all conveniently grouped in a single place, who are, conveniently again, learning about how to be comfortable with themselves, and are, conveniently, receiving life-lessons from various nice people. Nothing wrong per se with that, but it's a bit angelic.

And too forced.

Conflicts are magically resolved, bigoted people who spit in the face of, or beat up gay couples because they dared to kiss basically don't exist. A few dialogs and lo, everyone becomes tolerant, or discover their own identity. Gay people attempting suicide or losing their home doesn't seem to be a thing. "All you need is love and understanding!" (cue for a frog to play a mandolin and sing)

As if... we are talking about Japanese society here. Not really a gay friendly society.

Fukakai na Boku no Subete o
Kanojo ni Naritai.
Giniro no Genders
Shimanami Tasogare

They are all trying to be all inclusive and somehow gay friendly. They come off, to me as, "these deviant people aren't stable psychologically and tend to gather together. Beware, they are among us! Try to understand them..."

Bleh... this is just my opinion/feeling. If you enjoy this manga, more power to you.

LGBT ppl DO group together in real life, this isn't a crazy thing. Hell, in this manga it's not even a coincidence, it takes place at a cafe that is naturally gonna attract LGBT ppl. Also, homophobia and stuff very obviously exists in this work, and even more so in Kanojo ni Naritai, I don't even know what you are talking about here, Mei is homeschooled and I doubt it's because she prefers home school and several characters are clearly afraid to be out.

'tis the season of preachy mangas.

Nani

Like I'm not seeing it
Also so glad Mei is a transbian

That hasn't totally been confirmed yet, has it? I mean, I certainly want her to be, but I don't want to get my hopes up. Although the mangaka is a Yuri fan, so it's pretty likely.

I'm so glad they actually went to a pride event. That happens so rarely, it's great to see.

Bringing your heavily closeted friend who is wracked with internalized homophobia probably isn't the best idea though.

Can't believe I missed out on this manga for so long even when Kimi Dake no Ponytail was one of my favorites. Caught up to chapter 14 for now and just making a few observations:

1) What is the rationale for using the word "girlyboy"? I assume this is translating "otokonoko", but it's a strange choice as I rarely see people use "girlyboy" anywhere online. On the other hand, I don't have any better ideas other than to just use romanji verbatim...

2) Suzu and his boyfriend seem... way more lovey-dovey than what the prequels show, and Haruto going full "What are you doing with my bf" feels incredibly out of character for me. It's played for laughs, sure, but it feels as if they're entirely different characters now.

3) Think we're getting Koto-chan's character arc next. Even knowing there will be a happy ending, I'm interested in seeing how the author resolves the aaaaaangst.

I'm not sure how canon those prequels are, Mei seems different as well, it seems in the prequel that she is much more "out" than she is at the start of the story.
I wouldn't worry to much about the otokonoko thing, this isn't actually an otokonoko story and the term isn't used very often.

Definitely felt rushed, that said, while im not really a fan of polyamory, this one had me kinda into it, sad to see it end in such a rushed chapter.

With this one ending and Bloom into You about to end, I'm running out of serialized yuri to read, soon I might have to give in and read the travesty that is Useless Princesses or one of the million age gap manga shudders. At least I got Still Sick left.

last edited at Sep 26, 2019 2:05AM

The final chapter is her getting sent to prison.

IMO, it will end up with Tsubasa reverting to her old tomboy style, because make-up and stuff is not her thing.

And Iwashita will still fall for her.

I definitely hope so

NoOooooOooo!! Not this stupid trope, this manga is too good for that awful trope.

I know others have said this, but the major themes and lessons of the story aren't really being figured out by the main characters. They aren't arriving to the revelations themselves through self-reflection. Instead, other characters are basically telling the characters what they should be feeling and acting next, what the new lesson of the story is. By having other characters basically tell them how to react, it takes away the agency of the main characters. It just feels like the main characters are players in a video game, going through side quests that the NPCs give them and totally ignoring the main quest.

That being said, I am still going to be reading this manga, for some reason unknown to myself.

Well, Himes decision to cut her hair was her own. Then she was immediately spit on by the narrative of course.

Those girls have seen things.

Well, that was dumb.

I'm not really sure what weight that girl has to lose but whatever, cute manga.

I was talking in term of character design not in term of in-story mindset.

All ladyboys/non binary here "pass" flawlessly as girls.

Mangakas rarely know how to draw transgender, or at least andrgynous people. Or at least transgender people that don't quite pass, other than drawing them as muscled and unshaved drag queens.

Akira, in that other manga, is at least an effort in that direction. That's why I'm so disappointed in her personality.

I'm trans, and personally I don't really mind that manga typically portray us as "passing", I certainly prefer that over some characiture. Besides, everybody else gets to be beautiful in manga why shouldn't trans ppl as well? Not that, less passing trans ppl can't be beautiful, but most manga styles lack the detail to pull it off, I feel. With this style in particular, if you grabbed Tetsu and put him in a dress and gave him a long wig, he'd probably look like a girl too.

Edit: Should this have the romance tag? I know Mogumo and Tetsu's relationship isn't the only focus of this work, but it is a pretty big one.

last edited at Sep 8, 2019 4:35AM

It's so funny that this is a prequel to the rather wholesome Fukakai na Boku no Subete o, then again, this is also rather wholesome, as far as hentai go at least.

Sometimes it's hard to tell which speech bubble belongs to who.

Is there any evidence for that Olympics thing? Or is that just some conspiracy theory? Personally, I'm not super surprised it was canceled, it was definitely a flawed manga.

The point about her innocence I made at least was about her asking Touko to stay over at her place, for the reasons I already listed back then. Many people blew it out of proprotion like she asked to have sex, but that was not what that moment was about. She considered even that simple request a big deal and was embarrassed, but some people saw that as her being embarassed for wanting to ask for sex (which is totally ridiculous). Again, I point to the fact that she couldn't have known Touko's parents would not be home.

I also said back then that once they are alone at Touko's place, things will be very different, because in that situation who in their right mind would not think of those things? lol

You're still keeping that up? Come on, you where proven wrong, just admit it and move on, it's not that big a deal.

i do find it funny that she has such low strength and endurance, yet has infinite attack and defense.

Well coordination and speed, as well as intelligence, have just as much to do with attack as strength does. And endurance would simply be the ability to tank damage. Agility and ability to parry blows would be just as important for defense.

Eh, either way, the effect is the same, she get's no actual detriment from the low strength and endurance, it shows that it's simply there because she was insecure about what makes her a girl, which I find funny because I can relate to it.

I swear, if she switches uniforms, AGAIN, I'm done with this manga.

Sayaka: Hah, I finally beat you on the exams.

Touko: Well, I'm getting laid, so...

I'd also like to see Sayaka get a girlfriend, natch. Further on that, I'd kinda like to see Miyako witness Sayaka getting a girlfriend, so she can have a proud mama bird moment, like Sayaka has come to manage Miyako's second store location, and there's a girl that keeps coming to see her, and Miyako can totally see the writing on the wall...

Oh, yeah, i definitely want some more Miyako and Sayaka interaction, if not here then at least in the Sayaka novels, or even an extra, hopefully involving a girlfriend.

What's a self indulgent thing y'all want to see in the final chapter, like something you would love but isnt neccesarily important? For me, I want one last interaction between Yuu and Rei, because I love Rei, she's always great. If you do answer, remember to tag anything that may contain a spoiler ;)

@KawaiiSuika

Was that an attempt at trolling?

No, that's how I really feel, everything just feels weirdly automatic. Kasumi complains, about it being to hot or just having to do something, then Sakurako says something mildly perverted and then proclaims her dedication to Kasumi for the ten billionth time. Rinse and repeat, although to be fair, this is a gag manga, and I normally hate gag manga, I think I tricked myself into liking it, because of the yuri and the frequent updates, now that the frequent updates are gone my interest is starting to bottom out, oh well.