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. And while we haven't seen the new guy before he's probably also more of a jokester as part of his celebrity persona and as a person.

So while Jing Xiu is definitely speaking her mind here, she's almost certainly being encouraged to do so to balance out the jokey and nice judge.

I think this might lead to "on air" tension between Jing Xiu and Ji Youyan that can be turned to some nice "off air" tension. They can battle it over the souls of the contestants, when really, they're battling over each other's hearts.

Filler chapter, but still cute. Auntie Ren is the cutest, I'm with Youzi, definitely best ship.

Ch. 51
Seriously, I understand that Sumika can be considered a hypocrite, but I don't think that detracts from her being sympathetic. Kanoko is completely irredeemable. I'm going to hate when this manga tries to redeem her and make her friends with everyone again. Even if she genuinely falls in love with Sumika, I really hope it doesn't go well. Sumika deserves better. And Hime deserves a better friend.

It's really nice that she's realizing that she's been in love with her a long time. A lot of stories like this have that initial moment, in this case, the dream be the signifier for change, so I like that she's recontextualizing her past.

Good character development on Evie went from trying to get Elsa to finding love from one of the main male characters in the original story to being perfectly fine with killing a kid if it means to keep Elsa safe.

and knows said kid was meant to be one of the love interests for elsa but is willing to anyways.

No, the adult male version is the love interest and here it's just a young girl and tbf she want tostealher magic so she is right to keep an eye on her.

She's not young. The implication is that the child body is a sign of having low energy. So in this case it's an adult female in a child body. And the further implication is that the Demon Lord is the gender of Elsa's sexual preference.

but calling someone a cheater for their hobby is pretty fucking stupid, and also obviously toxic.

What if your hobby is having sex with other people? Okay, great, we've established hobbies can be cheating. So how about fantasising about having sex with other people? It's not literally cheating, but it's cheating-adjacent, I'd say. Or perhaps just "emotionally cheating". Even if it's a fictional character, it feels pretty messed up to be devoting that kind of emotional energy to the point of buying sex dolls while in a relationship. Obviously if your partner is okay with it go for it, but calling the mere idea of someone being uncomfortable with it "fucking stupid" is the real toxic take here.

Never forget the golden rule: more than one waifu will ruin your laifu.

Sure context matters.

If your hobby is having sex with other people, then you should be in an open relationship or a poly one. There is a context in which this is not cheating.

I see nothing wrong with fantasizing about having sex with other people, as long as it doesn't negatively affect your relationship. Emotional cheating is not thinking about sex with other people, that's an entirely different thing.

Forget about the sex dolls thing, the first page of the chapter is senpai calling a 2D character cute and kohai calling it cheating. And on page 11 the woman says, "The moment you think about a girl other than me, you're a cheater." So what, once you're in a relationship you can no longer have friends of the gender you're attracted to? The sex doll is too much, but that's not the example of the toxic mindset I'm talking about.

I think there is a good point made about managing the amount of time you spend together as a couple versus on your own, but calling someone a cheater for their hobby is pretty fucking stupid, and also obviously toxic.

Each day I feel like Japan understands less and less what a cold actually is.

Colds are that thing you get when a drop of water hits you that almost kills you right?

I thought it was that thing where your stomach is uncovered for more than 5 minutes?

Either way it almost kills you.

Each day I feel like Japan understands less and less what a cold actually is.

Colds are that thing you get when a drop of water hits you that almost kills you right?

Kanoko wasn't mad at Mitsuki because Hime was unable to return Mitsuki's feelings, but because Hime wasn't able to reset like she usually does when someone confesses to her. Kanoko was mad because Hime had to take her seriously, unlike most people who confess to Hime. She sees Yano as a threat.

I agree with you on almost everything you wrote, but I'm a bit conflicted by this last part. Why did Kanoko try to convince Hime to go back to Liebe then? As I see it, either she doesn't consider Yano to be a real threat (just to clarify, by this I mean "someone Hime could fall in love with") or she does care about Hime's own happiness.

My best guess would be because she underestimated Hime's feelings for Yano. She thought if Hime could just reject Yano, then they could move on and things would go back to normal. If you go back, at first she thinks it's good Hime quit Liebe, but since her personality was affected by it, Kanoko wanted to her to go back. I mean, when she finds out Yano has the anklet that matches their accessories, she slaps Yano. She both sees her as a threat, accurately, but also thinks it's inevitable that she'll be rejected, also accurately. As far as why she wants her back at Liebe, chapter 12 answers that doesn't it? She gets more Hime time she would never get otherwise.

You raise some fair points. That being said, the narrative doesn't treat her actions as justified. Sumika refuses Kanoko's request to abolish the schwester system in no uncertain terms and was planning to do the opposite by making schwesterships permanent. In fact, both Sumika and Hime want Kanoko to make an effort to get along better with Mitsuki(who, despite her jealousy, tries to keep things civil between them).

I'm not so sure that Kanoko doesn't even care about Hime. Her anger toward Mitsuki isn't solely based in jealousy, but because Mitsuki's love confession caused Hime anguish due to her being unable to return Mitsuki's feelings, which is probably part of the reason why Kanoko hasn't confessed. She even tries to convince Hime to stay at the salon, whereas it would probably have been easier to let her go; Kanoko could still see her at school, whereas Mitsuki, who goes to a different school, would probably never see Hime again.

Considering the warnings Kanoko received about the consequences her jealousy might have, I personally think that Kanoko's going to eventually face some backlash as a result of her feelings for Hime and her jealousy of Mitsuki coming to light, since Hime only has an inkling of the latter and no idea of the former, and the fallout will probably make the drama between Hime and Mitsuki in Volume 7 seem tame. This will probably lead to her relationships with Hime, Sumika and Mitsuki changing, although it's too soon to say how.

In short, I'm not denying her flaws, but I still believe she can change for the better.

Kanoko wasn't mad at Mitsuki because Hime was unable to return Mitsuki's feelings, but because Hime wasn't able to reset like she usually does when someone confesses to her. Kanoko was mad because Hime had to take her seriously, unlike most people who confess to Hime. She sees Yano as a threat.

Look, I fully expect Kanoko to have a redemption arc of some kind down the line, but I think from everything we've had from her perspective she's never once taken the time to think about how anyone else feels. Even in the latest chapters she keeps thinking that Hime and Sumika are acting strange, and she means not how she wants them to act like. She is sorely lacking in empathy.

It's not about flaws. Like I said last time, it's not the jealousy that's the problem, it's the lack of self-reflection. That goes beyond a flaw to a personality defect.

It weirds me out that the fitness instructor smokes. I know, I know--even where I live that wasn't unusual a few decades ago. Not a criticism. Just weirds me out.

Yeah, I totally get what you mean. I couldn't stop thinking about it during the whole scene.

It was the cut away shots that did it, like when they showed both their feet and then the older one was on her tiptoes for a bit. Playing with all kinds of expectations here.

I wonder if I'm the only one on this forum who doesn't hate Kanoko. She's definitely flawed, but when you consider that all her other classmates pushed her around and Hime not only was nice to her but confided her secret in her, you can understand why she values her status as Hime's only "special" person. She needs to learn to be more tolerant than Mitsuki(who's a bit better at managing her own jealousy of Kanoko), but it's not surprising that she'd envy a person who's known Hime for longer.

In fact, one could argue that since Hime told Kanoko about how Mitsuki betrayed Hime, Kanoko's worried that Mitsuki will do so again. Keep in mind that she heard about how Sumika chose to step aside and let Nene break off her schwestership with Sumika so she could get together with Youko, only for Youko to manipulate and dump her, so she realizes that the "I Want My Beloved To Be Happy" approach doesn't always work out for the beloved.

In short, Kanoko's hardly a saint and her fixation on Hime is unhealthy, but most of the others are flawed in their own ways, so I'm hoping Kanoko is able to develop a healthier bond with Sumika.

I can only speak for myself, but I don't think Kanoko's flaws are as excusable as the others.

Hime's lies aren't actively harmful to other people. Yano puts in effort to be better than she is and feels bad about not being good enough. She also knows that she should feel bad about being jealous of Kanoko, even if she won't stop being jealous of Kanoko. Sumika cares about the general atmosphere of the group, even if it comes at the expense of people getting what they personally want.

Kanoko only cares about herself. It's not a problem that she's jealous and only wants Hime for herself, it's that she literally doesn't care about anyone but herself, not even Hime. She's not concerned with whether Hime would be happy in a relationship, or happy with a change, she only wants things to stay the same as they are, and she doesn't care who gets hurt as a result of that. Yano has desires, but no expectations, while Kanoko isn't happy unless things are exactly the way she wants them to be. "Unhealthy" is an understatement.

The other characters have normal problems that teenagers or even adults might face. Kanoko needs to see a therapist.

Once the misunderstanding is resolved, they'll become great friends.

I've been saying that for a while, but the romance tag isn't warranted (yet).

But I can feel the pressure on twitter by the readers who want them to become a couple. I wonder if Agu will cave in.

Isn't that the case with a lot of romances though? A lot of them start from a place of friendship. This seems like a weird take when it can be applied to a million things that are so obviously romantic.

For the song, we thinking original song or rock cover?

"All Apologies" by Nirvana would be perfect.

I wonder if uncle ever had to do a serenade when he was her age? He seemed like he knew what to do instantly once he started to gather what the actual problem was. Also fantasic coloring as always!!!

Don’t think he knows whats going on tbh. I am pretty sure he is talking about Mitsuki’s relationship with music, not Aya.
So he has no idea what caused Mitsuki to not want to listen to music (which is obviously loosing a friend with whom she could bond over music)

He might not know exactly what's going on, but he probably suspects it's about Aya. It's the biggest change in Mitsuki's life recently, and he can probably guess it has something to do with Mitsuki's mood being down.

Ch. 50
Kanoko is just the worst. I don't mind Youko being potentially the worst since she's not a main cast member, but I don't really see a way to redeem Kanoko. Because we see her perspective so much, we're constantly in her thoughts. And I certainly don't mind jealousy in some characters, Yano is also jealous over people spending time with Hime. But Kanoko's form of jealousy is so ugly, I just can't stand her. She's an awful friend.

I kind of feel like the entire "rapey" scenario can be explained away by the fact that Marika is also literally being paid to do these kinds of things as well, so it's already a (literally) transactional relationship.
Problems aside, still having fun with this.

I really don't think the payment makes it ok or better, not to mention that Aya had said in an earlier chapter that if Marika told her no she would stop.

Look, I've read the LNs, I'll continue reading this manga, and I enjoy their relationship, but it's really weird that some people just want to wave this away.

I sincerely ask this not to be contentious with other people (because I found it pretty uncomfortable too), but to the people that were saying this scene was Rapey, how do you coincide that with her suddenly wanting to pleasure Aya?

My two cents is that regardless of Marika's internally conflicted feelings, she told Aya in absolutely no uncertain terms that she didn't want to, and it's not Aya's position to attempt to read Marika's mind, let alone make the decision about her conflicted feelings for her. It is extremely not okay to initiate sex with someone who firmly, repeatedly says no on the off-chance they might get into it after the fact.

Very much this, but then there's also the fact that we're not sitting on the jury for a rape trial, but reading a story here. So rather than passing judgement on the people, it is more about looking at the story itself and in this context, I think it's especially bad that the story mixed what should have been an important moment (Marika becoming honest enough in her attraction to actively reciprocate sexually) with a beginning to the sex scene that is just by all means rape because until that point Aya has no way of knowing that Marika wants to have sex, quite the opposite with her repeatedly saying no and that she's scared, etc.

So my main problem with this is not even that Aya did a shitty thing (which she did), but that after a revelation that should make her more likeable she does this and thus essentially spoils what could otherwise have been a beautiful moment in this manga. In all honesty, that's just tonal inconsistency and bad writing in what is supposed to be a romance story

It's all straight from the LNs, this is how it plays out. Luckily, there are no other rapey scenes in the 3 volumes I've read, but even one is enough.

The issue here isn't even that Aya did this. It's that there is no commentary from the author. It wouldn't be the first relationship that has had a terrible moment that can be salvaged, but it's treated both in the manga and the LNs as just another event between them. I'm not asking for moralizing from author, but some kind of acknowledgement that that was really fucked up.

"but it's treated both in the manga and the LNs as just another event between them"
So many yuri manga which seem to be trying do a nice normal relationships seem to throw in a random at best sexual harassment and at worst sexual assault scenes in and just never bring it up again. It's just treated as an intimate moment or that the pleasure they feel makes them realize their feelings even though a few pages before they were begging for them to stop.

As you said, some kind of acknowledgement I think would be great. Could build it into the story where the character has to look into themselves realize what they did was wrong and how it has caused a rift between the two have to work through it. A possibility for good conflict but no, I still have yet to find a yuri manga that does this which is just a waste. I find it funny how I just kinda expect it at this point when reading a yuri manga. I don't like it but I am just oh here we go again.

Adachi to Shimamura has a moment pretty early on where Shimamura tells Adachi she can't just grab her hand or touch her whenever she wants, she has to ask. Our Yuri Started with Me Getting Rejected in a Dream also does. So it's not like they don't exist, but they handle it early enough in the relationship that it's not the type of conflict you're describing.

The issue here isn't even that Aya did this. It's that there is no commentary from the author. It wouldn't be the first relationship that has had a terrible moment that can be salvaged, but it's treated both in the manga and the LNs as just another event between them. I'm not asking for moralizing from author, but some kind of acknowledgement that that was really fucked up.

Honestly, I don't believe this is worse than your standard shoujo smut fare.
There is a scene in vol. 4 which I thought was kinda bad though, so be warned

Your average Korean pornhwa is all about the rape and toxic relationships, but that doesn't exactly make it ok. It's just something you know going into the genre. Shoujo smut is the same way. It's regressive.

That Marika is a brat and Aya is a brat tamer. I did this with my ex. The important thing in BDSM is to have a safe word, which they do mention in the light novel.

I wish that the scanlator could educate people like in the translator notes about brats and brat tamers.

Um, you're free to have whatever headcanon you like to justify enjoying noncon if it makes you feel better, but let's not make things up and then tell off the translators for not appending your headcanon to the release. This interpretation is entirely in your head. They never mention anything about safe words or BDSM at any point.

Partial spoiler from the LN:
They actually do go into talking about using a safe word a little later on in the story. It's not a headcannon, Marika is an actual brat and Fuwa is well aware of how far she can push Marika in bed.

They do, but that's after this moment so it doesn't matter. You can't give consent after the fact.

I sincerely ask this not to be contentious with other people (because I found it pretty uncomfortable too), but to the people that were saying this scene was Rapey, how do you coincide that with her suddenly wanting to pleasure Aya?

My two cents is that regardless of Marika's internally conflicted feelings, she told Aya in absolutely no uncertain terms that she didn't want to, and it's not Aya's position to attempt to read Marika's mind, let alone make the decision about her conflicted feelings for her. It is extremely not okay to initiate sex with someone who firmly, repeatedly says no on the off-chance they might get into it after the fact.

Very much this, but then there's also the fact that we're not sitting on the jury for a rape trial, but reading a story here. So rather than passing judgement on the people, it is more about looking at the story itself and in this context, I think it's especially bad that the story mixed what should have been an important moment (Marika becoming honest enough in her attraction to actively reciprocate sexually) with a beginning to the sex scene that is just by all means rape because until that point Aya has no way of knowing that Marika wants to have sex, quite the opposite with her repeatedly saying no and that she's scared, etc.

So my main problem with this is not even that Aya did a shitty thing (which she did), but that after a revelation that should make her more likeable she does this and thus essentially spoils what could otherwise have been a beautiful moment in this manga. In all honesty, that's just tonal inconsistency and bad writing in what is supposed to be a romance story

It's all straight from the LNs, this is how it plays out. Luckily, there are no other rapey scenes in the 3 volumes I've read, but even one is enough.

The issue here isn't even that Aya did this. It's that there is no commentary from the author. It wouldn't be the first relationship that has had a terrible moment that can be salvaged, but it's treated both in the manga and the LNs as just another event between them. I'm not asking for moralizing from author, but some kind of acknowledgement that that was really fucked up.

For the fan scans:
I'm surprised by how often the word lesbian has been thrown around in the last 3 chapters. I've been following the official scans until this point so I don't know if it's a translation issue, or when Nene was around they used to say it way more often. Like, the manga felt more subtle up until this point, and all of a sudden everyone is super gay. I don't have a problem with it, but I'm curious now if the official scans will also be like that.
49
Youko really comes off as a sociopath here. She'd be perfect for Kanoko.

I guess the use of "lesbian" comes up because Sumika identifies as heterosexual, at least before meeting Kanoko, while Nene has only ever had feelings for straight girls, so this is the first time characters' sexuality has become an issue. Compare how Hime doesn't have any apparent interest in romance apart from marrying into wealth(but seems to have feelings for Mitsuki), Mitsuki and Kanoko haven't had feelings for anyone besides Hime, and Mai hasn't expressed romantic feelings for anyone.

If by "perfect" you mean Kanoko would be the perfect victim for Youko, then you're absolutely right. Not only is Kanoko the type who'd fall for anyone who's kind to her, but Kanoko actually thinks that Youko might not be so bad after hearing Sumika's account of Nene and Youko's relationship(keep in mind Sumika's the most biased against Youko).

Well in these flashback chapters Sumika says that she's the only straight one among them, which seems to imply that Mai is also a lesbian. And while I agree that Hime hasn't had any apparent interest in romance, it's very clear that she is female attracted, not just Mitsuki attracted.

Haha my perfect comment was just a joke because I really dislike Kanoko.

In response to Cogito ^^

Great summation! It's been explained before, but people don't read the whole thread. They come in every once in a while, and it's so much harder to correct a misunderstanding once it exists. I doubt it will end until they kiss or something.

I don't think this is a surprise, but it's nice to get confirmation.