…It is quite a coincidence that AnoKiss and YagaKimi are having a similar development at the exact same time. >.>

last edited at Aug 14, 2018 8:33PM

@Zensunni

The colors of the frames just match the colors of the volume covers. MIzuki and Moe's arc is in volume 4, and the volume 4 cover is blue. And sorry if the chart is a bit simple, but I don't want to overload it with details, it's already busy enough. >.> It's just there to sum up who's in a relationship with who.

I do like that the chapter found a nice middle ground between "big mutual confession" and "let it hang for the next ten volumes." And it's great that Yurine still has that playful smugness to her, chapter 1 piece of paper and all. =3

Not too sure about the buildup though. The first 20 pages felt a bit too much like everyone stating the obvious (and why did Yukina and Towako not appear? ;__;), though that may have been the point.

So I read the sixth and final chapter…

So Maki has become a sexually active young woman who can't keep a girlfriend for very long, but one day she meets with a famous author who just so happens to be Natsume. And her reaction to meeting again with the woman who fucked her and abandonned her without a word is… mild annoyance? And when Maki asks her why she had sex with her, Natsume's answer boils down to "eeh, I was horny and you were hot, ain't that enough reason?" Then she lovingly describes how she enjoyed deflowering an innocent young girl. That gave her inspiration for her book too!

…Well that's a way to paint a fucked up conclusion as cute. >.>

Ai really is the unsung hero of this story, isn't she…

I'm not even sure they would care at this point. X)

Preview time!

…Yes, it's a single pic, because Canno doesn't wanna spoil.

^ The anime should help with that. Hopefully. We can't have Citrus and Murciélago and not this, come on. >.<

Oh Yuu, how can anyone not love you. =] That certainly took some courage. And it was the most depressing love declaration I've ever seen. X) Beautiful visual storytelling as always.

Well, if we look for foreshadowing, the next hurdle as a couple is pretty obviously getting outed. There's been a lot of hinting that might happen with Maki, the sister, Sayaka, and more. That might play into the storm instead though.

The only ones who could pose a hurdle are either Sayaka or Yuu's mom. Rei and Maki have no reason to care. Hell, I think even Sayaka has accepted it deep down.

…Kinda funny how the developments in this and the latest AnoKiss chapters coincide. X) With Citrus ending, all three series that introduced me to yuri seem to be winding down…

last edited at Jul 30, 2018 5:43PM

But where does that leave us now, with the "traditional themes of natural beauty in Japanese aesthetics"? Are we regressing back to the "just opposites" feeling of previous volumes, or is it indicating deeper meaning, truly putting the "meta" in "metaphor"?

Well, they both see a different type of "beauty" in the other that they don't see in themselves… which is reflected in how their names each have "one half of the equation" that the other lacks (one has the flower and the bird, the other the wind and the moon). I guess?

By the way, in the ranking board, I wonder how many noticed who was in 6th and 10th place. X) That's one more reason for Hikari to hate Nagisa. <=D

Satsuki is kinda hot, sure, but it seems like falling for her would be a very bad idea…

…Huh. Talk about a genius bonus. >.> Oh but wait, she actually has more name explanations in those tweets!

For Asuka and Mikaze:
明日花・飛鳥（HN)・美風・萩月（HN）で花鳥風月です。
Asuka - Asuka (pseudo) ; Mikaze - Hagidzuki (pseudo) > Kachoufuugetsu (flower, bird, wind, moon), "the traditional themes of natural beauty in Japanese aesthetics."

For Haine and Aika:
「青は藍より出でて藍より青し」が名前の由来です。
"Ao wa ai yori idete ai yori aoshi" > "blue dye comes from the indigo plant and is bluer than indigo" > "the student has become the master."

last edited at Jul 22, 2018 12:51PM

…Huh, I had never noticed the Asa-, Yuu-, Hiru- thing. >.> Nice catch.

For the rest, we have Sakurada Asuka and Hagimoto Mikaze, "sakura" being the cherry blossom (obviously) and "hagi" being the Japanese clover.

Ooshiro Yukina and Mita Towako seem less related by meaning and more through aliteration (o-i-o-i-a i-a-o-a-o).

For Aoi Haine (blue well - ash sound) and Yukimura Aika (snowy village - indigo flower), I got nothing except the blue-indigo thing.

last edited at Jul 22, 2018 11:27AM

True, I almost forgot that they still had a full year of high school left. I'm actually pretty sure the current arc will end will Ayaka tearfully saying goodbye to Mizuki or something. It might play a big part in the next volumes − with Mizuki gone, Yurine will become Ayaka's only confidant. She might even move to the dorms and become her roommate, although that would be a bit too easy.

As for Ai, I can't even imagine her paired off with anyone, she just works too well as "everyone's buddy". Hell, if you look at the early chaps it seems obvious that Canno had inially planned to hook her up with Chiharu, but dropped that to introduce Izumi instead.

I just hope we get a teacher arc before the end… Canno mentionned a while ago that she'd like to draw an adult yuri, that would be the perfect chance to try it out.

^ "Kaguya Wants to Be Confessed to - Official Doujin" (chapter 4). Sadly not a yuri manga. >.>

Eeh, I don't agree that Ayaka and Yurine's relationship was "unchanging" until now. It's always been evolving a little with each chapter. So I don't think this can last for much longer, unless Canno starts focusing much more on side couples after this volume… or continues Ayaka and Yurine's story long after they officially hook up, like Citrus did. Which I would be all for. But this series is rapidly approaching volume 10, which is already a lot for a yuri manga.

On a side note, I couldn't help but think of Ayaka a little reading this…

last edited at Jul 18, 2018 9:10PM

It was in the goddamn synopsis of the series right off the bat, so yeah.

^^ A fair point… The volume 6 example felt more organic actually, as Amane's intervention influenced the developments between Izumi and Chiharu, to an extent. Doesn't seem to be the case here.

I'm thinking of the volume 9 cover though. On all the covers you have the side couple smiling and happy together, so it's hard to imagine a cover where it's… not the case. Or maybe the cover will show Mikaze and Asuka smiling and happy together, but they'll still break up in the story. That'd be a nice bit of trolling.

PS: Page 25, am I the only one who thinks Ayaka's slight cross-eyedness adds to her cuteness?

You are by no means alone. (There’s a reason people close their eyes when making out—more than one reason, actually, but the lack of a distinct focal point is certainly an important one.)

Ah I see, there's that too. I feel like it's not specific to that panel though. Canno generally draws Ayaka's eyes in a very distinct and strangely adorable way, especially in the last few volumes. It was mentionned at some point that she had bad eyesight, so it might be to represent that.

last edited at Jul 16, 2018 3:34PM

There's a BIG problem! Yurine still hasn't got the self-confidence to tell Ayaka how she truly feels and Ayaka doesn't even comprehend where she wants their relationship to go, even though her body seems to know pretty well. The fact that Yurine's response to Ayaka finally initiating a kiss with her was to maneuver her back against the fence, take control of the situation, kiss her a second time, then BOOP kiss her on the tip of the nose and say it's time to head back to class... because this is getting far to close to something like a real relationship and she's just not ready to admit that she's worthy of that yet...

Oh yeah, I agree, but that's like, the natural continuation, not a "new problem". Of course they weren't gonna fly off to Europe and marry the next day. :þ Which is also why I'm a bit surprised Ayaka went for the kill so quickly.

(And we need to be precise here—that was not just a kiss, but a good full pair, with at least one more interrupted by the bell.)

I actually had the impression their lips didn't touch during the first "kiss" − Yurine backed off slightly and changed to a more "comfortable" position for the big smooch. Whatever the case, she's still trying to be the "dominant" partner, probably because she's afraid of being on the receiving side (as seen in chap 35-36).

Totally just guessing the last one is Haine (aka The Surprisingly Small Age-Gap Incest one)

It's Izumi (and Chiharu behind her). I'm always surprised at how much trouble some people have remembering the couples, honestly. >.> Speaking of the chart, we can update it I guess? Or is it too early yet?

This chapter was very real, actually. Ayaka's realization that her parent is just another faulty human being, not unlike herself, is one that I haven't made until much, much later in life.

Indeed. You know, back in the early volumes, I thought the conclusion Ayaka would reach would be that being no. 1 doesn't matter and she'd throw the whole competition thing out the window when realizing she loved Yurine. Instead she kept on wanting to be no. 1, but her motivations simply changed from "defend my pride and forget about Yurine" and "fulfill my mom's wish" to "get that burden out of the way so that I can finally be honest with Yurine" and "break free from my mom." Both of which are much healthier and relatable.

Now I wonder how the end of this arc will connect to the end of the Mikaze/Asuka arc (if they do connect). There are some parallels there − on one side two girls who used to date but feel like they might not be made for each other, on the other two girls who realize they are made for each other but are still afraid to take that next step.

PS: Page 25, am I the only one who thinks Ayaka's slight cross-eyedness adds to her cuteness?

^^ It's actually quite interesting that during that kiss, Yurine tries to take back the initiative (see how she grabs and moves Ayaka's hand), as if to say "wow there, not so fast." We see Ayaka's flustered reaction afterwards, but we don't see Yurine's reaction… which must be pretty similar, as much as she pretended to keep her composure.

I do like the fact that the key to beating Yurine was… relax and stop working herself to death.

By the way, I must say the middle panel of page 20 is really beautiful… or would be if the digital raws didn't slightly ruin the glowing effect…

What problem? There's no problem. At least for now. >.>

Not sure the reference to funerals is intentional… unless there's a subtext of "burying their old selves" or something?

edit: Chap 43 is out. Say what you want about Canno, but her kisses are consistently A-grade. And this one was A++.

So we might actually have some post hook-up chapters, depending on how many volumes are left…

I still think they'll get back together by the end, but I can't see how… Mikaze has thrown in the towel and it would be awkward for Asuka to crawl back to her and say "Err, I know I told you we should break up but, can I, like, go back on my words? No?"

We'd need a freaking tapestry for that.

One thing Canno consistently does well is visual rhyming.

In this chapter several times people visualize in a fairly abstract way another character who is not present (in other words, we see an image of a character outside of any specific memories). Shiramine pictures Kurosawa, Mikaze pictures Asuka, and Kaoru pictures Kurosawa. We see all three characters from behind, but in the second and third examples we don’t see a face, only a back, while Ayaka’s Yurine is turned around toward her (and us).

The panels of Mikaze’s lost love and Karou’s unspoken crush look almost exactly the same, while the image of Yurine’s forthright affection and Ayaka’s barely repressed reciprocation recalls those poses but is completely transformed. The side-by-side contrast on page 14 between Ayaka’s thoughts and Mikaze’s is especially effective.

…Damn, I hadn't noticed that. We can add that in that panel, Ayaka's look is slightly pained and longing, while the image she has of Yurine is that of a proud but gentle smile… So yeah, it seems like all traces of bitterness have vanished towards her "rival".

last edited at Jul 11, 2018 12:04PM