I have to imagine that the juxtaposition between the encounter with would-be molester and then Satomi feeling up Miyako in a public park restroom was deliberate, but I'll be damned if I can decipher what it's supposed to mean.

last edited at Jul 27, 2019 4:51PM

I love this story. It's always worth a reread.

Did not koharu intend to study abroad?

No, she didn't. That (p71) was a mistranslation. It should have been "famous foreign language college" or "university of foreign studies", rather than "foreign college". So it's a Japanese university, but it specializes in foreign languages/cultures/etc.

Yeah, that really confused me, but if you look on the paper it says 関東外国語大学.

last edited at Jul 26, 2019 12:56PM

There are tons of boring mangas out there. Yet this is the trash? Trashy characters is different than trash manga. It's like reading for example Dexter, then saying the book was bad because the guy was a serial killer. That's exactly the point of the story. To showcast characters like that. It is not supposed to be a happy cUtE story.

I think you're still misunderstanding why people think it's trash. There are good stories about trashy people. Most of Kodama Naoko's works fall into that category, in my opinion. Her one-shots and shorter series are well-paced and engaging. Netsuzou on the other hand is just a complete mess of a story.

The main characters in Moratorium and Cocytus are bad people. Mao is incredibly selfish. She's obsessed with Itsuki and she wants to keep her to herself forever. However, she isn't really Itsuki's friend. She doesn't actually care about her. She deliberately manipulates her to try and make it so Itsuki can never leave her, regardless of how painful the relationship is.

Shiina is a coward. She's afraid to stand up for herself, and she's completely unwilling to stand up for Kuroneko. She takes advantage of Kuroneko's kindness in private while at the same time treating her like shit in public. However, the stories do a good job of getting us to empathize with these people. We understand why they do what they're doing. They may be bad people, but they feel human.

Netsuzou is mostly not like that. Hotaru is tormented at the thought that Yuma will never love her back, so sleeps around with random guys to dull the pain. But at the same time, she can't resist making moves on Yuma. Then when Yuma actually likes her back, she runs away because she thinks she's too shitty a person to get what she wants. That's rather extreme, but it's interesting. A character like that could make for a good story. In fact, I'm sure it's made for many different good stories, some of which I've read.

Yuma is too fucking dumb to realize that her friend who's constantly coming on to her might harbor feelings for her, and too dumb to realize that the fact that she enjoys it might mean that she reciprocates those feelings. Oh, and she's nice to people. That's... uh, not as good. I guess you could have this character in a short story, and in might still be interesting. Or maybe she could be a running joke in a gag manga. But having her as the main character of your 30 chapter dramatic series is like writing an epic about a bowl of oatmeal. She's just too dumb to be believable and to boring to care about.

Fujiwara is... evil? I feel like there was supposed to be some explanation of why he does the shit he does, but it never materializes. Maybe he was like a mirror of Hotaru, gay for his friend but unable to do anything about it? I forget. Also, he's not much of a villain. He's constantly presented as this menacing figure, but then all he does is say mean things to them and then spread (true) rumors about them. Maybe a character like this could carry a short arc in a long-running series with otherwise strong characters. But as a primary antagonist, he just doesn't have enough going on. It's clear very early on that he's not actually a threat, and then after that he's just a complete waste of space. The other guy is so plain as to be not worth mentioning.

So overall, you've got this really half-baked premise based around one very out-there, but complete, character, and three cardboard cut-outs. The presentation is over-the-top, and for me that saves it through sheer ridiculousness. It turned out to be a very funny series. It's certainly not the worst manga out there. It was more ambitious than something silly like A Room For Two or something very basic like Girl Friends, but it just didn't accomplish what it set out to do, whereas those two series deliver exactly what they promise.

The reasons Netsuzou gets more shit than other, even worse series is probably because it also got way more hype. It turned out to be very popular, and the popular and mediocre always receives far more criticism than the unheard of and abysmal.

last edited at Jul 26, 2019 10:47AM

Logged in just to defend Kodama, the Lesbian Manga Jesus lol

Kodama is authentic, unlike most authors out there. You know what to expect with her, and it's definitely not PC. Again unlike most authors she shows that her characters experience love with mixed feelings, like self-hate, jealousy, envy, selfishness etc. Which is, in fact, a very realistic take on how most of us experience love and being loved, even if (hopefully) not to the same degree present in her stories.

As for NTR, I'm not sure what all the hate is. I can only imagine a lot of readers in this forum are male and got triggered by a guy being "cheated on". Which by the way, the situation of 2 people fighting for the same girl and one of them using underhanded tactics to get her is so common lol Yuma's reaction of extreme obliviousness combined with acting on her feelings without realizing what it means, again, one of the very common forms of coming out. Just because it's played up for the drama, doesn't mean it's not one of the most realistic stories out there in terms of the theme and how it's handled.

I think most people disliked NTR because it's just really trashy. There's a big cliff-hanger at the end of every chapter (which never actually develops into anything), the whole narrative is structured around a bunch of "shocking" reveals emphasized by really big pictures of anguished faces, and none of the characters really act like normal human beings. They all seem to have some really extreme personality disorders. And they're just so dumb. People can be surprisingly blind about people they're close to, but nobody is this fucking stupid.

Those are exactly the reasons I like it (it feels very forthright in its trashiness, it's kind of charming), but I can see why other people don't. It doesn't have anything to do with "PC" or being triggered by a male getting cheated on. There's fucktons of yuri about men getting cheated on, any everyone loves that shit. The unfulfilled housewife or unassuming young woman being tempted away from her under-appreciative lover by an open, alluring lesbian is its own subgenre, with a very long history.

NTR is "realistic" in the sense that, yes, in the real world sometimes people are unfaithful. Relationships can be really messy and cause a lot of emotional anguish. But I don't think NTR is at all a realistic portrayal of how human beings end up in those situations or how we think and feel about them. It just seems like a fairly poor example of fiction about cheating. Both cheating and being cheated on are written basically as fetishes, rather than real problems that people face. When I think of realistic manga about cheating, stuff like https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/roche_limit comes to mind.

last edited at Jul 24, 2019 10:32PM

Every time I see this come up, I end up wondering whether or not this is illegal. In the US, I think the there was a federal law defining "virtual child pornography" as a form of child pornography, but it was only on the books for a few years before the Supreme Court voided it in Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, since the point of anti-child porn laws is to protect actual children from abuse. But then there are competing cases in different circuits about a different law that did much the same thing. And on top of that, it might still be considered obscene, and thus be illegal to distribute or sell under state laws, but mere possession of obscene material cannot be criminalized.

And of course, by researching this, I probably am not doing myself any favors if anyone's keeping notes on search history. But sometimes you just need to know.

The NY Times has been careful and accurate in its reporting. And also, their descriptions of KyoAni shows are kind of unintentionally amusing, which is always a plus during dark times like this.

Kyoto Animation was co-founded by Yoko Hatta and her husband, Hideaki Hatta, in 1981, and went on to produce high-quality, meticulously detailed works. They included “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya,” a science fiction series based at a high school, and “Lucky Star,” whose intelligent female protagonist is distracted from her studies by anime and video games. Kyoto Animation also played a role in the careers of two star women directors of television anime, said Patrick W. Galbraith, a lecturer at Senshu University who has written extensively about the art form. “That’s significant,” he said. Naoko Yamada directed the series “K-On!” for Kyoto Animation, and Hiroko Utsumi directed “Free!” a series about a boys’ swimming team. “Free!” stood out in the anime world, often known for being preoccupied with the female form, because it focused on the male body instead.

last edited at Jul 20, 2019 10:14PM

I think mosaiced pornography is always inferior to un-mosaiced, but tastefully-done erotica that naturally hides things via the point of view or clothing or sheets can definitely have its own appeal. Sometimes, "and then they had sex" (either explicitly stated or implied through action) is enough. It depends on what kind of story the author is trying to tell. For example, I don't think https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/friday_night_cinema would be improved by a 5-page explicit sex scene at the end. On the other hand, the comedy and characterization in https://dynasty-scans.com/series/is_my_hobby_weird is almost entirely via sex. This story would be greatly inferior if things were kept hidden.

From some googling, they just look like the typical janky, mostly-functional readers those guys usually put out. Honestly, I think it's kind of fucked up that mangadex is requesting people report them to google as phishing sites without even claiming that they're actually doing that.

using arson as a distraction tactic within a bigger plan.

What the fuck are you talking about? The arsonist used the fire to distract from his secret plan to steal their files or something? The building was on fire for 5 hours. People are dead. No need to make this into some kind of ridiculous conspiracy with no evidence whatsoever.

Quite honestly, I just re-read some chapters and am VERY confused about the background and involvement of Randall (they own Aiostar Group, which ran the mall - important? just coincidence?), the infection itself, the role the river/marsh plays, hinted at past outbreaks....
As soon as I find time, I need to re-read the whole thing and hope some pieces fall into place then...
I'm not even sure Randall knows the school's water supply is a potential cure, although they may have figured out a connection between the water source and the outbreak in the past..? @_@

I think it's pretty clear that they have no idea about the potential cure in the water supply, otherwise they wouldn't be so keen to nuke the place. Presumably, Shiiko is the first person to realize how to stop the infection.

I don't really know what the import of Randall owning the mall is. The fact that they owned Megurigaoka High School and the university is there to explain the rather excessive precautions in those locations in the event of a biological disaster. They were concerned about a containment breach, and began to build shelters out of their various holdings, I guess. Maybe the mall had some protections as well, and that's why so many people there didn't succumb to the airborne infection right away?

Those credits. “End cat hunger” or “stop cats from over populating the world because you flat out hate cats”. And “Week 4 with the lesbians” lol gotta love the translator.

Yeah gotta love that translator who comes up with every part of the credits. Not that editor guy.

Just let me bask in my undeserved praise.

i have trust issues because of gakkou gurashi and the mangaka...
plot armor is weak in this manga and I love it coz it puts you in the edge but it still hurts

also, from the translator's notes...one of the soldiers said something along the lines of "she is not the target"
who's the target, then?

Kurumi. Back in the office building they sent those guys some data showing that she'd survived being infected. Dunno how they knew Miki wasn't the right girl though. I guess they figured that since she just got bit, she wasn't the right person?

Damn so did that one dude get trigger happy or something and shoot his commander when the commander tried to grab his gun?

I think he just didn't want to shoot an unarmed teenage girl, and the only way to avoid doing that was to kill the other soldiers. The knowledge of certain death in the near future probably really clarifies things, at least for some people: if you do not fear death, then no one can force you to do something you don't want to do.

last edited at Jun 30, 2019 7:02AM

When does Jun use the incest card, you know, kissing and rubbing stuff, action is Def good and story too, but I don't know if getting all touchy feeling and hugging g would be considered incest.

I agree that it's not considered incest, so I think that the tag for that is not needed anymore.

Agree. Pls do review this admins

If you look at other things tagged with it, the incest tag is even used when one sister secretly loves the other and there's no physical intimacy whatsoever.

I started reading this when I was 18.

I'm now 23.

I'll probably be 30 when this finally ends.

I think the author's been drawing this for 7 or 8 years now, judging by the note at the end of the next chapter. That means some people have been reading one chapter every 6 months for 7 years.

Maybe for once the male won't be the villain here.
...Yeah, right. Instead of playing solitaire he was probably texting a lady friend of his own, so in the end everything will wrap up nicely without anyone feeling too guilty.

Shimura Takako is not afraid of making the audience feel uncomfortable (check out Wagamama Chie-chan if you haven't already. That's some fucked up shit). I'd be surprised if her husband is cheating on her. And even if he is, it's not going to be presented as somehow justifying Ayano's own betrayal.

But regardless of how it's done, some people just see what they want to see:

the husband here is also at fault. when you're not showing enough love for your partner and take them as granted that's what gonna happen. I'm not saying that the wife is not at fault but she's clearly seeking affection which her husband is not giving.

Is there any indication that the husband is distant or fails to show affection? No. None whatsoever. We haven't seen much yet, but to me their relationships looks fairly normal, or even close. But apparently you can just tell. If someone cheats on you, it's always because of your own personal failings. If you'd loved them the way you're supposed to, then they wouldn't have betrayed you.

I don't quite understand the plan of that apartment.

I know what LDK is, but what's UT and ENT? And a one-and-a-half bath??

One-and-a-half bath is an apartment with one full bathroom (toilet, sink, and shower/bath) and one half bathroom (toilet and sink).

Morinaga Milk really committed to making this cat the center of the story. All development is triggered or suspended based on the cat.

@schuyguy

I didn't mean to criticize your translation at all, you do a great job. I was just trying to make a point about predictions based on exact phrasing (because @uncertain highlighted the word "we").

I didn't necessarily think you were criticizing me, I just wanted to explain my thinking, since you mentioned the translation.

The 後 throws me out of the loop here. Why is graduation, specifically the time after graduation so important, that that's the descriptor she's using for the kouhai?

If she is Igarashi referring to Chidori, that seems like a weird way of phrasing it. "The kouhai I am/was in love with", "The kouhai I was telling you about", "The kouhai that rejected me" or just "That kouhai-chan" seem way more natural to me. If that's a spoiler, don't answer me.

As for why she'd use 卒業したの後の, I don't think there's any spoilers there. Here's what we know in the context:
1: she's back in town after being away for a while
2: she's going to visit the school that she recently graduated from

Then the full line in question is this:

ん～？だって．．．どうしてるか　気になるじゃん？ 卒業した後の　後輩ちゃん

This question is fragmented: first she asks, then she supplies the topic. I think it's written that way more for dramatic effect than for any other reason. The subject comes last as a dramatic reveal. As a consequence, the structure requires that the second part be a single noun phrase, meaning that all the information has to be contained in a clause modifying kouhai. Even though it's grammatically modifying kouhai, I don't really think it's meant to identify her or single her out. It's just general information.

So I think she refers to her kouhai this way simply because she's emphasizing that she's curious about how the kouhai has done in the months since she last saw her. Graduation and visiting her old school was the previous topic of discussion, so it was natural to continue that line of thought.

The literal translation is "The kouhai-chan from after graduation ♡" (卒業した後の後輩ちゃん♡), but that sounds awkward in English. The "cute", "we", "left behind" are not in the original. I haven't read ahead, so this nitpick might be completely irrelevant, but it's important in the sense that we shouldn't start speculating based on translation word choices.

The meaning is not "from after graduation"; a "literal" translation would be something like "after-I-graduated-kouhai-chan." In Japanese, generally there are a variety of possible ways an attributive clause interacts with the head noun, but it's usually clear in context. In this case, "the kouhai I graduated from" or "my old kouhai now that I've graduated" seems like the obvious meaning. My word choice was based on that interpretation.

As for the "cute", I needed to use "kouhai" as a noun rather than as a name or term of address because of the way the statement is structured. I try to only use honorifics on terms of address, and ideally only on actual names: "the kouhai-chan" just reads very poorly. So I wrote "the cute kouhai" instead, as it conveys the same meaning and feeling; the "-chan" here is basically a term of endearment.

The "we" is a bit of a guess. It's unclear who she's speaking to, since we can only see one side of the conversation. Based on the way she's speaking, I thought she could be talking to a friend from high school who'd graduated with her. Probably someone who stayed in or around Tohoku, whereas she herself went to university elsewhere.

Generally, I think you're right. If the translator is very good, then you can read a lot into their words about implied meanings in the text. If the translator is like me, then sometimes we fail to consider potential alternate readings of our words (or just screw up) and accidentally imply something that is incorrect. When a statement is ambiguous or has multiple meanings, it's very hard to properly convey those hints or alternate readings in a different language.

I wrote this translation after I already read the next couple volumes, so later events influenced how I resolved ambiguities in the text. I believe I remember thinking this was Igarashi when I first read it, but maybe it's not as obvious as I thought.

What IS it with yuri manga and throwing in the shot of the "mysterious" woman in trendy clothes walking through a terminal or a train station to show that she's coming from somewhere far away? And having her say something ambiguous that obviously hints at a history with one of the leading ladies? There's clichés and then there's this!

Why, it's the yuri version of the mysterious stranger who appears in similar circumstances in practically every mainstream romantic manga

I don't really know how anyone can call Igarashi "mysterious". We know who she is, we know her name, and we know quite a bit about her relationship with Chidori, even if all the details are as yet unclear. We probably know more about her personal history than we do of any of the other characters except the main two. That's not really a "mystery woman".

When I first read this chapter I was very surprised. I was sure the author had forgotten the name of her manga.

Except I never complained it was "overly localized" or anything like that.

I never said you did. I just said that's a situation where "go read the original" could be a valid response. I don't really know how to reply to the rest of your comment, because I think it's aimed an imaginary person who said something I didn't say.

I just often see criticisms about something being "overly localized", and typically they just make no sense. It seems like the people complain like this just want super awkward, word-for-word "translations", no matter how inaccurate a representation of the original that ends up being. If that's what they want, then they should just used google translate to "read" the original.

last edited at Jun 9, 2019 10:18PM

Didn't feel like commenting about it, but saying "if you don't like TL, read it in original" is the worst way to defend translation. People read translations, because they can't read original, but they still expect to get the same experience as native readers. So telling them if they want "more Japanese-ish" they should read original is the same as telling them, "TL made a shitty job at conveying the feel of original work" (or they didn't try to do it in the first place, which is another whole topic). I understand some localization is unavoidable or sometimes even necessary, but the entire point of good translation is finding balance.

Obnoxious as it is, "if you don't like it, go learn Japanese" is a pretty fair response to comments like "this is overly localized." Readers can and should demand accuracy, and translators should respond to legitimate criticism by fixing mistakes (in general, I think most of us do correct errors when they're pointed out). But saying something is "overly localized" is not all all constructive. It reveals nothing about the translation, only that the complainant doesn't know what localization means.

last edited at Jun 9, 2019 8:35PM

What means a phrase "she is hard work"? If anyone could explain why Miwa was crying being hurt hearing it, appreciate.

What they mean is that Miwa is a difficult person to deal with. Being around her is stressful or emotionally draining. because one feels compelled to attend to her emotional needs. Probably something along the lines of "high maintenance".

last edited at Jun 8, 2019 12:43AM

This sort of plot where there's a big dispute because the characters have different views on sex just annoys me. Especially when one of the characters is like Saeko. If she says she's ready, she's fucking ready! Don't second-guess her because of your own issues with irrational guilt. And now she's probably gonna cheat on her because she would feel bad about sleeping with her, or some stupid shit like that.