I'm really surprised nobody in this thread brought up the very clear and intentional trans subtext in this manga because it feels so obvious to me.
The topic is brought up explicitly with the "pre-op transexual" line, which Chihiro does not refute but instead says "You're really rude!", which is accurate: don't go speculating about someone's genitals or medical history, people.
The subject of the theme is made obvious when Chihiro describes her childhood, saying "everyone mistook me for a boy when I was young, so I couldn't ask for girly things from my parents". This statement could only really mean two things and the non trans explanation (she was an only child raised as a boy by a family who really wanted a son) is a huge reach, because it makes the "so" of that sentence and the "A therefore B" structure it indicates not make sense.
Finally, the theme comes together with the plot as Chihiro marks her successful journey to self acceptance and confidence in fully embracing who she is by changing the main character of her semi-autobiographical novel from a man to a woman.

And if all that wasn't enough, she's even got a puppygirl gf, like that alone should convince anyone :P

This trans theme enhances a few different scenes of the manga: Nagi being the first person to intuit Chihiro is a girl, the manager being wishy washy in pursuing Chihiro, and Chihiro in the ending presenting much more femininely, including having a more curvy body.
And sure, you COULD argue against all of this... but nobody actually likes the "that thing you think has meaning is actually meaningless" argument, it's just a thought terminating conversation ender ;)

I don't get her hangups. Like in context, I'm pretty sure they're both considered marriageable age at this point and Elsa seems... frankly more mature than Evie a lot of the time. ╮⁠(⁠＾⁠▽⁠＾⁠)⁠╭

Oh, hey, I recognize you from Ao3.

Anyway, tbf, in terms of someone having hangups that prevent a relationship from advancing, not wanting to sleep with someone that you consider underage is...extremely valid.

But falling in love with them and dating is okay??? I do not understand how Evie could look at Elsa that way and still be willing to date her. Either the age thing is a barrier or it isn't, this half assed stance just feels like the kind of thing perverts dating a teenager irl and not wanting to be arrested for it would claim.

Huh, never heard anyone claim Nirvana influenced hiphop before. Wonder what's up with that?

Oh I love this so much. Some other commenters are putting way too much literal through into the bubbles thing, the point isn't the literal cause of her feelings, it's what she's feeling: she's got a secret that isolates her from everyone she wants to get close to that she feels a simultaneous desperate urge to share but fatalistic terror at the thought of that sharing going wrong. It's an excellent portrayal of that feeling that plenty of real people have felt for various reasons, most obviously being gay and/or trans in a homophobic and/or transphobic society. The plot isn't what's primarily important here, it's just the means to an end of, hopefully, making you empathize with this character and what she's feeling. The feeling is the thing that matters, everything else is in service to the feeling.

In general this author is really really good at these kinds of metaphorical stories that use that metaphor to depict complex and heavy emotions, and I adore them for it.

last edited at Oct 7, 2024 11:04AM

I wasn't ready for implications of reverse squirting.

I certainly would not have predicted before this that a main character in a comic published on Bilibili would imply she's into enema play.

If you're expecting straight people to act smart you're gonna be let down all the time lol.
Also that futility is intentional, it's not a dumb story, it's the main character witnessing something that's both tragic and a farce and feeling like she can only make the situation feel worse if she says anything, so she copes through it and then moves on. Frequently the real problems we face in this world are in fact related to stupid choices that are out of our control.

This has potential, and I think I'm going to enjoy it... but I wish less cheating stories would portray the party being cheated on as an unrepentant asshole. It feels like they try to justify the affair, and to be honest, that just makes me less interested in the characters. It reduces their autonomy and undercuts the messiness that makes affairs a compelling device in the first place, in my opinion. I saw Shimura Takako mentioned above, and I do think she really nails the premise in Even Though We're Adults.

Genuinely laughed out loud scrolling through the old comments on the manga after reading it, seeing this opinion that seems to be based on an idea that cheating happens at random and unpredictably. These husband characters tend to be assholes because actually nice straight men don't marry lesbians, they pay enough attention to their partners to notice that that person is not actually into them and refuses to continue. This is art reflecting comphet reality lol.
The only reason "Even Though We're Adults" works is because that MC is bi and genuinely liked him at one point. And even in that manga the husband isn't an asshole but he's still kind of a dipshit.

Anyway I liked this manga, although didn't like having to read the final chapter as a MTL Spanish to English translation typeset in MSPaint. Yukiko is basically the same kind of person as the woman from Run Away With Me Girl and the exact opposite kind of person as the MC of Even Though We're Adults: she's a lesbian instead of bi, but she actually wanted kids instead of hating the pressure to get pregnant. Her marrying a man and trying to stay with him made sense in that context, as did her falling in love with a woman and cheating on him.

This one shot has such a strange title. It's good though.

It's kind of a strange definition because there's lots of things that lead to social exclusion that don't get in anybody's way, most obviously homosexuality. If I had to define "normal" I'd phrase it essentially in a political manner, "the things, traits, and people valued by those with power over society". One of the ways gay people have grown in acceptance in America is by arguing we're a) only a little bit different from straight people, functional to society to most ways, and b) a valuable market demographic. And it sucks I hate my rights being contingent on some cishet in a suit thinking I can make him richer lol.

But Chameleonmon's definition is useful to themselves and their disguises, rather than being a unified theory. They can get the visual appearance right but don't well understand humans and are thus very imperfect at blending in socially. Their survival odds are directly tied to how homogeneous society is and how badly outcasts get cast out, so acting as an agent against normalcy is a survival strategy. Focusing their behaviors on "not getting in the way" makes sense for avoiding detection, and the people most likely to cause them problems are the people who really care about everyone being "normal".

last edited at Oct 7, 2024 4:27AM

Don't really get being morally okay falling in love with an underage person, making out with them, but not going further. Like why is the line there in the middle instead of "I refuse this romance entirely" or "My body's age is the same so I'm gonna roll with it".

Somehow, Green Tea Bitch returned.. Yay

This is such a fascinating unique story concept, and it's executed very well so far. No idea if it'll stick the landing of course, but I'm optimistic (not necessarily for a happy ending, just a good ending)

By the way: pineapple on pizza is fantastic, one of the best pizza toppings. you just gotta dice it instead of throwing big rough chunks on there, you want an even distribution of pineapple flavor. It's a similar concept to any combination of tangy and salty, like glazed ham or maple turkey.

I think it's not really about taste to me, I just don't like the idea of any fruit on pizza. Maybe because it's damp, or too sweet, not sure.

I feel like a massive dork saying this, but tomato sauce is technically fruit sauce >.>

Some people definitely don't like tomato sauce either for some reason. I have a friend who hates pizza unless it's made with white sauce, but she actually makes an exception for Hawaiian pizza lol

Yeah people have all different kinds of preferences, and so you get various unique kinds of pizza. lol that's interesting that an exception gets made for Hawaiian pizza though, and for me I don't eat pork so I bounce off that kind

I know of a fantastic halal pizza place, they make their Hawaiian pizza with turkey bacon and turkey ham :) it's delicious

By the way: pineapple on pizza is fantastic, one of the best pizza toppings. you just gotta dice it instead of throwing big rough chunks on there, you want an even distribution of pineapple flavor. It's a similar concept to any combination of tangy and salty, like glazed ham or maple turkey.

I think it's not really about taste to me, I just don't like the idea of any fruit on pizza. Maybe because it's damp, or too sweet, not sure.

I feel like a massive dork saying this, but tomato sauce is technically fruit sauce >.>

Some people definitely don't like tomato sauce either for some reason. I have a friend who hates pizza unless it's made with white sauce, but she actually makes an exception for Hawaiian pizza lol

By the way: pineapple on pizza is fantastic, one of the best pizza toppings. you just gotta dice it instead of throwing big rough chunks on there, you want an even distribution of pineapple flavor. It's a similar concept to any combination of tangy and salty, like glazed ham or maple turkey.

lmaooooo slender man

Also I've actually heard empowering rhetoric like this before. Embracing the hatred, the othering, directed at you by shitty people judging you for standing out compared to their normalcy. It's why so many of us love characters intended to be villains, like Ursula from The Little Mermaid (or the characters in this manga hahaha)

Probably also worth remembering that Lapis's confidence in if she'll go through with it has also been shaken, as she's tempted to just be happy with Natori instead. She's all in a big moral jumble trying to pick between two completely at odds paths. Being with Natori means giving up on revenge, and seeking revenge is a suicide mission, she doesn't expect to be able to live after doing a mass murder, so she'll be leaving Natori behind in life regardless of if she wants to go "why not both" lol. Diana accidentally put her on the spot prompting her to make up her mind, and she couldn't.
Also the poly ending is still on as far as I'm concerned, Diana's key to solving this dilemma. She's got a lot of potential for targeted non-mass murder once she gets rolled into their polycule slash murderous conspiracy. She was just seen by the whole school absolutely shaming a royal who tried to duel her, she's got that in for the anti-royals.

last edited at Oct 4, 2024 11:41AM

It's fun how confidently wrong the Dowager is twice in a row this chapter

Mu Xiaoen had that weird phase where she resented her parents for being too nice to her and not scolding her. I wonder how that played into her reaction to seeing her bio mom being such a control freak to her bio sibling.

I have kind of mixed feelings about this series; I kinda like it but I'm really not interested in Meiling/Sakuya at all which seeing as its the central ship is obviously a major hampering. Like my favorite chapter by far is the Flandre and Yuuma one but that's really an exception.

I dunno, I feel slightly guilty that I want this manga to be something different than what the author intended.

I wasn't particularly into the ship either before reading this, because normally they're both characterized pretty differently than this by other authors, but like this isn't a romance manga, it's a comedy manga. So ship preferences don't really feel relevant to me lol.

I've still yet to bother actually playing a Touhou game. It's just a constellation of various connected manga and doujinshi series for me lol

Edit; my favorites are this manga in number one, The Magician Who Loved A Fake in number two, and Wild and Horned Hermit in number three.

last edited at Oct 3, 2024 6:28AM

:(

Trans slime wife. What a wholesome story :)

Entirely possible Nozomi was fully an incubator baby I think. Also do we know how old Mirai is?

Edit: actually since her family and Michi were taken by surprise by Mirai making a baby and fleeing to the past, I bet there was neither a doctor nor a pregnancy involved, just some kinda future incubator artificial womb gadget she ordered off the future Internet and ran in her closet.

last edited at Oct 2, 2024 6:54PM

"Please don't sleep in my bed without Sakuya-san's permission" lmao