I loved the translation of the letter I saw because I thought it gave a real voice to Yukari somehow. But everyone just reading now will go "what letter?" since it's missing from Chapter 18 here, isn't it?

The bonus chapters feel like Volume 2 or a spin-off, though. After Yukari said she couldn't be protected. If it were that, though, the author would have murdered Yukari again somehow by now. Also, why is Yukari still friend-zoning Manabu? Who ever did more to get the girl than her?

last edited at May 12, 2015 7:35PM

Here's my quick translation of the Dengeki interview, I don't vouch for its faithfulness or accuracy, but it should give you the idea.

#2 Nakaya Nio
(Nakatani Nio)
Profile

She was awarded the 21st annual Dengeki Manga Grand Prix (Gold) Award for her submission “Sayonara, Horuta". She is scheduled to begin a new series in Dengeki Daioh starting from the June 2015 issue.

Q&A

Q: When did you first start drawing manga?

A: I started to draw pictures manga-style in a split-frame when I was a sixth-grader in elementary school, but the first time I submitted anything for publication was after starting college.

Q: Please tell me your submission and publication history before winning the award.

A: From around my third year attending a university, I had submitted work 5-6 times either there or for women's magazines. Several times they won awards, but nothing was picked up for publication.

Q: Please tell me what sparked your interest in applying for the Dengeki Manga Grand Prix.

A: Because I had been recommended to the editors.

Q What inspired the idea for your winning entry?

A: I liked the idea of a weak character from the start. I liked identical twins who strongly identify with being twins as characters, then I wrote about two distinct people who combined their identity as twins.

Q: Please tell us what the biggest difficulty you struggled with was, when you were bringing your winning idea to life as an actual work.

A: Because the number of pages that can be drawn within the time limit is limited, successfully misdirecting the reader's attention so as to maximize the surprise. Besides that, limiting the scenes to just the ones that advanced the plot.

Q: What do you think the decisive factor in winning was ?

A: Well, you can ask, but ultimately it's the members of the jury who decide what they most enjoy, and why.

Q: Currently, you are committed to developing a new series. Is there some theme in particular you wish to explore?

A: In order to put a twist on the idea of the heroine, and in hopes of learning properly about a subject as I draw it, I decided that she would get to fall in love with women.

Q: Have you gotten helpful advice from the editors?

A: I got various technical suggestions such as guiding the path of the reader's eye to that of the story, etc., but one I'm going to really keep in mind from among them is "A character with a strong ego is attractive."

Q: Finally, a word of advice to those who want to apply for the Dengeki Manga Grand Prix!

A: Just because my manga which got the award ended up being completely what was drawn to their liking, and just because you aim for the award, I think that there is nonetheless no need to draw in a "formulaic" way. People with talent and something to express in their drawing shouldn't aim overly to please. Good luck.

last edited at Feb 15, 2016 12:20PM

If this is Yui17, where's the sudden, heartbreaking conclusion proving love is an illusion and sadness is our only possible fate? did someone else write the script?

I like the translation so far.

I don't share the negative sentiments at all, either. Nor do I agree with much of anything said about Oogami Sachiko. No one seems to have noticed that when Remi hit on Ruki at graduation, Sachiko hauled off and hit her in the head, HARD. And told her to cut it out. And more importantly, right away before she could even finish a sentence. Admittedly then, she said, with a worried expression, "I suppose so" to Remi's suggestion she could always come have fun with her again. And then she got a very mischievous look, and Ruki was totally horrified, and someone said oh look she (Ruki) got really scared! So yes, Sachiko definitely teases Ruki. And yes, Sachiko absolutely loves being the guy in a relationship. But Ruki loves being the lovestruck long-suffering girl in a relationship, so they're absolutely made for each other. The scene with Sachiko's little sister makes it clear she doesn't want Remi - or anyone else but Ruki. Clearly the last person she asked her family that sort of thing about was her ex. And it didn't even phase her that her girlfriend isn't "cool." She basically said, so what, she's my girlfriend, we're a couple. The only really sad story was Asuna and Fueko. I think Fueko as depicted is clinically depressed or has a medical problem. If she's depressed, antidepressants might help, but, ironically, they really often kill your sex drive (or so the literature says). So Asuna and her are doomed either way, which means Asuna is doomed to heartbreak and Fueko is doomed to loneliness. I found Remi really fascinating. She seems really predatory and amoral, but she also has a little bit of a protective instinct for her girls and is pretty helpful. I think she genuinely disagrees with sexual fidelity and it's actually a campaign with her. She thinks girls who believe in purity and faithfulness are fooling themselves and she is eager to enlighten them.

last edited at Jun 22, 2015 7:07PM

Maybe I am the only one, but I like Hakamada Mera's art. Yeah, it's kinda fluffy, but I really enjoy it. Also her plots are the best - she can write pure fluff, comedy or even something dark and it just somehow seems natural to me.

I agree with all of that. Since I have a fondness for comics about mangaka, Watashi-no Taisetsu na Tomodachi is probably my favorite of hers, but I like literally all her work. And I find it often quite moving.

By the way as far as i know Our Last Season/Saigo no Seifuku/Last Uniform v 1 and 2 and Kanon - a children's fantasy idol series - are all you can get by her in English so far. I'm currently looking for the cheapest way to buy Akatsuki-iro no Senpuku Majo to read laboriously :)

The only part of Hakamada-sensei's art I don't like is the empty, somewhat rotated white eyes she gives some girls - usually with blonde hair - which other artists would reserve for "cute li'l undead" or something. But that's kind of her trademark by now.

Looking at what Fly-by-Yuri's translated, I think they have the same fluffy taste we do :)

This is exactly how the Russo-Japanese War started

«nicholas_ii» As tsar of all the Russias, it has come to Our attention that your whack country has authorized the production and distribution of ink-brushed manga that ship Natasha and FEDYA! That's a crack pairing, and it's not even CANON, and I can't even ... anyway, NYET! We shall fight you with a fighty fight!

«meiji_emp» N00b-kun, we will totally pwn-suru you. And our mangaka will pair Natasha with MARYA if they feel like it!

The sketchy, unfinished panels are flashbacks, as I read the sequence. It's a novel way to do that. Mei, current situation, finished, makes her recall something, that sequence, unfinished, back to Mei, real time.

Ma première expérience avec "La Vierge Marie nous regarde" etait lise en français, la seule version que je ai pu trouver facilement. Vive la "yuri" francophone!

And that was quick: chapter 5, "The Princess's Tears," has been released online in Japanese. Morinaga-sensei has increased her output. I'll admit, I was shocked over several things in this chapter. And then Fujiwara said she... I hope Miu will... If you want to spoil yourself, the link is http://bookstore.yahoo.co.jp/free_magazine-154442/; it's the fifth item お姫様の涙; click the button under the picture.

I'm putting this early in my schedule, and I'm guessing I'll get it out in early January.

Thanks for the link and your hard work, I read it cursorily but you'll probably have a good translation before I can finish reading it for real. Is it a spoiler to say bring out the Drama tag?? It might even have a Takemiya Jin-style not-so-fast-there NSHE if it's not got many more to go.?

as for the whole extortion thing....fujiwara broke a vase, asked miu to keep it a secret, who clearly says in thought she wouldn't tell anyways, then states "i'll do anything!" so when miu asks her to go out with her, she agrees. She's the one who said she'd do anything, without a threat being placed on her for it. then later after the whole karaoke thing, clearly states the convenience for her to finally have it publicly out that they were "dating." yes, she didn't know miu wouldn't tell, and yes, japanese people are very subservient and have a difficult time saying no, but i can hardly look at the whole thing as "extortion." it would be if miu blatantly says, pretend to go out with me or i'll tell, without the offer to do anything she is asked to do already out there on the table. if anything, it's actually the other way around. i mean, miu is using fujiwara to see what it's like to date someone, which naturally will grow, however platonic, feelings towards each other.

Miu said "just kidding, I don't mean it, sorry, you don't have to!" and almost fell over out of embarrassment.

And Fujiwara said okay, let's do it! anyway. I think that's the end of the extortion concern.

I joined dynasty reader just to say this is one of my favorite series ever. I think it's brilliant and shares a lot with Watamote and NHK ni Youkoso that people aren't getting when first reading it.

The Secret Recipe is one of my favorite manga comics ever, and I particularly like the way Wakatsuki developed. It is one of the few I bothered to translate for myself ahead of time. I still enjoyed the much better scanlations I found here. The skillful way Morinaga Milk took her from a popular girl who had boys wrapped around her finger to a depressed hikkikomori who washed her hair with floor detergent in the janitor's closet was both touching and humorous. This is not a bad doujin, but it doesn't improve on it.