I love this manga, and I've reread it so many times, but I always get put off by the accidental trans subtext of Yae. It's really frustrating watching a character that seems... Pretty aggressively dysphoric just get handwaved as having a deep seated complex related to their attraction to women. Yae says at multiple points they wish they were born a boy, is deeply uncomfortable when they're referred to as girly and especially when their boobs get emphasized, and is absolutely pissed when it's assumed they're not the "man in the relationship", and the list goes on. (THEY LITERALLY BIND AT THE START) As a trans person, it makes a hot story that I really like pretty hard to read when the mangaka sets that up only to justify it away.

I really only have great things to say about Hanjuku Joshi otherwise, which makes that a huge shame.

Hmm, I honestly never thought to look at it thru that perspective. I am cis-female and I felt the same way as Yae at that age, so I suppose it could be seen from various angles?

I'm confused at the latest chapter. Did some time pass?

Yeah, several months to a year. Ana is in high school now, its spring-ish again after we saw her go through summer, fall, and winter.

Am I the only one wondering how come Komari's parents are so easily and enthusiastically accepting of Maki and Midori? It can't be just me...

Your high school kid (who is about 17 years old) invites two "friends she met online" to your house, and these two friends turn out to be two adults in their late twenties. This gotta trigger some alarms! Wouldn't you feel at least a little bit worried?

It's a little weird but not impossible. Literally happened to me back in 2000. I went to meet and stay with my friend I'd met online in 1999. I was 21 and she was 17. Granted her mother was a horrible parent but still, it can happen.

Is it over? Was that it?

No. A couple more chapters left.

I live in Washington State and the whole state has had dine in restaurants, bars, and any social events closed/canceled. School has been canceled thru April. We havent yet gotten to "state mandated self quarantine " but its surely just around the bend. I'm one of those in the at-risk groups because I'm diabetic, have poor lung function, and I live in a building that's for elderly and disabled so I'm surrounded by home health aides coming in and out. Its inevitable that I'll get it, just hope it doesn't kill me....

SHES NOT EVEN 15 lolol

SHE IS NOW

Ugh, these updates are keeping my self quarantined ass afloat. Thank you.

God tell me about it. I'm surrounded by elderly and disabled folks in my apartment building in a town in WA state that has confirmed cases of the virus. Normally I'm ok being in here all alone for days on end, but the idea that there's a virus out there what wants to kill me so I can't go do a proper grocery shop--not that any of these idiots around here have left much to shop FOR, damned empty shelves everywhere--is no bueno.

So a steady stream of yuri, even if it's trashy yuri like this, is very welcome. lol

loooool my ex girlfriend had an undercut style like that once and I too had a difficult time keeping my hands off. A truly obscene amount of ruffling went on till she grew it back out lol

Not that dark but still Co-worker have shown the photo, husband get mad and punch MC in the face. In a more normal case a.k.a husband being a nice person being, I will have been not really that hard with the cheated husband has in itself it will have been normal to be mad but that's a total different matter here.

Hoo boy I'm getting a headache already by thinking about the way this thread is going to explode when that happens.

I'm loving all these frequent updates but.... what the actual fuck is going on in this manga? Lol

lots of actual fuckery to be sure

Newsflash: you don't have to be girly to be a straight woman. lol

I think Yashiro was straight up from another work of the author. Yep, don't search that long, there is a Yachiro in Denpa Onna whose description seem awfully familiar.

A white-haired girl who claims to be an alien esper, who is often seen wearing a spacesuit and occasionally talking in a silly alien-like manner. She is rumored to be a troublesome runaway and it has been vaguely hinted that she really possesses supernatural powers, however this is not made clear.

Oh. Didn't remember a Yashiro in that. lol

Yes there are several carryover characters from other works. Yashiro is the one we actually have as a side character in this one. There are appearances by others that I'm not sure of their names or whatever but they existed elsewhere too. The creepy dude in the pool who is watching the little girls the first time Shima goes swimming is one. I THINK the dudes wearing weird hats and arguing over keychains/phonestraps are too. There's a couple others I suspect as well but I don't have a way of finding out since I can read very very little Japanese, so have not read any other LNs.

Personally I'm looking forward to the big reveal because it is gonna be AWESOME watching this pedestal that's been constructed for "Shion" be absolutely obliterated when the reality of what her "goddess" is really like slaps Aiko in the face like a giant wet towel lol... and then immediately afterward the realization of how shes been worshipping "Shion" right in front of, well, "Shion". The emotional overload may in fact fry Aiko on the spot...

Why Miku has black hair on the first pages?

You mean Ana? And her hair is darker because she's in the shower and her hair is wet?

lol maybe it wasn't considered trafficking, I just remember it because of the mother getting texts from her daughter from inside the truck talking about the moment she couldn't breathe and that she was sorry. It was over land though, and yes cargo, but 'at the back of a huge truck' sort of cargo, if that's what you mean, because that's what I meant.

Usually it is and often it results in a form of indentured servitude or debt bondage which is basically slavery. Lotta times the people in charge of the "transportation" will confiscate passports and other important ID to guarantee the people in question don't run off without repaying what is also usually a virtually unpayable debt. So yeah....

But back on topic more or less, yeah this manga is heavy handed but I so far am still giving it a chance just because the premise is different from most that I've read so far. That and I have kind of a thing for eyepatches, ngl. lol

Man I had to re-read like three pages to see what (if any) limbs are left on Fuuka. Bruh.

Presumably whomever was responsible for chaining and shackling her to a table in the one little glimpse we get of a flashback for her is the one responsible for taking her legs and arm... certainly does appear as if she was also made to be a slave or sold for something else more sinister, too.

Well that was... actually (scratching my head) I don't know what that was.
Seriously! I don't know what that was. A cute story of two broken girls completing each other? A touching tale of a girl lost befween the cracks of society, getting a second chance at life? A Semi-dark glimpse of the unseemly world of human trafficking?
I'm not sure how to take this. especially the last bit about the mom. While I get why Kaede wouldn't just hand over Kirika to the woman who stood aside and did nothing while her husband abused, and then sold their child. I think she should have at least asked Kirika's feelings on the matter. Taking stewardship of a grown able-minded person, is just the flip side of owning them.

Fuuka looked to Kaede to see her reaction to having her mother there and talking about taking her, and the expression on Kaede's face was one of terror. Fuuka then steeled herself and presented as if she was being a ruthless slaver who refused to give away a piece of property--to make the mother go away.

This manga relies heavily on frames darkening and or being speckled with black petals and such when the person in question is angry, upset, or otherwise having dark thoughts and that realization by Fuuka that Kaede wanted nothing to do with that woman was a "dark panel moment". Shes not really a jerk like that, she was playing the easiest part to get that so-called mother to go away asap.

Me after reading chapter 10:

Just give her some food and water and a comfortable place to sleep in and she's happy. She is basically a low energy cat and Adachi is a high energy dog. Remember "Adachi-Inu"? lol....

Ain't nothin' wrong with a lil' mousey mode sometimes.....

Well now, everyone who was talking about Ema being a somewhat more upstanding person, morally.... welllllllllll.........

I only have one thing to say about the latest chapter:
RIBBIT

"READ THE MOOD!"

Slavery and Smartphones in the same era? Seems weird, but sure

Do you really think that just because humanity is more modern nowadays that slavery doesn't exist? Shit, there's even concentration camps in China and who knows where else being kept in secret.

People say "never again" but it still happens.

In the US it's broken into two main categories: sex trafficking and labor trafficking.

Usually those forced into sex work are shuttled off to other countries where it's easier to control their victims and fly under the radar of law enforcement, but certainly not all. It's a very black market sort of affair.

Those forced into labor are either forced to work on farms or do other sorts of manual labor, or are forced to work in the homes of people who have the monetary and social means to keep their "servant", servile, with threats, manipulation, isolation, debt bondage, etc.

Kaede in this story appears to have been forced into both, given her reactions we've seen already; and despite her new mistress being pretty benevolent so far, it's still forced labor under the premise of Kaede being property and not a person. So... yeah. It's realistic. Weird? Yeah, also weird that this goes on in the real word. But yeah...

I like the part when they kissed

Yes it was a nice part.

I just wish that smoochin' scenes didn't have so much spit everywhere so often. I've done a lot of smoochin' in my time and I can say I've never experienced an issue with Neverending Saliva Rivers....

Indeed. Human trafficking and slavery are HUGE issues that are just not well-broadcast. I live in the US and we have a huge problem with human trafficking here that nobody wants to acknowledge, in my state there is a city up north of me that is simply KNOWN as a city hub where kidnapped folks--usually the very young of both genders--go to and "disappear". It's insane and frightening.

So while it may be a tad extreme to expect to see a grown woman "bought" in "a normal Japanese setting", one who has been visibly scarred, had an eye gouged out, and even partially flayed... it's still not impossible, especially for those that have money....

last edited at Mar 10, 2020 4:44PM