Well, I guess I wait expectantly for that UR to hit the World edition, then. Goodness.

Y'know, I've read this before, but on page 13, I was so distracted by Riko's wall-moe that I didn't notice Ruby and Hanamaru smooching in the background. I feel terribly unobservant.

@Swag Wagon - I think that topless lady has something up her sleeve.

Mm, there's that good narcolepsy representation.

Now, quick, which ones are Cute, which Cool, and which Passion?

I do like the touch that it actually took eight confessions for Umi to catch on. Just the specificity of that.

These two are so adorable. Nono is rapidly becoming one of my favorites. Hooray for posi-kubo!

Okay, subgroups as families is easy for Azalea and CYaRon — baby Maru and baby Ruby are obvious. But for Guilty Kiss, given their whole manzai dynamic, I propose Riko as harried single mom of Mari and Yoshiko.

You do definitely get the impression that Yasuko is not privy to the whole of the story. She does seem to see things a bit simplistically — "You're family now, so I'm stuck with you" is really glossing over a whole lot — but it does speak to her essentially good heart.

I think a lot of this conversation has been stumbling over the idea of "unhealthy" relationships. Would it help to add nuance? Presumably, a healthy relationship would be characterized by clear communication, equal feelings, and/or each partner understanding the other — and there are certainly some shortfalls on those metrics. But I think we need to distance "unhealthy" from "toxic". We all do a number of things that aren't particularly healthy — but won't kill us (quickly) either.

I think for the most part that this is a relationship that will need a lot of work and communication to be stable, long-term — but that it's not in an inherently bad place to be doing that work from.

(You can quibble on the incest part, but I usually figure it's something of a red herring in a relationship where genetic reproduction doesn't enter into it.)

I'm... a lot more sympathetic to Mamako here than in the first story. It seems like a lot of the structure she's set up is both to provide and to give herself the emotional distance to not be taking out her husband's infidelity on Sunako — and she really does seem to have gone to great lengths to rescue her from her mother. To loop back around to my first bit, a lot of Yasuko's bullying could probably have been avoided if Mamako and Yasuko really had talked about the situation — that she didn't need to punish Sunako — but Mamako was presumably trying to shield her daughter from some very sad realities. Paving hell's highway, as they say.

last edited at Jun 6, 2020 7:32AM

My guess is more that Shizuku has put on a role — she asked Kasumi to read lines with her, or something, and she's really gotten into the part.

I gotta say, these are great — and the full doujin follow-up ("Ecchi, zura~!" at https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/ecchi_zura ) goes some interesting places.

last edited at Jun 6, 2020 3:02AM

The one thing I want to add to this discussion is responding to the question of whether there really are so many empty classrooms et c —

It's probably not true of all schools, but particularly in the present low birthrate environment, schools are gonna be less crowded than they might otherwise be. Remember that Otonokizaka High is textually on the verge of being shut down, and that there used to be a much larger student body. The implication is that in the casts' mothers' school days, the school was fairly high class and well-appointed. Comment is made about how they're now down to a single class of first year students, so there's gonna be some unused classrooms lying around.

This artist is closer making Honoka date every girl of love live.

Let's be honest: nobody has to make Honoka date every girl. She does that on her own.

(This is a beautiful doujin. Ah, manga/anime gym equipment storage sheds, how much we owe you.)

A card — Ayumu's SR, "Overeating Alert".

To update the discussion, Anata's name has been revealed. It's "Yuu".

I think that obligates me to ship Yuu/You.

I just hit a sidestory in the game where Ayumu invites Kasumi to a dessert buffet, and boy does Kasumi get excited once she knows you are, er, Anata/Yuu is coming also. Then she gets all jealous that Ayumu and Yuu went to a different sweets buffet when they were kids. It's pretty adorable.
(Also, Kasumi is so bad at being the scheming one.)

After checking with the Hugo awards, I regret to inform you that 50,000 words is in fact a novel. On the bright side, Ms. Kunikida's work will not have to compete for consideration against Chuck Tingle's seminal short story, Bisexually Sandwiched By My Sentient Peanut Butter Husband And Our New Living Jelly Girlfriend.

We just hit the event with the sexbomb sleepover Kanan UR in the world edition — and lord, it's even better in context.

(To spoil slightly: in the moment where the shot on the card happens in the event story, KanaMari are being flirty in Hanayo's bedroom.)

I'm always amused by how much, in fan works, reproduction resembles cloning.

TIL that "salute" is the Italian version of Spanish's "salud".

Dang.

(I must admit, on first reading the title, I was very confused, wondering why a male secondary character from The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi is featuring in a Love Live Sunshine doujin.)

Dia and Mari as Mormon missionaries snugglin' up their church girl.

I try to tell myself that legitimately loving threesomes arent a thing

Er, why would you do that? They're not particularly common, but they exist.

Back to the story — the first two vignettes are very sweet and cute and fluffy, but it's the third that always brings me up short. Honoka and Kotori easily flirt with Umi, with gentle, casual intimacies. Nico catches their attention, triggering Honoka's simultaneous bragging and possessiveness — and when HonoTori leave, Nico is unsettled, but can't easily express that, or point out that the relationship between the three of them doesn't seem like "friends". The scene leaves the whole thing feeling — not quite unfinished, and not quite cut off. A little unsettling to read, I guess. Something has been left unresolved.

I'm convinced that the reason Kotori gets labeled a yandere is her School Idol Diary. There's a bit in the first chapter, where she's describing Honoka and Umi, and goes on about how Umi is so confident and attractive, how she gives the appearance of being invincible — and then just goes off:

"Well, compared to the word 'invincible', doesn’t 'rarely defeated' suit Umi better? Ah ah, if she knew that I had thoughts like that, she would surely kill me, but, Umi – I’m sorry. I can’t stop my imagination. Compared to a dashingly dressed Umi who clenches her fists and proclaims victory, a dejected Umi who is on her knees with both hands on the floor and tearfully admits 'I lost…' is so much more attractive, so much more outstanding, so much prettier –
"It makes my heart race so much faster♪....
"The Kotori who watches Umi’s archery competitions with thoughts like that is a very messed up person, isn’t she?
"Even if it’s only once, I want to experience what it feels like to be by Umi’s side when she bursts into tears...."

(Emphasis mine.)

She then mentions that she made a doll of "defeated Umi", which is "teary-eyed and dejected in defeat", and that it's her most precious possession.

Sooo. Draw your own conclusions. I don't think it's miles away from her portrayal in this book.

From my SIFAS gameplay (English version, so there's only 7 chapters and two events out, and I haven't unlocked everybody's bond- and side-stories yet), I'd say that the Nijigasaki pairings that are strongest are Anata/Ayumu, Anata/Kasumi, Ai/Rina, and Kanata/Pillow. Everybody sure is fond of Anata, though.