Also, since it's not the kind of time-stop like Homuhomu's, why is Murakami's cell working? http://dynasty-scans.com/system/releases/000/009/405/flag_time_ch08_13.png (If the phones don't stop with the time, they would be crazy out of sync, lol.)

hmmm.... good point. so either it is a.) a time bubble where time outside and around them slows down/stops, but inside the bubble it is normal time-space (time of course would have to catch up somehow with their out-of-sync time), b.) the two of them think time has stopped, but in reality it has not, c.) a serious oversight by Sato-san, or d.) ???? <fill in your favorite conspiracy/speculation here> ????

Any takers?

last edited at Oct 26, 2014 6:55PM

This took a strange turn. Three harems? One of them a secret harem? Joining harems together? And now a sudden contest with a weird 3rd year where Beniko doesn't actually get anything worthy out of it if she wins? And the competition is a beauty contest, except you can enter as a 'guy'? And wedding themed? A wedding themed beauty contest? REALLY

I kind of thought the president wanted Beniko to join the Black Lilies so she could be groomed to take over, but the president appears to be too selfish for that. As for Beniko, her prize is to learn how to beat Aoi, assuming the president keeps her word, but I think the president isn't that trustworthy (jury is still out on the president's trustworthiness).

btw, I think Aoi found out about the deal between the president and Beniko and locked Beniko in that storage room.

Finally, I can see a conclusion.

IIRC, someone says Moritani and Murakami both grow a pair. This is Moritani's chapter. I guess next chapter will be Murakami's turn.

and if you cannot, that is OK. however, just because the stories you have read have boring backgrounds, why not outline the story or stories you want to read or want to be read?

btw, thank you for creating this thread as it actually is connected to a discussion we have been having in the Stretch thread.

my point is this, start writing down what you think will make for a good story whether it contains LGBT characters or not. once you are satisfied, reach out to someone who can draw and put your talents together. then if you come up with a story about a physicist that solves the wormhole problem and opens one up to a parallel dimension where she meets and falls in love with her other dimension counterpart, great! JMHO.

So the MC won't end up with the original crush/friend? I hope so because that would be awesome!

if this is a 10-part story, then I have a feeling the MCs will go off and date others. once they graduate, they'll run into each other somewhere, remember why they really loved each other, and (cue the romantic violin music) fall madly in love.

---

on a different note, you have to admit, this is a more drawn out look at the saying "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence." for example, this chapter is about Nana's regrets after her fight with Youko-chan and how she will deal with them. I wonder if the upcoming chapters will show how Youko fared after their fight? actually, if it does, I guess for completeness sake Takamiya-sensei could look at "the relationship" from all 4 girl's POV especially now that Satomi-san's character has been introduced. however, since mystery GF of Youko-chan has yet to be formally introduced, I personally would have little issue if her POV was really brief. I guess Satomi's POV should be equally short as well... oh well, cue the music, and action!

at least the story has progressed from Beniko and Aoi bickering at one another ALL the time. sadly, I thought this series would find its footing, but Ugh! it keeps taking one wrong turn after another :-(

Wow, didn't expect Sunstone to be brought up. Here I thought I was the only one that's read it. It really is a great story. the characters are deep and interesting, the art is fantastic,
...err, wait, sorry. This is about Yuuka, not Sunstone. I apologize to the viewing audience. :)

There's actually a Sunstone thread on here.

holy shiznit! I love the art posted on this thread. ty spacepowers for digging up the link :-D

last edited at Oct 24, 2014 8:41AM

For those waiting for the earlier chapters. I am planning on devoting more time to them than I have been, so chapters from volumes 1 and 2 will probably start coming out fairly regularly now.

hey YG, thank you for all the hard work you are putting in. this is just frustration on our part, and none of the venting is aimed at you nor should it be.

I know right lol That's why shoujo ai sucks they keep teasing us the readers and not giving a thing in till the last chapter or nothing at all in the end , It's PAIN like maria sama for example I have watched the hole damn series

For drama about sisterly love -_- I don't dislike
the show it was a heartwarming Ain't going to lie it's just need the beauty of YURI ＸＤ

ummm.... I kinda place maria sama on same scale as aoi hana (where the Yuri is more obvious), but you are right, compared to either of those two, Miss S. is a half bait tease. half is Shoujo Ai/yuri and the other half is self discovery for Miss Sunflower.

on that note, I know the title is called Miss Sunflower and the story really is about her, but I'm shocked we haven't had more character development for Matsuri. right now, her role has been more tertiary than supporting. I wonder if we'll get a chapter or two to see how her feelings developed for Miss S.?

last edited at Oct 23, 2014 9:07AM

I've never played a Touhou game and probably never will (I'm bad at such games and run Linux besides)

to play the game, maybe set up wine or vmware? tho I'd grab an evaluation copy of vmware, set it up, and play the game inside of that emulator.

last edited at Oct 25, 2014 9:12PM

So judging from the accompanying pics we have three Yuri couples. This will be a fun new series to read.

who are the 3 couples? Ayaka and Yurine, the two from the track club... then who else?

http://dynasty-scans.com/images/2634, maybe?

those are the two from the track club. right?

So judging from the accompanying pics we have three Yuri couples. This will be a fun new series to read.

who are the 3 couples? Ayaka and Yurine, the two from the track club... then who else?

last edited at Oct 21, 2014 11:36PM

heh, school had to come first. but...

I hope I won't accidentally hurt you or anyone else in the process too :)

lol, nope. I've got seriously thick skin, and as I've gotten older, I've just learned not to give a f*ck. ;-)

My viewpoint is that of a left-handed girl, if it helps, lol. Or rather, my viewpoint is dramatically tired of cliche tropes which yuri has put onto its readers as a genre. I understand there's a huge lack of gay relationships in stories outside yuri, so the existence of the genre has by far been inevitable. What I would however prefer to see instead is that yuri wouldn't limit itself into a special genre, but rather become yet another kind of relationship in your everyday genres.

from one lefty chick to another, I too wish Yuri were not a niche genre, but let's admit it, it is what it is. that said, we have to measure where it has come from and realize that as much as we'd like this to be treated like any other genre, it has not. the only way that will happen is when mangaka start writing their stories as such and when editors start including more of them into their publications. once it reaches parity, then and only then will it not matter. gay, straight, whatever. ya know what I mean?

Ah, it's really difficult to express my point, I'm afraid. You see, I have nothing against characters A and B forming a special bond despite character A's left-handedness. I mean go for it! But before you do, why not go further than that? The story could be way deeper. Let's take any strong shoujo. I don't know, say, Bokura ga Ita or Skip Beat. Wouldn't it be awesome to read a story like that with two girls? I understand that one goes through a particular set of yuri-related hardships such as accepting your sexuality, coming out, unrequited love, etc. But there's so much more to add to this list from a real world. There are many hardships that gay people have to fight not because they're gay, but because they're people. And I find it annoying that practically each and every story deals with gay hardships but ignores the rest as if they don't exist. I think they do, and I think they should be part of the story, because they also play important roles in character development.

all good points, but I reiterate, let's remember where we have come from. for example, older stories (e.g. late 70's, early 80's) dealt with depressing subject matters or stereotyped gay and lesbian characters with horrible character defects. now truthfully, in some cases, gay and lesbian characters are still stereotyped as comical, villainous, or deeply disturbed, but little by little it has changed. the best way to change this is by mangaka to write more stories as you have describe, and I think that will happen because gays and lesbians are more visible and are slowly (and it really is slow) being accepted into mainstream media and everyday society for that matter. as that happens, more Green Lanterns who happen to be gay, more sy-fly or fantasy like Orphan Black, more.

I really don't like it when half (if not all) characters turn out to be gay just because this is a yuri manga. Or how male characters are completely non-existent. Just how realistic it that?

ummm..... I don't know about this one. I have my "girl" friends with the one token straight guy and he's dropped off the face of the Earth, and then I have my "boy" friends where I am the token lesbian. sometimes it kinda is a "girl's-only" event...

I think that you're correct, and this is why I'm patiently waiting for a good story writer to finally deconstruct yuri and give the genre a birth in a new light. :)

now I could not agree more :-)

Unless one goes creative and makes something new out of it.

I'm puzzle geek. I always look at things from different angles to find solutions. kinda like I treat life.

FWIW, I agree with many of your points; however, I wouldn't want to see Yuri as a genre being tossed for the sake of universal acceptance. there has to be a place for it until it gains universal acceptance and has it's "come to Jesus" moment to borrow the saying. also, I think we as readers and consumers of manga especially Yuri should be demanding more from the mangaka. otherwise, a renaissance in yuri will not occur.

Thank you takachi for a very enlightening discussion.

---

To all: I do apologies. totally did not mean to turn this into an informal chit-chat and I'll end my discussion here.

last edited at Oct 21, 2014 2:11AM

I'll never understand why any student would ever want to manage a sports team. It really IS glorified servitude.

yes and no. I was manager for my track club. only perk was being able to stare at the girls in really short running shorts without being labelled a perv (most of the time). besides, a lot of the time, you want to participate, but suck. that was my case. I sucked, but I was good at helping out.

kinda off-topic, but to the up loaders and folks who are/work with scanlators... how much manga do you guys read per year? I was just thinking that I read maybe 50-60 new stories a year, but those who upload, edit or translate must come across 2-3 times more than I do. would that be a fair accessment?

What I however do find annoying is that so many stories are so relationship-driven, putting too much focus on it. I really would like to read more manga where a bond is formed between the main characters but is not directly relevant to the plot.

takachi, your view is from the perspective of a straight person (male or female), correct? [fyi, I ask this because I believe it plays a role in you POV/perspective, but by no means is it meant to imply anything negative on either your part or mine]

so if you're looking for a bond where friendship or even something more akin to family is the emphasis, then you're not really interested in the Yuri factor? at best, what you are suggesting is borderline cannon/subtext, and if you stretch the subtleness a bit more, it could even be considered fan service. if that is the case, then why not read more SoL themed stories? because, and I mean no disrespect towards you nor am I trying to diminish your point, but what you are hoping for is not Yuri by the nature that you are wanting something that either ignores or does not emphasis that very point. it's sort of like saying... OK, so character A is left-handed. it's just a small detail in the story, but you see, the story is really about how characters A and B learned to work together as a team and formed are special bond despite character A's left-handedness.

now I might be missing the point you're trying to make, but what you are implying really isn't Yuri at that point, and yes I realize that I am associating Yuri with romantic relationships because that for the most part is how Yuri has always been portrayed. but this is just my humble opinion. by all means if I am wrong, please correct me and help me understand your point.

As for relationship-oriented stories, Stretch certainly is a breathe of fresh air. The setting is not school, and the yuri is though heavily implied not really a cannon, yet. What I like the most about it is that the characters are on the verge of accepting themselves of who they really are. It's extremely realistic in portraying how two girls are discovering a deep bond between them. It is a story where a hug means more than a kiss.

adult-themed SoL. always a nice idea. wouldn't mind reading more stories like that especially Yuri/lesbian focused. :-)

To me, once they confess to each other, once they reach the sexual relationship stage, the beauty of the story dies, because there's no more accepting yourself as gay drama in it. Yes, they might break up, go het, make up again etc, but to me that would be another story.

you remind me of someone who likes a puzzle for the sake of the challenge, and once you solve the puzzle, you lose all interest in it. lemme phrase it this way, it sounds like you like theoretical romance (my words here), which includes everything up to, but not including the actual romance. and that's cool. just seems like a waste since a lot of people want the romance which includes the mental and the physical.

And the stretches of course, stretches are awesome, hehe

only reason why I read this in the first place. j/k. ;-)

last edited at Oct 19, 2014 9:00PM

Every few months i just come back and re-read this story, again and again and again. I love it so much, one of my all time favourites.

yup. it's in my top 25 list. as much as I like the conclusion, I always wish Mizutani-san would revisit these characters and maybe draw/write one more extra to see how their relationship has progressed. However, parts of the character's traits pop up in "Like a Cinderella" and I wouldn't be surprised if "14-sai no Koi" have minor characters that act similar to the Imari-san's.

Still, it is a good story and I always feel warm and fuzzy after reading it. :-)

i soooo want more of this, is it just me? ;__;

nope, you are not alone, but it looks like this manga is on another loooong hiatus.

I love it when she does these type "stories" lol. I hope Takemiya does something like this for GLF afterwards. I want to go to this so badly... it would be a lot of fun to meet the yuri goddesses :D

Takemiya Jin is at GLF too, and she apparently is hearing people having sex in the room next to hers lol. Or theres geese in that room (from her twitter) xD

hmmm.... might be fun if she turned one of those goose stories into a cutesey little one shot. it'd be a "fly-on-the-wall" account of indiscretions at GLF.

---

I also like how they're so on-board with the rules. Some fans in the west could do to emulate them.

bah, that would be too hard for a lot of Americans. it is practically an unwritten rule that "rules are meant to be broken." meaning? rules, schmules. we don't have to follow no stinkin' rules!

last edited at Oct 19, 2014 3:13PM

cute plug for GLF, but the pictures for the circle cuts... those last few were hawt!

It's a complete mystery to me thinking of all the things in this site that are ongoing (last chapter: 2011) and incomplete and yet this total garbage got translated all the way through. There really is no accounting for taste.

for every manga, one shot, serial, or doujinshi I've hated, there have been plenty of people that liked them and vice-versa. so to each his or her own.

well, at least we know what you won't be rereading.

Aaaaaargh! I'm lost :-(

How did Ai-chan fall in love with Fuu-chan? I know chapter 25 states that Ai-chan confessed to Fuu-chan, but ...

OK, that's it. I'm boycotting until chapter's 2-24 get uploaded. *grrrrrrrrr*

College is on the whole still better than the schoolgirl stuff, though. Small steps, small steps.

kiri, thanks.very informative, and agreed, small steps are still steps forward.

:-) tho I wish her characters were older. heck, I wish all the mangaka would write more stories where the characters were not high school/collage aged. I'd love to see their perspective on older adult lesbians.

Even more college stuff would be step in the right direction. Get out of the girls' schools, into a setting where it's a bit tougher to find a partner and it's a bit more than a crush!

meh, the way the authors portray the characters is still too high schoolish. need more stories like those written by Nishi Uko IMO.

Everyone is expecting the yuri that will never come…

Ran can be totally gay even without any Yuri happening =D

Exactly! And I'd still be happy with that, because at least you'd actually have a queer character in a category inundated with high school girls and their (probably short-lived) crushes. There's a severe dearth of adult LGBT characters in yuri, which is partly why I appreciate series like "Ohana Holoholo" and Nishi UKO and Takemiya Jin's works (though Jin's characters aren't always adults, they definitely come off as being more LGBT than the pure-love-yuri type). If "Stretch" was added to that very short list, it'd be really awesome.

as these Yuri/Shoujo Ai themed publications get folded into the more mainstream outlets, do you think we'll see more or less adult LGBT characters? Also, do you think we'll be inundated with "flavor of the month" serials and one shots and/or see more releases that get watered down to the point they should not be considered subtext? I ask this question in particular because on this reader, Stretch has considerable popularity, and I'm curious if its success could be seen as a template that is copied by other mangaka.

Quiet a few Shuninta books have adult lesbians as well.

:-) tho I wish her characters were older. heck, I wish all the mangaka would write more stories where the characters were not high school/collage aged. I'd love to see their perspective on older adult lesbians.

btw, I realize there is already a thread that covers this topic. if needed, I'll repost this question there.

last edited at Oct 17, 2014 9:16AM