Aphrodisiac
So Madoka can also get her present soon.

She sure likes going with the flow. And only takes issue with very specific things. I can't even imagine how this is gonna work out.
Shockingly the youngest' sacrifice actually bore fruit despite Miki being a coward. salutes

last edited at Oct 8, 2018 4:16PM

Again, kissing and holding hands since kindergarten all the way up to high-school?
They were a couple all along! At least she finally realized it now.

No, I agree with both @Pyroro and @BugDevil.

It’s just that the repeated quasi-romantic bits have been so regular that the question is, if the story isn’t trying to suggest something yuri-esque, what is it going for? A het first love is even further away than that, which suggests that any romance is pretty much off the table, and anyway, the big question has always been about the relationship between the two women. So maybe it’s a “family of choice” endgame.

I’m not trying to palmread, really—I agree that in context the things I’ve mentioned don’t read as genre tropes, but they’re also rather prominent to just be throwaway bits of banter.

Again, something like a, “I saw her with someone else at the fireworks festival and now feel terrible” scene doesn't have to be a romance trope, but that is pretty much the default starting point. I feel quite confident that the author has the chops to use it for something else, though.

I honestly think the teasing and banter was just that... ship teasing for the readers and some banter. I actually noticed that for a few chapters already the "she is like your girlfriend" etc. comments have been going down or been replaced with "she's acting like your mom" ones. Maybe the author truly does want to break away from the shipping a bit, because it overshadowed the actual point (<-- pure disgusting speculation right here)

That example is actually one of the things I meant by "undercut and diffused of romantic intent". I also thought Shino was jealous in that scene or perhaps realizing she wanted Nozomi to not date someone else... but that was why it actually hit me all the harder when I realized that in Shino's ideal world, Nozomi would always be happy with her brother. If Nozomi were to get a new partner, that would be 100% proof that Taishi is dead. That he is gone. And we clearly see that Shino can't deal with that yet. The scene was flipped from the romance stereotype into the psychological trauma one.
And that is pretty much how ALL romantic flags end up in this story.

I think it's undeniable that the author teases on purpose. The covers alone make that very clear. The question is just ... is the teasing a purpose in and on itself, just for teasing's sake so to speak, or is it supposed to lead somewhere?
Het relationships are tough to exclude since crappily done romance is common and can easily happen instantly. The other option is of course just an extension of this entire "letting go" theme, "our feelings for each other are misguided, we need distance/move forward" - whether it then acknowledges some romantic tension or just very close friendliness that kinda spilled over into co-dependency wouldn't matter much.

And of course actual romance between them can't truly be excluded. There's certainly no strict "no, definitely won't happen." moment in it. And, I mean, Stretch certainly looked like it'd go from teasing to actual development (even if it then abandoned ship ^^). I'm sure there's other examples here or there out there. And even if not, someone's bound to do it at some point. So it's not really ... an argument, per se. Just some context.

Personally, I'm not even opposed to a hetero relationship being introduced, because this author has the skill to make it believable (I'm not a yuri Inquisitor). But as we established: Romance is a non-factor in this story until now. It would be rather sudden. It requires serious set-up, unlike the Yuri ship, which can be build on the existing framework.

Although that might sound like blasphemy... perhaps a true unromantic story about sisterhood and loss is not such a bad thing? First and foremost I just want them to deal with their pain and become happy. Hahaha...

I think what makes me most skeptical is that I can't come up with another manga that has done a comparable "let's do 50 chapters and THEN maybe do some actual romance" routine. None. If a romance has been slow burn, it's practically always otherwise signaled fairly clearly that it'd be on the cards at some point.

It'd be like ... a comedy 4-koma suddenly deciding to be super plot-heavy or something ^^;

I didn't wanna say it, because it seems like thinking outside the box, kinda ruins the fun as the reader (like reading an author's tweet that says they won't do something in their work).
I also can't think of any example in romance where that happened, but there were some manga where the story took a very dramatic turn like 100 chapters in. I'm sure some people here would argue that it has been telegraphed fairly clearly, although I'm not one of them.

Expect the unexpected though!

It's kind of like reading literature--when does a pattern of ordinary details become a significant motif? When do (as a random parallel example) scenes of people chopping food in the kitchen and someone accidentally cutting themselves on a box cutter at work and a person using a paper cutter for party invitations--you know, the normal details of realism--add up to someone eventually getting their throat cut or maybe figuratively stabbed in the back?

Stay tuned, I guess.

I didn't know you were dabbling into soothsaying and reading palms haha
Just kidding, I also would like them to get together, despite the many many issues that would create. I can almost taste the drama "You are just using me as a replacement!" "I'm my own person!" "I feel like I'm cheating on Taishi..."
Ah the endless pain that could await us.

My gut has been wrong before, so tuned I shall stay.

The only way to avoid this being full on yuri is for Kasumi to reject Sakurako. Can anybody see that happening? I don't think so.

Yeah, that's not even a possibility. Kasumi's occasionally a little put off by Sakurako's intensity of love, but it never seemed like she hates it. Easygoing personality or not. Kasumi also makes it fairly clear she needs Sakurako to... uhm, survive... and how she acts only this spoiled because it's Sakurako.

It also gets clearer later on that Kasumi wants to be with Sakurako and not just because she's too dependent on her. Also, her level of comfortableness around Sakurako is way too high for just being easygoing (Look forward to ch. 29) Extra fun fact: I remember 4 kisses between the two (might be more, though), and the one in ch. 27 is the only kiss Sakurako initiated.

You sure know how to get me excited! These are the kinds of spoilers I can deal with~

You’re probably right—I too don’t get the feeling that this is heading for a real yuri romance. But that’s what it is—a general feeling rather than anything based on solid evidence from the text.

I’ve actually been saving a full re-read of this for when I feel like I deserve one, but I just looked quickly at some random chapters and I can definitely say this:

Out of those four or five random chapters, if I took a drink for every time there was a reference to or implication about the relationship between Shino and Nozomi being like a romantic/spousal one (“I want a wife like you,” “Are you confessing to a person?”, “That sounds like something a boyfriend would say,” etc.), I would be too drunk to type this right now.

The weird thing about those is that they actually feel like normal teasing. Like, something people would actually joke about. Their relationship is far from normal after all. And that is kinda where it stops, normal teasing without an actual purpose to set up romance.
Just for fairness sake, they also say she is acting like Nozomi is her mother all the time (something which makes Nozomi very peeved lol)

If this is all a set-up to turn the tables on us... goddamn. Kuzushiro is pure evil.

last edited at Oct 8, 2018 10:51AM

^The only reason I didn't mention this one (even though strangely enough this has the strongest chemistry of any Aoba pairing) is that Kou x Rin is canon. Any claim to the contrary is just asking for the death penalty.

Such a pessimist--I read that as a classic, "the way we feel about each other has nothing whatsoever to do with romantic love, nosireebob, which you can tell because of the exhaustive detail in which we've both already individually considered why it couldn't possibly be romantic love and what it would be like if it were romantic love, and we'll always be besties no matter what guy comes along, and maybe we'll just end up as spinsters together anyway" conversation. Which is always ironclad proof that there's not the slightest romantic feeling involved in the relationship at all.

So, blunt statement of dramatic intent by the author, or one or both characters whistling past the (as it were) emotional graveyard?

I do have my personal preferences, but whatever happens, I agree that this is by far one of the best-written manga series I've ever read, so I'm glad to just put myself in the author's hands and take whatever comes.

Ahahah, I would certainly love if what you describe here was the case. It's strange how both extremes could exist in the same comments section. First someone declaring this heading for an unavoidable hetero crash site and then you spinning it all into a fake-out that sets up the real Yuri experience.

I can't actually disprove your interpretation. There has been enough precedence in other yuri manga to not make it sound too outlandish. This is just a gut feeling I have. Chapter 46 didn't seem like a ship tease kind of denial moment, but rather the decidedly direct address to the audience by the author to make them stop shipping the sisters. There was something very genuine about them rejecting the idea and calling it too problematic to be worth it. Instead the chapter was again harping on Nozomi's dependence on Shino and how she has trouble coping with being left alone (the whole part about Shino getting a boyfriend and Nozomi's reaction to it).

Perhaps one of the reasons this feels like it doesn't want to be actually yuri is that each "romantic" situation has been purposely undercut or explained believably with some substitute. For example, when I read the part where Shino was blushing furiously and thinking about sleeping with Nozomi the previous night, that seemed like a very clear romantic flag... and then she actually managed to make it believable that she was embarrassed for acting childish. That happened over and over in this manga. It may even be some twisted form of playing with expectations, but ultimately these are too manifold to not be intentionally diffusing any romantic approach.

There is no Yuri here. This is a generic 4-koma school life comedy that is considered Yuri only by the kinds of people who cannot imagine two women sharing a room who are not in love.

That reviewer sounds like a self-important stuck up (and may I add short-sighted) purist. To put it mildly.

I guess the fact that the official site it's published on (as well as the mangaka) categorizes it as yuri and the dozens upon dozens of raws that show very gay behaviour mean little or were not available to them. But even beyond that, this doesn't have the usual yuri-bait feeling of many other 4koma. You'd have to be awfully pessimistic/biased not to see that it's more than confirmed that Sakurako has real romantic feelings for Kasumi. No amount of doting can possibly justify this behaviour even in an extremely over-the-top comedy (which this is not).

The only possible point of contention is Kasumi. She's been becoming more and more aware of Sakurako's advances and her reactions are certainly conflicted. She is just not the type to take things too seriously. Her dependence can go either way.

But even so, this is at the very least a Yuri crush then (from Sakurako and her sister), one of the heaviest in human history. And it only has potential to go deeper into the romantic territory, as the boundaries fall one by one. The only way to avoid this being full on yuri is for Kasumi to reject Sakurako. Can anybody see that happening? I don't think so.

last edited at Oct 7, 2018 4:04PM

^I don't like crushing dreams, so I won't object too harshly. It's just that it really was never even strong subtext and it has been neglected more than anything else in the manga. Aoba has more chemistry with Nene, Hotaru and Momiji right about now... (and that's sad, cuz they got their own pairings)

Ah, chapter 46, also known as the "Your ship is dead, in fact I travelled back in time to make certain it was never even born" chapter, courtesy of Kuzushiro.
There is a reason this isn't tagged as romance anywhere. Just because she is a yuri author doesn't mean every work is yuri (though Kuzushiro has serious trouble seperating the two, you can feel it in many of the situations and expressions).

I get it, it's about the troubles of sisterhood and loss. Nothing wrong with that.
Incidentally this might be the most organic SOL I've read in ages. All these characters feel rather real and there is so much detail in each interaction. The care to flesh the world and lives out is really astonishing.

The fact that I'm captivated despite the co-dependence part being the only actual conflict, but which hasn't even been addressed for who knows how long, is really something. The way things are framed and told just makes every little realization or reaction seem like it has so much more meaning than it does haha

and if there's anything being developed it's a potential relationship between MC and that obnoxious motorcycle guy (ugh)

That is incredibly unlikely. I think there is a little negative bias involved here. The story has not shown Shino having any interest in anyone (except subtext with Nozomi) and "motorcycle guy" was a friend of her brother. He basically just exists as another way to trigger Shino and give her more insight on her brother from yet another perspective.

last edited at Oct 7, 2018 3:14PM

^Honestly Hifumi and Aoba barely have any interactions in the manga for a really long time now. There barely was a spark between them anyway in my opinion. So calling it the "best" compared to all those more subtexty pairings (and the canon Rin x Kou one) is bold. I admire your enthusiasm!

Well Extella is more or less a sequel to Extra/CCC anyway, so one might call that an extension.
F/GO sure is the worst.

From what I've seen at least, in general CCC fanart is the most common, at least for the main pairings. That game was after all 90% fanservice (not just the sexy kind) and relationship stuff. In the West it's limited of course for obvious reasons, but Japanese artists really go ham on the CCC stuff and outfits. That's where the Nero bride and Tamamo sweater craze began after all.

https://imgur.com/Ye0bHaq

"As much as I want"
I rest my case. All of it. It's done. In fact a confession would probably somehow make Sakurako seem less gay at this point. This girl is thirstier than a man who wandered the desert for 40 years.

And Kasumi got jealous! Finally. Sweet, delicious developments!

last edited at Oct 7, 2018 6:21AM

There are advantages to being a physical ghost I suppose.

@Vankomycin & @Perlen297
We all got that part. The question was why a girlfriend wouldn't wanna hang out with her partner regardless of sexy time. That has nothing to do with being dense. No gunjumping please lol

The faces are fine. They look like they would if they were animated. Very good emulation of the original art style. As for the change of POV, it could convey some pretty strong stuff if they use it correctly, after all, this is all told through Yuu's eyes so it's fitting that every now and then we see through her eyes. Literally.

Do keep in mind though, that the first couple of episodes (and last 2-3) are generally of the highest quality.

I really do love how the episode ended though. Made me chuckle.

Sometimes we see things from Touko or Sayaka's perspective as well, don't forget. The POV is just very gimmicky. Or artsy if we wanna be really snobbish.

Well the first few and the final one usually. With some extra budget on the most pivotal moments in between. Drama series usually know how to stretch the money just right.

^she might have something planned. Even couples don't have to see each other every day of their lives lol

^who cares about him lol

For an extreme example, Yuru Yuri doesn't have a start yet gets a Yuri tag. Most of it isn't even subtext...

For real? Yeah Yuru Yuri is ironically Yuri-bait. That's a hell of a mind twister haha

last edited at May 27, 2019 3:24AM

CCC probably spawned the most fanart, ironically

Rider x Saber has been a staple ever since Hollow Ataraxia came out in 2005 lol
Not a fan of the pairing honestly, but hey, Ataraxia Rider is actually not boring.

last edited at Oct 6, 2018 6:18AM