Feels really weird, at the moment. Like, I don't get the choice to immediately jump ahead to the nth day of them acting as lovers, where Renako is already tired of it and refusing to play along, and Mai being mildly flirty has no impact because we don't have a baseline for her "normal" behaviour. If all the same events happened, except this had been a "friend" day and Mai had left on the promise that she'd be stepping things up from tomorrow on, then we'd have a bit of intrigue and anticipation going, but instead...

I dunno, maybe they're still building things up, but I'm not really invested in them as a couple yet. They're attracted to each other, yeah, but it doesn't feel like they're on the same wavelength at all. It's like they're reading from different scripts.

Lmao, I dunno. On the one hand, senpai is a horrible person. On the other hand, if she actually succeeds here, and manages to trick Maki into breaking up with Liz? For reasons that are entirely false, but to Maki, would at least feel noble and self-sacrificing? It would be the nicest thing anyone in this story has done for Maki so far.

Just think about it! This is an incredible chance, for her! If she walks away now and never learns the truth, then she will:
1: Finally get off of Liz's wild ride once and for all
2: Maintain some sense of dignity, at least in her own mind if not in reality
3: Be able to look back on this relationship through rose-tinted glasses as a great love affair that simply wasn't meant to be, instead of the revolving door of mundane indignities and gross betrayals it actually is.

I'm serious, this could genuinely be the best thing that's happened to Maki since she met Liz. Like, I'm kind of joking, in the sense that I find this incredibly funny and I'm laughing while I write, but I also genuinely think that it's true. Obviously it's not ideal - ideally, Maki would grow a spine and leave of her own accord after learning the truth, or Liz would grow a sense of self-awareness and realise how awful she's been. But I don't think either of those are actually likely to happen, whereas I feel like the author might actually be edgy and melodramatic enough to make them break up over this, so I'm kinda hoping for the best, here.

last edited at Aug 25, 2020 2:30PM

Hime's ending is... I dunno. Fine, I guess. I was more or less expecting it. What I wasn't expecting, even from this manga, was for Akira to be given exactly one frame of epilogue, and then getting defined by her hopes for someone else's kid. Like, what the fuck? Okay, so she became a stylist. I guess I can see it, though I'm not sure it lines up with... anything... she ever did or said in the story. But, fine, whatever, your job doesn't have to be a poetic culmination of your character arc. So what has she done with her life? What has she done, in the intervening years? How has she been affected by the story?

...Nothing? She's a beautician? That's it? That's all we get? About a character who was more central to the story than the ostensible protagonist? Really? She just went on existing as a foil for other people to have character development through, huh? That's all she ever was, I guess. I should have seen it coming.

@SushiKnight
Oh, totally. I definitely think in terms of "Byleth" and "m!Byleth". For that matter, I have, on occasion, completely forgotten that m!Byleth exists, lmao. I still have a tiny moment of confusion whenever I see him in fanart by himself, and not as Byleth's - uh, f!Byleth's - twin, or parallel self. I think he mainly exists in my head as Dimitri's boyfriend, at this point.

Ritsuko: “C’mon, Non-chan—we’re going out to a lesbian bar!”

Lmao, I had the same thought.

This is absolutely their canon relationship, I dare anyone to say otherwise.

Oh, so something like... They both grew up in the same crappy group home, but Adora is a "delinquent" because she gets into fights with bullies and stands up to asshole teachers, while Catra is a grade-A honour student who's a total bitch to everyone because she's secretly afraid that people will judge her - or worse, PITY her - if they find out she comes from an institution. They promise to run against each other for student body president in the spirit of friendly rivalry, but after Catra runs herself ragged campaigning for votes, Adora gets disqualified from the race and suspended from school after she gets caught breaking curfew to distribute food to the homeless with Glimmer, her new foster sister. Catra holds a grudge about this for ages, constantly bickering and flirt-fighting with Adora at every opportunity, until Adora eventually breaks her free from the clutches of the cruel but well-connected principal, and through the restorative, affirming process of being gay and doing crimes, they finally get together.

Y'know, sometimes I forget, but in chapters like this, the Mochi just leaps off the page. Like, they turned that Mochi all the way up. Chapter 10 was so Mochi, I was half-expecting Ookuma's video call with her parents to reveal that they've actually been sisters this whole time.

some context anyone?

Basically, the first half of Three Houses is a high school mystery, where the three different classes have a friendly rivalry, while the second half of Three Houses is a grim war drama, where the three classes have all split up and joined the armies of their respective nations. If a student joins your class in the first half, they'll stay with your chosen army the second.

That can create situations like this. Hilda and Marianne started out in the same class, and are shown to be very close, but if you recruit one and not the other, then they're pretty much doomed to stand on opposing sides of the battlefield eventually. This is especially true in the case of Hilda, since she will absolutely refuse to join you if you make certain choices, and will fight to the death where certain other former students might surrender.

last edited at Jul 5, 2020 5:39AM

What is so amazing. lol. I love-love art and design, so one full chapter talks volumes about it and about world building. Because manga is not a book, it have concrete visual design, which is fundamental language in this media.

Sorry, I was being sarcastic. I actually think it's extremely shallow to think you can take one passing glimpse of a story and immediately understand how complex or well-realised its worldbuilding is, especially when you're so quick to dismiss the few deliberate and revealing design choices that are already on display as lazy shortcuts.

It's a story primarily about its characters, why they make the choices they make, and how their ability to imagine better possibilities for themselves is shaped by the world they live in. It's about the fact that seemingly shallow people are often made that way by their circumstances, and they often have a lot more going on under the surface that you might not see on first glance. The worldbuilding plays a major role in that, but it's not as immediately important as introducing you to the characters and relationships around which the entire story revolves. It's not a bad thing for an author to have different priorities than you.

I am not talking about historical accuracy, lol. Where you read it? But solid and interesting fantasy design requires some hard work, and this mangaka and many more authors excuse themself from it using “this is shitty otome game, what do you expect” This is existing level of lazy isakai’s. And this is sad, for me.

I'm amazed you can discern the breadth and depth of a story's worldbuilding based on a single chapter focused on introducing the characters, the premise, and nothing else.

Lmao, I love her little "yet" at the end, there. She just can't help it. She knows which way the wind is blowing.

God, I'm so glad that older Catra with a ponytail exists. She looks so fucking good. Especially with that formal jacket hanging off her shoulder? Amazing. Could not be more gay for that if I tried. I only wish there was more of it.

The first chapter didn't really hit me because it was kind of sweet and easy, but this one got into the muck, huh? I'm into it. With a premise like this, you can't stay too clean. The art style works really well for it, too. Sparkly, but kinda... luscious? It's good.

last edited at May 11, 2020 9:07PM

Love triangle, but a very awkward one.

It's not a love triangle. Asahi doesn't love Subaru that way.

It's the kind of love triangle where one leg of the triangle is completely and utterly committed to supercharging the cause of another leg of the triangle.

So like... a Love Hadron Collider?

Haha, do you guys remember how Shizuku's violent outbursts when she was afraid of Minami drifting away from her was a sign of what a toxic influence Shizuku was and how their relationship had become twisted and codependent and that Minami really needed to get away from her so they could both be better? Man. Good times, huh? Good times.

last edited at Apr 28, 2020 11:47AM

Oh my god. Are they really gonna...? Is the plot really gonna go where I want it to go? As in, Nozomi takes the ring as a sign from Shino that she wants Nozomi to keep her brother in her heart? Just as Nozomi is starting to become aware of her own desire for a more personal relationship with Shino, and reads this as a tacit rejection? Thus leading to sadness and regret for everyone? I mean. I really hope so. Hell yeah. Just tear me to pieces, go for it, please.

Idk, I just feel like they have to deal with how ambiguous their relationship is, at some point. Even if this isn't a "yuri" story and they don't end up together, this is way beyond sisterly bonding and shared mourning. I like cuddles as much as anyone, but I'm sure as hell not curling into my sister's lap and wrapping my arms around her waist, no matter how much I've had to drink. This is a level of skinship I've written into fluffy gay fanfics, and even then I'm like, "Hm, is this too much? They're deeply in love, but are they this intimate already? I dunno..."

There are RL poly relationships where some participants are not dating each other. I should know, I've been in one.

Well, certainly. I have not had the pleasure of being in an RL poly relationship of any sort, but I would never suggest that you have to be in a fully omnidirectional cuddle puddle to be considered valid. I guess it just strikes me a certain way when the dynamic is... well, spokes on a wheel, rather than a constellation of points? There's nothing wrong with it, I just don't find it as compelling in fiction, specifically.

I think the combination of both tags works, for me. I was a bit confused by polyamory alone, because I went in expecting - well, more than one point of contact between the four of them. But harem by itself just reads like a genre convention, and not a description of an actual non-monogamous relationship. Having both of them is more descriptive, to me, but then...

I don't know, is it a necessary distinction? Is this what people want if they go searching for a harem manga? Do people need to know what the specific vectors are in this unambiguously polyamorous relationship are, before they even read it? Hmm. I could see an argument for harem either way.

The manga was cute, anyway.

I wasn't sure why the senpai was there, in chapter 3, but then we got to the end, and boy. I'm sure glad to have a nicer ending to headcanon.

I enjoyed how the meaning of the title changed as the manga progressed. "We can't help being family, we just want this too much", to "We can't help how twisted our relationship is, we just need this to fill the void left behind", to "We can't help this ridiculous gimmick we've gotten ourselves into, and it's way too embarrassing to come clean about it now, fuck it, let's go for another round". Very funny. Honestly, the sex part was kinda meh, but I liked the weird drama/comedy it had going on.

last edited at Apr 23, 2020 12:18PM

This feels like logging onto discord. And then immediately logging back out of discord.

I'm simultaneously really excited by, and deeply disappointed in the lack of blood, during their second deep kiss? It's very confusing. Like, woo, it's not just about feeding, for Aria, fuck yeah, but also, at the same time... I really like vampires, so... Y'know...

Also! Like! Ichika looking up the definition of "desire" in the dictionary, with the entry for a type of butterfly printed right above it, how similar the words sound - contrasted with Aria, staring at a corpse of a butterfly, being overwhelmed by ants? I fucking loved that so much. Such an incredible detail. Just... what it says about their parallel thought processes? Ichika's simple curiousity versus Aria's morbid ruminations? Incredible.

last edited at Apr 22, 2020 9:01AM

And no one gonna ask why she has lesbian porn ready to be watched in her tv?

I mean.... I think we already know the answer to that question, don't we?

Also Aya realized she messed up because she couldn't make a decision. So I think it is implied she would do it on her own at some time, had her mom not found that picture.

I mean, maybe? I felt like "it's time for me to put an end to this" sounded more like she was leaning towards cutting ties with Risa for good, giving them both a chance to move on. And the way she describes it to her mother - something in the past, before she got married, they broke up a long time ago - doesn't exactly contradict that. If she wanted to take this opportunity to come out for good, she could've said so. "We dated for a while, and I still have feelings for her" would be active, ongoing, motivated, but instead, she made it easy for her mother to interpret it as a phase she went through, before she got serious and married a guy.

Not that there isn't room to read this optimistically, but I don't think we're given the tools to suggest that Aya has that kind of resolve. She's a weak person, and that's fine, but I would've liked to see her become stronger before she jumped back into a relationship with the woman she's strung along for years. Maybe their story isn't over yet, and that's why this part was so easy - the author still intends to show her struggling with the relationship, but this time, she won't give up. I kinda hope that's the case. As it is, she doesn't inspire much confidence.