I believe a lot of readers are biased against the story because is rare to find so flawed characters on japanese media. Despite their age around a 90% of them acts wiser and more mature than their should be.
Really. Citrus was my gateway yuri manga and even I think the story was cliched from the beginning.
Mei - tsundere archetype, the stereotypical 'top' in yaoi.
Yuzu - tsundere at the beginning, later shifted a bit to moe bottom.
Drill girl - neglected childhood friend that supplies drama.
Yuzu's sister - wacky childhood friend that supplies drama.
Nina & Sara - magical westerners who supply drama (and have a japanese surname but whatever).
Plot developments - outlandish behaviour & sudden realization of one's sexuality -> drama in family that brings the two closer together -> obligatory hard work at school chapter -> obligatory festival chapter -> first childhood friend stirs things up -> more drama & misunderstandings -> second childhood friend etc. -> veeery poor communication results in stretching the story where it ought to end already -> out of nowhere characters are introduced to keep the pace up.

Also worth noticing that Mei isn't acting like an adult, she's acting like a kid would think an adult should act.
Asians have pretty short childhood, you know :)

e: Urgh, Nina x Sara. I can't unsee this.

last edited at Mar 23, 2015 2:26PM

Is pretty obvious she's interested on Sara

Damn. Before You pointed it out, I innocently thought she is just the sister Yuzu always wanted to be.

Who else thinks saburouta ran out of ideas & stopped giving a damn?

If we're talking Mei then yes, her story is written from an adult's point of view. She's more a salaryman than a human being :)

Read christmas chapter (12?) again.
"Tell me what you really think", she said.
"You can always be honest with me", she said.
And when the other confessed her love.. on her own terms, of course.. she gets slapped across the face.
Yuzu, you can either be a sister or a lover. You can't be partially pregnant.

so what would it take for Mei to come to terms with her feelings towards Yuzu?

(reaching towards the Bag of Manga Plot Resolutions) Ladies & Gentlemen, Se-pa-ra-tion!

..oor Yuzu finally realizes Mei wants her to stop acting like a friggin' teenager in love, and stop making excuses.

last edited at Mar 21, 2015 5:28PM

Isn't it amazing? 95% of interpersonal problems in fiction could be solved in 15 minutes if only the involved parties sat down for a honest talk.

Loli feels stupid that Yuzu followed all her advice and will back up, hopefully
Boy, the art took a nosedive in chapter 15. It is so chaotic.

I'm sure stretching the netiquette and rebelling against the system in China/NKorea are on different orders of magnitude.

SpiderLilies2007: Haven't you noticed that most people who called Mei a bitch aren't even trying to argue with you?

My throughs are that Mei treats job seriously and relationship not seriously. Yuzu's the other way around.
And I'll point out Mei, despite being an asshole, was always clear and forward about what she wants, while Yuzu skims around the issue. I kinda feel her annoyance, really.

Probably changed her mind in the last few hours before deadline.

Imagine a school principal returning home around midnight, having to listen to his wife talking about what she saw in tv today, who she talked to, how worried she is about him, scolding him for not caring about himself enough etc. while he thinks that he's not paid enough for this.
He could snap and ask her what the hell she wants from him, but no 'cause that would be a shame. He stews in his frustration for the next N years, 'till divorce or a psychotic episode.
Meanwhile, any romanticism that was left from their pre-marriage days keeps leeking away.

I'd say it's the other way around - Mei always said what she wanted in a relationship and Yuzu constantly talks about sisters and whatnot, hiding the fact that she doesn't know where to go, or like she's ashamed to be open about her love with the person she loves.

Jezz, what is there to understand Mei? Parents didn't loved her enough, so she doesn't know how to show love, so she assaults people when she likes them. She's also serious and all this lovely dovely crying game is beneath her.
She'd appreciate if Yuzu finally got over her whining and did her already. Bam, both happy.

Every plot development, from the sick grandpa to a childhood friend to a second childhood friend to twins that came out of nowhere - are from drama 101. And while characters are high school kids, there's a supposedly grown-up woman writing them.
To be honest, I read Citrus without ever hearing anything about it. I found it very entertaining. Maybe it's just your high expectations?
If you want great story or believable characters, watch Rashomon or La dolce vita or anything but yuri fanfiction.

wow... a guy who loves drama complains about drama

Note the difference between Sara and Yuzu: the first didn't had any hesitations when declaring things to Mei.
I'm sure Mei wishes for a 'serious' relationship, not a romance, and is just shy. So when she tried to be serious in the chapter before and got rejected, it hurt more than should.

Um, so, you're telling me that if Yuzu hadn't slapped Mei a few chapters back, this whole thing would be over already?
And wtf is with kids nowadays, can't they just fuck already?

Oh, get down off your cross, we need the wood.

Mind if I use this quote? Like a lot? As in a lot, a lot?

You may also use one I made up, "Is your chair comfortable? Then GET OFF MY BACK!"

You need to come here more often.

I could make a calendar out of people talking about waiting for raws, people complaining about drama in raws, people arguing about Mei's decisions, people waiting for next chapter again. Just need the patent...

The Stretch Armstrong of manga

Anybody know when eng trans will be out?

Raws were released about a week ago. I don't know how long it takes to translate, but I guess you'll have to wait 2 weeks.

last edited at Jan 29, 2015 10:43AM

Throwing and idea out there could time skip be to coincide some drama with valentines?

...Don't give Saboru Uta ideas, mkay?

Now that I think of it, it's the same kind of story as Samurai Jack. It won't end because people just don't want it to end.