^What's with all the gun fetishism there? ._.

Dark skinned Azusa is great. :D

I don't know if this has been suggested, I skimmed through and didn't see it, but it would be great to be able to click on people's names in image comments (to take you to their posting history, like you can get to via normal comments.) <3

last edited at Feb 26, 2015 3:39PM

Cripes, I can't believe how long it took me to really get what was going on in "First Love Canon". Basically, after the music teacher she was in love with broke up with her under the guise of "graduating" from her, Hanada took this as the way it should be done. In order to accept what her own first love had done, she's been repeating the pattern over and over, accepting the confessions of girls and then letting them go when they graduate, as you can see by the line "I just grew up and got used to saying goodbye." Continuing with any of those girls would expose the lie that she had to break up with the music teacher in the first place.

So basically, she couldn't stand canons because they reminded her of what she was doing, and she couldn't face that. Only when she finally broke the cycle by accepting the graduating girl at the end (and thus finally admitting the original breakup was wrong and finally taking on a continuing relationship), could she listen to that music once more.

What really makes me wonder here is how many times, with how many girls, has Hanada gone through this cycle with, and how many broken hearts (hers included) have been left behind?

I'm not sure she really "started" something with those girls and in a way she didn't really accept them. I understood it in a way that she perhaps told them she'd go out with them, but didn't actually do anything with them. I also doubt that her teacher back then got actually physically involved with her or took her serious on an emotional level. You know, all that "it's just a phase" crap )not even necessarily aimed at the girl/girl aspect).
And so I think what she stopped was actually lying to those girls and starting "fake" relationships. I think in the final scene of that chapter, her response letter actually turns down the girl. She doesn't start a relationship there and thus she will also no longer pretend it's just natural to end it with graduation (saying "Thank you. I was flattered" is usually a let down). She accepts that her own teacher was simply not serious and not that her "relationship" came to a natural end back then.

Think about it: If she had actually had real relationships with countless students (as in with full emotional investment and with full physical aspects), she wouldn't act the way she acts towards Nanao & Matsumoto.

Wow, I read this in a completely different way than both of you. Here's what I'm pretty sure happened:

The Music Teacher is gay (well, duh.) She was in a relationship with her own music teacher (who, based on what happened in the story, was probably a sexual predator), but her teacher broke up with her abruptly when she graduated, telling her she needed to "graduate" from her. I think the key point here is that the teacher was telling her that both a teacher/student and a lesbian relationship wouldn't work.

Since music teacher's music teacher (what a moutful!) obviously held huge influence over her, she was seriously emotionally scarred and a). had no other relationships, and b). probably didn't believe it was possible for her to have relationships. Nanao's words made her realize she did love the teacher, by extension was gay, and also that there was nothing wrong with that and thus nothing to "graduate" from.

The story ends with the music teacher determined to find love and make it last. It seems totally obvious to me that she accepted the girl's letter. The story ends with these words...

That melody, those words... I'm sure I'll hear them next spring... with someone by my side.

Based on the fact it's overlayed over her hugging the girl who gave her the letter... well, to me at least, it seems clear she accepted and is determined to make it last. It honestly might be my favorite story in the collection. So moving.

last edited at Feb 26, 2015 12:53AM

^I thought this was an alternate version of Midsummer Lovers, published as some sort of special Yuri Hime thing?

last edited at Feb 25, 2015 9:05AM

This was great. It needed a few more pages, so things seemed less abrupt, but still great. A lot of atmosphere, too.

Really random, but that little statement at the bottom saying not to worry because the name isn't actually announced is a bit of a bucket of cold water, isn't it? Despite the unrealistic, happy content, the disclaimer basically implies that there are people who would be uncomfortable with the name being announced, and that'd probably be because they would be ashamed if people found out...

This is Japan we're talking about...

@Polycell Because Homura wanted to make a universe in which everyoene (err... almost everyone...) incl. Sayaka and Kyoko had happy lives. In case you missed it, Kyoko and Sayaka kind of had the hots for each other in Rebellion, getting some big scenes together incl. the whole "sorry for leaving you scene." I mean, Kyoko and Sayaka have had continual development in their relationship since early in the original series.

I don't think it was out of place, and I certainly don't think there was no backstory. I mean, some of their relationship is subtextual, but it's Japan, what'd'ya expect? Getting people to acknoledge homosexulity even exists is like pulling teeth. That said, their relationship in general still got tons of development. If you want to know why they're living together, read between the lines. It's not a big leap.

Besides, didn't Gen Urobuchi saying he started to like KyoSaya after reading doujins for the original series?

last edited at Feb 16, 2015 10:22AM

^ Oops, Random_Bird beat me to it.

Fridge Horror: Nagisa's in the bag.

@ColonalCat 100% agreed about Homura not having done anything wrong.

This is one of my favorite NanoFate stories. A real treasure. It left an impact.

Wow, I must be pretty genre blind because that twist came out as a genuine twist for me.
And then it became a double twist when it untwisted itself. That was amusing.

That's a major issue with the argument of 'cliche'. It doesn't take much analyzing to see that every story has been told in every which way possible. So inevitably a story may speak wonders of new beauty to one yet seem trite and overdone to another. It all depends on execution, and how our predetermined bias comes to fruition in the middle of a story.

It's also a great word when you want to sound smart and critical, but without the requirement of saying anything substantial.

^^^^^^^^^

last edited at Jan 23, 2015 12:40PM

>See tags
>Leave immediately
>Read comments
>Feel smug

last edited at Jan 8, 2015 10:24AM

Well, that was an unplaeasant take on the student-teacher thing

You misspelled "realistic." In any case, I can't help but feel there's something wrong (I just can't put my finger on it...) when people feel blindsided by an "unplesent" take on the "student-teacher thing."

^^^^^^^^^^^

last edited at Jan 3, 2015 10:06AM

Thinking about it, there's very little on the reader with those two actually becoming a couple. There's a bit of porn and some "haven't admitted it yet" stuff, but Saki and Nodoka actually being together? Not so much.

To be fair, the manga itself is basically that. Them hanging out, doing all sorts of things together (and blushing, casting looks at each other.) I mean, aside from maybe a kiss, what would such a doujin contain that the main series doesn't?

Yes, I definitely wish there was more doujins like that about this great couple, but I think I understand why there's not.

Nodoka and Saki! :D

I'M. SO. HAPPY. Happy new year everyone! Lets make it a great one!

I wonder what kind of contract mangakas sign with publishing houses.
When the magazines just disappear because are considered not profitable enough, do they keep the manga's intellectual property rights?
So the mangaka cannot even continue publishing the rest of the story elsewhere?

The copyright model in Japan appears to be different; I don't know the details, but it does not appear that publishing houses take on characters and settings as their own IPs. They seem to just have publication rights to individual chapters.

Regarding Hirari (and this conversation should probably be in the Hirari thread), on the one hand you have at least one artist who was able to jump ship: Miman got her collected works in Hirari published by Yuri Hime Comics (an Ichijinsha imprint), and even had one of her Hirari chapters reprinted in a recent issue of YH. On the other hand, you have at least one artist who's just continued to release her series on her own: Takashima Hiromi has gone on to release Kase-san online, and Shinshokan (Hirari's parent company) still plans to release a third tank for that.

Incidentally, the Real Her also has a planned tank release in 2015 with Shinshoka, and with luck that will include a fair bit of extra content.

Also, why oh why is Yuri Hime the only yuri magazine that can stay afloat?

One word: Citrus

Two words: Yuru Yuri. I'm sure Citrus is doing quite well for itself, but even if you combine that and the other 2nd-tier series YH has (Yuri Danshi), I think you'd be hard-pressed to argue they bring in more revenue than yuri's ultimate cash cow.

I wonder about that. I suspect Yuri-Hime stays afloat because it has a built-in readership base, and that new publications fold because people who read yuri are already all buying Yuri-Hime and not enough of them can be enticed into buying multiple publications. Yuru-Yuri may be an important part of that, but I haven't been paying any attention to any of the popularity surveys or tank sales.

(Incidentally, I do hope that everyone who is bemoaning the collapse of yuri publications has been doing their best to support those publications by at least buying their tanks).

Edit:

That may be the case. When Morinaga Milk left Yuri Hime (I don't know why she left), she wasn't able to finish Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry-Blossom Pink until Comic High bought the rights to it from Yuri Hime.

That's interesting. I'd be curious to know why she left...

I buy as much as I can afford in english-language tanks (not just Yuri... sadly not much Yuri has been published here in the USA...) but I don't know how big of a cut gets back to the magazine, let alone the mangaka.

As to Morinaga Milk, why do mangakas ever leave? She probably was unhappy with her cut or with editroial decisions (I'm more inclined to think it was the former, because knowing Morinaga Milk and knowing Yuri Hime there probably wasn't much conflict on the latter front.)

last edited at Dec 31, 2014 1:26PM

Hope everyone enjoyed themselves this season. Happy holidays! :D

last edited at Dec 31, 2014 1:15PM

Also, why oh why is Yuri Hime the only yuri magazine that can stay afloat?

One word: Citrus

Oh, never mind. I DO want to complain about Yuri Hime!

Tooru x Run 5 ever. Something something death to heathans.

I just died laughing when I hit the punchline in this chapter. xP

Also, why oh why is Yuri Hime the only yuri magazine that can stay afloat? (Not that I'm complaining about Yuri Hime! I'm just greedy and want more yuri. :P)

Viva Hirari, viva! You fought the good fight. You will be missed.

last edited at Dec 29, 2014 12:18AM

^And I like this art much better.

^

Still, at least there's a good number of them.