This is the last place I would ever expect to see a mention of the Tree of Life.

Wow this was way heavier than I was prepared for

Very interesting decision to rarely show the awful parents explicitly even though they are the main force behind the events of the story. Creates a very oppresive atmosphere because the problems are not ultimately the girls' yet they have to deal with the consequences.

last edited at Dec 3, 2023 3:21PM

Not a fan of all the stuff surrounding Hinata's family but the main relationship is very nice so I'll stick with this

A Temp comment for just 4 pages, that's quite the record

Wholesome second half

Is Bloom smiling?

Feels like we're approaching the endgame

The last page quite literally says the next one is the finale, yes.

Oh I never read these messages on the side, thanks. Excited to see how it will end.

Feels like we're approaching the endgame since Shijima is opening herself more to other people. I guess her whole arc is a deep desire to connect but being utterly confused as to how to do it and being afraid of what it entails. Total isolation from others and the breakdown of boundaries seem to be the 2 extremes that this story has oscillated between, but now Shijima seeks connection on her own terms, rather than being forced to do so because of various conditions in the world or other people.

You have to respect the sheer commitment at this point

If this author manages to do a collab with Dowman Sayman it's literally over for this timeline

Based. I had the same opinion with Octave but I don't think there is anything specifically wrong with the ending - the main points about a transient love and our main character being honest with herself were conveyed well I think, no reason to really drag out the story.
I expected this story to be way more messy considering how Octave went, but it's nice that there was actual communication this time.
Again with Octave, there is something very real and important (wish I had better terms) about this story that made me glad I read it. I wouldn't say it's to the point of being a masterpiece but it's in the direction of being one, simply because the author knows what they want to write and just sticks with it.

This is great but there are also too many characters for my taste and it really drags the story - which is nice in its own way, just not the pace I tend to prefer.

The cycle of reincarnations has been broken but I don't know how long the series will last after this

I feel like the author will find another way to justify just how dense Hina is, but I'm not sure how

Goddamn this one really doesn't pull any punches does it. I'm used to the stories where you follow 2 girls for 60+ chapters and the story goes nowhere, but this one hits you with like 3 different trucks in the first 4 chapters.
Definitely a "crash crash" story where you know it's going to end horribly, but the morbid curiosity of knowing exactly how keeps you reading.

You can't just stop after 2 pages, this amount of teasing is criminal.

Yeah there are many older ones that don't get many comments so they don't get as much exposure, but this is definitely one of those great ones - really cute, no pointless drama and didn't drag out for an eternity

Reread Octave so it's funny to see more laundromat as a setting for romance.

Good thing it's a cute manga because that was a straight up kidnap lol.
But otherwise it's always nice to see fluffiness in an otherwise cold environment.

Yeah I have no idea what's going on in terms of dream / reality but maybe that's the point. But looks like Shijima is finally leaving her shell in order to connect with others.

Would a username change be possible ? I would like to rename this account to 'inkolore' (all lower case) since I have saved many stories throughout the years (thanks for the work done btw, I like this site a lot)
There's no rush for this request, but if it's too time consuming or something like that, I can do without it, it just feels weird that I chose a name I came up with when I was like 12 lol.

Edit : Thanks !

last edited at Aug 12, 2023 9:13AM

This is definitely one of those submarine series that is completely under the radar (at least in terms of number of comments). Really cute art and interactions, cozy vibes, also tons of cool facts about insects and farming.

I mean... I guess it's not a useless discussion and I'm not in a position to comment much as it seems a guys' problem overall.

As a lesbian I think the MC attitude towards yuri is more commendable than the other one. But both of them are creepy anyway.

Always curious of what guys feel about yuri tho. Especially about the yuris that are clearly targetted to women. If it was just about fetishizing homosexuality (...irk...) there wouldn't be so much activity on a lot of mangas I read.

What is the population ratio of this site by the way, gender-wise ?

I haven't read this story but I can answer about the 'how do guys feel about yuri' from my POV. It's weird because I've only recently thought about this. For me there are 2 layers to it
1) The first layer is just the basic attraction to girls, like cute girls are nice and seeing two of them make out is even better (the typical reason for why straights guys are into lesbian porn)
2) The second layer however is just that yuri is very ... pure a lot of the times ? Contrast that with how our world sometimes feels : very utilitarian and cold, where people feel alienated from one another. Relationships when they happen have this extra baggage of status and performance to it - like guys wanting to impress one another with how much they get laid, or just being obsessed with sex. I'm definitely painting a biased view of the world and relationships, this is more coming from the younger & confused guy I was.
But looking back, yuri had this sense that human relationships can simply be worth it even if there are hardships along the way, including the obvious aspect of same sex relationships. Many of the stories are pretty damn unrealistic (and looking back, not very well written), and I don't know to what degree it was (and is) healthy for me to have read them, but I'm glad it revealed to me how much I value love, even though I am obviously not a lesbian. Maybe this could have also happened with non-yuri stuff, but idk I was just dragged into it for some reason, I don't really read mangas or animes in general so I don't care much about exploring non-yuri stuff.

Read it again after a long time. Some great comments in here too btw, so I'll focus more on my thoughts of what struck me rather than an actual analysis.
I can definitely see why some people hate it, I found this quite exhausting overall, but there were so many nice moments of coziness that I really felt like reading the whole thing again.

1 - The themes are great and mesh well with one another : the cruel entertainment industry, finding yourself in the world as well as in relationship to other people, the exploration of sexuality, moving on from the past, dealing with how other people perceive you, the struggles with money, the way a job can enmesh with your personal life, how women and especially lesbians are perceived, and the general confusion of that age period.
Were the themes well executed though is an entirely different question, which constitute the other points.

2 - Mood : I find that the times where we just see Yukino casually being with Setsuko to be really good. The way they just talk about their daily lives just feels very genuine and sincere. Same for the scenes where we see them with Mari - there is this cozy vibe and it really feels like Yukino has found a home of sorts. On the other hand, when Yukino is just monologuing to herself, the mood is almost suffocating. Everything feels like a disaster, when she could, you know, communicate ? I know she's insecure and that's a big part of her character, but damn if that's not unbearable at times.

3 - Drama : I just dislike drama overall so I don't have anything nice to say about it. Not only do the main drama arcs not make much sense to me (Yukino cheating and being unsure about moving with Setsuko) but they are also interspersed with droplets of angst throughout, which just made me wish the two characters could just ... get along ? Interestingly, I wasn't THAT bothered by the cheating arc and what followed (I'm mostly just confused) because honestly Setsuko seemed to have recovered pretty quickly all things considered - like within the same chapter she can still talk to Yukino. On the other hand, the constant dripping of angst and drama throughout really weighs you down emotionally, especially because I expected it to end in the last volume but it didn't, though Yukino was better at handling it.
Otherwise, when the story isn't on drama mode, it has some pretty great dialogues, which flow well and feel very real. I feel like the author is more than capable of making an interesting story without resorting to so much drama, idk.

4 - Other characters : I'm surprised (in a good way) at how likeable Mika, considering that she's supposed to be this inacessible famous person, yet she helps Yukino throughout the series as a good friend. In general, there are many other likeable ones, such as Mari, Risa and Oozawo, so it kind of makes Yukino seem like a huge crybaby at times.
Obviously, some characters are pretty awful. Like I don't really get what Shiori's whole deal is ? She just enjoys hurting Yukino for her own amusement, but I feel like that that type of person would be more concerned with advancing their career rather than that type of petty games, idk ? Speaking of which :

5 - Narcissism : I like that we can see the several sides of narcissism (not just the self-absorded + grandiosity kind), since Yukino's self-deprecation and desperate attempts at getting others to like her are a form of narcissism. It's kind of weird though because we don't know much about her childhood pre-idol times, so I don't know if it's well written per se, but I liked how it was exposed. That being said, it was again quite unenjoyable to read through at times. Maybe Yukino is supposed to be unlikeable to some degree ? Not sure. She has experienced a LOT at a young age all things considered, so you also feel like rooting for her when you experience some of what she goes through (being lost after graduation, social isolation, etc.)

Overall though, I think it's one of the more important stories on this site for me, even though I don't like it for many reasons. I wouldn't call it a masterpiece, because honestly I feel like it stands out just because there isn't much like it to compare with. But it comes from a place of sincerity about life and its hardships that is really nice to read. So I'm glad I read it, I liked the ending too, but it was an exhausting read so I would definitely suggest to be wise about the time you read through this.

last edited at Jul 26, 2023 2:43PM