More of those little touches would make it seem less of a “wtf?” moment when Yuzu comes to Mei desperate for emotional reassurance only to get a double smack in the face.

The last time Yuzu did that, Mei actually sat her down, gave her realistic advice on what they might have to face going forward (“There is no right or wrong answer. We only do what we want to do.”), and reassured her that it’s okay for them to love each other.

This all feels like a retread of those chapters, but much less well-put together.

This is why they don't feel like a couple at all, their relationship is just a string of dramatic scenes with nothing in between.

There’s been plenty of scenes throughout the series where they feel like a genuine couple. All of Volume 5 and 6 especially, Mei trying to convey her feelings to Yuzu in Volume 7, the moments where they were alone together during the trip in Volume 8, the intense and tragic buildup to their breakup in Volume 9, and of course their reunion and Mei’s declaration of love in Volume 10.

Then in Citrus+, we have Mei boldly declaring her relationship with Yuzu to the school board, her trying desperately to say “I love you” again and settling for a kiss goodnight, her crying over losing her couples ring and their subsequent intimacy in that chapter, Mei fussing over Yuzu’s birthday (as poorly as the payoff was handled).

The problem isn’t that they don’t feel like a couple in my opinion. The problem is that, in recent arcs at least, their dynamic as a couple has been so inconsistent that it’s hard to tell how they feel about each other, aside from Yuzu’s seemingly undying and unconditional love for Mei.

I believe that, if Saburouta is truly as busy as she’s claimed to be, then it hasn’t given her much time to plan out most of her latest entries in the series (especially this arc) and she’s kinda just been phoning it in. I’m hoping and praying this will change soon and we can get more lovey-dovey YuzuMei like we saw in the original series and glimpses of in C+.

last edited at Jul 22, 2023 10:17PM

Y’all may or may not know me as the diehard Citrus fan and defender who comes in here to say something positive about the new chapters now and then cuz I hate seeing people dunk on mah gurls.

And even I gotta say…… yeah this chapter wasn’t it :(

Not only are we back in forced drama territory straight out of Volume 1-3, but Yuzu forcing herself on Mei, aka the thing that gave her trauma and skewed her perception of relationships and intimacy in the first place, didn’t sit right with me at all.

I really hope this arc is amounting to something good, otherwise I just want it to be over at this point.

So… is anyone gonna talk about the good parts of this chapter? Yuzu being an adorable puppy, Matsuri being the devilish voice of reason as always, Arata shaping up to be the first likeable male character in this manga, Yuzu jealously cuddling Kumagoro (paralleling Mei when Matsuri first arrived), Mei being concerned for Yuzu at the end…?

Y’know, say what you will about this manga, but it warrants hella discussion. With most manga on here the comments come down to “awww that was cute,” so rarely do we get a story that result in several people writing multiple paragraphs of their feelings, breakdowns, and arguments on each chapter.

The hospital let Kaori go outside because her days are numbered now, didn’t they…

iTs OkAy GuYs ShE eNjOyEd It ThAt MaKeS iT fInE

Damn… I like to think I have a strong heart but that was still difficult to read. Poor baby Elsa :’(

Hopefully lil angel Evie will give her the love and healing she deserves (I mean we know she will but I’m still excited~)

Tilty hearing them in the next room over cringing in aroace

Most of the people in these comments wouldn’t last two seconds reading Murcielago

last edited at Apr 9, 2023 11:54AM

I’m glad we’re going back to the whole Mei becoming chairwoman and changing the system plot established all the way back in Vol 1. That whole board meeting is still one of my favorite chapters and hopefully it means we’ll be seeing badass take-no-shit queen Mei again.

Glad to see some people can understands the concept of this chapter.

And it should've been just that. Didn't need another new character to screw around with their relationship.

As much as I’m liking this setup and Arata’s chipper attitude so far, I will admit it would’ve been nice to involve a character we’re already familiar with. Like Mitsuko, or hell, Mei’s grandpa.

I get wanting stuff like that explained. I may not care, but you clearly do.

But those papers and initiatives and all that jazz are exactly as you said, just backdrops to the inner character drama. Maybe what you said about Saburouta not actually caring about them is right, but I personally don’t take issue with that because that’s never been what I cared about. I cared about how the characters I followed and grew to love reacted to those background plots.

It’s like asking for the original Star Wars trilogy to explain the inner workings of the Empire and how it rules the galaxy. We don’t care about that, we care about how their deeds/misdeeds affect the characters we’re following and how they respond. We saw what happened when the prequels tried to go in-depth with all the politics and stuff— it was boring af.

I’m not saying I want every detail explained, but if things are supposed to be important to the characters (like the school is to Mei), it would help to get just a little bit of a sense of how it works in relation to her. Otherwise the characters are just too obviously puppets being loaded down with a pile of blank paper labeled “school paperwork to keep the MCs apart.”

To change your analogy, it would be like the Star Wars movies if sometimes there’s an Empire and sometimes there’s not.

If that’s how you view it and why you take issue with it, then very well. Would it be nice to get some information on the stuff you’ve discussed? Of course. Does it bother me that we don’t? Not at all.

I can take the hint that student council duties in a prestigious academy and preparing to become a chairwoman is a lot of work and a big deal, and as it stands, it’s enough for me to understand and buy into the plot and character motives/actions.

The board opposes Mei because she wants to become chairwoman and change the system. Do we know exactly what that entails? No. But Mei being the first woman on the board, in charge nonetheless, and changing years, possibly decades of established rules, traditions, and procedures, is enough for me to believe their disdain of her and want to see them fall and her succeed. Just say down with the patriarchy and I’m in.

Guess it all comes down to whether one goes into each new chapter as someone who enjoys the manga overall vs someone who doesn’t.

Look, what “it all comes down to” is different readers thinking different things when they read things. It’s called “thinking.”

Plenty of authors are able to sketch out their storyworlds with a line or a scene or two that add a little depth to our understanding of the characters. Mei’s role at the school has been a central part of her character, but what that role actually is has been kept incredibly vague all along.

For instance, Mei wasn’t able to celebrate Yuzu’s birthday properly because she had many hours of “paperwork” to deal with, but what those papers were about or what they were supposed to accomplish for the school is entirely unstated—they’re just random plot furniture to keep to two leads apart. Now she has a major outreach initiative concerning the school. It seems reasonable to at least ask what it actually is besides an excuse for bringing our two leads into contact with a Big Bulky Guy who knew Mei before and thinks he may be able to relate to her.

I get wanting stuff like that explained. I may not care, but you clearly do.

But those papers and initiatives and all that jazz are exactly as you said, just backdrops to the inner character drama. Maybe what you said about Saburouta not actually caring about them is right, but I personally don’t take issue with that because that’s never been what I cared about. I cared about how the characters I followed and grew to love reacted to those background plots.

It’s like asking for the original Star Wars trilogy to explain the inner workings of the Empire and how it rules the galaxy. We don’t care about that, we care about how their deeds/misdeeds affect the characters we’re following and how they respond. We saw what happened when the prequels tried to go in-depth with all the politics and stuff— it was boring af.

And what if she finally does explore all that during this arc?

She might but I think the point they're making is that many of these questions could (and maybe should) have been answered already, considering how late into the series we are (the second series at that). The cell phone point is especially interesting, but I imagine she just operates in an old fashioned way and is dealing with old fashioned people. That wouldn't seem out of character, just like Kaguya from Kaguya-sama (who shares Mei's archetype, though that show deconstructs them for laughs). I guess Kaguya at least had an extremely old phone though.

I don’t know about you or anyone else here, but those questions didn’t enter my head while reading this. Even if I considered them I quickly stopped caring cause I’m more invested in where the overall conflict is going rather than the small details.

Guess it all comes down to whether one goes into each new chapter as someone who enjoys the manga overall vs someone who doesn’t.

The phone number could just be proper business habits or a nervous boy with a crush.

Which brings us back to the “underwritten” part again—what exactly is Mei’s current official status at the Aihara Academy? We know (or do we just assume?) that she’s the heir-apparent to the headmistress/director role, and she’s definitely the 3rd-year class president.

So under what guise or role is she lobbying these other schools to “accept her propositions” (whatever those might turn out be)?

And if she is indeed acting as more than an ordinary student, shouldn’t she be carrying her own cellphone, as a proper businesswoman would do?

I really do feel like we’re back in 2017, asking questions of the text that we now have good reason to believe Sabu has no intention of answering, or probably even of asking herself.

And what if she finally does explore all that during this arc?

I’m glad we’re going back to the whole Mei becoming chairwoman and changing the system plot established all the way back in Vol 1. That whole board meeting is still one of my favorite chapters and hopefully it means we’ll be seeing badass take-no-shit queen Mei again.

That being said, it’s almost becoming a joke (an annoying one) with how Mei will almost be affectionate with Yuzu and then immediately turn around and act like a dense kuudere again…

Everyone’s out here dunking on Ayano and Miyoshi again but I just can’t get over how much of a disaster Ai is when Chie flirts with her. Someone help this poor girl xD

Aya’s been tricked, backstabbed, and quite possibly… bamboozled

Idk no matter what y’all say I still love this manga. Seeing my favorite cast of characters in all of yuri doing anything in any capacity always brings a smile to my face~

I would just like to remind anyone who’s wondering why Mei acts so disinterested in sex that she was in a sexually abusive engagement with Amemiya for who knows how long and subsequently took that abuse out on the person she now loves. She probably still doesn’t associate sex with… good things.

Or that could just be my copium headcanon lol

last edited at Jan 18, 2023 4:54PM

I understand not making any more art due to lost interest but why erase it entirely? Plenty of people still loved those artworks, seems like a weird decision…

Bruh the comments here are either “Kaoru ftw” or “Kaoru gtfo”

While I did enjoy this finale, I think it could’ve been a little better written on Kana’s part. I guess you could argue their initial “homophobia” wasn’t that but more an aversion to PDA since that’s kinda taboo in Japan already.

But since that’s kinda what we were running with for awhile, I think it would’ve been a lot more powerful if Saburouta took a page from FukaBoku and had Kana say something along the lines of…

“I don’t really understand that kinda stuff yet, but if you’re happy I can keep an open mind! Who you love won’t undo all the years we’ve been friends, Yuzu.”

I hope I don't go back to kana and manami, what boring characters.

Manami? I can kinda understand, she’s basically just Harumin 2.0.

Kana? She had a helluva lot going for her these past few chapters. Unless you’ve got a terminal illness and the only treatment is seeing Harumin and Matsuri tongue-fuck each other, I don’t see how you can call Kana objectively boring.

I often question why, as a fan of this series, I keep coming back to the cesspool that is this comment section…