^ When has anything ever stopped a Greek god? Trying to ascribe morality to the sexual escapades of the Greek gods is an exercise in insanity, because I don’t think that there are any taboos that they didn’t violate at one point or another.

Glasses girl, you are several months too late to be pulling this goofy-ass maneuver. Those two are practically married by this point, rings and all.

As for the death flag comments... what are you talking about? This manga doesn't really have the kinda vibe that we should be expecting a major character death. Or any character death for that matter. Or is something going over my head?

Yeah, at least as far as I can tell so far, Mashiro has a fairly mild case of the "Delicate and Sickly" trope--an unspecified "medical condition" that positions her as vulnerable but plucky and which can make her BSOD and end up in the infirmary from time to time as the plot requires.

As a general principle, "Delicate and Sickly" ultimately could go in any number of directions, ranging from being entirely cured by love alone or by some random health improvement (medicine, exercise, etc.) on the one hand to, yes, death, on the other.

But for the plot to head off in a tragic direction would constitute a truly epic tonal swerve for this particular series.

EDIT: I almost mentioned the contrast with "The Summer You Were There," which announced from the beginning and then regularly reminded us throughout: "She gonna die. Not kidding. Take it to the bank--dead as as doornail. I'm serious."

With how light-hearted this has been for its entire runtime, the tonal swerve caused by Mashiro dying would go beyond “epic” and well into the “neck snapping whiplash” zone.

Oh you motherfuckers… you got me.

What the heck is wrong with Shizuku's eye in the last panel? That's just ... eerie.

She’s turning into prey, so her eyes are migrating to the side of her head to allow for a wider field of vision.

Also, it does seem like animal comparisons in English are usually more particular. It’s not “you’re just like a dog,” but something like, “you’re as loyal as a dog.” We note the feature we want to highlight first to avoid accidentally making any unflattering remarks.

To me "you're as loyal as a dog" also seems insulting lol. It would sound to me like they're calling me a blindly obedient. I'm not sure if it's personal or cultural in this case, but, for the record, most of my family agreed.

Well, maybe not that one precisely. I was just trying to keep with the dog theme and made something up, but there are more common expressions. “As sly as a fox,” “as wise as an owl” (and yes, I know they're actually really dumb, but it’s an old expression), that sort of thing. The point is that English speakers tend to note the trait being complimented, rather than just referring to someone as being that particular animal.

Perhaps it's a cultural thing.

Japan is indeed passionate about it. More recently, they mapped personality types - especially that of your partner - to animals (a cat person, a dog-like boyfriend, etc.), and before that there was categorizing facial features specifically (e.g. dog-faced). Telling somebody they're like a certain animal can also just mean they're cute.

Worldwide, you can compare somebody's behaviour to that of some animal (mad as a hornet, a dog in the manger. lazy as a bear, eat or look like a pig), be given a pet name after a shared trait or vague resemblance (puppy, tiger, chipmunk, conejito, chaton, Mausebär), offend by calling somebody an animal that has negative traits associated with it (in English you can even verb animals: chicken, rat, leech, ape, bug...), and notice similarities between pets and their owners.

The dog-faced thing is unintentionally hilarious to me, just because of the fact that a term that would probably be complimentary in Japan would almost certainly be considered fighting words within the context of the English-speaking world. Language is fun like that.

Also, it does seem like animal comparisons in English are usually more particular. It’s not “you’re just like a dog,” but something like, “you’re as loyal as a dog.” We note the feature we want to highlight first to avoid accidentally making any unflattering remarks.

I don’t know what just happened… but I really want to see more.

Also, Sayaka is a certified badass now. Wonder if there’s a deeper meaning to that poem around the star.

What if the young girl isn’t her inner child but her twin sister that she lost?

That's what I've been thinking since her first appearance.

I’m actually wondering if Michi might not just be some sort of vessel for some ritual, what with the star on her neck, her kinda nebulous past, the girl referring to herself as a different person, and Sayaka seeming to have some greater part in all this (I think).

Am I the only one thinking the drama of what happened at the beach felt completely unnecessarily and just some cheap drama cash in?

Nah, I agree with you. I’m still satisfied with this, though.

Never mind keeping the Picts out, Hadrian’s gonna need to build another wall just to keep the Romans in.

I'm not sure I understand the conversation on the last page of the latest chapter.

Why is Aya-chan suddenly trying to bug out? Are her remarks just meant to say something like "I find you much more intimidating to talk to in your punk appearance"?

No, she was saying that she didn’t think she’d be able to talk to her crush with the same amount of familiarity that Kanna and Joe could speak with. The way I took it, she basically is saying that she’d want to be able to have that kind of relationship in the future. She only started to bug out when she realized that she had said all of this to her crush (Mitsuki/Onii-san), and got embarrassed. I don’t think it had anything to do wi5h her finding the punk look intimidating.

Nope, I almost fell for it with that other series. They're both very similar too. Not falling for it again but hoping for the best.

Same, I get that people are celebrating but very much expecting a "oh no, I didn't mean anything by that, oops" sort of thing from Yuzu next chapter. Would be very happy to be proven wrong though.

Oh, I have no doubt that one of them is going to try and backtrack, or run out of the room, or someone will conveniently appear to interrupt them before further progress can be made, but this will still hopefully lead to further progress (hopefully emboldening Minami or forcing Yuzu to admit she isn’t fine being “just friends”).

The big difference between this and the Rejected in a Dream is that the couple here still clearly has some stuff they need to internally push past before becoming a couple, so this’ll be forward progress even if nothing else happens. The couple in Rejected in a Dream, by contrast, were THERE. They had the mood, they had the kiss, they both knew what they wanted. All they needed was one more step to officially become a couple, and then a wall randomly appeared at the finish line to delay them.

Woo! Progress! At this rate, we might actually see a confession by Christmas… 2030. Which is way faster than initial estimates!

last edited at Feb 23, 2024 2:12AM

Anyone knows what movie they were watching? It might be "The Bermuda Triangle" (Mexico, 1978)

I personally choose to believe that it was Toy Story.

There's no excuse for Tsukishi. The way she is acting, Honoka might as well think Tsukishi is disgusted by the kiss.

…well that’s embarrassing. Pardon the American moment. For some reason, I thought the little Korean flag was a Japanese one, and I didn’t notice the characters were different.

Mangadex never host original language version in the first place because it would be straight up pirating and not just in the grey area of translation.

Yeah, that thought occurred to me, too. I probably should have connected the dots there.

As for your other point, the only reason I could see this making sense is either she was SO convinced that she’d be rejected that the idea of her feelings being reciprocated doesn’t actually make sense to her, or she was so focused on confessing that being headed off knocked her completely out of wack. In either case, her reaction is so stupid that it pushes the boundaries of believability, and it’s going to make sorting this mess out so much harder once she finally manages to extract her head from her ass.

Some useless lesbian needs to step up her game or imma gonna break the 4th wall and slap a fictional character and put some balls to her pussy.

You, uh… you want to rephrase that one?

last edited at Feb 18, 2024 12:07AM

C’mon, folks—give Tsukushi a little time to process here. We already know that she takes a bit longer to emotionally process than the average person.

She’ll catch on eventually—like the next Ice Age, maybe.

You’re giving her too much credit. The last spark the universe experiences before entering total heat death is going to be generated by Tsukushi finally putting the pieces together.

last edited at Feb 17, 2024 10:10PM

Yep, it was as bad as it looks. Really, Tsukushi?

As painfully annoying as it is, hopefully someone will knock some sense into Tsukushi’s brain in the next couple chapters, and they’ll be together by summer.

I go to Mangadex. Someone is uploading the original language chapters of this story there. It also has a link to the original site for most of the stories there.

I only see the Korean version on Mangadex, but it looks like Tsukushi is being an idiot again, as usual.

…

…well that’s embarrassing. Pardon the American moment. For some reason, I thought the little Korean flag was a Japanese one, and I didn’t notice the characters were different.

last edited at Feb 17, 2024 9:02PM

She's going to pass out isn't she?

I’d put money on that. Then again, I would have also put money on the beach date ending without any major progress, and look where we are now!

Edit: I just saw the raws for the next chapter. I can’t read Japanese, but I fear it may be worse than any of us expected.

Where can I read the raws?

I go to Mangadex. Someone is uploading the original language chapters of this story there. It also has a link to the original site for most of the stories there.

Huh… I’m going to be honest. It was cute, but it was also a bit underwhelming. So much was set up that just… never materialized. It’s like I’m looking at the bones of a story after someone has already picked most of the meat off. I can see the traces of something interesting in there- the barest trace of a fantasy star-crossed lovers story, a whiff of some action, the tiniest crumb of sexiness- but there’s not enough of anything there to actually be noteworthy.

Also, you can’t just call someone a “surviving demon” and then do nothing to explain why you had to use that adjective.

last edited at Feb 9, 2024 12:11PM

She's going to pass out isn't she?

I’d put money on that. Then again, I would have also put money on the beach date ending without any major progress, and look where we are now!

Edit: I just saw the raws for the next chapter. I can’t read Japanese, but I fear it may be worse than any of us expected.

last edited at Feb 9, 2024 3:15PM

For someone so analytical, the lass is still denser'n osmium lol

I’m all for some density, but I’m not sure I’d call this lady particularly dense. She was catching on until she misinterpreted the meaning of “uniform” and just immediately eliminated herself from the running. I wouldn’t give her the osmium treatment for that.

I’m thinking/hoping it’ll be the first option. This chapter at least shows that she cares enough about Makino to help her even after she refuses to come home, so she seems to at least care about her daughters in her own shitty way. She even apologized to Makino after realizing how much her recent actions had hurt her.

Should she be pat on the back for that? This is the bare minimum for a parent. It's not not a compliment to think, "Wow, looks like she does actually care for her daughter!?" That should have been a given. The floor for her is beyond low. Her feelings can be whatever, it's actions that matter in the end. Her actions have been terrible, misguided or not. If she didn't apologize and visit her own daughter in the hospital, she would have been a whole different level of trash.

She'll need to do a lot more than that and I'm not holding my breath. Her response to a previously aimless daughter finding a partner she loves, a place to live independently and confidently stating that she'll continue to study hard and succeed, is to wonder why things don't work out like she wants. It's still a negative to her. She's still just as self centered.

I’m not saying it automatically makes her a good person, just that there’s a tiny spark of a caring parent in there, behind the shittiness. It means that there’s still potential for her to realize how much of a shithead she’s been, and start trying to reconcile with her kids. It wouldn’t erase or excuse her previous terrible actions, but it would at least mean that Makino and her sister don’t have to keep viewing their parents as a potential threat to their happiness, and allow them to move forward without that baggage.

Also, you’re right, her wondering why nothing works out the way she wants is a sign that she is still a little self-center, and might indicate dark clouds on the horizon. Alternatively, it could be her first step towards realizing how bad she’s been. “Why does nothing go the way I want? Is it something I did?” Given how much this story likes to oscillate between angsty drama and mushy sweetness, I feel like it could go either way.

Who would have thought I'd be feeling kinda sorry for the mom

Don't, this is the consequences of her actions catching up to her

What with her basically insulting Reina's partner.

Then treating Makino like she is nothing, and only really taking notice of her when she is no longer a spare.

Also, the end there I see 2 outcomes, depending on how cynical we get, either mum comes to the realisation her shitty attitude has cost her, and properly tries to make amends, or she doublesdown and effectively gets herself cut off from her daughters.

I still have thoughts on the dad in this situation, like does he even know Makimo has left home.
I doubt he'd be different from the mum, just more so, is he even aware of what happened with Makino.

I’m thinking/hoping it’ll be the first option. This chapter at least shows that she cares enough about Makino to help her even after she refuses to come home, so she seems to at least care about her daughters in her own shitty way. She even apologized to Makino after realizing how much her recent actions had hurt her. She might stir up a bit more trouble before this is over (depending on how much longer this series will continue for), but I do think that, ultimately, this is a case of a mother who loves her children but is just isn’t aware of how bad she is at showing it, and I feel like the story will reflect that in the end and have them make up, at least a little.

And, if nothing else, she should love Mashiro once she gets over the whole woman thing. She’s barely been able to get Makino out of bed in the morning, yet Mashiro’s been able to get Makino motivated enough to work the point of exhaustion.

As for the dad, I imagine he just follows his wife’s lead on this stuff. Makino’s family definitely feels like the highly traditional nuclear family, where the husband focuses almost solely on work and the wife controls the household. Not to say he’s any better than Makino’s mom (her sister did seem upset with both of them, after all), just that he’s probably something of a yes man for her. If he is aware of what’s going on with Makino, he’s probably just leaving it up to his wife anyway.

last edited at Feb 5, 2024 10:30PM

As a writer myself, I brainstormed just now and came up with about 10+ other ways their childhood friendship could’ve been introduced that would’ve actually helped the pair synthesize more, as opposed to just giving us poorly written randomness

Alright Shakespeare, lay them on me.

Maybe one day the Dynasty forums will learn that ambiguity and incompleteness have been extremely common themes in Japanese art for millennia.

Since when has tradition stopped anyone from complaining about tropes in fiction?

I still enjoy the story but at this point Mai is like an industry plant, and with barely any marketing. We're just supposed to want her to win out based on....?

Is it really any wonder that many are supporting actual developed character relationships over empty pinning for someone we essentially don't know, based on a non-crush from when they were basically toddlers?

The setup and choices of this manga have seemed suspect the more it's become clear that we really are supposed to view Mai as an end goal, rather than a catalyst. "I Won't Sleep With You for Free," is almost the same type of story but handles this specific issue much better.

I do feel like introducing nanao, while positive in the short term, kinda went too far and is detracting from the entire idea of the lesbian brothel escapades the story was built around.

This has been my feeling as well.

Can you really call Mai an industry plant when she is the literal driving force of this story? Bear in mind that everything Asumi has done in this story, from Chapter 1 onwards, has been for the express purpose of meeting Mai. Going to brothels, getting her job with Nanao (and, by proxy, becoming Nanao’s FWB), none of this story would have happened if not for Asumi’s desire to meet Mai and figure out her unresolved feelings. In that way, Mai could almost be looked at not as a character, but as some sort of force that is driving the story along.

I also think Nanao’s whole story has had an important role in the story. This whole arc has basically demonstrated that Mai has become something of an emotional “block” for Asumi. You have this almost perfect relationship with a young, cute girl who is madly in love with Asumi. Just about anyone would jump at that sort of relationship, but Asumi seemingly can’t emotionally commit to it while Mai still remains unmet. It’s the sort of baggage that can, if left to fester unresolved for too long, can destroy relationships. Meeting Mai, then, has become less a matter of falling in love with a specific girl, and more a step that Asumi must take before she can allow herself to fall in love. I think that’s what the author was trying to tell us in this chapter.

Either that, or I’m just over analyzing porn.