I mean, we all know that everything will work out given the nature of the series, but I still think it's a much delicate situation than most people here think, considering the context. We are not talking about two people who have just met (like it happened with Hima and Yori). If Aki doesn't end up having romantic feelings towards her, Shiho would suffer a tremendous second blow (and much harder than the first) from Aki, with the difference that now she is fully aware of what Shiho feels and everything she has suffered because of her unrequited love. Aki just put herself in a situation where she almost necessarily has to reciprocate those feelings now...

But that's not really what she's saying there, which is why it's portrayed as wholesome.

What do you mean? That's clearly what she's saying (or implying, I guess): Aki values her and their friendship so much that she's willing to go so far as to start dating Shiho in order to not lose her again.

"I don't have romantic feelings towards you, but I don't want to be apart from you."

We can see it as something wholesome because of the gorgeous art and because we know that Aki is a great person with no bad intentions, but it's a dangerous game to play, especially when on the other side is such a mentally fragile person.

Shiho acting on impulse about something Aki have no way of knowning ?

I mean being frustrated with the situation. Feeling like there's a connection between the two and manage to be happy again with someone after Kyou's death only for Aki to end up falling in love with a random girl Shiho didn't even know about.

The build up should be fun though and it'll make the kiss that much more meaningful, whenever Aki does decide to initiate it. It's a smart way to give the audience half of what they want, with the promise of the rest later. Gives her more stuff to work with moving forward.

Which should mean that the series still has a couple of volumes left, since, as you said, it's implied that there will be a kiss, but Aki has to develop romantic feelings for Shiho first.

One was a cool mysterious tomboy with a good voice, the other was an insufferable girl who just seem to hate her (with a good voice). I don't know if the statement is ironic or you genuinly think that Aki would fall for Shiho before they speak things out.

As Giftnova said, I was referring to the time when they played together in the band. Not only did they have great chemistry and were very close, but Shiho is arguably the most attractive character in the series.

She had everything back then to make Aki fall in love with her, but yeah, "the heart wants what the heart wants". I can definitely understand why Shiho started acting the way she did after that.

I guess it wouldn't be a Yuri manga without the main couple (just kidding) going on a date at the aquarium.

I really don't like the position Shiho currently is in this relationship. It does makes sense for Aki to not have romantic feelings for her yet, so I can't complain about that, but I don't think anyone deserves to be with someone in the hope that maybe one day their love will be repaid. Also, considering Shiho's personality, it could lead to something bad. I guess it'll depend on how much the author wants to extend the story (and if they want to insert even more drama into the story), but it wouldn't be hard for me to imagine a situation where Shiho sees Aki and Yori getting along, laughing together or whatever (like Hima did at the beginning of the manga), and her insecurities and jealousy make her think "What would happen if Yori suddenly fell in love with Aki? Would Aki leave me for her?", or things like that.

Honestly, the most unrealistic thing in this series is the fact that Aki felt in love with Yori instead of Shiho. I wonder what kind of thought process went through her head to make that happen.

last edited at Dec 23, 2023 6:32AM

It is just entirely too little too late at this point. To be hyperbolic, like negotiating Hitler down from 6 Million to 5 and getting the Nobel peace price ready.

You're aware that it's only been a few months since Shiho left the band and the most recent chapter, right?

That is quite false, (or else you just haven't been paying attention). As has been mentioned several times before, Dynasty reader feihong has written two longish posts laying out the detailed case against how the character of Shiho has been handled in this story from the point of view of character development and the narrative relation of that character to other characters.

You keep talking as if the first 15 chapters of the series had a higher narrative and literary quality than the rest of the series, when simply the first Arc of the manga was more aligned with your personal tastes.

And Shiho is more complex than the rest of the characters combined.

Indeed. “Good things happen to shitty people for no good reason” is the ultimate in realism.

And honestly, we should be grateful for that. Living in a meritocracy sounds great on paper, but life needs its share of injustice and randomness.

Where did you read that Shiho actually feels bad for Yori? I did not get that, her line that there is not really a reason to hate her anymore makes me assume the opposite, actually. What specific details are you basing that on? I'm curious.

Her apologetic look on page 16.

erm... yes, of course? If someone who wronged you says to you "i guess i am sorry" in a sarcastic tone and spits afterwards, do you really accept that as a sincere apology?

Shiho's apology was self-serving. The conversation only happened because Hina spent her favor on it (given that the favor could have been used to gain ressources or time, Hina essentially had to "pay" Shiho to even talk to Yoru), it happened not because she felt bad for causing Yoru grief, but because she had "no reason to hate her anymore" - i. e. got what she wanted - and it had an ulterior motive, she wanted to keep Hina as a manager.

The apology was totally in character, which in my opinion is the most important thing. And she does feel bad about the way she mistreated Yori all this time for selfish reasons...

Some people really went from complaining about Shiho not apologizing (even going as far as to claim that she wouldn't do it) to complaining about the way she apologized.

I guess “Shiho gets what she wants without doing anything to deserve it” is a kind of character development.

Except not everything works that way. Especially not love.

I understan why comparing it to one piece doesnt work but both yuru yuri and sasakoi are published on the same magazine and both are in broad terms parts of the same genre, heck even if we remove yuru yuri from the equation maid dragon sold over 2 millions copies at some point of it´s (still ongoing) run.

Yuru Yuri has 20 volumes (and 6 of its spin-off), three anime seasons and several Ovas (plus a fourth season and two movies to be premiered next year). It's the magazine's One Piece.

Whispering has 8 volumes and an anime yet to air.

It's definitely not a fair comparison.

At least I feel like the parts are a little more balanced now. Shiho has been slowly gaining popularity here.

It’s a particularly puerile piece of contemporary jargon that people who criticize something one approves of as being “haters,” thereby positioning oneself on the side of ‘love” and “acceptance,” although such a flattering self-conception is rather undercut by gloating at an entirely imaginary projection of haters in “shambles.”

Come on, you've been complaining about her for three years straight at this point. You should wear that title with pride.
And yes, there have been many readers here who have expressed how much they hate her. I remember that person who writes those long analyses saying that the best outcome would be for Shiho to fall into a trap and die.

Yeah, if it's for one volume it's not bad. Still, Yuru Yuri is getting around 100K or more for one volume :/

The three best-selling series of the magazine right now are Villainess, Asumi and Whispering.

I’m open to vigorous discussion.

Check the last 50 pages or so. The main topic almost exclusively has been Shiho and her impact on the story.

Shiho and Yori will finally be able to talk and clear up all the misunderstandings. I was really looking forward to this moment, and honestly, I would have preferred it without Hime present, but I guess it would have been impossible, given their personalities. Shiho will surely apologize (well, in her own way), so that people will stop complaining about that.

PS: Shiho haters in shambles right now. She's not going anywhere.

Chapter 64: Great, great chapter. I especially want to emphasize how much I liked the way the author handled Youko's assault through Mai and Nene's actions.

I scrolled through some of the most recent chapters after just having finished the anime and man…I’m surprised so much focus is STILL being placed on Kanoko. The shift from the main couple to her craziness for the entire second half of the series (save for the last episode) was what really killed the anime both for myself and, judging from comments on CR, for most viewers as well. I thought the author would’ve gotten some input by now and shifted gears, but either she really likes Kanoko as a character or she’s getting some obscure feedback, because it just felt like a doubling down on Kanoko for the rest of the manga as well? I have no idea what Sumika sees in her, and am still hoping they won’t actually end up together. But either way, likely won’t stick around to find out.

I'm confused. Did you at least read Volumes 5, 6, 7 and 8? Because that's Hime and Yano's Arc.

last edited at Sep 12, 2023 11:01PM

Chapter 63: Beautiful chapter. Even though I don't like Kanoko, I have to admit that these last few chapters have made me sympathize a lot more with her and her issues. I'm not entirely sure how to interpret the last page, but it seems almost impossible to me that Kanoko and Sumika won't end up together after all the development they received in this Arc (which started 20 chapters ago). I still prefer the Sumika/Nene pairing though, so I wouldn't complain.

Too bad there's no new chapter this month. I'm really curious to know what's going to happen next. I really miss Yano and Hime, so being able to see them interact for at least couple of pages in Chapter 61.5 was nice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLtcAe9HgeU
Here, does anyone know the OST in this video?

I tried to find it, but as you said in your previous message, it doesn't seem to be part of the official soundtrack. What a shame.

last edited at Aug 27, 2023 1:43PM

Love her or hate her, I think we can at least agree that Shiho brought interesting discussions/debates of various topics to the forum. I definitely prefer that over the "Very cute chapter, thank you for the translation" kind of comments we might get from now on.

I don't know if i'm totally agree with this. Even when it feels like the figure of Shiho gets very bright (not so in a positive way) and eclipse the other ones, to me this is the Aki's arc. She's the character that we know and she's the one who get development from the girl who secretly cries for an unrequited love, to make of with her past, close old wounds, leave behind her unrequited love and find a new love to move forward. Shiho's just a trigger to Aki's development, maybe it's the artist's mistake to choose a character as flashy as her. Aki's the one who's gonna be different after this arc, as long as the artist is consistent with the actions of his characters, obviously.

I agree to a certain extent, but saying that she was "just a trigger to Aki's development" is wild. All the description you did about Aki can also be done with Shiho.

most of the effort went into fleshing out a character that came along halfway through the story.

Shiho was planned from the beginning, as she appeared as soon as the Volume 2 Extras. But I do agree that it was a mistake to make this Arc so long, even if she is my favorite character and I hope we'll continue to see her as much as possible.

Don't be unfair, Himari and Yori's arc continued to develop.

Absolutely. I made the same argument multiple times when people here acted like those two hadn't had any screen time for the past 25 chapters. But at the same time I think it's undeniably true that this Arc will be remembered as Shiho's, since the focus was always on her, even when she wasn't around.

Well, that was a beautiful double page.

And even though the outcome of the band competition wasn't really important by this point, I'm still glad Laureley won.

If sales weren't great, then this would have been a great point ot end the series. Fortunately, the manga is very popular.

I don’t really care about Shiho getting what she wanted so this subplot has been kinda whatever to me, I’d rather they just go back to focusing on the two main characters again. That said points for the big lesbian campfire dance

Himari and Yori's Arc: 15 chapters.

Shiho's Arc: 29 chapters.

"Subplot".

last edited at Aug 19, 2023 1:42PM

Before realizing kyo was better a violin they talked like two times, and it weren't like deep or really long ones, they weren't really that close before shiho decided to cut ties with kyo.

That's true, but she's despicted as Shiho's first friend (which makes sense considering her personality). And we could see how, even after several years, both of them remained tied to that short period of time in the past and regretted not having done things differently (Kyou in particular).

And even if you think that part of the reason why Shiho frequently visited her grave was out of guilt (which is surely at least partly true), it can't be denied that it reflects how important Kyou was to her.

It's very similar to what happened later in the story with Aki, except that she did get to do something before it's too late.

i’m just gonna try to ignore the whole shiho argument.

welcome to the club

We have a club now? Joined!

For better or worse, we've reached a point where it's basically impossible to talk about the series without mentioning Shiho sooner or later. And I'm pretty sure the discussions will get a lot more boring the moment she stops being the focus of the story.

last edited at Jul 25, 2023 10:48PM

they did not have much of a relationship before Shiho started to hate her as far as I recall

What Shiho hated was the fact that she was better at playing the violin than she was, not Kyou herself. It's basically the same thing that happened with Aki: Shiho couldn't stand not being number 1 and decided to cut ties with her entirely.

it's because she had an acquaintance that died. (I'd hesitate to say they were even friends).

Kyou was the most important person in her life prior to met Aki.

Please feel free to tell me about all the other good things Shiho has done. Take your time, I will wait.

As I wrote a couple of months ago, Shiho is doing her best (along with Momoka and Hajime) to keep the memory of her former friend/rival, Kyou, alive, and honor her, which is nothing to scoff at. Especially considering that she formed her current band at a moment when she wanted to quit music altogether. I say this because I think that many readers underestimate the weight that her death had on Shiho. Even the fact that she chose to play the guitar (Kyou's favorite instrument) after their fight can be understood as Shiho's way of staying connected to her.

A lot of people seem to forget that Shiho made Himawari a part of the battle of the bands bet, with her staying as their manager, mainly to get at Yori. And since that is not the first time she used Himawari against Yori, you could call that blackmail. She also did give Aki a bullshit reason for leaving the band, telling Aki it is her fault because they are not good enough as a band, which could be seen as gaslighting.

Yeah, that was mean from her part, but the whole problem was caused by Himari herself to begin with (Shiho ended up being pressured to tell why she left the band in front of everyone), and Shiho at least did apologized to her in the very next chapter.
And is not her fault that Yori had/has a lot of insecurities regarding her relationship with Himari and regarding Shiho herself (some kind of inferiority complex in my opinion).

after writing my essay (which I apologize for, ill try not to let it happen again)

I didn't reply to that post because I got caught up in the heat of the debate, but you were able to put into words many of the thoughts that I had but just didn't know how to express them adequately, so I hope you continue to write those.

Haven't been here for a while and now everybody likes Shiho. I don't feel special anymore.

It just looks that way because now it's more even than ever, and I'm happy about that.

last edited at Jul 23, 2023 8:34AM

loveis_freely, please try to reply to everyone in a single message from now on. Otherwise it gets messy.

last edited at Jul 23, 2023 1:07AM