Myuu quietly acting to cheer Yumi up, and knowing it's best just to let her complain through it... if that ain't love then I've never been in love.

It's a shame risa doesn't have a chance from a storytelling perspective because she's so nice. She doesn't "deserve" Ayaka's love because of that, but she doesn't deserve a twisted universe where it's impossible for writing direction reasons (there'd at least be a glimmer of a chance if it weren't for the title...)

Maybe I just relate too much lol, and I know it's not gonna have a poly ending, oh so well.

...Also It's worth remembering that Lovecraft did start to come around on the racism issue before he died

Ehhh, from my understanding he stopped believing in genetic racial superiority, but only because he started believing that his favorite European cultures were superior to the other, inferior cultures. He adopted a more modern type of racism, he didn't stop being racist.

last edited at May 15, 2023 12:54AM

For that matter, is there any reason why all the assumptions are that she is the uncle's ex instead of current wife/lover? IIRC, there was no mention of the uncle's status so far.

If it was current she'd probably not have to ask how the uncle's doing, she'd be up to date.

Except no, because Baba bitch boy stuck around, with no more purpose as a character except to confuse the reader and make them uncomfortable.

He's only there because the brother wanted him to be, it's obvious in-universe, let alone from a story perspective.

This manga probably isn't for you because of the history of cheating elements tbh, I'd just drop it.

Yunduo having a thing for Xiaoen?

She cares a lot about Xiaoen. She loves her, one could easily interpret it is a romantic love instead of only platonic love (with yuri goggles properly adjusted). Whatever the case, Yunduo isn't jealous, and wants what's best for Xiaoen, so helping out the girl Xiaoen likes makes sense.

last edited at May 4, 2023 8:57AM

; ( poor girl

And then there's the origin of the word, where harems were comprised of women having sex with a noble and looking pretty in his estate in exchange for luxury and a high social standing. More prostitution than romance

To be clear, this origin is a misconception. That understanding of the word comes from Europeans' orientalist imaginings about Muslim harems. The origin of the term is in describing a part of the house where only women and children are allowed. In the time before slavery was abolished in the Islamic world, this did include concubines, since they were women. It was more domicile than personal brothel.

You can probably imagine how and why Europeans got creative with what harem meant.

I agree with many others, and applaud the Akiyama Haru for wrapping this up so skillfully with such short notice.

last edited at Dec 29, 2022 10:31AM

So.. Mangadex stuck at 15chapters last updated 7months ago..., yet all the raws until vol 8 exist on the internet. So... what happened I ask... Because, Sexy Ak dropped it too, why would no translation group pick it up?

iirc Akiba Detectives did these chapters as commissions, so if you wanna see them keep going ya gotta pay up

Scanlation groups can do that? I'd figure there would be legal issues abound taking commisions for fan translations

There's legal issues scanlating in general. It's robbing the TV when you've already pocketed their cell phone.

I liked the Meat one. Even as a trans woman, I still connected with the story a good bit. Its themes are a bit more general than its dressing.
Overall, I like the cohesive set of mostly independent one-shots. A true multi-course meal! Not sure what to point to, but it feels more unified than those anthologies that all follow one theme or another. Maybe just a consistent author?
I think the author struck a good balance in terms of the lengths of the different chapters. I feel like there isn't enough appreciation for the short, sweet, and to the point. The pieces that convey an emotion, an idea, a circumstance, and are satisfied with that.

last edited at Dec 18, 2022 2:51AM

Characterizing polyamory as requiring relationships between a person and their partner's other partner(s), is totally inaccurate. My friend doesn't even know their Partner A's many other partners, and their Partner B isn't in a relationship with Partner A either.
(Obviously not saying there aren't often 3+ people mutually in a relationship).
I also would disagree with saying Tsuzuki's male partners seem to just be tolerating the whole polyamory thing. They're chill with it.

Ahh!! My favorite series that I forgot about! Normally I would just reread the previous two chapters after a long break, but with this one I knew I had to reread the whole thing. So worth it. Every moment written is so wonderful.

I really liked Ibu-chan in this chapter, that scene between her and Umi was really touching. What we saw of Shou and Umi this chapter was really great too! The bed flop is very relatable.

last edited at Oct 1, 2022 1:03PM

Damn, I could never say no to letting Rio stay for a bit. I'd be annoyed at there being no plan to help with rent if they were looking for a long-term thing, but everyone needs somewhere to sleep.

I do hope they go into the more serious, sad part of Rio's story though, otherwise it feels unearned narratively.

Oh my God! Thanks for the clarification Kirin-kun.
This chapter!!! I hate seeing Oosawa sad, but knew it was inevitable. That's why I read these. Hopefully Mitsuki can find her and help her feel better ;~;
I think next chapter will be more sadness as Oosawa thinks about this alone, but after that maybe? I'm hopeful these gays will figure things out together.

God lesbians move so fast she's known her for like no time at all and barely had that much alone time with her yet she already loves her?

I think it's safe to say that, at least at this current point in time, Kashiwai doesn't so much love Tsuzuki as much as she loves the idea of Tsuzuki. Idealization is after all what her character is built on; the entire reason she loves being a wedding planner is so she can create her ideal brides that she then...lives vicariously through? We know she's loved weddings since she was a kid (chapter 4). The tension in her character from the beginning, before she even met Tsuzuki, is the contrast between the "ideal (in her mind) weddings" she constructs for others and the boring, ordinary mundanity she's experienced since her own engagement.

Tsuzuki is so fascinating to Kashiwai because the very qualities that (seemingly) make her her ideal bride -- beauty, confidence, sincerity, openness with her love -- also allow her to reject everything Kashiwai stands for. This fundamental contradiction is what's driving her insane and tempting her to throw away her life, but that too is a major part of Tsuzuki's appeal. In chapter 5, the one where they kiss, Kashiwai says: "The sensation of insecurity coming from being on water is both scary and enjoyable." Both Tsuzuki herself and the prospect of being with her terrify Kashiwai, but that is precisely why she's going through with this. From the very beginning she's wanted to take a wrecking ball to her own life, and Tsuzuki just happens to have given her an excuse to do so.

Thinking it through like this, the real mystery is actually why Tsuzuki fell in love with Kashiwai. Hoping we get another chapter from her PoV to shed some light on this.

Mmm, yes. There's the letter she gets from her former client who lived out an ideal resolution to pre-wedding troubles, then there's Kashiwai and her fiance. Will she see a similar resolution in her mundane life? The thought doesn't even cross her mind. Just like her disinterest in making venue plans for her wedding earlier, Kashiwai either doesn't want to or can't follow that ideal. However much she can see its beauty in her professional life, it's the counter-ideal that Tsuzuki represents that enthralls Kashiwai. Tsuzuki acts an incursion of ideals into a mundane, material personal life of comphet that hasn't worked out. Work and personal matters first stopped being separate when Tsuzuki broke that barrier. And Kashiwai fell for her, of course.

last edited at Aug 16, 2022 3:07AM

Yeah this feels very forced lol. Ruriko clearly finds her annoying and only knew her for like a month. Well, i guess if it leads to Kurumi realizing her feelings then sure ┐(´ー｀)┌

I agree with it being forced. What kind of person sees a "friend" and meets their spouse and so immediately plops their butt down at the table begs for them to buy them stuff. I know of people that are that rude, but not many. Even in Japan, no matter how polite and hospitable the people are, that behavior is grounds to tell them to bugger off.

Being essentially homeless, unemployed, and probably close to penniless mitigates that a great deal, I would expect.

Also, it's the spouse that invites them to sit at the table, she didn't invite herself.

last edited at Aug 14, 2022 10:45AM

This manga has just made me even more firm in my stance of "if I win a million dollars, I'll give it away." Ignoring my ideological principals, having someone entirely in your care is a scary thought, because they might end up feeling trapped by their financial dependence upon you. I'd buy a house though, won't be able to do that otherwise...

last edited at Aug 12, 2022 1:20AM

This is now one of my top 5 favorite manga!
The absurd world after the change is a magnification of the absurd world before, which itself was just a reflection of the absurd world we live in.
This is probably the most satisfying post-scarcity story I've seen. Other narratives I've seen deal with it too shallowly ("oh wow, everything is so nice!" or "without COMPETITION all action is WITHOUT MEANING, as the point of life is WINNING"), or it's not the focus (star trek).
This manga also has this ever-present feeling of frankness. The world is strange, but people and relationships are genuine and real. On two back-to-back occasions though, we see characters fail at this: chapter 30 page 178 where Shimeji's sis was treated poorly because she's different and a few pages before that when the Gardener and Sis' opposing beliefs butt heads. I think those two moments contrast with the tone of the rest of the manga the most. It's late now though, so I'll leave my thoughts till later, after some more chapters have come out probably. I'll be pondering and considering until then.

last edited at Aug 10, 2022 1:45AM

Recency bias and all that, but that's gotta be some of the best flirting writing I've read. I think it captures an intimate experience of exploring one's queer feelings well, an experience marked with unsureness (as in seen primarily in Satou, but still present on Shioya) but also enamored with "figuring it out," as it were. And the art! It's the middle of summer here and I could feel the winter oozing from the scenes. This was a good piece!

My first instinct was: more! If I don't get a part 2 I will personally commission the artist a year's salary to continue! My more measured reaction right after that was: even if this is all we get, this is literally the best so all can be forgiven, and I can appreciate it as a stand-alone piece.

I'm sorry, but these highschool girls being real into Aerosmith brings me out of it lol. But at the same time, for these weirdos? I can see it.
cute chapter, only wish I had more...

where the hell are you people going to high school that suddenly your high school girls stopped listening to rock? (i graduated in 2021, the grunge freaks are Everywhere)

girls into rock for sure, but the people I knew that were real into rock were more RHCP or Nirvana or maybe The Doors. Aerosmith occupies the "lame dad band" section of my music categorization brain (as opposed to a "cool dad band" like Pink Floyd), and I think that was to some degree the consensus in that crowd.

I highschool I always thought of my self as "positive" and "optimistic"... this has beautifully put into paper those feelings that I was never able to fully express. Love the art, love the story.

fuck, the author got the suicidal tone and feel of talking uncomfortably accurate. translators did good too ofc

streamers, idols, anyone hates feeling disposable. Having to sell yourself to people you can't get close to, to make them like you, your personality and all it encompasses, that's horrible. It's like permanently being on the edge of some sort of connection, like a kid that never really gets fully included.
I can't seem to put my thoughts into words about it, but this connects with me on a more fundamental level than "oh, a parasocial relationship, those suck" because it's not just about changing idol interests. She talks about it herself: she met these people, did stuff with them, even let them fuck her, but in the end got mentally disposed of just the same as any graduated idol. Parasocial relationships aren't a real connection, and neither were those. What she wants in the end isn't more parasocial relationships, it's that real connection. Moving on without a thought for her is just a symptom of the problem, not the problem itself.

Really good, made me think about things. Kept from being a total favorite bc the ending could've been a little bit better, but definitely worth the read. Dunno if you can say the same about my rambles, lol.

last edited at Jul 25, 2022 1:47AM

christmas in july, whoo!

This story was OK

I'm sorry, but these highschool girls being real into Aerosmith brings me out of it lol. But at the same time, for these weirdos? I can see it.
cute chapter, only wish I had more...

Ah, so she does have two moms! I was confused earlier and thought "oh surely it's just a continuity error," pleasant surprise that the commenters who guessed it was two moms got it right. Maybe I shouldn't be as surprised lol