On the other side, Ran has a huge problem of self-control and that could be dangerous.

Ran looks like an alcoholic or an alcoholic in the making, being away from Keiko will destroy her for sure, unless she acknowledge her issues.

Not only alcohol. Food too. Or when it comes to tidy up the appartment, she makes excuses for not doing it. She's a child in a woman's body.

If they ever separate on some misunderstanding or some external event, Ran AND Keiko will drown, for sure. They need each other at the moment.

I think we will end up with an open to interpretation ending, some will label them "friends" and others will think of them as future romantic partners

We have to wait and see, but if anything this manga is entertaining regardless of the yuri.

I don't know. Shou can write yuri, though Stretch isn't anywhere near the mood of Prism.

Anyway, I like closure personally. So I hope the ending is not TOO open.

And yes, I was surprised at how good this one turned out, even if the romance is almost non-existent.

From what manga is that? Is from Ajiichi? I don't remember seen anything from this mangaka, could you give name of some?

Ajiichi is actually a circle of doujinshi.

The only thing I can find here is http://dynasty-scans.com/series/dear_my_teacher

I'm more like No-rae in that respect. Once bitten twice shy.

Show me a tsundere playing with men ? I just can't think of any. They are usually aloof with everyone except children, childhood friends and (reluctantly) with their love interest.

Anyway, the way Seol-a is drawn, she doesn't look like a "girl". She looks like a woman in her early twenties. It's maybe why I have a hard time believing in her innocence when it comes to relationships.

Or korean girls are more sheltered than western ones and it's just a cultural thing that eludes my cynical western way of thinking ?

last edited at Apr 1, 2015 7:49AM

It's written "Fin" at the end of the chapter 2. Which means it's probably like the previous one : what follows is left to the imagination of the reader. The author may very well reuse Emi in other short unrelated chapters, with the Nagomi as a background.

Well, for one, she knows a lot about men, since she dated several of them (and almost got killed by one). I can't believe she's that naive, even moreso she's pictured as an intellectually brilliant person. Intellectually brilliant, naive and actually socially inept, but still dressing in style and taking great care of her outer appearance, while being a blushing maiden when it comes to a crush, it just seems off for me. But it's just my take on this.

As for Shou not being "that dark", even if Prism is mostly light hearted, the homophobia scene, where the girls could have been beaten up, or worse, is an indication that he knows everything can't be rosy. If he had continued Prism, he may have wanted to tackle more serious issues about the implications of two girls being together in today's Japan.

And anyway, Stretch's target audience is more mature I think, so that the characters would experience darker moment is consistent.

last edited at Apr 1, 2015 5:42AM

Frankly, after reading all that's translated so far, I have a hard time with Seol-a's personality dissonances. That she'd be all over No-rae, craving skinship with her, acting very much like a crushing teen with jealousy twangs just doesn't seem consistant with her background. That she'd appreciate her because she has no prejudices is believable. That she'd fall head-over-heels for No-Rae almost at first sight, like it seems to be implied since the beginning, gives me a hard time at connecting the dots.

No-rae is much more believable.

And is it just me, or do most of the guys just all look alike ? Between the brothers, the "sempais" and the "kouhais", most of the time I don't know who is who. And the polite addresses everywhere don't make it any easier. There's only the freshman, with his lightbrown hair, that I can tell apart from the others.

Don't misunderstand me, I enjoy FF very much, but the overall feeling I get from it is, it's quite erratic.

But I wait for what's to follow impatiently. My take is that Seol-a is going to date that freshman as a substitute for No-rae who's retreating because of all the FEEEEEELS that went BAM. Maybe No-rae will reverse her "NO" and date Ji-hwan as a form of escape from them.

But hey, we all know yuri always wins the day at the end.

http://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/stretch_ch22_5#14

That smile means something. What it means is up for interpretation. Maybe her mother lives in Touhoku?

Wonder what the author has in mind. As I reread it, there's no clear path to yuri. It's not closed off either, but Keiko gives out conflicting vibes.

So far we know that Ran has never showed any interest in men, in fact, we only saw her interested in Keiko (admiring her, checking her out and being affectionate with her), we also saw her competing for Keiko's admiration (attention) when she took up on stretching to one up Keiko's boyfriend...etc. She seems like a typical invisible lesbian femme (If we ever must label her).

So far, we know a lot more about Keiko than about Ran. Between her graduation and the time she got to meet Keiko again, we don't know what she's been up to, beside studying medicine.

And when I said conflicting vibes, I mean that it's ALWAYS Keiko that's been pulling Ran into her orbit. When Ran was jogging, she stopped her and talked to her because of reasons.

When Ran's father died in that earthquake, she offered her to stay because of reasons also.

We always think of Ran as being the one "in love" and of Keiko as not seeing her "like that" (yet), but it's not that clearcut.

The initiative always comes from Keiko, since the beginning. She's been using Ran to heal herself and she's been giving very little back. But isn't it what Ran wanted all along ? Help people, heal them ? Hell, she does that just by being herself.

I think Ran will confess her love and Keiko will reject her at first, I think they won't live together anymore, but at some point, Keiko will realize her feelings as well and we will get our happily ever after.

It's a little too cliche I think. You may be right but I sure hope Akili has something better in stock.

Drama is lurking around the corner, with the ex making a come back, the mother hated for some unknown reason (the "man shoes" beside her mother's shoes in the entrance means I guess she was at least promiscuous with men, so Keiko is an unwanted child ?). Keiko seemed to have a death wish (smiling at the earthquake) and her encounter with Ran seems to have "saved" her. If Ran leaves, for whatever reason, how will that play out ? On the other side, Ran has a huge problem of self-control and that could be dangerous.

There are many many paths the author can lead us to and I sure hope he doesn't deliver one of those "after a grand confession and some drama, both finally accept they are in love with each other, they kiss, make babies and live happily ever after, putting that stretching lessons to good use".

That'd be a waste.

last edited at Mar 31, 2015 5:31PM

Well, this is why there are custom lists here, I guess. So you can be more specific about your likings and not rank your favorites when they are not in the same genre at all. It's just that I thoroughly enjoyed Girl Friends (despite some shortcomings), and when I read in the comments here that people rank this one almost on par, I thought I would give it a shot. But then, I was underwhelmed I guess ? But some people said it was their "first yuri ever", so it adds weight to it for them.

Sasameki Koto pulled me in this part of the Internet. and I fell in like with it. Maybe I'm the type to overanalyze things (not maybe actually, more, like, obviously), but when I love something, I introspect a lot to know why that is, because then it may allow me to repeat the experience with something new. So I go by theme, genre, style, etc...

You like "F for Fake" and "Spione", but if you don't think about why you like them and why you think a little higher of one over the other, then maybe you're missing on some other films you would love as much or more. Just my opinion of course.

Are you REALLY trying to compare this to Girl Friends and Sasameki Koto?? O_o... This series was never meant to be taken seriously, it's just a romantic comedy that has fun with its story.

Don't get me wrong, it's the contrary actually. I see people here ranking it very high ("most favorite after Girfriends"), but I just can't see how they would compare. They are wildly different and I didn't find it that good, personally.

But to each her own, of course.

last edited at Mar 31, 2015 5:52AM

We don't get an explanation as to why Mew had already a cage in her room for the hamster ? Sounds pretty fishy if you ask me. It's really full of cliches. "my fated person just happens to be a girl."... "She trips and we almost kiss, when drunk..".. how original. I love cliches as much as anyone, but they are starting to pile up.The gorgeous art saves the whole thing.

Also kinda reminds me of "Their Story", the chinese yuri. With the side art, we already know they get all lovey dovey.

Still it looks like the author is unwilling to draw any male face here. Guy on page 6 : no face.

Maybe needs the tag "Missing YChromosome"

last edited at Mar 30, 2015 9:44AM

Wonder what the author has in mind. As I reread it, there's no clear path to yuri. It's not closed off either, but Keiko gives out conflicting vibes. The author knows what his readership is waiting for, but giving it too soon doesn't seem in his plans, if he's going to give it at all. Keiko and Ran might as well put their lives back on the "right track" (whatever it happens to be) at the end, with the help of each other and that "special time/friendship" they shared, and never actually do anything more than hugging (and stretching).

Anyway, it has a great reread value. When you reread it, you get the hints the author left everywhere. It all gives some feeling of fate between them, that their lives seem to cross at critical moments and it makes them bounce in slightly different directions. Even if there's no yuri til the end I don't care. This is a really really good read.

last edited at Mar 30, 2015 1:00PM

Cute and funny, but nothing to write home about in my opinion. Almost every female character is coincidentally a lesbian with some unrequited love and the addition of the "zlay" group is out of place and works like some deus ex machina. For me, it can't hold a candle to Sasameki Koto or Girlfriends.

Julia is basically acting just like some random male protagonist, nosebleeds and all. She doesn't get any depth along the way, like Sumika.

last edited at Mar 29, 2015 3:29PM

This whole time he actually managed to keep any eroticism in check, even when he draws the characters in their undies, and for this, I'm glad. For all of the chapters, there's been some cuteness, some dokidoki/kyun~ moments, but the amount of service stays fairly low and is never out of place. Bonus points awarded!

By the way, I don't want the ex of Keiko intruding in the special relationship building between Keiko and Ran. He seems like a nice guy, but no, just no. The drama will be unbearable.

last edited at Mar 29, 2015 12:33PM

Just posting to say that Stretch is really a good surprise. I started to read it because I was intrigued by the Stretching theme and how it would work, but then I got hooked because it's character-driven, instead of being theme driven. I love slow paced stories and the author here seems to care a lot about characters depth. I don't care he usually does hentai/lolicon or whatever mistakes he may have done in the past, because his work here is really good stuff.

The relationship between Keiko and Ran is slowly evolving, with the stretching as a background and it just feels natural. That two grown-up women would have their own story, and wouldn't jump in bed together 3 days after living together just feels realistic. I can perfectly picture a woman not really thinking about "being like that", but at the same time finding herself drawn to another person, because she feels lonely and because that person happens to be really likable, even if it's a girl. But even if we got up until now some insight about why Keiko is the person she is, we still have don't know that much about Ran. She's more outgoing but also more shielded.

Anyway, I really love to see this story slowly unfold and I hope it goes on for a while and doesn't get an abrupt end like so many manga that don't meet enough audience. Anyone knows how it's rated in Japan ?