That brother is genuine great big brother material.

That's interesting.

I've got a bad feeling that someone in Seol-a's family is going to walk into her apartment during sexy-times. (They should all have the key code, yeah?)

Walked in on them and then the "you're not our daughter anymore" drama ensues.

That's a thing I've been wondering about, we all know that being gay isn't well received in these parts, even less so the more old they are. The drama in this story aside from the strangle scene has been pretty mild, how hard will shit hit the fan when they come out?

I think it's unfortunately the former and that's why I'm upset. She did not deserve that, although I know that no matter what happens she'll make the best of it. It still does not feel right to me still.

Personally I think it was something much simpler, and in a lot of ways more galling. Going from what I've been able to gather about Japanese culture (admittedly second and third hand), women often give up their careers upon marriage. You see it in manga a lot, and I've heard that wanting to avoid that fate is one thing contributing to Japan's low birth rate. They needed something to remove Alicia at the end so Akari could succeed her position at the end, and marriage would be easily understood by the readers.

Oh, and the ring part was to do with the Marriage Of the Sea ritual, rather than an actual engagement ring. But it does suggest there's some unknown male with an interest in her.

Did she not take an administrative-like position in the ending? She didn't quit working simply doing less hands-on work. I imagine that's because it's a more stable job and she moves around less. Perhaps her love interest gave her some sort of ultimatum.

Maybe you're right and people are looking too much into it.

last edited at Apr 26, 2015 2:03PM

There's also Aqua and Aria as well as Amanchu from Amano if you're interested in female friendships. Amanchu to a lesser extend though, it's full of subtext.

I've read those of course. Alicia's ending annoys me still to this day.

Alicia's ending literally came out of nowhere too. There's no indication she was seeing anyone up to that point.

There was a previous indication, one of them male cast tried to give flowers IIRC and said she had already received some and I do vaguely remember a ring which indicated fiancé of some sort. But the way she talked about it did not look that happy to me.

Some have theorized that her marriage was arranged and that she may have done it for politics, money or for her family.

There's some people that think that Alicia was so badass that no random guy would of been accepted by the readers. He would of needed a manga of his own to prove he was worthy of her.

I think it's unfortunately the former and that's why I'm upset. She did not deserve that, although I know that no matter what happens she'll make the best of it. It still does not feel right to me still.

last edited at Apr 26, 2015 1:33PM

hahaha. i have a different version.
norae: what the hell are you doing here??????
seola: i came to see you!
norae: didnt i tell you to leave me the hell alone! what do you want from me????
seola: i want you.

Take all my money this instant!

Kissing people while they're asleep...does that actually happen in real life? Feels too cliche to happen here. What I'm wondering is after they get together who's going to be the first one to ask to have sex...

Seol-a is going to devour her, at least in my fantasies that's how it pans out. As for kissing asleep, I have no idea. But since a person cannot consent while asleep it is sexual assault. So I'd be careful!

There's also Aqua and Aria as well as Amanchu from Amano if you're interested in female friendships. Amanchu to a lesser extend though, it's full of subtext.

I've read those of course. Alicia's ending annoys me still to this day.

When it's hentai I don't really pay much attention to it, although there is a lot of mangakas who make good yuri hentai, majority of them do het like Murata, so lesbians characters are used for threesomes, orgies or to be raped (a lot), so we can't really expect a lesbian to stay lesbian unless the mangaka is known for making real yuri, it's frustrating when it's not a hentai and they use het for easy drama that most of the time is poorly done, and if it's serie with subtext like Love Live or Love Lab we can't really complain since they're not yuri...

I get what you mean, being able to disconnect yourself from certain ghastly situations because it's a H-manga. Still not everyone can or want to do that and it's understandable.

Yeah, no. Thing is, having lesbians fall in love with some dude in Random Anime sucks, sure, but having lesbians turn into dick hungry sluts because of rape is fucking offensive.

Offensive it is, but not much more than mothers/wives leaving their family to be sex slaves or any number of things degrading tags that can be attached to hentai.

Edit: If this discussion continues, it would probably be better to take it to the mangaka discussion instead of using 3 of his mangas. I probably won't continue this discussion though, cause I don't wanna think about it.

last edited at Apr 26, 2015 2:06PM

And then you get something like YKK, which doesn't really have any romance to speak of (not counting the Alpha/Kokone/Maruko triangle of course). It's all friendships of various sorts and everyone has their own life that intersects with the others.

A masterpiece of soothing mixed with some sadness. The last chapter with Alpha remembering will forever be engrained in my brain as long as I don't get alzheimer or something similar.
The end makes you feel calm but empty, it was such a weird feeling.
Amplified I'm sure because I read it when it was still being released and ongoing.

One thing I've seen American comic writers like Gail Simone and Kelly Sue DeConnick talk about as important is presenting female friendships. Not just women who work together fighting evil or whatever, but women who hang out, play boardgames, go to a movie in a non-date way, etc. I think that ties in well with what you're saying, and it results in much more developed characters in the end.

Yep female friendship is rarely portrayed extensively in manga. Even in female demographic work you mostly have "the best friend" and then all the love rivals and grade-A bitches that fight the heroine for the love interests.

This is why I lile stuff like Kimi no Todoke. Let's be real, the male MC is nice, intelligent, handsome and always is there supportive. He's pure insert fantasy, no one is that perfect.

But what really keeps me coming back is the friendship the three main girls have.
They are all different and have their own life but through it all they are always there to give eachother other advice and get through the stressful parts.

But yeah, female friendship is overlooked compared to it's counterpart the bromance. The ratio isn't even remotely close to 50/50.

last edited at Apr 26, 2015 12:25PM

There's also that Japanese thing with seme/uke where the older or larger of the two fills the "giving" role while the other receives. Certainly it's more of a yaoi thing, but these stories seem to fit the mold very well without being blatant about it.

You know I just read this and something hit me. Seme/uke dynamic is pretty much universal for yaoi and I was wondering why I don't like most yaoi works. At first I thought a big part was because I was a straight male and it didn't really appeal much to me.

But then it hit me, seme/uke is a copy paste of the wall pushing shoujo male lead ( preferably with dark hair ) and the meek shoujo heroine trope. Remove the breasts ( not that they ever have anything past A- cup lol ), cut the hair, and add giant sized hands and I totally picture it in my mind. Add a splash of more rapey content every now and there and you have it.

I've just read the same routine too many time already. I guess it makes sense since yaoi has a large women readership.

I get what you mean about cohabitation, honestly I hadn't thought much about that angle. One reason I like Kimi Koi Limit I suppose, is the whole thing about the MC not just wanting to date her love interest, but live with her on a serious basis (getting a job, etc.). Off Time by Morishima Akiko comes to mind, where they've been together for a long time but still find romance together.

Living in the same place people are bound to share part of themselves and that's something precious. If as the reader we're able to see their world and how the characters evolve together then the story is better for it.

This is true even if the relationship in question is platonic like in the case of roommates or friends. One thing I would want to see more of in manga is adult friends living together. It could be any variation of gender and I would gobble it all up.

i like my yuri and het just not together......

That's what the tags are for.

It's interesting, elsewhere there was a bit of discussion about "yuri" versus "lesbian" stories and how something like Gunjo comes off as lesbian where something like Sakura Trick was more yuri. And oddly enough I look at this story, as fluffy and sweet as it is, and I think it definitely falls on the "lesbian" side. Not because it's realistic by any means. It's tremendously romanticized and fluffy. But the fact that even het romances of a certain period were very much like this, and LMYC treats its same-sex couple in very much the same way, there's a level of the characters' attraction to each being taken seriously when it's treated more like fantasy in a lot of "yuri" works.

It's tricky to explain it in much more depth than that, but hopefully people see where I'm coming from.

I totally get what you mean. I think it's also partially because of cohabition. In any romance that I've read that takes cohabitation as the main focus as you really feel a lot of detail going into the characters and how they interact. Because that's sort of the crux of the story really, how do they live?

For this reason I love all cohabitation mangas with the exception of the shounen/shoujo "We are now living together because circumstances". They're more comedy/stupid drama related and less about bonding and romance.

last edited at Apr 26, 2015 11:28AM

I'm not digging this one :/ dont know why.
Question lol for everyone haha
I think when you have been reading yuri manga as long as I have (im sure many people as well)
Do you not get extremely picky about which ones you read? lol before I was good with anything yuri even if the the story or art was shit lol (I dont judge by the way art style/ or artist talent).

My taste depends on what I'm reading.

If it's a H-manga ( straight or gay ) than the art is the most important thing really. If I want to use it as fap material it has to be pleasing to my eyes. That's pretty much the same as logic as live pornography.
If it's a non-h material be it shoujo, seinen, shounen and the list goes on... Then it's mainly for a good story UNLESS it has absolutely godtier level of art and is not the worst story ever made.

last edited at Apr 26, 2015 11:12AM

Let's not conflate harmful discrimination with a cry of frustration.

Although I agree with what you said, I think in this case the poster you've warned is doing a little bit more.
Rather than a cry of frustration I'd say this person has a expressed a profound disdain vis-à-vis the subject.

I guess that's why you've warned them =P

Okay, no I don't, but it's the most hated game I know and own. And I would play it if my Laptop would run it...

Play the other total wars though. Europa Universalis IV is my main game currently though, and a few other strategy based games (Civ V, Rise of Nations, Age of Empires II, Crusader Kings II). I plan to get every game linked with Paradox, because seriously, I love those guys. Only have two now though.

I very occasionally play Smite, SWTOR and PoE. SWTOR and PoE probably more than Smite.

So, on the whole, doubt anyone plays many of them.

Fan of strategy games, eh? I wouldn't say no one plays the games. Paradox is well liked by many, and Europa Universalis 4 is extremely popular if you're into more slow paced startegy games. I like the game myself although it has some dumb things like losing a war based on points because your allied country got wrecked and you were stuck In England because naval inferiority. I mean, you lose yet you took no damage :( .

As far as AoE goes... I'm an avid fan of ZeroEmpires stream and youtube, Can't get enough of dem clan wars and all. I occasionally watch TheViper's stream as well. I don't play anymore but I like to watch.

PoE is the refined gentleman's ARPG but I could never enjoy too much because of how clunky the animations were plus I always play hardcore so desynch hell wasn't my cup of tea. I heard they might fix that although they've said that like a million of times already.

I pretty much never encounter a fan of Europa Universalis though, especially in person where the only strategy fans I know struggle with creating a decent economy in the original Rome.

Your scenario confuses me, it seems to be implying England in some way doesn't have naval superiority if you're there and not them? That just feels... Wrong. Losing a war because of your ally usually isn't that bad though. They take the hit more so than you usually, unless you're co-belligerent for some reason, which I don't think the AI ever does. Or if you're the attacked and it's only your ally that's under siege, they can't enforce demands, so you can cheese of a peace at their expensive.

It's weird isn't it. Well in that particular instance I decided to rush things and conquer Scotland and Ireland so my ground forces were impeccable, which is why the enemies could not land. They just circled around with their ships being a nuisance. And the danes, Norway, Burgundy and France at the same time in a war ( plus a few nobodies ) meant I could not leave my island.
The Trio of Norway, danes and France means a lot of ship.

I just think that your country taking zero damage would mean that you really didn't lose anything. At least that's how it would be in IRL at the time. But I understand that from a gameplay mechanic it might not be the coolest.

I'm too impatient for streams and such usually. I'll sometimes have a let's play in the background at most. Playing the games needs a bit of a break for me though. I usually play with max number of enemies and huge resources, and spend most of my time systematically destroying the map.

I'm a big RTS player and have the APM to back it up so I harass alot with god tier micro. Harassing villagers is an art in AoE. There's a lot you can make your units do if you just don't just point and click attack. It's one of the great things in the game. The way arrows work, height advantage etc... A lot of outplay in there to do.

Okay, no I don't, but it's the most hated game I know and own. And I would play it if my Laptop would run it...

Play the other total wars though. Europa Universalis IV is my main game currently though, and a few other strategy based games (Civ V, Rise of Nations, Age of Empires II, Crusader Kings II). I plan to get every game linked with Paradox, because seriously, I love those guys. Only have two now though.

I very occasionally play Smite, SWTOR and PoE. SWTOR and PoE probably more than Smite.

So, on the whole, doubt anyone plays many of them.

Fan of strategy games, eh? I wouldn't say no one plays the games. Paradox is well liked by many, and Europa Universalis 4 is extremely popular if you're into more slow paced startegy games. I like the game myself although it has some dumb things like losing a war based on points because your allied country got wrecked and you were stuck In England because naval inferiority. I mean, you lose yet you took no damage :( .

As far as AoE goes... I'm an avid fan of ZeroEmpires stream and youtube, Can't get enough of dem clan wars and all. I occasionally watch TheViper's stream as well. I don't play anymore but I like to watch.

PoE is the refined gentleman's ARPG but I could never enjoy too much because of how clunky the animations were plus I always play hardcore so desynch hell wasn't my cup of tea. I heard they might fix that although they've said that like a million of times already.

You never know until you mention them, it's kay we won't judge.

Manga without romance? I recommend those, don't forget to turn on the Tsukkomis, it's the only reason to read on mangahere, and I can recommend more if you want.

Haha, manga without romance and you go straight to the survival mangas.

Maybe the fancy VR stuff will raise the bar again, at least for a while.

Fancy VR stuff? What fancy VR stuff?

Best way to avoid disappointments is to find yourself a reviewer you can relate to and stick with them. You don't even have to have the same tastes as them, with the time you're just gonna know how your and their tastes compare. For me it was TB and Nothernlion but they usually don't do AAA games.

I haven't found nice reviewers since the old days of Greg Kasavin and co. @ gamespot.
I usually don't watch/read reviews anymore unless you count /v/ as a review group.

Well this is a nice surprise, on batoto I have only English and Spanish selected on my settings.

But as it turns out... Je suis français et c'est avec un grand plaisir que j'ai devoré tous les merveilleux chapitres.

Good thing I looked at this thread without new updates or else I would of had never known!

what do you expect from a society where crappy cell phone games that cost barely any money to make become more popular than High Quality games that are "only" bought by gamers? I mean, "why play/buy expensive game if I can just watch Let's plays of them?", is a sentence I heard often enough lately...

Fucking let's plays... I can't watch 99.9% of those. This isn't bragging but I'm a lot better than most at games. I never get too attached to a game but let say I'm not far from the 0.5% for any game I play more than a few hours because I like being good.

That's why I cant watch any of those doofus because all I do is facepalm and throw my hand in the air each 2 seconds because these people miss everything and don't fully use what the combat system allows them.

Alas gaming is now cool status so it's for casuals. Seriously, people these days are more interested in seeing if the games are sexist and if there's minority characters portrayed favourably in the story. What happened to "Is the gameplay good?" "Is the game worth your money?". It's all gone...

Edit: I love those videos

So do I, I can totally see the valve guys saying things like that. I bet they're laughing their ass off.

@Serenata Of course the gamers lose in the long run. That games now vs then image where they show you how games are bought is an example of that.

This reminds me of food products you buy and the prive never goes up, but the size is smaller. Over the years you never notice your favourite food has been shrinking over time.

last edited at Apr 25, 2015 2:09AM

I laugh when some modder for skyrim put a system in place so after you use free spells 1/20 times a pop up would tell you that there's a premium version you can pay.

We're going to see some fun things.