Hmm, just wanted to say the canonicity of this is debatable. It is an official work but don't think it can be taken as canon at face value.

@shades You did indeed have reason to be cackling like mad. Also thank you for translating these. I can't imagine how much time they take.

I cannot get over Adachi just stripping in front of Shimamura. I was absolutely baffled and genuinely wondered if she was just getting naked to seduce Shimamura. Well she was indeed trying to seduce her, just not in the bare flesh.

Damn though, where did she get the courage to confess not just once but three times? Her running away right after the second time was the most Adachi thing, as was Shimamura chasing after her. It's pleasant seeing how Shimamura's completely changed, from hanging up on Adachi because her ranting was becoming a pain to making the effort to initiate hugs, wear a yukata just because it'd make Adachi happy, and pursue her.

I loved seeing their thought processes throughout. Their dual contemplations on their respective weaknesses, desires, and other philosophical shit. One line I particularly liked from Adachi was when she was thinking about getting along with others and thought that even if that were to happen, it would still be Shimamura who would be in her line of vision. Shimamura actively drawing the line with Tarumi. Shou saying "I choose Yachii". Yashiro can read minds???

This page and the following one, where the narrative rapidly alternates between Shimamura and Adachi's thoughts, I thought it was beautiful. Both chapters have already done a lot of POV shifts, far more than usual when each chapter would usually be a one-sided narrative. I believe that's to show how they're becoming more in sync, and that simple back-and-forth sequence of thoughts really encapsulated their connection in that moment.

On another note, I'm starting to think a sex scene wouldn't be completely out of the question? The author has not shied away from having them describe, notice, and most importantly even enjoy physical attributes about each other (eg. Shimamura entering a state of bliss from Adachi hugging her in the bath, Shima staring at Adachi's chest, the gay mess that is Adachi getting flustered by Shimamura's looks/body). Well that's getting ahead of the story lol, since they just started dating, but that's what I'm secretly hoping for. Maybe it'll happen after another six volumes, seeing as to how slowly their relationship's been built up.

There's so much to say, I could be amazed by almost every sentence in these two chapters. Oh something else amazing: Shimamura's analogy of different types of love being different shapes, which makes sense but is bizarre, which is followed up with during her call with Tarumi in such a heartwarming way when she says her year with Adachi had taken so many shapes, and she'd yet to get bored of any of them.

This story is wonderful.

last edited at May 14, 2020 12:34AM

THIS IS SO GAY. BRB READING.

Update 1: LEWD

Update 2: The initial excitement is wearing off somewhat, but every single page has contained gold. Also, chapter 4, page 20: just normal.

last edited at May 13, 2020 9:21PM

riverFlower posted:

By the way, I saw the title translated as "A Tropical Fish Yearns For Snow" on TV Tropes. Can anybody confirm if this sounds reasonably accurate? I was just surprised because didn't expect "tropical fish" or "snow" to be in the title. Don't seem to be symbols either character has been associated with.

That's the literal translation of the title. I believe someone already mentioned it in the thread and explained it with similar contradiction as frog which despite wanting to be free, started to want to stay with salamander. Or something like that.

I decided to look for that, Ctrl+F'd through 69 pages of comments (haha 69) and did find some title discussion here. So I guess it's not directly symbolically tied to the story motifs but does refer to them.

I like that the story is dealing with Konatsu's dad now, it was set up from the beginning that Konatsu tries to talk to him about her issues but she has a hard time doing so due to him being far away and busy with work. It's also following up on Koyuki's parents helping Koyuki sort her own problems out so it feels natural.

It's nice this story deals with parents seriously at all, like Koyumi's dad as a teacher and having talks with her.

By the way, I saw the title translated as "A Tropical Fish Yearns For Snow" on TV Tropes. Can anybody confirm if this sounds reasonably accurate? I was just surprised because didn't expect "tropical fish" or "snow" to be in the title. Don't seem to be symbols either character has been associated with.

Ditto!! And the misconception wasn't cleared up until the story definitively ended. Girl in the first chapter is "Mihashi-san," but we don't find out Taneda-san's name until chapter 7! (If there's an earlier reference, I haven't spotted it.) And they look enough alike that she could have passed for a younger version of Mihashi.

We actually do find out her name two pages into chapter 2, link. They really did look alike though when reading quickly. Hairstyles are different which is hard to catch without paying attention to detail and easy to rationalize as being from different time periods.

So I did re-read it and enjoyed it much more this time. Frankly I'm worried about how their relationship will go considering Yamanaka doesn't even have experience going on dates. Hilarious considering how much "experience" she has. I'm sure things will be fine for them, but they've got some shit to work out with Yamanaka for her to be in a committed relationship.

It gave me a really weird feeling overall though. Descriptive, I know. Sort of a mix of contentment and wonder? And I don't know why because their dialogue is so minimal but it's like every line has a purpose and makes sense for some reason. I liked it. Will need to read more of Takemiya Jin's works.

@riverFlower there's also a lot of stuff in the Magia Record game about Kyouko and Mami's past relationship and how they both have awkward feelings about it, to the point where some people joke that the devs ship KyouMami instead of KyouSaya.

Interesting, I haven't seen any of that but there's a lot of Magia Record story I'm missing. KyouSaya must triumph in the end though. XD Can't let the blatant shipping in "And I'm Home" and Rebellion go to waste.

With a threesome at this rate. XD

The one undoubtedly canon lesbian

Are we really doing Homura dirty here? she is very direct about the nature of her feelings for Madoka in the final sequence of Rebellion, you really cannot interpreate it in any other way unless you are being willfully blind to it, what was she missing, wearing a pride flag button on her school bag or something?

I mean you'd be surprised. I only started thinking about this recently because I saw a Reddit post where somebody was arguing exactly for that, that Homura's declaration of love could be interpreted in other ways. While I was searching for that specific post, I came across even more posts and comments questioning whether there really were romantic feelings involved.

Anyway that's all I wanted to say about the series and my own wish that some day there will be at least one instance where built up subtext between characters becomes full-on text. And if that never happens, even with characters like Rika already being out, then I hope the world changes enough that some day this can become normal.

I won't be replying to any more comments on this topic as I think it's treading the same ground and it's not like I disagree with anything being said about the characters themselves. Interesting talk though.

Is Izumi the only one that has no color in her name?

Hers is blue. Aota (Aoi) Izumi. Red/Blue for the sideship. Black/White for the main.

That's neat, I didn't even know they had colors associated with them in their names.

I'd guess it was just something like Carol, for instance, which is PG12 in Japan.

Here's a trailer for a Japanese PG12 film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exvzDZ3lx7o

Watching that was hilarious. The absurdity of how it was classified as being material suitable for an elementary schooler/pre-teen to watch.

She starts out that way. She gets more assertive over time, but the anime takes away a number of those moments(and, at least as of chapter nine, she still has a number of more demure moments).

^Seconded.

She also tends to hesitate when speaking, based off of tone and the amount of ellipses in her dialogue. Doesn't help that her voice is soft and when she's first introduced she acts like a shrinking violet who's afraid to speak up.

it's funny because no one shipped them with the original game but once the remake of the same exact game...showed their gay chemistry on HD

The ship still existed with the original game, could easily find fanworks/art/stories going back that far. Just a resurgence now with the remake and Tifa and Aerith getting equal screentime and more interactions with each other from what I've heard.

It's family pressure, Asians family and the communities itself are pretty tight, there are the good and the bad that comes with it. Most of them who are married don't look for love, they just look start a stable family, they might love their significant other, but not "in love" and that's enough for them. Being Asian and traditionalist myself, I would most likely get married to a guy and settle down; despite being bi.

I wouldn't even say it is exclusive to Asian families and communities. One of my best friends is in a relationship like that, with a guy who is fine with her having flings with a ton of girls because she prefers girls so much more to guys. She just kind of gave up on having a real relationship with another girl because she had a few who didn't treat the relationship seriously, despite her track record with guys up until this last one being just as bad. Which seems kind of weird to me, as one of her best friends, who is currently in a happy lesbian relationship next to her, but it was her choice really.

It is definitely not restricted to Asian culture.

I live in CA and the first person who ever told me a similar story is my English professor. He had a wife and 3 daughters until he found someone who was happy with him. His wife and daughters knew and also were also supportive. His wife divorced and allowed him to marry the man he loves. He said his biggest achievement was proof reading his eldest daughter college admission essay about growing up with a gay father.

It is understandable for stories like these to trigger range of conflicting emotion. For me personally, it makes me question whether a relationship like that is twisted or that my understanding of love and marriage, which normal culture and media have taught me, itself is twisted.

First time I've double-quoted like this; wanted to save these for my own records. I haven't even read the story, but I appreciated these thoughtful comments. Even though they were made years ago, they resonate with/are interesting to me as examples of the lives others have lived.

So heteronormativity for the win.

C'mon now. What is Rika, chopped liver?

The one undoubtedly canon lesbian in a franchise that's been in existence for nine years. XD Or one of three including Kei and Yuu. I don't have a vendetta against the series, writers, or anything, I just think it goes to show how progress in explicitly depicting same-sex romance/romantic feelings is slow. I was very happy when I read her MSS though.

@riverFlower The first memoria was from the Christmas event Alina's Coming to Town, second another Christmas event, the third one I don't know where it came from.

Did not know that, thanks for pointing them out.

I see Kurokawa has a penchant for saying the perfect inspiring, motivational statement with reckless abandon during other's moments of vulnerabilities, like a true protagonist.

riverFlower posted:

It's a shame they're currently JP only as far as I know.

First two are available in NA though.

Oh they are? o: I've never seen them before. Are they available only through gacha or were they event memoria?

more ship-teasing subtext that clearly needs to become text

Implying it's not text already.

As much as I ship all of them and would fight to the death if someone were to say my OTPs don't exist, the writers have never explicitly showed/confirmed that any of them hold romantic feelings for the other. And that's how you get a multitude of ships and/or the possibility of them all being gal pals.

Personally it does annoy me how the writers will write in all of this ship-teasing/subtext between the characters, which could be fine and rationalized as "magical girls don't have time for love", except they also have magical girls who have explicit guy crushes (Hinano, Ami, Inui, Sayaka, etc.). So heteronormativity for the win.

@Nevri Not only that but you've also got memorias like these three memorias. Also so far this event isn't too tough either in the main or CQs. I just need a few more Nanaka potions to get my first copy of her.

It's a shame they're currently JP only as far as I know. I'm looking forward to seeing what the Mirror story behind the third memoria (Rika/Ren) is.

To an anime-and-doujins-only follower of MagiReco like me, Warmth of Your Hand sounds very yuri and extremely lewd.

There's also dual units, which are one fighting unit consisting of two magical girls. Like Iroha*Yachiyo and Rika*Ren. As a bonus, if you want more ship-teasing subtext that clearly needs to become text, a JP server Redditor translated some of the home screen dialogue the IroYachi unit says. Link here and scroll down a bit to find the comment.

First arc and Ayumi/Aika's story were nice. I think it is nice how the author reaffirms their respective feelings in those two stories, though Yukari/Mayuko's was definitely more of a sad ending.

More recent stories in this genre and the world in general has shifted in conventions so much, that I forget how things were like a decade ago. I get worked up over endings where people don't end up together because society or whatever, but I have to remind myself there can be different endings. There can be different fates in this world. Different possibilities. And as much as I would like things to be a certain way, that may not always be how it will be.

But anyway, given all that, it's quite satisfying seeing Aika get the most positive ending of the stories in this anthology.

Well my Hinano just hit episode level 5 tonight. I was finally able to get my Felicia to 5* and max level. My Mayu and Kokoro are nearing episode level 5, and I was able to buy out all mats from this event's shop.

Congrats on the episode lvl 5s, those take quite a while.

last edited at May 11, 2020 4:20AM

Okay, I need to re-read this. The same face syndrome's got me confused as to who's who. I legit thought Taneda was the woman from the first chapter, rest of story is about how they got to that point, etc etc same misconception that others have had. Was also confused at first who Yamanaka was having sex/sharing wine with somewhere in the middle chapters. I'm pretty sure it was Touda, but now I need to read it again while having an accurate view of who's interacting with who lol.

Any tag with the word "lizard" in it now makes me think of Nettaigyo wa Yuki ni Kogareru. Can't believe I've missed out on this gem for so long. It was fantastic. Mana's the best wingwoman ever.

First chapter was really different from the actual story? It makes more sense as a chapter 0 or extras type of thing, not as part of the main story.

I actually found this from TV Tropes, where it described this manga as paying attention to realism, and I could see that. Still very idealistic, but the gayngst is real. The lizard analogy really hurt my heart. (On a side note, the depictions of them as lizards were so cute!) What really killed me inside though was part 2, page 81. That little lizard trying to scratch a line in, making it a perfect, confined circle, making it deeper and more unyielding forever... the feeling of heartache that scene gave me is indescribable.

Alongside the lizard analogy being perfect, same goes for the line one. That's certainly very relatable.

last edited at May 10, 2020 5:58PM

Ponytail girl's left hand in the bottom panel is really bothering me, cause it looks like stretched out dough, but this is the set-up we all need.

MagiReco's isn't a timeline where the two are close. They're not enemies or directly at odds with each other, but they're not teammates or friends, either.

They are teammates and friends, though. There's a little moment between them later on near the end in the game where they're fighting together, and Kyouko nags Sayaka about not paying attention, or being incompetent or something, and Sayaka says something like "protect me then".

That sounds interesting. One of these days I'll stop grinding for upgrade materials to finish the story. XD

Ooooooh this reminds me I really need to finish playing the last release. I didn't recognize them on first glance and that's blasphemy for a Touhou fan.