Fun fact: Yukari's actually just on the toilet in that picture.

Hilariously, that one bizarre fact J.K. Rowling made up about wizards in Harry Potter not having toilets, but just magicking their shit away into some interdimensional void would fit perfectly for Yukari.

Latest chapter is up on MD. Wonderful developments, great pacing.

I was kinda split on this story's decision to give so much attention to the stalkers, but after my knee-jerk 'Keep them disgusting creepazoids outta mah yuri' reaction, I've realized that it's actually a commendable decision. So many manga about entertainment and the performing arts completely and totally misrepresent the professions they cover, glorifying and fetishizing industries that are extremely exploitative (Love Live, for instance, has caught flack for making the idol industry seem like some grandiose pathway to dreams instead of an oppressive industry that pulls in young girls with talent, restricts their personal freedom, and forces them to act out anime archetypes for swelling crowds of sweaty otaku who'd get an aneurysm if their waifus, who just so happen to be real goddamn people, ever happen to get into a relationship or display any traits that aren't sickeningly moe or endorsed by their agencies). I honestly hate the whole, 'we must devotedly love our fans and appreciate the support they give us' ideology, because so many of these fandoms are filled with toxic people who perv out over underage girls and fantasize about getting into relationships with them, even as the corporations that market the idols rarely ever criticize this, but actively prey on the social isolation and repressed desires of straight male consumers to mold idols into real-world waifus and maximize appeal. Though the idols do make good money and the stalkers are terrible people, there's also a lot to be said about the agencies that form the root of these issues, and the general fandom culture that drives such behavior. And the fact that this series is willing to engage with that by presenting the seiyuus as people often uncomfortable with performativity, whilst also giving the stalkers human traits and exploring their mindsets, psychology and fiction-reality disconnect is pretty neat. I'm not expecting it to be some kind of brilliant symbolic deconstruction of the industry like, say, Revue Starlight, but even if it displays the willingness to explore the seiyuu profession with more depth than just 'cute girls and their loving fans', it'd be a cut above all the shows and series that idealize professions for blatant cash-grabbing.

last edited at Nov 11, 2020 1:37AM

"I am thou, thou art I... why art thou such a gay disaster?"

At this point, Yukari should just rename her theme to Mikofantasia.

Arc x Ciel was one of the first times I ever realized that the route heroines in a VN have much more chemistry with each other than they could ever have with the protagonist. Shiki isn't even all that generic (though he's upstaged in every regard by his Kara no Kyoukai counterpart)- it's just that the ditzy vampire god-princess and PTSD-ridden amnesiac church executor go together like marshmallows and chocolate, as opposed to the slimy oysters that pervade Nasu's H-scenes.

A magical girl is just five seasons' worth of thirst bottled up in a PG-13 lock, and Shamiko is the succubus-shaped key that lets it all out (quite literally, in this case).

Medb: I can ride anything!~
Scathach: Then ride the first train outta here.

There should be a 'teasing Edelgard' stat in the game that ties into the RPG mechanics. Do it right, and you get nookie. Do it wrong, and you get the guillotine. It'd make for a very exciting relationship.

Shinki, breaking down the boundary between the PC-98 and Windows canon: Heeeeeeere's Mommy!

FGO has so many brilliant ships that'll never get development, because Japan's most successful mobage desperately needs to keep pushing new characters out to maintain that billion-dollar annual revenue. That, coupled with the fact that everything revolves around a self-insert, made me give up on the game, but it's still nice to see fanart sometimes.

And then Adachi woke up.
...
...
Luckily, Shimamura was right next to her.

I'd like to think that the two stories are actually connected. Koishi, having no clear, conscious mind, is basically a pre-development, subconscious-driven entity that has a very hazy conception of herself. Like very young children who identify themselves with their mothers before developing a sense of self, perhaps she imagines herself as part of a composite entity with Satori, where Satori represents the conscious self and she represents what's hidden. In that sense, her attempts to poison Satori reflect her own attempts to shut her telepathic eye, as she tries to save Satori from the horrors of omniscience. Conversely, Satori's bid to put Koishi to sleep in the second half represent how she's trying to eliminate everything beyond her rationality, and kill all emotion. It's basically what you'd get if both sisters took their respective natures to the extreme, whilst still being driven by a twisted love for each other. Splendid parallels, really. This was a great story.

Really liked this story. There's a shit-ton of worldbuilding that we'll probably never get to see, but the flipside is that every single page of this story is intriguing. I loved the take on androids as optimistic dreamers, because they're programmed to rationalize the world even amidst despair and compute the best path to success, even when people shrug happy endings off as absurd. The protagonist choosing to try again because of good ol' human stubbornness instead of any grand ideological awakening is also a great development. Wish we got more stuff like this.

Exhibit 9726489 for "Your favorite authors did Touhou doujinshi before they drew their own series."

I swear that its some sort of requirement at this point. Not that I mind but it still blew my mind when I learned the authors of Bloom Into You also drew Touhou manga at some point.

Touhou was huge back in the 2000s and early 10s, and fan conventions were a great place to exhibit your art, meet fellow authors, and get some vital experience before branching into original work. I'm not much of an expert with regards to art, but I'd argue that ZUN's brilliant character designs would probably be really fun to replicate and take inspiration from, and the same goes for the immensely entertaining cast and unique setting. Touhou just lends itself to speculation, fan creations and headcanons better than any other series I've encountered, while still maintaining an incredibly unique and distinctive identity, which is why you'll find nothing quite like it anywhere else in the world. Even now, when other, more accessible franchises like KanColle, Azur Lane, FGO as well as Love Live and BanDori have soared to incredible popularity, drawing Touhou art is still guaranteed to grab eyeballs and help you make a name for yourself on online platforms. The fact that the series manages to command such a loyal and dedicated fandom despite not having any official anime adaptations, major corporate sponsorship, or gacha games filled with drip-feeds of content and pandering is a testament to it's quality. In Touhou, the fans aren't just consumers, but active participants to an incredible degree, and the body of work they've produced over the years is, in my opinion, far more engaging and diverse than anything a single team of hired writers could ever achieve. In an age where the market is dominated by media specifically designed by suits and algorithms to pander to the fantasies of various otaku demographics, Touhou still retains that fiery, 90s-era indie-game spirit, and I think that's an actual goddamn miracle in today's world.

Breaking fragile things is more Flan's purview, but I suppose Remilia's probably too strong for her own good as well. It feels rather ironic to see her tending to Sakuya, but I suppose it's also strangely fitting, especially if you subscribe to the theory that she pulled Sakuya out of a dark place and altered her tragic fate.

This image becomes so much hilarious now that we canonically know that Saki is short. She just subtly hovers a foot into the air and slides over to Yachie to assert dominance. Absolute queen shit.

"Mayday, Roger, we're recording critical levels of lesbian activity within this highschool. Lesbians on roofs, lesbians in the mess hall, lesbians in the faculty room, lesbians in corridors, lesbians on the move, lesbians moving on, and don't even get me started on the lesbians in the closets."

On a more serious note, though, I really liked how intense this chapter was willing to get. Shishimaru's suicidal tendencies were dealt with in an appropriately nuanced manner, Pengin is a wonderful mess, and our main couple made strides as well, even if they were in the opposite direction from each other. We've sure come a long way from all the complaints about how the author might pad and bloat the story with side characters- right now, they stand perfectly on their own, have compelling narratives, set up decent parallels with the leads, temper the overall mood with both heavy emotions and comic relief as required, and lend the school a wonderful sense of liveliness and habitation, as opposed to being a space full of faceless characters intended solely to frame our leads. This is auxiliary character writing at its best, and I'm amazed how far the author has come from Tovarisch, where I couldn't even tell who was who. Lastly, I loved that scene where Shishimaru gets flustered in the middle of her planning when Pengin draws too close- those subtle, Did I leave the stove on at ho- oh shit, I'm gay moments really lend a sense of physicality to the scene, as if these characters are spontaneously interacting and reacting to each other's presences instead of robotically mouthing their lines in the limbo of a black-and-white panel.

Playing fighting games being analogous to sex is hilarious.

American Psycho was just one long session of Mortal Kombat, wherein Patrick Bateman inflicted sick Fatalities upon friendly neighbourhood prostitutes.

and Nettaigyo, which seems explicitly designed to trigger endless wars upon the line between friendship and love. I'm just scratching the surface here- the history of Yuri fans being burned could fill a five-volume encyclopaedia.

Umm, Nettaigyo IS gay, not even the mangaka will convince me otherwise. (I'm totally not in denial)

I respect your resolve, soldier. Many have faltered and fallen, crying out 'bait' and abandoning the ranks of world-weary shippers. But the final volume of Nettaigyo is upon us, and it is time to face the final test. If we succeed, it shall be an 'I told you so' moment for the ages. And if we fail, it'll be no big deal- our hope is something far grander than petty canon.

AAAAAAAAAA
Someone's picking it up on MD! I guess they didn't want to let this series die (no pun intended).

Series is translated upto chapter 5 on MD, and is every bit as intense (and gay) as ever.

The lesson here is that mice are scary and must never be pissed off.

Props to the author for taking one specific spellcard and using it to write a 42-page masterpiece about the cruelties of economic deprivation that's easily on par with The Grapes of Wrath.

This is an absurdist masterpiece. Imagine writing petty conflicts like man against god or man against society when you could be exploring the implications of loli-frog against flatulence.

Carcharias' Miko is simultaneously the sharpest and fluffiest version of the Crown Prince there is, and I absolutely love it.