1st base: sex
2nd base: moving in together
3rd base: personal names

4th base: holding hands

No drama and all fluff, this is where this manga shines, someone tell the mangaka.

The problem is that the author seems to have done everything they could for pure fluff back in the original Kase-san run and has been racking their brain over how to develop the story from there since 2017, injecting varying amounts of drama into it just to keep it going.

last edited at Jan 24, 2024 2:17AM

Welp, it's been 11.5 years, but they've finally moved in together, folks. :-)

It's good that they've actually talked about the whole Fukami race thing, if only in the grand tradition of this series of briefly addressing real issues, resolving them with a slap on the wrist, and moving on to overwhelming cuteness.

Also, they will have to eventually do something about that horniness differential. Yamada has a slightly below average sex drive for a person her age, but Kase is off-the-freaking-charts thirsty. :-P

The reason a lot of peeps cannot act their age when talking to toxic parents is because their brains automatically slip into their "hurt inner child" mode: a set of perception, automatic behaviors, and undigested emotions left behind by all the parent interactions throughout their childhood. With that in mind, big respect to Chengxin for actually drawing and enforcing a boundary, even at a great emotional cost.

Also, I have to wonder where on Earth this story is taking place? Chengxin's mother asks for yuan, mentions having USD, and then Chengxin's date tranfers yen to her. We've already seen in earlier strips that geography is more of a vibe than a physical space in this comic, but I wonder whether this is part of the author's concept?

I wonder why Mamu seems only interested in Fijuyama. I mean, the other girl from the bondage organization is doing her jobs without interruption.

Well obviously, Mamu has attended the Nanoha School of befriending select rivals. She cannot afford to spread her attention too thinly.

Once again, Miyako blows me away by how socially competent she is. She knew Asako would be way too self-conscious about telling Matsuba that she is now dating her granddaughter, so Miyako went ahead and informed her well in advance.

Jeeze, WHOSE love is stifling, old lady? How can she sit there looking so severe and offer to give her a house?!

I got a feeling that despite her bluster, grandma is still slightly awkward about her favorite granddaughter having a same-sex relationship, and covers it up by keeping Asako off-balance at all times.

Youzi has been fed well tonight.

Also, while I am not a fan of such blatant product placement, if each instance of it is preceded by food this good, I'll tolerate it.

I adore the fact that it's apparently normal for them now to start a day of work with a kiss. :-)

Jiang is so down bad it's crazy

That's was literally my first reaction after this chapter, word for word. :D

Also that Seo vs Shiina thing is the most direct Sociopath vs Psychopath example I have ever seen.

I am not very familiar with those pathologies. Can you explain the difference in this particular example?

Welp, someone (the author) definitely knows their yuri tropes. :-)

Yuri indeed, although so far the "obviously" only applies to an entirely unexpected side couple. :D

It's the beta couple trope: a secondary lesbian couple introduced early on to put the hearts of readers at ease about the story having actual Yuri, rather than just Subtext or worse, while the main couple(s) are being setup and develop into their relationship. Later on, they can become mentor figures to the main couple.

Though this story appears to kick off with a triangle instead of a clear main couple.

Press F for another series axed before its time. :-(

I want to enjoy this series, but it reminds me uncomfortably of It's Tough Being Neeko, in the sense that it shares that not-in-a-good-way-weird "Let's point fingers and laugh at this incapable adult" sense of humor. There is a potential for an interesting character arc for Shinobu, but I am afraid the author will be more interested in milking the "comedy" from her increasingly depressing life situation for as long as the series lasts before it's axed, then wrap it up with an unsatisfying final chapter -- if it even gets one at all. I will be cautious reading this forward.

EDIT: One thing that gives me hope for this series, is the fact that since the crane game incident, the MG stopped wearing her mask when she is around Shinobu, showing her growing trust towards her. This seems like an indication that this manga may have proper character arcs, instead of being a gag-a-chapter affair like Neeko.

last edited at Jan 12, 2024 10:43AM

lol "inappropriate intentions"

Well, that's certainly one way to word a confession.

Not really sure what Tang Chao's "confession" is gonna achieve, though? Betas can have sex with omegas just as well as with fellow betas, it's not like omegas have different sex organs only compatible with alphas' (at least in the standard ABO setup).

I think the point she was trying to make was like "I can guarantee that she's a Beta bc i've had sex with her and have thus seen all the important bits (or lack thereof), so i should know"

Koveras's point is that a beta can't know if it's a female beta or a female-looking omega she's having sex with.

I think.

It seems they can, in this particular story.

Yea, that's why I specified that my point only concerns the standard setting: ABO authors often invent special rules for their setting as they need them, so it may well be that betas can tell omegas in this one if they see them naked -- we just don't know.

The MC is mourning not so much what was, but what could have been. An interesting concept, but not nearly as emotionally intense as (the original) Chandelier or as twisted as Their Paradise. I am interested to see if all the stories in the collection form some kind of conceptual album.

idk how the author intentionally draws panels like this and expects us not to call it a yuri

It's just gaslighting at this point.

Also miss Li looked mighty fine in this lingerie.

And I am pretty sure she does it on purpose. Too bad Tang Chao is too useless to get a hint.

Not really sure what Tang Chao's "confession" is gonna achieve, though? Betas can have sex with omegas just as well as with fellow betas, it's not like omegas have different sex organs only compatible with alphas' (at least in the standard ABO setup).

Ch.77 is up on MD. I dare anyone to look at the last panel on the first page and tell me to my face that Satsuki x Akira isn't the intended endgame here. Also, by the looks of the last page, it seems like we are finally, finally moving into Find Out What The Heck Is Up With The Little Devil Komachi arc.

WTFn' TWIST is this?... I like it.

It's like a Reversal, except it's a half-twist? They don't quite reverse positions, more like, end up on the same level of toxicity.

Default Romance mode: Girl A is nice, girl B is nice, they love each other.
Regular Drama mode: Girl A is nice, girl B is messed up, "I can fix her".
Toxic Reversal mode: Girl A is nice, girl B is messed up, except psych! Girl A turns out even crazier.
Kodama Naoko mode: Girl A is messed up, girl B is messed up, end up in a surprisingly functional relationship.
Nobody But You mode: Girl A is messed up, girl B is messed up, except psych! They are both devoted girlfriends with compatible fetishes.

Within this model, this is effectively a toxicity Reversal chaining regular Drama into Kodama Naoko territory of toxic. A strong combo, if you can pull it off.

last edited at Jan 9, 2024 10:46AM

So I went back to the original and I don't know ... somehow this one feels more sanitized? I prefered the "grittier" (for lack of a better word) art style to this. Overall I somehow got me the feeling of watching the hollywood version of a biography versus actually reading the biography.

I'd say the original or more raw, not grittier. The remake's art is more detailed, with much finer lines and backgrounds, but IMO this distracts from the characters and defuses the pain they are dealing with, which is why it feels more sanitized, as you have said.

While the art is much cleaner and more detailed in this version than the original, I feel like the latter does not hit home as hard as the latter. At least for me, the emotional catharsis was much rawer and felt much more viscerally in the original version. The original focused primarily on the pain Sachie and, to a lesser degree, Rika were both feeling, and the more laconic lines (though this may be due to a different translation team) and sparse backgrounds of the original conveyed the tunnel vision of being in pain so much more authentically than the book version.

Underused tag.

Wow, talk about a blast from the past. The last time I've read this one, nobody has ever heard of a "coronavirus" before...

I hate to nitpick but SARS was 2002.

It was a colorful exaggeration. I am aware that epidemiologists have been studying coronaviruses since the 1930s, I was merely pointing out that the previous update of this manga's translation was published several weeks before the novel coronavirus later designated COVID-19 was reported to the CCDC, much less to the general public.

Jokes are like frogs. :-)

I dont know if the dynamic of older woman trying to resist tentation and behave accordingly, and younger one been the persistent and pushing force to getting in a romantic relationship was already made into a series, and even uploaded here, but I really would like one like that, the potencial for something deep and romantic, or just comedy and light drama/slice of life could also be great material with that kind of dynamic.

This is probably the most common age gap plotline if only because it feels the least exploitative. If the older one was taking the lead and pushing it, it would risk coming off as creepy to most people. You mostly only see that plotline in Hentai doujins

And then there is this.

Making her float a little was very smart, or else she would totally feel like a scam and that would be awkward.... I wonder what other things she can do

Didn't she just toss her in the air and immediately catch her again? Not sure it was actual levitation...

Wow, talk about a blast from the past. The last time I've read this one, nobody has ever heard of a "coronavirus" before...

Thank you, scanlators!