Asumi already booking her next visit rather quickly... Maybe even during the act. D:

I wonder if they noticed her when she panicked and fled. Asumi recognizes her, the other girl gives her working name, and Asumi books the appointment immediately.

Bet the name of the "husband" is Tazune.

The universe conspires to have everybody he ever marries leave him for their best lady friend.

FINALLY, gamer couple!! So even if this isn't part of the main series, is it canon? Will it correlate at some point to the main series itself?

Also getting tired of Iori getting wasted/casually slapping Minami around. Surely they can be funny without that.

It specifically calls back to the original series for backstory, I don't think the author would do that kind of callout if they didn't want them to be viewed as companion pieces.

(although to be fair those little preface blurbs are usually written by the editor, not the author, but still.)

last edited at Mar 21, 2021 1:32PM

All these people saying "The mom is unrealistic!"

Like, yeah, clearly, the mom who literally just fucked off after her divorce and left her teenage daughter to live by herself and fend for herself, to the point that she was just skipping school entirely at the start of the series....That parent is a bad parent? What shock! What stunning and contrived drama! Why I can't believe it at all! /s

Guys. Sora's mom was always going to be awful. She was visibly neglectful with her mere absence. She abandoned her kid and left her to live alone, without supervision. If Ayaka hadn't come to get her, she'd have flunked the year and been about to be held back a year by now. At best.

She was -already- an abusive parent, this just cemented that that abuse is also physical.

If you think it's contrived, I have news for you. You know someone with an abusive parent. Some of you may not know you do, because they don't talk about it, but they're there, participating in your daily life. And given that Honda's mom was visibly abusive, she was always going to be a natural impediment to their relationship in one way or another. The seeds for this "sudden twist" were in chapter one.

That doesn't mean you gotta like it! You can dislike the twist, you can not want to see that kind of content. If you just don't like it, I don't have a problem with that. But it's not unrealistic, it's not unlikely, it's not even contrived, and it is definitely not sudden. Some tropes are common because the events they depict are also common.

Sora was -introduced- as a character with visibly awful parents, that's why when mom showed back up, a lot of us knew she was going to be an obstacle, because we already knew she was awful.

Writing this wall after a whole page of people saying it's realistic is very bad timing.

I didn't say everybody thinks it's unrealistic, I said I disagree with the people who -were- saying that. The fact that there are other people who agree with my perspective doesn't mean I can't express my own reactions.

All these people saying "The mom is unrealistic!"

Like, yeah, clearly, the mom who literally just fucked off after her divorce and left her teenage daughter to live by herself and fend for herself, to the point that she was just skipping school entirely at the start of the series....That parent is a bad parent? What shock! What stunning and contrived drama! Why I can't believe it at all! /s

Guys. Sora's mom was always going to be awful. She was visibly neglectful with her mere absence. She abandoned her kid and left her to live alone, without supervision. If Ayaka hadn't come to get her, she'd have flunked the year and been about to be held back a year by now. At best.

She was -already- an abusive parent, this just cemented that that abuse is also physical.

If you think it's contrived, I have news for you. You know someone with an abusive parent. Some of you may not know you do, because they don't talk about it, but they're there, participating in your daily life. And given that Honda's mom was visibly abusive, she was always going to be a natural impediment to their relationship in one way or another. The seeds for this "sudden twist" were in chapter one.

That doesn't mean you gotta like it! You can dislike the twist, you can not want to see that kind of content. If you just don't like it, I don't have a problem with that. But it's not unrealistic, it's not unlikely, it's not even contrived, and it is definitely not sudden. Some tropes are common because the events they depict are also common.

Sora was -introduced- as a character with visibly awful parents, that's why when mom showed back up, a lot of us knew she was going to be an obstacle, because we already knew she was awful.

Abusive parents certainly exist, but it's the creator's choice to insert one here suddenly.

Not everything realistic makes for a good story.

And you disliking something doesn't make it objectively bad.

Korra is the type that thinks she's the top and definitely isn't.

last edited at Feb 18, 2021 11:23AM

With the ending we had last time, at least this adds more missing pieces to the puzzle. It isn't the ending this manga deserves but at least the author did their best considering the circumstances.

Thor: Did they, though?

Real powerful "ah, oh, please don't be mad at me" vibes from the author in this chapter. Hard to decide whether this is just an attempt at clarifying the ending they had in mind from the beginning or if this is a change to try and satisfy people...

Other people in this thread are right that Risako showing up really complicates this and seems like a mistake. Didn't she straight-up confess to Kaoru earlier on in the series at least once and the author never resolved it?

Yes, but apparently ambiguously stringing on confessors for literally years is Kaoru's MO.

Creating chapters for this story is not the decision of the manga artist itself.

There are many, many authors published in the same magazine navigating the same circumstances who do not have these problems

Yeah, but to be fair, not all stories are equal in all respects. Some stories can be ended abruptly whenever, some can't. Some authors are good at improvising a solid conclusion, some are too tied to their original vision to let it go. Every situation is different.

This all reads to me like the author had this big long term plan for how these two gradually get together, and in the end they didn't get to make it so they gave us the cliff's notes so that we know what the plan was.

(facepalm)

Wait, so, when they're living together at the end of the series, that wasn't even them being together together? They just....decided to live together, being....what. Friends? With Kaoru knowing how Uta felt, and Uta believing there wasn't any romantic prospects? I assumed they'd gotten together and -then- moved in, because that was the only possibility that made any kind of sense.

How did they make the ending WORSE?

Am I the only one bothered Tetsu seemed to imply Mogu was binary

? Where are you getting that? He didn't refer to Mogu in a gendered way at any point. He's using their given name, but Mogu hasn't chosen a different one, and, I mean, everybody there is "Mogumo". And he doesn't want to undersell their closeness by using their last name.

He uses his sister's experience to inform his explanation, but he doesn't say anything that suggests they're the same, just that the same principle is in play: The fact that someone's gender is different from how you knew them before shouldn't change how they are precious to you.

Ch 99
Coincidences. . .
The pill, Was it ever the only way to know for sure?
Couldn't they have talked before?
I guess what's done, is done. . .
and Yuki now knows the answer, and will need to live with that.
. . .
Why must it end at chapter 100 ｡:ﾟ(;´∩`;)ﾟ:｡

Maybe the author has OCD? ;p

(Boss fight music engages)

Everybody's talking about the hickey and the useless lesbians, and I'm just here laughing at the fact that Yuzu has been wearing Mei's ring this whole time.

Hm but why did Yuzu say to Mei “You can keep my ring”
my point is why would Yuzu take Mei’s ring from out of the box when she took her’s already out

She didn't mean to take Mei's ring. She left -her- ring with her other jewelery, that's what they're showing in the last page there. Which means later she picked up Mei's ring, thinking it was hers because they have the same ring size, and Mei didn't notice because she didn't think to look through Yuzu's jewelery for her ring.

last edited at Jan 22, 2021 10:51PM

Everybody's talking about the hickey and the useless lesbians, and I'm just here laughing at the fact that Yuzu has been wearing Mei's ring this whole time.

Hopefully, this isn't an "absent parent comes back just to disapprove of whatever their child is doing" plotline

But if she doesn't disapprove, then how will Yuzu win her over with the power of delicious food?

So I finally got around to reading the Saeki Sayaka novels, and I have thoughts, so I'm gonna put them here because I don't really have anywhere else to do so. I'm assuming spoiler bars aren't necessary, so if you want to be surprised, don't read this.

So These were a pretty good read. It felt like an authentic window into the same setting as the original manga, the characters felt consistent with their true selves. The first two volumes were difficult to get through, knowing what happens with both relationships. The relationship with Yuzuki felt way, way too real for me. I've lived that, and it hurts. The second volume was kind of the same way, reading about Sayaka falling deeper in love with Touko and kind of figuring out her deal, but knowing she just never quite reaches her.

Initially I thought the structure of the second volume was a bit odd. While the first volume is very linear, the second volume starts off with a series of vignettes that are interspersed through the events of the manga- some new events, some existing events told from Sayaka's perspective, but not much by way of structure, just...filling in some gaps. This section definitely assumes you have read the manga. The second part then jumps back to how Sayaka first got into the situation we found her at in the beginning of the manga. I thought this was an odd choice, but maybe it was so that new readers wouldn't actively ship Sayaka and Touko? Although man, it's hard not to, even knowing how all that ends.

There is a TON of Manaka x Midori shipping bait in the second and third volume. I mean geez. I thought of certain persons on this discussion forum repeatedly while reading all of it.

The third volume was also a pretty good read. Haru definitely feels different from anybody else we've met in the setting. As much as people have joked about her resembling Yuu, physically, They are extremely different. If I was going to compare her to anyone, I'd probably put her more in line with Akari or Natsuki. I laughed my ass off the first time she invited Sayaka over and started broadcasting her sexual preferences. "Here, Senpai, Take this rainbow colored glass. Look at it. See the pretty rainbow? Note how it's rainbow colored please. I'M GAY OKAY" I also appreciated Sayaka's sharp grandma. She knew what was up well before Sayaka did, and it was very amusing. i was hoping we'd get a coming out scene at some point, just so that Grandma could just respond with "Oh, dearie. We know. We've always known."

Ultimately it was very gratifying to finally see Sayaka find happiness, and after two volumes of watching her pursue dead-end relationships, seeing her being pursued for once was nice. The unexpected appearance of swimming-pool girl in the last volume was also a fun moment. I felt bad for her when Sayaka bolts in V1 so it was nice to see that it was still a positive memory for her.

last edited at Jan 17, 2021 11:33PM

Am I the only one who wants their parents to find out about their relationship? I think it would take an interesting twist if so, although I think Shimamura's mother already has suspicions ... and Shimamura's hints about them knowing that they are dating, mmm. ..

I think Shimamura's mom definitely knows, and I suspect Adachi's mom is pretty sure as well. The only one that is likely oblivious is Shima's dad.

around chapter 300 these two will probably roleplay a full BL bedroom scene "for research" and say no homo afterwards

Eli has been doggedly sincere about her feelings the whole time, it's really only Honoka who's playing the denial game.

That bit wherever she said 'Don't go'? I suspect the cause of that will also have something to do with why she didn't believe Kozuka's confession. Hopefully we'll get to learn a bit more about that

I imagine she suspects that Kozuka's efforts to make more money are an attempt to get out of their arrangement. Which they are, but not for the reason she thinks. She thinks Kozuka wants to be free of her, Kozuka actually wants the arrangement to get out of the way of their relationship.

we are approaching dangerous levels of mommy roleplay

wait... when she looked at that mom with her kid, was she jealous of the kid?

edit: also this chapter needs an insane amounts of head pats tag.

We don't know her home life or background, so it's possible, but it's also possible that she was thinking about the whole lesbians/children thing. There are a lot of barriers to same-sex parenting in Japan, and wanting children is often a reason past relationships have failed in yuri manga stories. It's a common fear among gay people, especially people who have feelings for someone that is straight or bi, that they'll eventually want to move on to a relationship that can lead to children.

I think the person who suggested that this is the author rushing through the plot points they had planned is spot on. I think they had this beautiful mental image of a slow burn arc where Uta goes to college and has somebody crush on her while Kaoru sorts her life out while taking strength from Uta's love, and they were told to just finish it because readers are losing interest and this is the author just going "oh goddammit fuck fuck fine here's what it was going to be whatevs i'm done"

I mean, I'm pretty sure the idea here is that Uta and Kaoru are effectively married at this point.

Fun point to note, We're all saying double timeskip...I think there's actually three. First we skip to immediate post-divorce Kaoru, THEN we jump to Uta in college, THEN we jump to domestic bliss.

This kind of amuses me, like, there was all this grumpiness here in the forums about the prospect of a time skip?

WELL HAVE TWO OF THEM, YA WHINY BASTARDS.

I know it's probably not a direct reaction, but it honestly kind of feels like one. ;p

(Edit: Oh, but srsly my hot take is that this has "canned by the publisher" energy.)

last edited at Oct 19, 2020 9:16PM

I hope the mods never give in to the pressure to add the spoiler tags. The entire point of the manga was to shock readers, and that doesn't happen if you know the girl is a yandere from the start.

maybe there are people who have zero interest in edgy dark twists but end up having to read all of the stories that are like this because some people think it's some sort of sacred experience that can't be hinted at by the tags.

Actually, "spoiler" tags would be a neat functionality. Like tags that say "spoiler" and when you click on them they turn into the appropriate tags? Then people who want to spoil the twist could do so, and to anybody else, it at worst suggests that there's -some- kind of reveal, which could be virtually anything.

No idea if it could be implemented, though.

Come on Tetsu, I expected an immediate hug after that. I guess it's time to confront the parents. Gotta say tho that wasn't a very nice thing Mogu said to their mom. Could have been handled better but then again dad isn't exactly father of the year.

Mogu is a child in an abusive household. Their mother is also struggling and confused, but the dad is an abusive shithead who treats his kids like shit just because he's never bothered to understand them. You shouldn't hold an abused child responsible for lashing out in frustration.