Don't know about you, but it feels to me like nothing really happened in this chapter :P The main premise of the series (with the alternating relationships) goes on for 4 chapters already, and no payoff of any sort in sight... I'm a bit underwhelmed but I'm curious enough about where does this concept will finally go.

I agree. While this chapter did at least shed some light on the 'best friends' side of the deal and also featured Mai displaying more personality than her standard glowing lesbian Christmas tree gimmick, it was also way too short. Contrasts weirdly with the first chapter, which moved like greased lightning. I think it might be because the series is adapted from an LN, and the manga author's having trouble balancing the internal aspects of their personalities and the external aspects in terms of the actual plot. There's bits and pieces of potential, but the story just refuses to click.

'Popular girl falls in love with stalker before revealing that she secretly stalked the stalker before' has been used as a twist so many times that it might actually be more predictable than playing the trope straight.

Nothing much else to say here. Eku's art is as pretty as ever, I guess.

As other people have pointed out, this story seems to have concentrated twenty pages' worth of depression into a fifth of the length. I'm not really fond of the whole- 'My best friend wants to commit suicide, and I support this decision to prove my loyalty to her' trope. I mean, it'd make sense if she was in a coma and required euthanasia, or if she had a terminal disease and didn't want to spend ages in a hospital bed slowly dying, but in this scenario, calling a suicide helpline would be a hell of a lot more sensible. Again, maybe the MC doesn't want to 'betray' her friend, or maybe they've already tried therapy and it hasn't worked, but there's too little information provided to make a judgment. This just feels like a story that you're supposed to read emotionally instead of logically, but at least for me, we didn't spend anywhere near enough time with the characters to develop a connection. Maybe someone who's been in a similar situation could get more out of this story, although in that case, I can't imagine that reading this would be very good for your state of mind.

Speaking of which, shouldn't this get a 'suicide' tag, or at least 'depressing af'? It's pretty on-the-nose with the darkness, and 'yuri' and 'drama' are nowhere near enough to prep you for it.

I rather liked this story. It's so messy that it sprints past realism and into that realm of uniquely fascinating dysfunctionality that begs you to write a giant analysis. We've got codependence, emotional manipulation, identity issues, repressed emotions, unfulfilled dreams, unsatisfying realities, and two very screwed-up people who simultaneously keep each other afloat and agonized. While it'd certainly be nightmarish in a real-world scenario, I think one of the biggest advantages of fiction is to take the roiling chaos and ugliness of reality and lend it a symmetry, positioning pettiness and negativity in fascinating contrasts that play off each other in wonderfully tortuous ways. Make no mistake, there is a genuine cycle of vengeance here, a depressing spiral that's half good intentions dropping into hell and half-gaslighting that'd make a mad scientist flinch.

These two girls feed each other's egos by starving each other of affection- Emi keeps Yuu from achieving the love she's desired for so long, and Yuu refuses to give Emi the perfect romance she wanted because it doesn't line up with her own beliefs. In the end, they finally have a Big, Dramatic Conversation, and this would be the point in a standard romcom where the leads who've tortured and spat at each other for most of the film finally admit that they were actually in Love all along. But not here- this story's too self-aware for that, too intelligent to wrap a trainwreck up with a pretty little bow.

These are two broken, obsessive people who've spent their entire lives telling each other blatant lies, each assuring the other that she's perfect in order to avoid realizing her own brokenness. And now that they finally reveal the truth, it's every bit as ugly as the rot that's festered underneath the adorable façade for years. Cathartically, inelegantly, they purge out all the love and resentment that's churned into a toxic mix, and is it any wonder that it doesn't look like candy and chocolates? Love charms are prayers and manipulation all rolled into one- Yuu, when she was a kid, fervently placed her hopes in them, and Emi, even as an adult, uses them to hex her way into success. But ultimately, love charms are just shams and pageantry, delusional when used in private and pathetic when revealed in public. There's no magical ending, no fairytale acceptance- just a pair of twisted idiots realizing that they'll never be straight (no pun intended), and chuckling hysterically about it.

That's precisely why I love the ending- Emi and Yuu start off as parasites and end up bizarrely symbiotic, too conjoined in their possessiveness to ever let go, even if they can't stand each other. For them, a union wouldn't be heavenly, because it's exactly the kind of hell they deserve- a Sisyphean slope of ever-rising intimacy that's doomed to always come apart when they reveal too much, only for them to pick themselves up again and push on, because what else is there to do? Stories like these are important as well, because for all the fluffy vignettes of adorable lesbians present on this site, there's still nothing quite like a peek into the theatre of the damned.

This is a shounen for becoming the best lesbian prostitute. This is the first training arc. It's meant to be harsh.

Can't wait for the arc when Cocoa finds all her lesbian brothel nakama being completely destroyed by a mysterious dominatrix, and is on the verge of being beaten herself until she has a flashback to her ancestor, who was actually Queen Medb, telling her not to give up and believe in the power of friendship-with-benefits. Then she goes Super Lesbian Rainbow Over Heaven Ultra Horny Aphrodite and destroys the villain with the Whore-Of-Babylon Fingerbanger Beam.

Loved this doujin. Kayako's so good at expressing affection that doesn't rely on words, and even though body language is hardly the most eloquent of mediums, that ambiguity is what makes these interactions so fascinating to watch. What's Yukari's angle here? Is she afraid of losing Reimu to some strange attacker and wants to check on her at night? Is she simply expressing her true feelings, far away from prying eyes and daylight? Is this all part of some elaborate game to get Reimu's attention and keep her from getting infatuated with anyone else? Is Yukari really Maribel, and using Reimu as a stand-in for Renko? Or is she expressing her trust for Reimu by sleeping next to her, when she ordinarily does so completely in secret, in a place nobody in Gensokyo knows to locate? It could be none of these things, and yet all of them at once, and the capacity of this story to make you think and feel in tandem is what makes it so endlessly intriguing, much like the Gap Youkai herself.

What a strange, sweet, maudlin story. There's so many things left unsaid, so many underlying feelings, and such warmth between a group of characters I'd never even thought about in the same context. The art has a wonderful, flowing quality to it, and a softness that layers every expression. It's a doujin that feels very Gensokyo-like, for some reason- not truly conclusive, not very clear, a little bit sad and a little bit odd, but fascinating and heartwarming all the same.

Isn't Satou supposed to be a repeat customer (or something like that)? I agree that the reason Satou left was because she didn't like Cocoa trying too hard, but I'm not sure if that's because it was Satou's first time. Not sure what's up with her.

Yeah, she's a regular. I misread Cocoa's first time as Satou's first time, sorry. Though now I'm wondering why they set her up with a client who's got way more experience than her. I wonder if they wanted Cocoa to be out of her element and get confused so she can understand that the job's not all fun and games. The people running the service seem too kind for a trial by fire, but it's a fairly common trope, so we'll have to wait and see.

Wonderful story. ReiMari's the most popular Touhou ship, exhaustively explored in both fanart and doujins, but it just keeps on giving. I love this particular author's take on their dynamic- rather than having our chad miko mercilessly topping a local witch, we get to see a much more vulnerable and uncertain side to Reimu, while Marisa also comes off as considerably more layered than her standard, 'dumb harem lead' type portrayals. Marisa's the one person Reimu's known since she was a kid, and though she's considerably kinder to her than she is to pretty much anyone else, there's also a sense of vulnerability underneath that kindness. Seeing her struggle to establish the line between friendship and love feels quite realistic, since a common thread running through Reimu's character is that the perfect delineation of duties and functions outlined by her official rank often crumble away when it comes to the ambiguity of personal matters and relationships. And the fact that Marisa understands this, and is willing to help Reimu come to terms with her feelings from a more grounded, supportive perspective while still being honest about her desire for a relationship is a wonderful touch. This doujin reminded about why I like ReiMari as a ship so much, and I'm glad to have read it.

Shuninta continues to deliver quality content. Their ability to perfectly fuse a classy, fun sense of sexiness with layered characterization and realistic interactions makes this series so much fun to read. I wonder what prompted Satou to leave? I get the feeling that she thought Cocoa was too pure and earnest to handle, and wanted someone more professional for her first time. I wonder how this'll influence Cocoa's approach to her trade- will she still try to maintain that wholesome image, but seek out compatible clients, or adjust herself to a more mature, confident aura? I honestly hope it's the former- the mix of wholesomeness and horniness is what helps this series so neatly sidestep many of the potential pitfalls around a prostitution-oriented series, and Cocoa finding acceptance and support in her job would be a lot more satisfying than seeing her trying to adjust herself to the whims and demands of a sex-starved clientele.

It's funny how this got featured just as I was moping about how we didn't have enough naval lesbian stories. I love the shoujo artstyle and humour, and especially how the author's solution to everything is to turn up the gay. There's just so much fun radiating from every page of this story, and I had a great time reading it.

Why don't web novels and LNs like this and i favour the villainess ever get made into anime?? They would be way better than most of the rubbish they put out each season.

I'm almost certain that I Favor the Villainess will get an anime. YagaKimi sold a million copies and the anime BDs also did quite well, and considering the decided uptick in yuri-show adaptations after that (AdaShima and Urasekai Picnic in less than six months?!), I'm pretty sure studio execs have realized that there's a fanbase out there for yuri that's willing to pay good money. All you really need is one really good anime adaptation that sells- Yuri on Ice, for instance, led to a decided uptick in yaoi anime adaptations, with Given this year and Umibe no Etranger next year, also propelled by a general softening in Japan's attitudes towards openly LGBT content.

This is a double-edged sword, of course, because money-hungry studio execs tend to run potentially lucrative ideas into the ground, giving us stuff like Assault Lily Bouquet, which might be the most cynically pandering attempt to create yuri for straight men that I have ever seen, since they constitute a much larger market than lesbians (HoloLive, incidentally, is also guilty of this). Still, as long as they're adapting from good source material, of which there is a metric ton, I think we'll be seeing a decent rise in excellent yuri anime in the next decade. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Personally, I think it's weird that they didn't even put an Ano route in. Considering how late Yuna's romance arc occurs in the story, it wouldn't even have required much in the way of rewriting. It's especially weird how they didn't add anything in the Final Chorus edition- I'd assumed that they ran out of time or budget in the original and rushed the third act, but the issues still persist in the flashy re-release. I don't mind Hina, but her entire character just made me go- That's it? There was no real change or development, no deeper-seated personality traits, and none of the realism and charm that every single other character in the cast had. Hina is cute, but her overall personality's blander than your average isekai protagonist, and like the poster above mentioned, this comes off as even more glaring because of how well-written the rest of the cast was. An average series could've swung it, but not something as great as Kindred Spirits.

From a purely plot-oriented perspective, it also makes so much more sense to have Yuna end up with Ano- her mysterious candy is the trigger for the entire plot; she's always been able to detect ghosts and is somewhat afraid of them, making her a great foil to Sachi and Megumui's desire to be seen; she's got connections all over school and is a natural yuri shipper, which contrasts brilliantly with Yuna's relative isolation and plot-designated role as a Cupid; she expresses some fascinating views about yuri as 'fiction and fantasy' being a lot more alluring than the reality of lesbian relationships, which would've opened up space for the VN to examine its own identity and the nature of the genre itself; she's got deep-seated issues with anxiety and affection, operating as a mirror to Yuna's own dark past, whilst also working as a foil to her confidence and calmness; her position as Yuna's ditzy best friend, classmate and emotional support has a lot more potential than Hina's weird pseudo little-sister schtick; and overall, she's just one of the most likeable characters in the cast. The fact that they did absolutely nothing with her in any regard at all is genuinely baffling, especially since the promos and title screens position her as a character who's ostensibly just as important to the plot as Hina, despite getting minuscule amounts of screentime compared to literally everyone else in the cast. The fact that both Hina and Ano were so oddly-written and underutilized is my sole criticism against what is otherwise one of the best yuri stories I've encountered in any medium. At some point, the flaws go beyond a subjective preference for AnoYuna over YunaHina and into legitimate confusion at the fact that the former is nonexistent even as a route, while the latter is so badly-written despite occupying the center of canon.

Props to our dumb jock for finally spitting it out. Shiine is clearly at her best when she's running on concentrated horny.

I would trade in ten thousand ambiguously-gay childhood pals who describe themselves as an MC's 'best friends' for one actual person like the pink-haired wingwoman in this manga. She's judging the main couple a wee bit, but she's mature enough to be happy for them, and she's invested in helping them out, but never comes off as pushy or invasive. Cool, calm, professional and supportive- every yuri series lead needs a best friend like this, as opposed to some poor girl whose only fate is to be secretly jealous and then get her heart broken by the main couple.

last edited at Nov 4, 2020 7:51AM

^^ Preach. I've been trying to get into HoloLive because pretty much everyone and their weeb grandmas have been singing its praises, but for the life of me, I cannot bear to watch an uncanny-valley MMD puppet soullessly staring at blurry Left for Dead screens while trying to respond to the blandest of chat queries with artificially-saccharine squeals that need to have twenty animal-inspired speech quirks per sentence fragment. I think virtual idols are a vast improvement over the highly-exploitative and abusive 'real' idol industry, and wholeheartedly support what these girls are trying to achieve, but I genuinely can't stand actually looking at them.

Fuzuroi no Renri (though it's debatable how abuse-free the 'healthy' relationship is as well).
Hana ni Arashi (a more highschool-oriented version)

This is such a fascinating take on Reimu's (and Gensokyo's) origin story. I love how the author used the play in the beginning to blur the lines between fantasy and reality, and the idea of the shrine maiden's origin being enacted as a ritual feels a lot like a renewal tradition. It also really brings out the dual nature of Yukari's powers- yes, she can create boundaries and separate things, but she's also capable of dissolving boundaries and creating liminal spaces, of shattering the lines between people and allowing them to come together. In this story, she gives a 'boundary' to Reimu by instituting her as the Hakurei shrine maiden, whilst also dissolving the divide between Reimu, humans and the yokai by creating a world where they could coexist. Yukari's final lines about loving everything are also quite insightful, because as someone who can see where everything in the world begins and ends, and how life is defined by connections, she's best suited to understand the ripple effects that led to her meeting with Reimu. Boundaries offer meaning and also destroy ambiguity, so she's redefined Reimu in every sense, and also defined herself as someone who'll always protect Reimu's unique boundary, personality and existence.

I wish my life was a musical where it is socially acceptable for me to burst into song at any moment and random strangers would sing along with me

I watched West Side Story recently and I don't know why people still have conversations instead of homoerotically pirouetting at each other whilst trilling about class inequality.

^ Fair point. When I said 'better', I was referring less to quality and more to how moe shows with all-female casts generally treat their characters with respect and devote attention to their hobbies, while the overwhelming majority of isekai treat women like sex dolls that revolve around a straight-male protagonist. People, as always, are free to pick whichever fits their tastes.

Neat story. The isekai angle's definitely forced, since the heroine and villainess being childhood friends is already enough of a connection to justify their feelings, but god forbid people actually have complex emotions and the potential for change instead of being sock puppets for reincarnated gamers from Le Mighty Nippon. Even the author didn't seem to want to put it in, but I guess you gotta stick with the theme and cater to the demographics and genre conventions, tokenistic as it might be. It almost makes you imagine readers sweating as they desperately try to figure out how to classify the story (because the yuri part clearly wasn't enough), and then heaving huge sighs of relief when they see the words 'reincarnation' and 'otome game' pop up.

Regardless, the characters have enough style and big clit energy to make a fairly standard setup work. This is only the first chapter, so I'm hoping they started off with something generic and familiar to ease readers in and set up more creative and subversive stories further on.

"I want to be a gentleman," he says, as he beats the shit out a depressed twelve-year old on international television. Yeah, I get that they're evil and everything, but it just strikes me as mildly hilarious.

Reminds me of this creepypasta:
https://www.creepypasta.com/persuaded/

Youmu: She's Reisen!
Reisen: And she's Youmu!
Youmu: And together, we're Reimu!
Maiden's Capriccio starts playing
Reimu: I will copyright strike you with my extremely large stick.
And that, kids, is how Reisen joined Youmu in the Netherworld, and they un-lived happily ever after.

The best treatment for crow's feet is a good massage.