Forum › Posts by mccann

American_virgin
joined May 25, 2014

Raising kids is hard, especially as they get older. By the time you have young adult children, you've live your life independently for a few decades and have found what works for that, and you want to give that to your children. But everyone has to do that for themselves, you can't give them a short-cut by just coercing them into making choices that would've made sense for you when you were their age. You just have to teach them to value themselves, and assuming they're sensitive and smart, they can figure out how to protect and care for themselves then.

American_virgin
joined May 25, 2014

I ship Neeko X proper mental health care more than I ship most couples on this site. Poor girl, she's suffering so much.

American_virgin
joined May 25, 2014

It's funny how they both sort of have the same core problem: trying to hide their insecurities and never resolve them (and I see myself in both of them, fuck). Saeko is just better at hiding them usually, even from herself. As long as they just treat each other's flaws as "cute," it won't be possible for them to make a deep, honest connection. It sorta feels like the author is deconstructing the common yuri (or really, romance manga in general) relationship dynamics of 'shy, needy bottom x bold, possessive top,' pointing out how unhealthy that can be, regardless of how nice it feels in the moment. Usshi was onto something when she guessed that people want relationships because they like to feel needed. Regardless of where the relationship ends up, I think the characters are going to grow a lot from it. Happy for Miwa taking her first steps this chapter.

And we're at over three months already. Was that mentioned before? Guess it's time to prepare for the downward spiral.

As someone married over 10 years: neither yourself nor your partner will ever be perfect. Your partner will always have faults and insecurities that are dumb, and annoying, that they should just fix/get over (and you will have the same). The key to a happy relationship is to not focus on their minor faults (now abusive behavior is different), treat those like a trick knee, something you just have to work around and you can get along fine. Obsess about how your partner always leaves a mess in the kitchen/leaves socks on the floor, and you won't have a happy relationship.

American_virgin
joined May 25, 2014

I thought the author's name was familiar, it's the person behind Octave (definitely worth a read if you haven't).

mccann
American_virgin
joined May 25, 2014

Has anyone watched the live action version of this? It seems hard to find subbed, but I'm also a little skeptical that this could even work half as well without the body horror expressions.

I've seen some of it. The actresses try very hard and they are actually good. But man, no amount of talent could replicate those expressions. Plus the constant monologue looks kinda weird in live action. Just my opinion tho, the autor seems to like it so.?

They really do their best at trying to be human cartoons. I've seen one episode, it wasn't as bad as I was expecting, given that the material is 90% about comically exaggerated reactions. The actress who plays Mikage kind of reminded me of the actress who plays Villanelle.

mccann
American_virgin
joined May 25, 2014

Hana-chan sure is thirsty.

She seems at least as sheltered as Yamada. Kase isn't wrong to direct her towards guys she at least has some knowledge of.

American_virgin
joined May 25, 2014

That's cute. But, is she more an author vs a mangaka, or is mangaka more general than comic artists?

American_virgin
joined May 25, 2014

Adorable, fairly unique.

American_virgin
joined May 25, 2014

Well, I think IRL it'd be bizarre for things to progress so quickly - or at least in a long term relationship that lasts, but I don't think entering into a relationship is the main story of the manga, but the whole career conflict feelings of the MC (dating someone succeeding in something you quit for mysterious reasons is probably going to be a source of angst, but hopefully growth too). I'm interested in seeing where this goes.

American_virgin
joined May 25, 2014

I'm not sure why, but I really enjoy this manga. I don't care if they ever kiss or move in together, I just like them awkwardly hanging out, trying to "normal human" properly.

mccann
American_virgin
joined May 25, 2014

They say a marathon, but I don't think they really mean a marathon. Those damn things are F-in long. My dad runs them. once he had me drop him off at the start, and pick im up at the finish. It took me a half hour of highway driving to get between the two.

https://chaniebon.com/blog/2016/2/19/marathon-taikai
http://michellestimeinjapan.blogspot.com/2014/12/running-japanese-high-school-marathon.html

It's a 5-8k run - so doable in under an hr for the 5k, maybe a little more than an hr for the 8k. I think the idea of going from only having PE class and being otherwise sedentary to running a full marathon (~42k) would be crazy and result in injuries or it would take literally all day.

mccann
American_virgin
joined May 25, 2014

Wow, the art really has an 80/90s vibe to it. I like it.

American_virgin
joined May 25, 2014

The problem when you build your relationship as a "brand" - you feel pressured to make it look perfect all the time, because people want to believe perfect is reachable. I don't know if perfect exists or not, but most of us are flawed people who will be in relationships with other flawed people. There's going to be friction between competing desires and visions for the future some of the time, compromises will have to be made. The key is to always be respectful of your partner, and accept some of their flaws as funny little quirks.

mccann
P=NP? discussion 13 Apr 20:52
American_virgin
joined May 25, 2014

That's the tension, Shino's motives are unknown and look questionable. RomComs need tension. I hope Eriko and Shino learn how to communicate well with each other. And Eriko should do her own homework already.

mccann
American_virgin
joined May 25, 2014

This one is so cute and pure. :-)

American_virgin
joined May 25, 2014

Geez, theres a thing called being friends with benefits you know. All that headache for nothing

Shhh! it's more fun to watch them angst.

American_virgin
joined May 25, 2014

I'm not complaining about it at all, but there seems to be an uptick in OL and Adult Life yuri lately.

mccann
American_virgin
joined May 25, 2014

A reboot of https://dynasty-scans.com/series/todo_no_tsumari_no_uchouten

I thought it was a repost, but couldn't remember for sure. Thanks!

American_virgin
joined May 25, 2014

This is great. I think many of us grew up, got crushes, and then had to learn how to ask out women, since we were conditioned to expect men to do the asking, lol.

mccann
Double Bed discussion 11 Dec 18:19
American_virgin
joined May 25, 2014

My GF and I have separated beds, because she's really sensitive and would suffer otherwise. I got used to it and we are used to snuggle between each other's arms in the evening or putting the bed together if we want to do other stuff. People just underestimate the importance of a good sleep.

My wife and I are that way a bit, we have our own blankets we use, so we get space that way (before that, we'd wake up with one of us uncovered and the other rolled up - we both sleep well these days).

mccann
American_virgin
joined May 25, 2014

This is really sweet and gentle.

American_virgin
joined May 25, 2014

I'll be honest, I stopped reading after a couple chapters. But I just decided to revisit it, since it's gone on longer and I thought that maybe it had matured with time and space for a more nuanced exploration of the themes introduced. I've got trans and gender non-conforming friends IRL, I fostered a trans* kid for a couple years. I think that very few comics do trans* well (some feature perfect trans* characters who always pass, others treat it as not seriously or something that needs to be fixed).

I don't really see this as a trans* comic, as it seems to focus on the cis friend more than the trans* character, by an order of magnitude. I think it's aimed at a younger audience, as it has a couple characters (the one teacher, and the wavy-haired guy) who are always right (and to a lesser extend the blonde lesbian). These characters seem to never have personal agendas that interfere with them giving insightful advice to the characters (mostly to the cis-girl, who honestly is a piece of work at the start and a good example of how not to be an ally).

That being said, I don't find the plot particularly moving, it can be summed up as "childhood friends in high school have a lot of feelings and bad boundaries" which is in part understandable as high schoolers aren't adults. Adding in gender identity issues doesn't add that much to the plot (it'd be interesting if it explored what steps Akira would have to take, and the medical treatment options for transgender youth in Japan, it does cover some issues, but mostly in terms of the parents' reaction).

American_virgin
joined May 25, 2014

Oh man, those my-first-love-is-about-to-get-married feels... I'm guessing MC is gonna eventually either intentionally meet or bump into twitter-friend as well. Not sure if this is gonna go down the love triangle route though.

Anyhoo first chapter caught my attention, so I'm keen on seeing where the next chapter takes us!

I just realized my first love is unmarried (altho I never was able to ask her out, and was too chicken to try anything remotely PDA-ish and she's straight, but it was at a Catholic high school in the 90s, so, that was pretty par for the course). Although, 20 years later, I'm married (obviously to someone else) and wish her nothing but happiness.

American_virgin
joined May 25, 2014

It's almost bittersweet ... only someone forgot the sugar.

The girl on the phone is pretty sweet, maybe she'll save our MC from this insensitive bitch she's in love with

I like most of the works the translation group does, so I'm going to stick with it. That being said, if blondie is hit by a train, I'd be okay with it, especially if it means Maki meets a hot paramedic who is out and has her life in order.

mccann
Sazanka discussion 14 Nov 20:12
American_virgin
joined May 25, 2014

It's a simple story, with an obvious moral, if you're expecting nuance, or a deep exploration of what it's like to live with an invisible stigmatized disability, look elsewhere.