OK, chapter 116 was seriously the most heartfelt dialogue scene I've read in a while. I was a bit concerned when Mian's red-coded psychosis flared up, but then the purple drowned it out in the final lines and made the chapter perfect.

I think the story is entering the final arc at this point, and I am pretty sure it will not have a happy ending, but this one chapter makes the pain later worth it.

I’m not sure if a pair of MCs who are physically intimate (and professionally competent to boot) ever qualify as an Idiot Couple, but if so . . .

Absolutely, 100%. It's entirely possible to be practically smart, horny enough to sleep with each other, and still have the emotional intelligence of a drosophila. There is been great relationship progress in this chapter, but I still have little hope for the MCs at this point.

Yin Yin is a classic manic pixie dream girl, and there is differently something fishy about why and how she ended up homeless at the beginning, but I am getting a rather enlightened, living-in-the-moment vibe from her, as well. :-)

Chapter 46 crashed my insulin levels so hard, I had to get a new pancreas on the black market.

Ah... Makino... you don't understand how obsessed Asian moms are with continuing the family line...

(armchair psychologist voice) I have reason to believe Asian mothers force the burden of childbearing on their daughters because they themselves had to suffer that pressure, and sunk cost fallacy about bloodline carries intergenerationally.

That's exactly what it is. "I had to go through it so you should do it too" + "What will others think if my daughter doesn't have children?"

Yeah, a lot of people think that not having children just deprives your life of meaning, especially if you're a woman. And then there's the "you should have to go through the hardship that I went through" mentality, which is utterly insane.

I think this mentality makes a little bit more sense when considered from the perspective of a family/lineage thinking than from an individualist viewpoint. If Makino's mother views herself less as an individual with own needs and interests, and more of a representative of her lineage (which is indirectly supported by her obsession with the family business), her anger at Makino's refusal comes less having had to eat the same crap in her youth, and more from the fact that in her mind, Makino is not an individual, but just another representative of her lineage, and thus subject to the same societal duties. In that case, Makino's mother may not even be capable of adopting an individualistic perspective anymore, since that would entail coming to grips that she has wasted her life on things that were expected of her societal role but that have never made her happy.

I realize now that what I said above sounds a bit like I am excusing Toxic Mom's actions -- I am not, for the record.

For saying herself that she is not fit to be asked about love questions, Chizuru is very perceptive and gives good advice with actual explanations about why she thinks that way. You have won my respect, girl!

Seriously—two instances of solid, well-founded love advice there.

My guess is that Chizuru has not had a lot of love experiences of her own at this point, so the impostor syndrome makes her devalue her own advice. In particular, she does not seem to appreciate the value of a calm voice of reason to a person whose limerence has shut down their executive function.

I haven't been to Bali, but I am impressed one can just go there and find a specific person, must be the power of Chinese lesbian love!

It's not the first time that physical space and time are revealed to be more of an optional suggestion than even a guideline, let alone a law of nature, in this particular story. :-)

Man, I have missed those two dorks. :-)

How do I say this series is both boring as hell and super engaging in a nice way?

Isn't that the formula? "Nothing really happens, but in a really good way"?

I'm guessing the "fine" is a kinda dumb fakeout for Satsuki wanting to not invalidate Komachi's feelings and reasons, so rather than just going "you can't do that suicide is bad" she's going to try to convince her "I get where you're coming from but I assure you I'll stay by your side forever bb you're worth it let's make out"

If so, then this will be the first lie Satsuki has ever told in her life. I wonder if that is the real point of this arc -- Satsuki learning to lie to save people?

... Next chapter April 4th, huh.

Heh.

Well, shit. 4.4.(2)4 doesn't bode well for any of the characters, does it?

Right, seeing all of your friends pairing up while you're single. Sounds like... huh, being in your mid-twenties ?

it sounds like my life too xD a while after mid twenties

Big mood.

Talk about a blast from the past. :-)

I'm a bit late to the party, I'm just picking that one now. Quite fun, and it's interesting to get the pov from a new girl. But I have to admit, I'm not sure I understand the issue at the end of the last chapter...

"Workplace romance is forbidden"

That, or Kei is treated like some kind of idol by her clients, hence why is not "allowed" to spend time with women who aren't paying for it.

In other words, sci-fi.

As long as sci-fi isn't being used as a pejorative, then sure.

Never. I actually do write sci-fi and fantasy stories in my spare time, I love the genre.

On the subject of sci-fi stories that make use of an alternative biology to explore sex and gender, have any of you folks read The Left Hand of Darkness?

Le Guin's writing has never hooked me, I am hesitant to admit, but I am familiar with the basic premise of the book. In the same vein (fantastic biology providing a lens to examine gender dynamics), there is Simoun.

last edited at Mar 1, 2024 4:45PM

I do wish we got more time with the main couple. They don't even appear in most of these chapters now.

I think the author is more interested in budding relationships than in couple life. Nagisa and Mashiro's romance arc has effectively ended in volume 3, and there has been little dramatic potential in them since (except maybe for Mashiro's health worsening dramatically, but I do not think the story will ever go that dark). Barring that, I think we will be treated with occasional bits of overwhelming cuteness from those two, but the series' main focus seems to be on "side" couples from now on.

Maybe it's just me, but there's just so many of these "villainess" stories lately that it's hard to find the entertainment in them anymore. This one does seem to subvert the trope a bit more than the majority of them, so I'll probably give it a shot, but seriously, this genre has become way too over oversaturated.

Personally, I love the setting, but it does irk me that it's always, always an otome game isekai. If I had to pick between 10 contemporary stories set in school or office life and 10 with feudal nobility... give me the nobility!!! Pretty dresses, fantasy politics, royal drama! Maybe even some magic and dragons to spice things up? But I've never once felt like game elements or the protagonist knowing the future contributed to my enjoyment of the story, and in a few cases the game elements sent the story so far off the deep end of making any sense that I completely lost interest.

I've recently discovered that not only are these series always otoge isekais, they are all specifically Angelique isekais. Apparently, very few otoges have actually featured villainesses in direct competition with white lily heroines -- rather, that trope was something that the Angelique series used and had an outsized impact on the Japanese pop-culture at large.

Damn, Komachi's mom is a real one.

I am not sure if she is the best parent in this story so far or the worst. On the one hand, she clearly loved Komachi above all (unlike a certain title character's dad). On the other, she has seriously messed with her head. On the third hand(?), what else was she supposed to do in the brief time she had left after discovering her daughter's a psychic?

last edited at Mar 1, 2024 2:17AM

Omegaverse is wild. When they talk about glands and stuff it feels like a scifi story.

While the ABO genre has been maligned by lots of folks for years as pointless and/or toxic smut (and, to be fair, a lot of it is), at its core, it is just a speculative fiction setting that, at its best, allows for an examination and even critique of sex and gender dynamics through a decidedly fantastic lens.

I think I can forgive the mom from Scummy Gap Student now....

You really shouldn't. Just because there are shittier people out there doesn't excuse being a slightly less shitty person.

last edited at Feb 28, 2024 9:37AM

Is this the first time Natori has enforced a boundary with Lapis? If so, their relationship just got a lot healthier, especially if she keeps it up. Diana is the one taking all the Ls, unfortunately, unless the story does go the poly route, after all. Natori is well on her way of taming both lead ladies at the moment, though I am not seeing any romantic interest in Diana in her behavior. In fact, the fact that she is so casually intimate with her indicates a complete lack of self-consciousness -- very unlike when Lapis took her hand just a moment earlier.

I wish the story would commit one way or the other, either towards poly or by kicking someone out of the triangle, but noooo - gotta have the isekai MC with several love interests competing, obviously.

Welcome to serialized storytelling, where your job is to keep the central tension running until your series is axed. :-)

The term "mini-Hinatas" is both mean and hilarious AF. :-)

I can't wait to see what kind of mental plans are crumbling in Toxic Mom's head right this (narrative) moment. Karma is a scummy witch, lady. :-)

Uhh, so I'm no expert on ABO stuff, but isn't marking in these stories usually something permanent? I recall it being super serious (more permanent than marriage), so Tang Chao suggesting it here in a casual way here is wild.

It's either not permanent in this particular omegaverse, or Tang Chao is so down bad, she is pulling all stops. Or maybe her brain is still addled by the wild beach sex earlier, so she doesn't realize she's effectively just proposed to her.

I'll get all that there is on the market.

Tantai Lan : "You want yuri ? I'll get you all the yuri, don't worry."

The world needs more people like her.

A-Lan best girl, clearly.

i dont really get it, tbh

IMO it is a story about how extrinsic motivation is fickle and will not get you anywhere in life. Shou has fallen for Shimizu and began studying like crazy, implicitly expecting a reward when she got into the K University -- namely being together with Shimizu, eventually. However, because her motivation was tied to another person's behavior (with whom she has never even properly communicated), it evaporated the moment that person was out of reach, leaving Shou without a direction in life again. Contrast that with Saya, who knew what she wanted all along, has intrinsically motivated herself, and has been gradually working towards it, achieving one thing (university admission) and slowly coming up on the other (getting together with her dense childhood friend).

last edited at Feb 24, 2024 3:36AM

Better stop trying to clear your mind or soon there will be no wall left...

But at least she is admitting out loud that she has impure desires for Sono now -- isn't that progress?

So, in the end, they were Roommates after all?