Considering even the big publishers usually don't rewrite sfx (other than Viz), sometimes i forgot just how much SOUND there is in manga! Especially when the effects mimic the originals instead of just loosely state them, it really makes the work come alive and capture the original in a way we usually don't get from translations and localizations. Thanks so much!

What anthology is this a part of?

two panels to have AkiShiho make up must be a jab at how long the actual story took to reach that xD

I think it's funnier when YoriHima realized they weren't the main characters

The meanest train conductor

Kitbashing is an insanely expensive hobby that makes me glad I collect knives and trading cards instead

I kitbash because collecting trading cards is an insanely expensive hobby. Well, and that it's an all consuming hobby to keep up with any meta. But kitbashing is great and can be done with any cheap models, no need to buy and combine the massive $300 ones. Although, I don't think it's super comparable to commissioning figures, I'd imagine that's pretty expensive

I did not expect a random rape scene to happen pretty much in the background / two panels aside of this story, without any real tie to the plot... Huh. Eww...

Yeah, and it's set up to make it seem like succubi casually whipping people up into a rape frenzy is a regular occurrence and is also not treated as very serious. It kinda feels like Ascendance of the Bookworm where the main story is usually light and low stakes but the world just around it is absolutely brutal

That is not a comparison that would have occurred to me. Maybe because Ascendance of a Bookworm is, um, good. And the thing is, when the brutality of that world gets put in front of the MC, it BOTHERS her; the contrasts aren't ignored, they're used.

Yeah that's largely true, the disturbing aspects of the Bookworm world are treated as such by the MC (and portrayed as such, which is kind of missing here). The comparison I was going for was more about the tonal whiplash between the project manager wish fulfillment content on the one hand and the mustache twirling villains that want to confine the MC and breed her for magic children, the public executions, etc. on the other. I do need to catch up on Bookworm, but it's always a stressful read.

Not many other similarities here of course, this one still kinda feels like it's trying to come into its own? I'm not totally sure what it's trying to be, might take a number of chapters or require an all at once read

last edited at Aug 5, 2024 2:38PM

It'll be a difficult pick-up because the series has already been cancelled at 3 volumes

I mean, if Killing Me! got licensed after being cancelled with one volume and no proper ending, anything is possible...

Exactly! The precedents are there, seven seas isn't shy about picking up finished series. And a reminder that all series that aren't wildly popular get axed. That's just how series end in the manga serialization biz

If you follow one of the accounts on Twitter that translates manga sales statistics you'll see that yuri makes up something like 1% at most of sales. Then you make it about old women and it's a niche within a niche. All of the old women manga I see are josei in smaller artsy magazines that our publishers never touch. I wouldn't expect any major publisher to pick this up unfortunately.

That's largely true, but Seven Seas does quite a lot of yuri manga, much more than 1% of their sales. There's a decent enough chance that they'd pick it up, especially something like this that went viral last year outside of Japan and is more likely to do better with an international audience. Not to mention, Seven Seas had a very large hand in getting I'm in Love with the Villainess enough notoriety (being the first of anyone to publish the light novels) to get it published in Japan. Regarding genre, this isn't a manga for old women in a josei mag but rather manga about old women for a larger audience.

I'm not sure who published this originally, but it could be slightly more complicated by having Kadokawa or a publisher other than Kodansha being the ones with the license because they have their own English publishers (and Seven Seas works with Kodansha on a lot of YH titles). Basically, just wanted to say that it's more than viable that Seven Seas or Yen Press pick this up, less so that Kadokawa would and next to impossible that Viz would.

Something I think that would be trickier about this is that the story is not shy about being a feminist tale (not unlike All My Darling Daughters). Yoshiko seems to pretty clearly be a 70s-era feminist guiding a woman dealing with intentionally portrayed compulsory heterosexuality. Hmmm, might be worth the josei tag...
(tricky because detractors are kinda nuts and supporters are very critical of representation being perfect)

last edited at Jul 30, 2024 6:40PM

Stars in their eyes, we're hitting peak Rose of Versailles

ancient otaku

Isn't Lucky Star getting a manga reboot or something?

Could you add SagaTympana to the QC for chapter 3 when you get a chance? Valence or whomever? I'll pop in the YP thread too or maybe the discord just in case

last edited at Jul 20, 2024 11:21AM

Unfortunately I can't say this is not yuri, because it's technically a story that focuses on a relationship between two women that involves a lesbian attraction, and it was published in a yuri anthology, but it's just so miserably pointless.

It's also kind of funny for a artist with a serialized non-yuri manga to make their debut into yuri with a oneshot like this. But maybe she has her finger on the yuri fandom's pulse in a way I don't? Are we witnessing the birth of the next Nakatani Nio?

Which anthology?

^^^ Same, the song hit me before I even saw the Chobits AU note with the lyrics there. It's too catchy

By the way, what's the deal with the nun giving Hanako a new name to send her off? It's not remarked on at all, what am I missing here?

I'm guessing this is related to the old Catholic tradition where someone is given a new "christian" name upon joining the church to signify being "born again" as a new creation under Jesus

Old you say, or current!? This would be about the age for Confirmation, but that's an oddly particular Catholic sacrament to go for. Could be, though

Meanwhile, in the Nintendo headquarters

Nana and Junna missing from the final panel was a great touch

I did not expect a random rape scene to happen pretty much in the background / two panels aside of this story, without any real tie to the plot... Huh. Eww...

Yeah, and it's set up to make it seem like succubi casually whipping people up into a rape frenzy is a regular occurrence and is also not treated as very serious. It kinda feels like Ascendance of the Bookworm where the main story is usually light and low stakes but the world just around it is absolutely brutal

This was so much fun! I think they took a stab at adapting an existing fic, possibly accidentally

last edited at Jun 10, 2024 12:25PM

It feels heretical that this is becoming my top ship. They're so good and this manga only makes it better! More manga needs to be ambitious in its use of literary devices.

Movie Junna is so great! These releases are so much fun

I once lost my voice after a cold and had to teach a class sounding like Nana in those first few pages. Already cancelled class from being sick, so I had to make that one work! It went about as well as one would imagine

last edited at Sep 11, 2024 8:31AM

Again, I'm legit baffled at how you guys keep seeing Mei as cold, uncaring, and pushing Yuzu away, leaving her to do everything for their relationship when just in this chapter we had Mei openly address Yuzu's concerns and telling her everything about the Akamine business. We also had her going out of her way to find Yuzu a present in previous chapters.

The old Mei would've never been this open with Yuzu and she would instead use those showings of physical affection to make up for her shortcomings.

That's a lot of extrapolation from what people have said and gets at the same thing noted previously: we are told Mei cares, and yes, she is open about what she's doing rather than deflecting like she used to, but in all of these new instances Mei is portrayed with an almost monk-like stoicism. The old Mei was vibrant and alive, which is very clear by comparing the old chapters to the new ones, even in the less dramatic arcs I listed. I still enjoy Citrus, but it's very weird that Mei's character growth of being a better communicator is paired with a lack of affect.

I do still need to give this arc another chance for yuri. It's only been a few chapters, it just feels longer because it's been over a year and a half since yuri was driving the plot.

The rest of Mei's response is a predictable part of her personality. I'm not surprised by her personality after all this time. She has her quirks but it's noticeable when she's making an attempt to be "softer." For someone else that might be dry but for her it reads a bit different. She'll always be like that.

Your lack of surprise at Mei’s personality is neither here nor there. Mei now reads as even colder and more distant when interacting with Yuzu than she has in the past, and certainly more so than in the original series. I see this as less a function of the supposed psychology of Mei the imaginary human and more about Saburouta’s current perfunctory approach to characterization—Yuzu shall be warm and bubbly while Mei is reserved and emotionally distant in order to show the contrast between them, and thus it shall ever be.

Yeah, no kidding. Early Mei in the original is an absolute firecracker, but even after she's toned down a bit you can see it in their interactions in something like the date notebook chapters or when Yuzu ran for student council president. That Mei was vibrant and alive by comparison, hell she pushed Yuzu into a trash pile and basically told her to bring it. (The official TL from that one was great!) (https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/citrus_ch18#31). This new Mei doesn't even return hugs. Sad times.

It could also be just how less dramatic Citrus+ has been that the characters feel phoned in as well. I dunno, maybe the series is just sort of finished for Saburouta. If we're not gonna get fluff, then where's that sour punch that gives it it's namesake?? And why isn't yuri driving the plot?

last edited at May 21, 2024 7:23PM

While I was listening to the drama CD, I realized that the biggest barrier to making a good anime (or live-action drama) out of this is probably music licensing. The background music on the drama CD includes all your hit favorites from gunge bands like Nibana and alternate rock bands like the UFO Fighters, which is to say it's bland name stuff that sounds vaguely like songs from some of bands namechecked in the manga. A huge part of the charm of the manga is the specificity of the girls being super into bands that were at their peak decade(s) before they were born (believe me, writing that out hurt me more than you), and without that, it's less compelling.

OK MAYBE I WAS WRONG https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/UIJY-75274?rm=t&vg=3bac952f-e3a3-4030-7623-3b63e4f5868c

Trying to decide how badly I want this… I have a little while to decide, but getting vinyl sent overseas seems like a super dicey proposition.

It should be fine, I get vinyl from overseas pretty often and nothing's ever wrong with it. I haven't gotten vinyl from cdjapan before, but I've also never had any problems with other stuff from them. Other than shipping costs being nuts on some model kits. Although... They do have the witch from Mercury vinyl cheaper than anywhere else...

Also I'd say to be quick, it says there's like 20 left!

last edited at May 20, 2024 12:35AM

Next step is to isekai Oscar Wilde or Osamu Dazai to Gensokyo to create beautiful spell cards

If she played the part well, you're supposed to clap as she exits!