Not the filler chapters!!

god damn

Oh thank god, the plot is coming back. My faith in the story is being validated. Noblemen are dying. nature is healing.

I haven't checked the older comments, but do we just have two distinct sets of amnesiac commenters? I seem to remember as we were wrapping up the previous arc that the tone of the comments was that the Big Fantasy Plot was getting out of hand, convoluted, and causing tonal whiplash with the fluffy romance elements.

I remember pointing out, with glee, that this arc was just going to be an excuse for fluff and a break from said Big Fantasy Plot. Pertinent at the time was someone pointing out that this whole manhua has always been at odds with itself regarding the plot and the fluff. How are readers not already used to the way this comic is structured?

I think the issue may be that two different sets of commenters have different priorities. For my own part, I'm interested in the story, but I also find the dynamic they have as adults, which we've been adding depth to for like 50+ chapters, to be more interesting.

last edited at Sep 25, 2023 3:18AM

I've just been reading the titles for this ever since a couple chapters after the "I'm not a guy" reveal at the concert. I was hopeful that reveal (which was what... 35 chapters ago?) would take things in a romantic direction. And then it didn't, despite how much blushing the characters did in those chapters which was entirely some new form of friendship blushing or something.

And then I saw this chapter's title, and was like "did they fuck yet?" and was mildly shocked to learn that they haven't even realized they're in love yet. My god.

I guess at 4 pages a chapter, 59 chapters is like... 8 chapters of some other manga, so I should just continue to temper my expectations until we get into the hundreds I guess?

This is a good point. Everything feels like it's dragging out when you're reading a story week-to-week. But it actually hasn't been that long, all things considered.

I'll agree with the prevailing sentiment, though. This story is starting to give me a familiar unsatisfying vibe to traditional serialized romance manga in the way that it feels like the plot is dragging out and key developments are delayed not necessarily for any artistic purpose, but because of a concern about length.You can drag things out a lot if the stuff that happens in the meantime is interesting. But it really does need a compelling narrative reason and the pacing has been flagging more and more since the reveal.

The story implied by "I just found out my crush is actually a girl, oh shit" was very compelling and it feels like it was replaced by a story about two girls who just really like music bonding. Like, the titular conflict was resolved in Chapter 27. We've now spent more time with that conflict in the rearview mirror than we did with it as the plot. It doesn't feel like a manga called "The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn't a Guy at All" anymore, it feels like it shot its load and is now hanging around, carried by the art and the author's obvious love for the series and the unique aesthetic and the bond we made with the characters. Frankly, I'm beginning to lose my patience.

last edited at Sep 25, 2023 3:11AM

the wives...

you're not gonna show us what happened with the manga they were modeling for??
alright...

Yukataro vibes, in the most complimentary way possible.

The author better bring this story back around in the next couple chapters… i’ve noticed a thing in Chinese romance manga stories where they’ll have the characters a basically get together, and then start a huge arc that steps back from that in defiance of all sense of pacing. And it always kills my interest in the story. This one has been so great, I hope it doesn’t lose me…

Oh god that phone call with Rin is everything…
Somehow I missed their previous chapter together and just caught it going back through things, and it’s like peak romance?? Somehow, some of the best yuri I’ve ever read?? It’s just so… sweet and honest and intimate. The emotional history together they were working through was really touching and kind of painful. It’s a peak bully/bullied relationship dynamic, and the way that Itsumi was so honest about being unsure in her feelings was so genuine. I love the way they navigated through that. And the fact that she has a thing about being wanted bc of her emotional neglect, and a thing about being bullied during sex that most likely tracks back to their history together, and the trauma that she experienced… to be able to re-frame that with Rin making her feel wanted, Rin as the traumatizer rewiring the bullying, physically, into something loving and sexual and explicitly consensual…

It’s genuinely beautiful.

I’ve been noticing more and more that this story delivers some really strong, resonant emotional beats. I think part of that comes from the characteristic rawness of Mochi’s work, but I also can’t help but think of a video essay I watched once called Art, Furries, God, about how silliness, baseness, can serve as a sort of self-disarming on the part of the author, removing any sense of pretentiousness or the idea that a work should be received distantly as Art, and thereby allow people to drop their guard and engage with it more closely, and feel its message more strongly, more honestly.

There’s a certain quality in this work and in Watamote, which it reminds me of, where the comedic framing makes the emotional moments more emotional, more real, more impactful. The gay hindbrain food trash setup disarms the story so that when it delivers an emotional moment and comes back to being gay, it feels so sweet and earnest.

There’s something to be said as well about the way this started as a gimmick gag manga and has expanded from there: it evokes the shape of a genre, a shell and a scaffolding and a set of expectations, and then slowly chips away until it shatters it and repurposes the pieces into something new. It created this sense of something new, something unconstrained editorially where anything can happen if it works for the story, for the fiction, and that it won’t run up against the glass wall of genre.

It feels like leaving your comfort zone, like stepping into something new—eager and earnest and daunted by possibility. It feels vulnerable—it feels, in fact, much like you do when you’re just figuring out your way in your first relationship, and you don’t know what’s going to happen.

I think this story is incredible. And I think it has the potential to be even more. Much like the characters, I’m both nervous and excited to see what happens next.

Every Fictional Work That Contains Even Vaguely Problematic Elements is Evil and Impure and Consuming It is Dangerous and Will Corrupt Your Morals: A Deeply Reactionary Guide to Literary Criticism, by >40% of Dynasty Forum Posts

(I'm sorry I try to ignore it and not stoke the flames but I'm merely a mortal with a limited tolerance for The Eternal Discourse)

aaaanyway, loving the chapter. Love me some hot sapphic vampire blood drinking. Love some deep, irresistible gothic urge to bite her neck and make her legs twitch. love me some erotic reactions to vampire tooth kisses. love the delicious clash of consent and instinct and autonomy and ideal and desire. love the emotional hurt.

lesbian vampires are so kino and I really needed that reminder to help my mental state thank you much for the free therapy!

loved cut-licking in this one. God, her expression of desire and like wounded pride... vampires are hot when they're overwhelmingly strong and make your knees buckle, but also when their instinctive need for blood is a pretty red leash around their neck that an otherwise weaker character can pull around to control them. I haven't been able to get my fix since Gunbured X Sisters had an unfortunate encounter with fate, and I'm so glad to see this story showing that it's Based and ready to show up for the sapphic vampire lovers. Clearly the author really wants to write a lot of Vampire Stuff, which is a welcome surprise given that in the initial oneshot vampirism was sort of just a vehicle for the immortality plot. Although, now that I think about it with hindsight, it could actually be that the oneshot was about exploring the Potential to Turn Your Partner part of the vampire drama, and the fact that immortality was delivered through vampirism was less of an incidental detail than I'd previously imagined.

NE way im excited for them to have gay bloody angsty vampire sex now more than ever.

I will never be normal again.

This is peak romance. I don’t even have words. This is everything. This series…

I don’t think this is pure filler, honestly. I think this is just a cutesy way to make the connection that Evie and her mother are both very susceptible to possession by magical creatures. It’s developing on the succubus blood plot point and the hint about her mother that was dropped earlier. It seems like they’re going somewhere with it—maybe it has something to do with the Villainess System or the way they’re going to avoid the disaster in the present.

It’s… kinda weird, and feels a little bit directionless, like a lot of this arc, but this author has done well enough that I’m willing to put in a bit of trust and patience.

Damn

Oh absolutely i would contribute to that fund.

Best one in the business since Mellow_03/Holomaru moved on

last edited at Aug 22, 2023 2:42AM

It’ll be interesting to see which way this breaks. Whether it unlocked a hidden talent, or if it’s part of Venalita’s plan to make everyone stronger and then corrupt their power, somehow.

I love that moment of sulfur being like “oh god I’m the only normal one left” lol imagine being a Tres Magia fan and then seeing two out of three of them turn from prim, proper ideal magical girls into decadent horny perverts lmao.

Well, actually I guess we don’t have to imagine it because Utena is right there lol

The return of just normal

Reserved yuri vampires losing their control over blood… over the thought of That Girl panting with teeth in her neck… is there anything more erotic than that?? I doubt it. It’s the best.

god this doujin is still so good. One of the best.

the art and action felt a little bit shaved plastic doll-y to me, but the concept is next level awesome. Honestly probs would've been good if it wasn't porn and just The Gals interacting.

last edited at Aug 8, 2023 5:45AM

Ohhhh man this manga really is the peak of romance. The yearning is so intense! Lapis loves Natori and is hurt by how tender and vulnerable and grateful and kind she is toward her, because she knows that she’s positioning herself to do something cruel and dark, and doesn’t want to break her heart. She wants to treasure it but she’s loyal to her duty, and the inherent conflict between those two desires is keeping her stuck. On the one hand, she can’t resist how Natori makes her feel like she could be good and worthy and could raise up someone she cares about and heal them, and the gentleness and consideration Natori gives to her are the brightest feelings in her life. On the other hand, she has to resist the urge to get close because she doesn’t want to weaken her resolve and knows she’ll just hurt Natori more, and she doesn’t want to disappoint her. She can’t close the distance because she has so many secrets, and would not put herself in a position where Natori should know everything because she couldn’t tell her and cares for her too much to make the inevitable betrayal worse like that. But she can’t turn cold to her because she loves her too much, and she needs Natori to know how beautiful and valuable she is. So she has to give her tender touches and gentle words from arm’s length. Aaggghhhhh. This is true yuri!!!

last edited at Aug 3, 2023 10:09PM

Oh honey... FWB with a girl you're in love with... I hope you're ready for that. I wouldn't wish that on an enemy.

I hope they're okay. This chapter was really cute. I loved how enamored Nanao-chan was with Asumi. The heart pupils were pure kino.

I'm really happy that they didn't just go back to being friends--not just because it's a development, but that it shows a level of intelligence and understanding on the author's part that reconfirms to me how much they care and think about this series. It makes me so much more excited for the future, to know they care about things like this. I'm really eager to see what the future holds for this series: the moment-to-moment action has been incredible, but I'm becoming increasingly faithful in the author's ability to build longer-term narratives as well.

I now return to my cave to await next month's installment of Cutest Girl Gets Her Shit Rocked.

last edited at Aug 1, 2023 5:24PM

love that 20th century style

Im not a fan of this huge step away from the main plot but I adore this tiny adorable lesbians being cute together this is healing me

Not shown is a hundred yuri fans around their appartment being apprehended and gagged by the JSDF before they can yell "just tell her you idiot!" through the windows

I come back to this one every once in a while. This is really one of my all-time favorite little vignettes.