Forum › Posts by Simca

joined Jan 3, 2020

By the way, this was picked up for an official English translation by Tappytoon under the name Twin Flames of Destiny.

And, yes, the behavior of Qu is really hard to accept. She lies to Gu about her sexuality (twice) on a technicality (when she knew what the underlying question really was). Towards the middle of the story, Qu coaxes Gu into trying to practice various intimacy scenes. From there, Qu forcibly tries to transition what they're doing into sex, despite multiple clear calls of "No" and even "Please stop". Eventually, they're interrupted by the doorbell. Afterwards, Gu breaks down into a shivering tearful mess, lamenting how she was scared and couldn't get Qu to stop. She then says that she has to quit the project because she can't continue, at which point Qu leaves instead.

The worst part of all of this is the story makes it out like you're supposed to feel that Gu was in the wrong for rejecting her sexual assault or for trying to escape.

It's... really, really bad from a consent perspective. I honestly can put up with a lot of dubious consent by telling myself it is just fiction, but in this case, there's no consent at all; it is literally sexual assault with victim blaming. It strikes a nerve.

joined Jan 3, 2020

I'm shipping Hinata x Hirose for no apparent reason

I've been actually shipping Hatori and Hirose for no apparent reason, but I do not hate this idea either.

Could always go poly? Hinata seems too energetic for any one person to keep up with anyway.

The quiet optimism of this series is always a treat; a new chapter of it was exactly what I needed today. ^_^

I'm not sure any of the characters in this manga are even aware sex exists.

I dunno. It's nice and fluffy but also very chaste. I'd be surprised if there was even a kiss before the final chapters.

joined Jan 3, 2020

I feel bad for Kiku reading the chapters about her past relationship with Yuuna. Maybe we're only seeing the worst, but it really feels like Yuuna was experimenting with Kiku and then decided she wasn't interested. Which is technically fine, but heartbreaking.

joined Jan 3, 2020

It hit me when reading the birthday chapter, did Ayu's family not send her anything?! If they did than Yunari probably wouldve noticed sooner. And it didn't even look like Ayu had communicated with any of them other than her cousin then either. What a subtly sad detail (assuming I didn't miss anything).

They basically disowned her in chapter 1.

I've always wondered what they told her cousin in that phone call, since the cousin seems to think the parents will be worried, then calls them, and then announces that they are allowing her to stay.

I assume the last part is a lie and they said something along the lines of "We don't care what happens to her." But that's still weird that she would let the idea of returning Ayu to her parents go without further hassle or explanation.

I guess it's probably so that can be a revelation in a future chapter (also makes Ayu's relationship even more unexpected).

joined Jan 3, 2020

If there will ever be Yuri in this, it'll be whenever they handle Akira's new situation I guess.

But I support untagging it for now, I think that's smart. If it turns out to be Yuri later, it can just be retagged then, no harm done.

joined Jan 3, 2020

The obvious conclusion is that she's about to announce Minazuki killed the prez.

That said, it is so obvious, it is possible the author will subvert it. Vice prez could try to tell them the prez is dead but Minazuki tried her hardest to save him, so she's telling the truth and they should run.

Not sure which of the two ways it will go.

joined Jan 3, 2020

I didn't like NTR but loved I Married My Best Friend to Shut My Parents Up.

I also really like the title of this. Guess we'll see how it goes.

Edit: Tags are pretty wild here. As of Chapter 1, it isn't technically any of those things. The only real tag would be like "lesbian misery caused by heteronormativity". Yeah, it'll probably be "bisexual" and "cheating" and "Yuri" by next chapter, so those are fairly safe picks.

Still don't see any justification for "netorare" though. Her husband is clearly against her running away. If it is just because of the author, she's written several things now and the majority of them are not netorare.

last edited at Nov 14, 2023 6:27AM

joined Jan 3, 2020

At this rate it's going to only be 1-3 more chapters until we hear, Master I heard Cunnilingus is the ultimate cure for Vampirism, let me try it out on you!

That would be the greatest.

joined Jan 3, 2020

Edit: hold on, this is chapter 30. Does that mean we're getting a whole volume 7 now? Five more chapters would be nice.

Based on what the author has said, it sounds like we have 2 more chapters, and that Volume 6 is just bigger than normal.

joined Jan 3, 2020

Both explanations they give are actually technically true (well, the fat burning thing isn't exactly true because very little fat burn is localized, but when working out women usually lose fat on the bust and hips first, so it ends up being true anyway), but the effects are miniscule unless you are doing something fairly atypical (in the fat burning case, that would be doing actual exercise and in the hormone case, that would be taking large amounts of artificial hormones).

joined Jan 3, 2020

It's weird that Ada doesn't consider a third option: align herself with Kaye (and potentially the professor).

She could set up a situation so that there's no need for Kaye to take revenge on her while simultaneously trying to see if she can stop it in the first place.

Worst case scenario, Kaye takes revenge on others and is defeated later and Ada has to play innocent. I think she could pull that off.

It really is the best plan.

Simca
joined Jan 3, 2020

I don't understand why it was called "bullying herself" or "self-abuse". It sounds so strange. Is this a weird Chinese expression that doesn't translate well, or just a weird choice on the author's part?

I think it's a Chinese thing. Whenever it is a topic that would cause embarrassment (sex, masturbation, sexuality), they often dance around the words and never actually use them.

A Chinese webnovel I like (She Is The Protagonist - quite good btw) does the same thing. It uses phrases like "pleasures for adults" (sex), "breaching the gap to adulthood" (having sex for the first time), and similar phrases.

In manhua I've read, being queer is often rarely referred to as well. The common phrasing is "that way", like "I didn't know you were that way." or "She's that way."

Maybe a native or somebody more familiar with the culture can enlighten us as to why this is. My guess is that it has to do with politeness.

joined Jan 3, 2020

Genuinely shocked we're seeing a sequel to The Girls Arcadia. It's been a long time since then.

In case anyone else forgot the original and goes to re-read it, read from "Erosion" up through "Afterwards". This sequel follows the events of "Afterwards".

Art style has changed quite a bit, but I guess that's no surprise since it has been 4 years.

last edited at Oct 16, 2023 11:58PM

joined Jan 3, 2020

Feels like a super abbreviated version of another manga I read once. Basically, the femme is jealous (and maybe a little resentful) of the butch's semi-successful manga and upset at her own lack of success.

Maybe even a little implication that she's growing up now and that she always expected this to have to happen.

joined Jan 3, 2020

I am glad that for once, a person being not okay with things and not being good at them is not treated like a character flaw to be overcome, but simply a part of who they are.

I liked that too. I don't like my appearance, and I never will. No amount of "you just have the wrong mindset" character arcs in fiction (or reality) will ever convince me otherwise. Heck, stories with those arcs actually feel really fake for me because of that. They remind me of childrens' stories in that way. Real life rarely works out like that.

joined Jan 3, 2020

Why even make excuses, she was just talking to her moments ago as well... :D

Yeah... I'm not sure what's up with that. Maybe some meaning was lost in translation or something?

It sounds like the orb is just supposed to show whoever is on your mind, and she was just talking to Kaye, so obviously Kaye would be on her mind. That shouldn't imply anything unusual at all, but she acts absolutely panicked about it.

joined Jan 3, 2020

Ends with a wedding ceremony I guess? That's always a good ending. For those, I totally respect people who want to wear suits, but I am a complete sucker for the double wedding dress setup. It really tugs at my heartstrings for whatever reason.

joined Jan 3, 2020

I've re-read this a lot over the years since its release, and I really appreciate how many minor details there are.

For example, Pure is really, really clumsy in the opening chapters, tripping over her own feet and falling several times. She's even taller in the future, so this clumsiness is implied to be because she isn't used to her 17-year-old body.

joined Jan 3, 2020

not liking lemon cheesecake

How can they be so cute yet so terribly wrong?

For me, it has to do with the pairing of texture and taste. If I liked lemons and I liked cheesecake, I would almost certainly not like lemon cheesecake.

That's how it works for most things for me. Combinations of multiple flavors that I typically associate with other textures are somehow 'wrong' to me and almost never enjoyable. It's part of why almost everything I do enjoy is 'plain' or 'original'.

It's an autism thing in my case - pretty sure it has to do with my body's extreme oversensitivity to touch.

joined Jan 3, 2020

My reaction reading this chapter:
"Oh? Aromantic maybe?"
flips 2 pages
"Oh nevermind; I see we have chosen the path of destruction."

joined Jan 3, 2020

I don't like the way A Qing's lover keeps throwing sex at her, whenever she get's close to figuring something out.

That said, the car scene, with the flower, was FREAKING AMAZING!

Yeah that was a really cool way to do a NSFW scene. Also unusually explicit for a manhua that isn't actually adult. Usually they're either depicting actual sex (extremely explicit) or barely even depicting kissing (sometimes even censoring it). There's pretty rarely an in-between like this.

I actually get the feeling that her adoptive father and lover are trying to protect her (based on the phone call where her lover says she doesn't want to hide things). However, if they're doing what they seem to be doing, they're obstructing an investigation into what appears to be a serial killing purely for the emotional well-being of one person. Well intentioned or not, that's pretty fucked up.

My early gut feeling for "what would be the most awesome plot twist?" is "what if A Qing was the serial killer and didn't know it?". Unfortunately, that doesn't fit since her memory blackout period seems to be only as a child, unless there's some sort of plot device that is forcing small children to kill their own adoptive parents or something.

I do really like how the MC acts in Chapter 5 where she goes through things from the angle of "let's eliminate these possibilities", since it's a common flaw of detectives in fiction to not think about the unusual crimes where say, a child murdered and transported the body of an adult twice their size (and somehow cut the corpse into precise slabs of meat, through bone, with tools that would have had to be industrial grade or way beyond the size she could have ever handled). Okay... maybe I just talked myself out of that possibility making any sense.

last edited at Oct 2, 2023 11:05PM

joined Jan 3, 2020

I've been reading too much manhua recently because the first thing that popped into my mind for "what's gonna happen next?" is Fuuko picking up a knife and going for them.

Especially with all the blackened text boxes and sheer despair in that scene.

last edited at Oct 2, 2023 9:35PM

joined Jan 3, 2020

If this turns out to be an actor thing... that feels like SUCH a common trope in manhua. Famous actors being all about that Gay.

Manhua : actors :: manga : schoolgirls :: manhwa : office ladies

Obviously, all three do all three, but that's my anecdotal experience as to what the go-to setting is.

I'd honestly say Manhua : actors, murderers.

The number of really weird Chinese comics about Yuri killers is staggering.

Just off the top of my head:
Savior
Kill Me Now
Killing Mr. Park
Let's Kill My Husband
Killing You

If you add in webnovels, it skyrockets way beyond that list too.

joined Jan 3, 2020

I wonder if the author is going to do the "she's already dead" thing, where Shizuku pours her heart into the novel and finishes it and then rushes back to the hospital to find that Kaori died earlier that day.

Just one more chapter in this volume. I guess this will be it. Shizuku's novel gets an ending, maybe there'll be a confession, and then Kaori's death.

Like all good stories, I definitely don't want this story to end, but it probably has to. Not sure if my heart could take five more chapters after the next.

Is this really the last volume? Don't they usually say ahead of time if the next chapter is the last chapter of the series?

This is the last volume. The author announced that Volume 6 would be the last one ahead of time.

The logical conclusion is that we have 1 more chapter left and maybe an epilogue if we're lucky.

last edited at Oct 1, 2023 10:20AM