So hey it turns out nothing happens if Aizawa finds out you see her.

One of my favorite things about this manga is how Aizawa effortlessly defines the tone. Despite being the source of the tragedy, she can defuse a situation and bring it back to goofy in an instant. Or she can take something sweet and make it bitter, all with just her expression. Her emotions are painfully readable through Kasumi. Getting to touch Michi for the first time, getting Michi to look her in the eyes, and knowing just how fleeting that is.

Then there's all the mysteries. It's probably no coincidence the ghost kept going for Michi's neck. This is likely the first time a ghost attacked her unprompted and she's running out of excuses to ignore the mark. On the plus side, if ignoring ghosts no longer works, there's no reason to keep ignoring Aizawa. No idea how to interpret kid Michi(?) operating independently of normal Michi but that's a question for another day.

Most supernatural stories start with either the protagonist having a firm grasp on the supernatural or meeting a mentor figure who can guide them. They don't often go this long in the dark. Maybe Senpai will fill that role, as soon as she stops seeing red. She's awfully possessive of Kasumi despite seeming way more aloof in her last appearance. Love's in the air all over this chapter. And she must have some kind of reputation to scare Reona like that. Also neat detail Senpai has the same fuzzy eyes Michi does.

But there's a ton of directions this confrontation can lead now that Aizawa knows someone can see her. It's also not unreasonable to think Michi and Aizawa's relationship will change, since her being completely unable to speak is enough of a weird barrier on its own. While last chapter was nice and subdued, it being the calm before the storm is exactly what I was hoping for. The storm being extra yuri is just a nice bonus.

I feel like the implication here is Komachi can see premonitory corpses. There's no good reason why she would be there, it comes as a hard-cut from Sensei asking how Satsuki knows people are going to die, and there's even the suspicious panel of her at the beginning cautiously telling Ami to be careful.

That said, Komachi remains one giant misleading ??? so who knows if that's right. It would be weird of her to see corpses this whole time and never do anything, but then again 'weird' and 'not doing anything' might as well be her middle names. I'm not prepared to reread the entire manga for the nth time and see how this adds up but there's a couple key scenes that come to mind. Her telling Satsuki she's not a good person, her confronting Satsuki on why she tells people they're going to die (which could have a very different reading if she's aware of the deaths and is literally asking about the act of warning people itself) and her saying she can never stick to her own choices. That gay little locker talk is sure to be critical to whatever's coming up.

I think Komachi could potentially represent a third perspective to Satsuki's suicidal altruism and Prez's self-righteous sociopathy: a numb sense of non-interventionism. Komachi accepts everything including the inevitability of death. She goes along with it all unquestioningly. If it's her time, or one of her best friend's time to die, that's all there is to it. The only time she ever acts is in accomplice to others, never changing events for herself.

She's an interesting character; she manages to be both sympathetic and unnerving despite her scarce appearances, only ever giving flashes of who she really is, building this conflicting image where every innocent thing she does starts to set you on edge. It's impossible to get a clear picture yet and I'm not sure I have the answer here. She's sure to be a major player in the final act whenever it comes and maybe this is the start of her taking steps to the forefront. She's been nothing but a victim so far so I'd love to see how she adapted to this mentality, what it would take to make her act, and what she's capable of. No doubt it'll get worse than helping Satsuki off a ledge.

Once again she reminds me in a lot of ways of Tokiko from Ryoko's last manga, though I'd rather wait until more's revealed before trying to draw comparisons. But if you read Walk to Death you probably get what I mean.

Also god I love the way Ryoko draws hair.

Just a nice detail for long-time fans:

See the simple little flowers bottom-right in the top panel here? When Natalia gets too happy, those flowers start popping out. Her official title is the Flower Princess after all. It's done a lot in Kamejiro's slice of life art of the two.

So there's a cute little signal she's cheering up. In a lot of ways this chapter is a turning point. For Natalia, for her and Sara's relationship, and for the plot now that a certain snake is probably tired of the indirect approach.

Chapter 4 and 5 are a two-parter so I'm saving half the meaning of Japanese Rowan for next time.

But for some additional info, the Japanese Rowan, or Nanakamado in Japanese, gets its name for being notoriously hard to burn. The name is literally 7 (nana) hearths (kamado), that you could stick it in the hearth 7 times before it caught fire. This gave it an association with things needing great care and effort to accomplish. Some roads in Japan are intentionally lined with Japanese Rowan as a sign of extra precaution for drivers, which is also a bit of a hint to its other meaning.

Was the previous webcomic translated? my google-fu is not revealing much of anything.

Not that I'm aware of. I didn't do it at least, and so long as it covers the same material I don't plan to.
It wasn't that long (roughly 1.5 standard manga volumes worth of pages) so we could surpass it in about a year. The serialization is spending much more time with the early stages of their relationship but I imagine it'd be similarly paced once the action starts. And Kamejiro seems eager to catch up. This is supposed to be a monthly manga but chapters 4 and 5 released less than 2 weeks apart.

Also, what ever happened to Komachi? I thought she was gonna gave a bigger role but she disappeared completely after a few arcs.

Komachi comes and goes like a sleep paralysis demon. A lot of major subplots fade in and out, like Akira's dad, but I think Ryoko might have a hard time writing Komachi for extended periods without the other girls realizing how dangerously weird she is. Last time we saw her she was throwing Satsuki off a roof and now Satsuki's daydreaming about going on a festival date with her, complete with a sneaky heart balloon. But this little arc with Ami could be a good way to on-ramp Komachi back into the plot since they're best friends.

At the very least Ryoko's having fun with her. When Ami first proposed the bug eating cafe, Komachi was the only one in class not disgusted. And of course she gave her a vote.

I only now noticed people saying that the original comic gets dark at some point, and I wanted to ask if someone could please maybe spoil that part for me a little? Just how "dark" does it get? Am I going to regret it? I stumbled upon the author's Twitter some time ago, coincidentally saw some beautiful art of those two and seeing it being serialized now makes me so happy. These three chapters were a blessing, but now I'm really worried if I should get invested in it, because I am NOT ready for another tragic ending.

These are major spoilers from the original webcomic. I won't give full context but if you're worried about the tone of the story, I think it's worth warning people how dark it might get.

If you don't want to spoil the manga for yourself I'd advise you not to read it.

Lots of civilians die in fairly bloody monster attacks. One of the protagonists loses her legs in an attack and can only walk with the help of enchanted armor. Suicide is heavily contemplated and even attempted.

The author plans to make the serialized manga a revised version of the original and I don't doubt many of the same events will happen. But the webcomic ended on an uplifting note. In the first draft of the serialized manga, it was actually going to continue from that ending and cover the events of the webcomic in flashback. And they have drawn art of the two going on lighthearted adventures after the events of the original story.

I don't think this will be a tragedy even if it has tragic elements. It's been described by the author as fantasy yuri about two noble ladies forced into cruel circumstances and overcoming them through blood and dirt, never allowing the other to die.

last edited at Mar 23, 2023 10:38PM

Here's a link to the voiced comic just to make it easier to find.

The manga's been on break these past 2 months but Dorothy promises chapter 8'll be exciting.

Ngl, this part is where it hit me that it’s not all fun and games. Was almost like a jumpscare when I was reading the extras and laughing.

There's something extra creepy about the way her eyes are still visible between the blacked out parts. I hope the manga does lean into horror a little more; Dorothy has a knack for mixing it with otherwise cute and goofy episodes.

For those who forgot like Satsuki, Seo did trip Satsuki down the stairs way back in chapter 3. At least one of the other girls was in background of other chapters too.

I should note the computer troubles came from an earlier hiatus back around chapter 55, while the whole endoscopy adventure was just last month when the long hiatus got extended. I don't know anything more about that but hopefully we're back to the regular schedule.

However, another blond haired character was shown — not a new one — and her bangs seem pretty similar to that of the corpse: Ami, Komachi’s friend, the girl who loves bugs.

It'd be so fun if it's Ami. She deserves the spotlight after disappearing for 50 chapters.

Also, Shiima is clearly plotting something and her visit to Michinaga’s house and her getting the phone that was on the table (Michinaga’s???? Wasn’t the phone destroyed or smth? Or did we just assume that?)

Satsuki's phone got thrown through a window and destroyed, it's not clear what happened to Michiru's. If she had it on her when she got hit by lightning it's probably broken. But it would have records of any private conversations with Seo about switching the salad oil and of who kept calling Michiru during her suspension. Especially during the period Seo was hospitalized.

It's hard to tell what her plan is yet, but Miho's making a lot of moves; it's kind of unnatural given how casual she's been about the student council after they tried to kill her. Seems like there's something between her and Seo she really doesn't want coming back out, probably whatever made Seo want to kill her in the first place.

To those who didn't notice, Throw Away the Suit Together had been on an unofficial hiatus since last October. It was never stated as such—every issue of Yuri Hime during this period still had it listed as coming next time—but it consistently failed to appear on publication day.

I have no idea why but I hope Keyyan has things sorted out now. I missed these two.

The slap was actually the best part of this chapter. It should have happened on page 10, but Haru was still pretending that empty platitudes helped the situation. Hii done fucked up, and Haru was only making it worse by lying that it didn't hurt her. I do not condone violence in any relationship, but the slap was something to convey to Hii how hurtful her lack of trust has been. It was an honest and raw expression of Haru's emotional pain, and it kind of broke down the dam that allowed the subsequent conversation to happen. Now, even if they have failed to escape the outside world, they are still in it together, rather than kept apart by lies. Their situation and prospects are shitty, and it will take more time to heal the rift between them, but at least they can hold each other tightly again at the end of the chapter.

I'm impressed with how Keyyan handled this. Or maybe disturbed that a slap is one of the more uplifting moments. It signifies an important milestone in their relationship: Haru drawing a line in the sand that she'll expose her rawest ugliest feelings to Hinoto alone. And that's probably for the best in the long term.

There's a multi-layered reference to chapter 1, when Haru said she had to take her interviews seriously and give honest answers rather than simply answering whatever her prospective employer wants to hear. More directly this applies to her misguidedly putting a wall up with Hinoto, but it also highlights her character development that she's feeling desperate enough to lie to the museum staff. She's losing something she prides about herself in the stress of it all. Or maybe that's a bit of her childishness she's learning to leave behind, as depressing as that sounds. But as dour as the end of the chapter is, her commitment to Hinoto in spite of her changes is something to keep hopeful for.

I took a look at the web comic and this gets pretty dark. I hope the serialization doesn't follow the web comic that closely. I'd prefer a little less suffering.

This is a translation of an excerpt from Kamejiro's fanbox:

When I was first offered to serialize this manga, I thought I'd set it chronologically after the Princess Side. The incident at the capital could be revealed through flashbacks while the pair went on a heartwarming love comedy adventure for two. I happily drew up drafts of the first 3 chapters of this, and during the serialization meeting this idea was utterly shot down.

My editor suggested restarting from the very beginning to allow new readers to better enjoy it. Which they were completely right about. So it was settled I would be drawing up a reconstructed story taking into account everything from the Princess Side on twitter and pixiv, the Sister Side on fanbox, and the doujinshi prequel.

I plan on following the chronology of the self-published version, but things might progress a little differently with new events mixed in. Those of you who already read the self-published version will have fun with it too... I hope. Since I have the opportunity to start it all over, I'd like to make it even more exciting than the last time. I'll try my best.

So far these 2 chapters have featured a lot of new material. A few notable plot changes include Sara not being able to summon Sylpheed and Sylpheed's memories only being visible to the host. Also Natalia used to be much less paranoid of Sara.

But I'm confident the story will play out the same. I'm not so sure to trust the "heartwarming love comedy adventure for two" part, but things can only go up from where it left off.

Thanks for hosting.

This manga comes with a backstory.
Years ago Kamejiro started drawing cute sketches of a princess and nun. Those developed into short SoL episodes which eventually grew into a full-fledged narrative. This went on for over 34 self-published chapters before being picked up for serialization. Kamejiro asked if it was possible to simply continue the story where it left off, and one of the few demands they made was to restart everything.

So here we are.

With a good idea of where things are headed, this first chapter might be a little deceptive. The hooks are all there—one of the many improvements of the serialized version is the foreshadowing—but you might not expect the darker turns coming up. And Kamejiro made it clear this will be revisiting a lot of the same material with some revamping and combining of Natalia and Sara's perspectives; originally mostly 2 separate stories.

I was completely hooked on this one from the original manga (the world needs more action and classic fantasy yuri) so I'm excited to see how it goes. I always love an artist in love with their work.

And apologies for the small image resolution. It's the best Comic Walker offers. There's always a catch.

Why are young female sovereigns in manga (and other stories) always called princesses? She's wearing the crown, so she should be queen.

Historically, there's been plenty of countries where the title of the ruler was 'Prince'. Doesn't apply here, since her dad was king, though

Technically I missed calling Natalia's father king from an earlier draft of my translation and would have at least changed that to lord for consistency. But I believe Luis was still called Prince Luis for his short term in the throne. Natalia is definitely Princess Natalia; called 皇女さま/imperial princess more formally and standard 姫さま/princess more casually.Can't explain it, but that's how it is in the Land of Wind.

Forgive me if this has already been discussed but I just started reading this series: so for me the biggest mystery is why can't Aizawa speak. We never see her talk in flashbacks and her spirit form is mute but it's not like that's prerogative of Michi's perception since we saw the little girl spirit in Michi's flashback kinda talk to her. I think this is key and could be related to her cause of death.
Also I have the suspicion Aizawa was the one that somehow drew the pentagram under her desk while she was still alive, maybe she sensed she would fall to tragedy soon...
What do you fine people think?

As a ground rule, we at least know she was capable of speaking: she recorded a solo album Michi's been listening to. We've also seen other ghosts can speak.

As a ghost, she's never spoken but has made noises. Some of which are essentially words, but we can assume for narrative purposes she's incapable of speech. Her one conversation with Michi involved pantomiming. Chapter 4 is noteworthy for featuring several flashbacks of living Aizawa, all of which she never spoke in. It highlights her muteness, but I think that's simply for dramatic purposes. We're being led to anticipate her finally saying something.

A big part of the mystery stems from Michi's inexperience. She tries her best to shut out the supernatural and has no mentor to establish guidelines. The moment we get one of those, things are going to take a serious turn. Chapter 6 already substantially changed the rules at play. Kasumi's senpai could potentially fill that role, though I'm starting to get suspicious of why Michi's mom isn't around.

My pet theory is that Aizawa's speech is sealed, just like her boundaries, if only because it opens an avenue for progression. After Michi acknowledges Aizawa they'd still have a goal to accomplish together: getting her voice back. (And it's super cute how expressive she is without words so I want to keep it going.) I don't believe "clearing Aizawa's regrets so she can pass on" is the final course we've settled on; that's just all Michi can find now in her unfamiliarity, unwilling to directly confront Aizawa.

This could be a Little Mermaid type situation where Aizawa's voice itself was part of some supernatural bargain, since she's an idol and all, though it's not like another idol strangely started sounding exactly like her.
But it seems clear this isn't a "natural" ghost. Somehow she's been manipulated in death.

While Aizawa being mostly absent leads me to think her death must be related to showbiz, the pentagram on her desk links it to school. It could be there to trap her—if so why does she need to be prevented from passing on? Or it could be an attempt to preserve her. Whoever's responsible doesn't seem to be checking in, so maybe she did do it to herself. Was it placed at school because that's where her regrets lie, or because it's so distanced from her normal life no one with supernatural sight would think to look? Though that sounds like a long shot.

But we can't be sure whatever caused her death and whatever created the pentagram came from the same source. Aizawa's cheery disposition is at odds with her tragedy, though it's not uncommon in stories for a ghost to forget the details of her death; which could make Michi exploring her regrets a risky idea as Aizawa isn't perfectly stable.

I love all the speculation but there's too many mysteries. I'm praying chapter 8 brings a bit of clarity now that Michi's committed to take action.

The chibis were too cute this time.

I've started including the chapter release art Dorothy posts on twitter. When volume 1 releases I'll put the ones I skipped in the extras.

Speaking of which, this is either the last or 2nd to last chapter of volume 1, judging by page count. A sweet reflection on how Aizawa changed Michi's life. Easily the lightest chapter so far, but I'm sure things will be back to dark in no time.

Two things caught my eye. Firstly, I'm inclined to believe Reona's friends have shunned her for befriending "the weirdo", we'll see if it comes to play.

There's definitely been an emphasis on Reona's friend situation. I don't know if it'll develop into anything, but this manga has me paranoid of everything. I'm still wondering why Kasumi's hairclip was hidden up on the locker, especially in light of some supernatural foul play going on.

I'm starting to appreciate mangas where in each chapter the author reminds us of the names of the characters in it. Because I really forgot how the other two were named. I'll blame myself since I'm horrible with remembering names, but still, I wish this had it somewhere at the start.

Nah I understand. This chapter had zero names besides Michi and Aizawa (and technically Theia, who I can't wait to be fully introduced. She seems fun and I'd really like to know how she fits into Aizawa's death.)

Namoto Kasumi is the sweet one with glasses and a different hairstyle every chapter, though she always keeps the hairpin from her senpai. Honda Reona is the twintailed Aizawa fan who knows how to bust Michi out of her shell. Seta Kiyoharu is the boy who Reona has officially dubbed Boy.

The other two idols who haven't come up much are Non, the short one with a bit of a temper and seemingly into Ange, the tomboyish one. Theia being the leader of De:Lphinus. And of course Kurotori Michi and Aizawa Honami.

For an author's debut manga it's doing just about everything right, but I do wish names came up more often.

Here's chapter 6's suitably spooky release art.
This is the first fully original chapter—the others adapting bits and pieces from the twitter version—and it's out the gate running.

The pentagram mark raises so many questions: Was it put there by someone? Why? It's unlikely to have been anyone outside school, and it adds some suspicion to the line that Aizawa's desk has been kept relatively untouched. Was the mark removed after Michi's dream dive, or did she simply figure out how to duplicate it? And how long is it going to take whatever made it to notice? It seems like the first real sign something sinister's going on. And just a bit of idle speculation: if Aizawa's body can be sealed, could her voice be sealed too?

While Aizawa's been growing as a ghost (and the issue of her struggling to control her powers hasn't begun to be solved) Michi clearly has some hidden potential of her own. Her being elementary school age in the dream is significant. We know that's back when she didn't fully understand her powers and was more open to interacting with ghosts; was she subconsciously reverting to when she would have spoken to Aizawa? Or to when her powers were at their strongest before she started rejecting them?

Dream Michi is also uncannily familiar with manipulating the rules. It seems like Aizawa's still bound to the classroom, getting sent back the moment Michi leaves and waiting there for her to return, but she's added the condition that, so long as Michi's at school, Aizawa can be with her. Maybe she isn't powerful enough to delete the old mark and remove the school limitation?

As a side note, I like the sense of disassociation between dream and dreamer. Little things like Michi's face being out of frame when she first speaks to Aizawa, something she wouldn't do. This manga has a lot of neat framing that gets into your subconscious.

In any case it's a great step forward for them, keeping things from getting stale while retaining the mystery.

I can't put it into words. And I don't really know why. But somehow this feels different from mangas in general. And that's not a bad thing.

It's an extremely "full" manga that you can't boil down to a specific set of tropes or even a particular genre. It's comedy, horror, romance, mystery, drama, and slice of life friendship all in one.

To add to that, it's incredibly information rich. With no guide to the supernatural and hesitating to talk to Aizawa, Michi (and us) are left constantly guessing and finding new details. While safely staying in the cute SoL setup, the world keeps subtly expanding, using every character as a resource.

• Kasumi is the friendly comforting one, connected to her mysterious senpai that sees Aizawa. Who by the way wants to meet Michi, which is going to be interesting now that Aizawa and Michi are bound together. While I'm wary of her, I doubt she's responsible for Aizawa since she didn't recognize her.

• Reona is the manic social butterfly who allows Michi to talk about Aizawa in her earshot and keeps us in-the-know on De:Lphinus. It's great we get hints of how they're progressing in the background. Even without really debuting as characters, they stay in focus, sure to be relevant later.

• Seta is the superstitious dork, giving an outlet to bring up supernatural topics Michi would otherwise try to ignore. And he's the link to the drama club, which I am unreasonably suspicious of. They are the ones organizing a play about seeing ghosts. The stuff about exorcisms and jokes about everyone's lives being in danger might be more serious than they seem.

It's fantastically constructed so far, every chapter setting up greater mysteries and subplots while keeping the tone light and fun. Aizawa's situation is undeniably tragic (I mean look at her sleeping on the floor) but she's the final piece, being so playful and expressive despite never saying a word. She single-handedly stops this manga from being horribly depressing, which is funny given she's the victim in all this.

According to Ryoko, chapter 57 had to be on the short side out of consideration for the page count in volume 6.

Still a very efficient chapter giving us lots of information. Satsuki has always had her Samaritan attitude, her mother was a retired surgeon, and her father always shared her paranoia. Cute how he was taking photos of her new hairstyle. They really felt like a happy family for a moment.

Also no deaths occurred for a 5 year stretch. But we know after her mother's death, when Satsuki entered high school, deaths are almost constantly occurring around her. Which according to Prez wasn't happening before she arrived. It could be a Shi ni Aruki style curse, karmic backlash from Satsuki saving people, or something completely unknown. But it seems like a tangible force of fate's getting involved.

And surprisingly, the flashback didn't cover Satsuki's inability to lie. Maybe that came from trying to explain herself to her father, but it feels like it's being saved for later.

Given Satsuki never heard her mother injure herself or collapse, it's likely she was already dying as Satsuki came home. We've seen before that, if someone is on the brink of death but still capable of being saved, their body is obscured by their premonitory corpse. Meaning Satsuki would have stepped right over her mother as she bled out.

Gamer Satsuki felt a little off for the tone in the credits but she's just too adorable. Seconds before her world got shattered.

Surprise, the skipped pages did return. Now the twitter version has been fully adapted.

Though it's still almost entirely new ground: Michi's given a tangible reason to fear Aizawa, Aizawa's starting to fear herself, and someone who shares Michi's power is here. Kasumi's senpai is a total mystery; she was only briefly in the original. You can see their matching hairclip on her bag at the end.

And with Senpai's introduction, the status quo has a time limit. Sooner or later it's going to come out someone can see Aizawa.

Also the author went on record calling Kiyoharu harmless and to have faith.

Here's the MAD from the credits. I just thought it was well put together.

I probably shouldn't be surprised anymore at the mature approach this manga takes to drama, though I was nervous. There's such a sense of mutual love and trust binding them. Haru stomachs her initial feelings of betrayal, but what really eats away at her is seeing Hinoto's guilt; guilt she recognizes Hinoto's only bearing because she's shouldering too much for her sake. Of course Hinoto's impulsiveness keeps getting the better of her, along with some implied confidence issues she compensates by being overprotective.

Hopefully this is the start of them coming out stronger and confiding in each other more. The bittersweet awkwardness is just a symptom of them healing. But it's charming while it lasts. The kiss on the hand in the breakroom, and the seemingly failed kiss between panels, their faces not getting any closer as the wind dies down.

They want each other back so badly and there's no reason to think they won't get there. The measure of a good couple isn't if they never fight, but how well they make up.

Btw why is the English title different than the Japanese one?

Just for style. An early draft came with It's Summer With You, which is closer to the Japanese, though judging by the dummy text obviously a placeholder. The translated title I ended up using was Into a Summer I Never Knew, With You.

I like the name Throw Away the Suit Together. It's memorable and gets to the point, plus it's cool having titles with alternate meanings.

I like the way the extras show more intimate yet flawed sides to the characters. Volume 1 has Haru struggling to satisfy Hinoto, which Hinoto's completely content with regardless. And in 2 we see easygoing Hinoto getting fiercely possessive. She must be good at keeping that down, considering she's even joked about it before, but she can't always hold it in. Even then I'm sure she would have stopped if Haru was against it. She's extremely considerate of Haru, just her impulsiveness gets out of hand sometimes. Like we're seeing in chapter 11.

But it's those realistic imperfections that make them so endearing, and what makes this manga so fantastically genuine.

I thought it was strange Haru mentions it's rare for Hinoto to initiate, because Hinoto's always the one taking the lead after they get started. But thinking back, Haru generally does something flirty to give Hinoto the go-ahead first. So I guess she holds herself back until Haru signals she's comfortable? Haru was the self-conscious one about their relationship early on. It's cute the way they have things worked out.

Love her or hate her, Miho can't stop being Miho. And while I can dream of a more intimate heart-to-heart between Satsuki and Akira, I'm satisfied every time she loses it thinking of losing Akira. Also glad Akira's feeling guilty and committed to being there for Satsuki more, even if it wasn't her fault. Not that I have a favorite ship in this or anything.

I debated putting a reference to Takahashi Kazuki in the credits, but it didn't feel right directly connecting it to the chapter. Still, he's going to be on a lot of people's minds with how the specifics of his death were only announced last week.

Takahashi Kazuki, the mangaka behind Yu-Gi-Oh!, died rescuing people from a rip current in July. Considering the beach trip has been set up since May's ch46 and a rip current is quick and easy to use for a death in a SoL chapter, I'd believe it's just coincidence and Ryouko had it in mind all along. Too bad this is probably the best we can hope for this volume as far as lighthearted SoL goes.

Also the dark heroine thing comes from the publisher themselves.

Somehow I didn't recognize this was going to be an idol manga when I first picked it up. With Reona I'm going to have to be more blunt about it. Speaking of which, Reona made a brief cameo in ch1.

And with this, everything from original twitter manga has been adapted, save a few pages that got skipped. Feels like we have all our actors introduced and it's brand new territory from here.
For reference, chapter 4 was 11 pages, expanded to 35. Reona's flashback and the majority of her heart-to-heart with Michi were new. The trio of idols never existed in the original either.

Also disclaimer: the official announcement of Honami's death was half-illegible between the cracks, filters, and gradient, so I had to improvise. We'll find out later if I missed something.

Akira's back and surely all will be right in the world.

It's interesting seeing Kai so reluctant to kill. It probably takes a heavy degree of dehumanizing to convince himself his targets deserve nothing but death, and Sayoko gives the validation he needs to keep running from addressing his guilt. Once again there's a strong parallel between him and Satsuki: if it wasn't for her trauma with her mother, it's possible Satsuki could have ended up using her vision the same way. She came close to wishing Miho died a couple times.

With the flashback arc over, I am glad to have a better grasp on the StuCo. Some of it felt rushed, but it's a tough balance trying to fit such a complicated issue into only 3 chapters. I think it made its point, of how it can be easy to rationalize taking justice into your own hands—and setting up a hefty amount of foreshadowing—while serving the larger narrative purpose of isolating us from Satsuki and resetting the tension. I'm excited to see how this pans out between both sides. Neither's going to be willing to compromise.

And of course there's further parallels between Kai+Sayoko and Satsuki+Akira, with the latters being right there to comfort the formers when they're feeling vulnerable. Akira likely doesn't know what happened yet, but what better way to cheer Satsuki up than her partner literally beaming at the door? In a manga full of cliffhangers, this is the rare positive one. This arc was never going to be a fan-favorite, but Ryouko does know what the audience wants and what to tease. Which can be a double-edged sword.

So I've binged the whole series in two days, and I don't like what it does to my emotional state. :-/ I normally don't let fictional stories get to me like that, but Liar Satsuki seems to be on an entirely different level. I cannot stop reading and just hope that the payoff will be worth the suffering... .__.

I have many thoughts about this series, but Michinaga's death in particular won't let me go. I cannot stop comparing my reaction to it and to the recent plot turns in I Favor the Villainess (specifically, Rei's beatdown by Manaria). Both feel extremely unfair and hurtful and written specifically to anger the readers, but I let LSCSD get to me and actually make me angry, while mostly ignoring IFTV's attempts to push my buttons. I wonder why that is? My working hypothesis is that Michinaga's death has been slowly built-up to for 50 chapters, as Satsuki has been pushed more and more to her limits until she finally went past them and now has to deal with her failure (and hopefully grow as a result), while IFTV moment came out of the left field because the manga cannot decide what it wants to be and oscillates unpredictably between schoolgirl romcom and serious social critique.

While Ryouko said there would be a pause between Satsuki vs the StuCo, this flashback arc could just be that. This is pretty much the first real safe zone in 50 chapters. But things also can't slow down for too long. I'd like if Satsuki had time to make a peaceful recovery but the world's not that kind.

Do you think she will at least be treated for PTSD? Or is that not a real sickness in Japan?

Japan has struggled with addressing mental health issues, though they're getting better. I still wouldn't expect Satsuki to find help from anyone outside her circle. Akira seems like the ideal choice (definitely not my bias talking) since she's come closest to recognizing the heart of Satsuki's issues. Everyone else seems to think she's acting purely out of kindness or aren't really great at helping to begin with. Looking at you Miho.

Anyway, the manga's done an outstanding job balancing tension like a roller-coaster. We're told right from the start people will die, but it feels increasingly unlikely as Satsuki racks up her successes. Despite the steady intensity of the stakes the overall tone remains hopeful. Comedy starts sneaking into serious moments and hardly feels out of place, with the yuri level subtly rising too. The biggest threats drift in and out of frame as more immediate issues take priority. The focus is always squarely on challenging Satsuki's strength and views, each new arc adding something to the relationships or mechanics of death, and she's rewarded with people who trust and care deeply about her. Everything seems to be steadily getting better.

But it really isn't. Satsuki's broken inside and destroying herself fighting the inevitable. We've always been one step away from this, and any healing she's managed might have just gotten undone. The pain of Michiru's death is knowing how badly this is going to hurt Satsuki. The shock of it is 50 chapters of tension cashing in as the false sense of security crashes down.

Personally, I wasn't expecting deaths until right near the end because of how much it would cripple Satsuki. But I also thought this would be a much shorter manga. Maybe there'll be a lengthy period of Satsuki hurting and recovering. The tension needs to be reset; it can't just jump back to 100 after this intermission. And Satsuki needs to rationalize this. But in the short term it could look a lot uglier with her doubling down on her worst habits. Since Michiru's death was a freak accident (with some manipulation), we can test Prez's theory that accidental deaths are only common because no one's being allowed to die. That doesn't mean there won't be other kinds of deaths though.

Volume 5 has less changes overall than volume 4, but one significant change in chapter 48: the student council's suggestion box has gone online and the messages are more detailed. They mention Seo extorting others into bullying, along with a few more explicit descriptions like "playing darts" by throwing pens at a girl's head. Might be relevant later.

You mean we can read the full messages? Do you have a link? I'm curious now.
Seo might be the "villain" for this next arc. Apparently StuCo arc will stop for a bit after Michi(?)'s death, so I wonder if the antagonist will shift. Seo might be a good option. Out of everyone who was saved by Satsuki, she seems to be the truly explicitly rotten one (if the suggestion box messages are true).

I've said it before, but it's all hinting at Komachi playing a bigger role in the story (true antagonist maybe), but for now she'll probably stay in the background (or just barely show her true colors), even if the Vol.5 cover confirms homegirl is dangerous.

I might do some rewording when I finish the volume version, but here's the final page of ch48 reworked.

While Ryouko said there would be a pause between Satsuki vs the StuCo, this flashback arc could just be that. This is pretty much the first real safe zone in 50 chapters. But things also can't slow down for too long. I'd like if Satsuki had time to make a peaceful recovery but the world's not that kind.

As for Seo, I get the feeling she'll be an ongoing moral dilemma. She's acting a little too genuine for me to think she's completely faking amnesia, and she reacted oddly back when Satsuki accused her of being suicidal. There's a lot of directions she could go, but my impression's leaning towards "Miho but worse but also with a conscience." Maybe she regrets what she did and is happy to find a way out, though she's still not a great person deep down. She's in the best position to expose the student council, but it would also mean exposing her own attempted murder among other things. The question is how well Satsuki can tolerate that.

Seo running a bullying ring is also an interesting parallel to Kai and Sayoko's past; she's primed to be both their perfect target and their undoing. And in that sense I think it's more likely she'll be redeemed than go full psycho. Most of the abusive characters we've seen so far have been victimized to some extent themselves and were just finding an outlet. They aren't completely unsalvageable.

But Komachi's totally the last boss.

Can someone please tell me what's the color of Satsuki's eyes? on some art it's red and on other art it's green

The canon color is probably a dull red similar to the volume 1 and 3 covers, but I've seen anything from bright blue to lime green. I think Ryouko learned from the Jojo school of color consistency.

I miss happy Satsuki like you wouldn't believe.
The composition of this cover's amazing, though I'm surprised Ryouko's so openly playing around with evil Komachi. The phrasing on the back of the book, "You want to die? I think that's nice/死にたいの？いいと思うよ," is the same as back in chapter 22, when Komachi was giving the OK to everything.

Volume 5 has less changes overall than volume 4, but one significant change in chapter 48: the student council's suggestion box has gone online and the messages are more detailed. They mention Seo extorting others into bullying, along with a few more explicit descriptions like "playing darts" by throwing pens at a girl's head. Might be relevant later.

Petition for this dude (Ch.2 + 3) to join the friend group as the token straight

There's actually a chapter about him in the twitter version, but the serialized version skipped it. Michi walks in on him (seemingly) talking to Aizawa and tries warning him not to talk to ghosts, but it turns out he's just practicing lines for a play. Michi then panics her way out of admitting she sees ghosts in front of Aizawa and he thinks she's a crazy person talking to herself.

Since everything else got adapted in order—though significantly expanded on—I wouldn't be surprised if it was cut. Either because it makes Michi's secret a little too obvious for Aizawa or just to keep guys out of focus in a yuri manga. But I'm assuming the gag of him getting creeped out by Michi will stick around.

Speaking of the twitter version, there's just 1 chapter left to adapt. After that it's a mystery where this goes. Not like there haven't been surprises already; the twitter version of chapter 3 was just 7 pages and didn't have the little girl ghost at the beginning or anything about Aizawa moving objects. We did get to see a glimpse of Kasumi's senpai though.