I can kinda see the "Oh the ending is ambiguous because that kind of ambiguity (and the difficulty of wrestling with it) is one of the main themes" angle, but the story still just feels unfinished. It needed at least another volume to resolve things properly imo. Like, Keiko comes to the conclusion that not being nosy like Honda was the wrong decision because of how helpless not knowing makes her feel once the things that she doesn't know about Asami start affecting her own life, but then nothing ever comes of that. And I thought Honda was a really interesting character because he's a well developed male character in a yuri story, which you don't see much for obvious reasons. He feels very much like a real person, and specifically like a man. The way he acts towards Asami in particular feels very real, where he's genuinely concerned for her and has good reason to be, but is also being too forceful and not respecting her wishes, while being driven on by a deep frustration that he can't do anything to actually help her. It's a classically male set of emotions. (Asami's reaction is also interesting, since she openly hates the way that Honda acts, but is still friends with him on some level simply because until Keiko shows up he's the only one of her peers that acts at all on her side.) It's interesting how they create this deliberate parallel and contrast between Honda and Keiko. Keiko doesn't really try to fix Asami's problems or to pry into what she's thinking, which allows her to get Asami to open up to her in a way she never would with Honda, a fact which she throws in his face repeatedly (to help cover up the fact that she feels the exact same frustration he does, arguably worse, since she really does want to know more about Asami and to be able to help her but is stopping herself on purpose).
The attempted rape by Honda kinda comes out of left field, but at the same time it feels emotionally believable. The thing that sets him off is Keiko pointing out how he never properly tried to connect with Asami, instead trying to force her to act differently or to forcefully solve her problems himself (which doesn't work). This sets off both his feelings of deep sexual frustration and his feelings of deep emotional frustration at the situation with Asami (feelings which Keiko shares). I think him not being able to get it up either that time or the time with Asami is meant to show that, while he's not a moral enough person to say no to his own lust and sexual frustration, his feelings of guilt subconsciously prevent him from actually going through with it. This is another place where getting axed hurts the story. Keiko says that there's nothing he can say to make what he did go away, but for the audience it effectively does go away, since the story just ends without ever bringing it up again. It feels weird that there's no real emotional reckoning with the fact that the story's third most important character is an attempted rapist.
I think the best chapter is chapter 11. There are so many layers to Keiko and Asami's conversation. While for the vast majority of the story we see things from Keiko's perspective, in that conversation I found it just as easy to empathize with Asami. The panel at the bottom of page 16 where Keiko looks like she's about to cry is especially good. It really captures the emotion of the scene: looking at someone who you've been coming to care a lot about but are keeping totally in the dark about your problems as her face screws up with helpless concern over you. I imagine Asami feeling like: "Damn, I'm really hurting her by not telling her anything, but telling her everything would probably just hurt both of us more." I love that sort of emotional dilemma. It's excellent.
