I snickered at that one moment where Yamada thought she'd finally found a nice cheap apartment, only to realize it was a parking spot. Yeah, my city's like that.

Thing about Yuuta here is that he's the one who isn't socialized enough to try to pretend to himself that he wants what he's SUPPOSED to want, or what would be SENSIBLE to want, instead of what he ACTUALLY wants. Hopefully he'll get that through to the others.

last edited at Aug 18, 2022 12:21PM

I'm definitely keying on, and very satisfied by, that key distinction right at the end of the chapter; she has in some ways similar feelings about Original Miss Sunflower and Matsuri, but Miss Sunflower gave her "words of forgiveness" and Matsuri gives her "words of love". Which she seems at this point happy about and accepting of. Woo!

Ah, I see . . . her second in command solved everything. Because you know, before, when she was a prostitute, it would have been hard for them to have a relationship because the transactional nature of miss CEO paying her for her time got in the way, but now that she's her boss and employer everything's just fine! /sarcasm

I don't know what will happen. I will say, she doesn't look upset at the idea.

And since we are at it what is gongdou? Saying it's the "palace duel genre" doesn't do anything for me since I have no clue what's that.

Never heard of it before, but I'm assuming it's a genre in which palace courtiers and/or courtesans duke it out for influence or power or the emperor's favour.

Childhood friend rival arc I am excited as hell

The childhood friend is going to lose.

OMG!!!! How can you be so sure?

It's almost as if you've seen this kind of thing happen ten thousand times before in manga. Or as if the overall narrative arc pretty much demanded it, or something.

last edited at Aug 15, 2022 5:38PM

I think some people misunderstand the reason for Kurumi's jealousy, she's not just jealous because Rio is there with them (although she does seem to regret inviting her to sit down) but because Rio evidently knows a side of Ruriko that she has little to no access to. Ruriko speaks informal with her even though she still calls her own wife "Kurumi-san", she has obviously discussed romance with Rio too, which Ruriko and Kurumi haven't (for obvious reasons, as Ruriko is 100% seriously into Kurumi), etc. So I'd say its less that Kurumi believes Rio is going to snatch away her wife, but rather that she's shocked how a seeming stranger can have so much more intimate knowledge of her wife than she does

That's an interesting observation, but to play Devil's Advocate, perhaps Ruriko's use of informal language on Rio implies that she doesn't respect her the way she does Kurumi.

It may well in this particular case. But nonetheless, using someone's first name without honorifics is still usually an indication of closeness or even intimacy, so it's hardly weird for it to make Kurumi feel weird. And, the whole "finding her annoying" thing . . . let's not forget that Japanese very often treat annoyed bickering as a form, or sign, of closeness; how often have we seen a character cheesed off with another character, only for someone to say "You two sure get along well"? And how often has that in fact turned out to be a sign of things to come? Ruriko treating Rio as an annoyance is not something Kurumi can be expected to feel comforted by, even if in this particular case she doesn't actually have anything to worry about.

last edited at Aug 15, 2022 3:00AM

So are we just going to ignore the subtext that just became text, with the "Why are you with that horrible old bag who's just deceiving you, WHEN YOU COULD HAVE ME" speech?

Aaand the plot takes a turn for the even sillier.
Just to be clear, I'm not criticizing, or disappointed, or surprised, just stating facts.

I'm not big on these media-people series on average. But the art is certainly pretty.

You know, re-reading this, I realize that Hinako is up for really raunchy handholding but is really hesitant about kissing. Is she just using Asahi for handholding? I hope she isn't treating Asahi as just a handholding object! :D

Just because it's not explicitly said doesnt make it a headcanon. Or else everything would be headcanon.

Um, except I'm pretty sure that many things are explicitly said in manga? So, like, those things WOULDN'T be headcanon?
And I mean, headcannons are dangerous. The recoil is just . . .

Me: I don't care about schoolgirl lesbians anymore, there's too many.
Also me: This is great and I love these idiots.

Look, they're already in a relationship from the first page, that's way too rare! I'm blameless, here!

Heck, I'm getting close to that on schoolgirl lesbian vampires alone.

Kinda stupid on brat's part. Just how exactly does she imagine this is going to work out well for her? If it doesn't work, she looks like an obnoxious brat. If it partly works but just causes trouble, it's worse. And even if somehow it goes perfectly the way she wants, she clearly doesn't have the self-possession to keep it secret that she was responsible, at which point she is never forgiven.

There's a funny error in the description of this manga:
"The 16-year old Nagisa is her sister's stepson, suddenly sent to live with Ai when his parents left for an overseas job. Wary like cats, these two loners 10 years apart in age will have to make a new life together."

On literally the written line of the first panel of the first page, it says that it is Ai's 30th birthday. That means that they are 14 years apart, not 10 years apart!

That's a good catch. Then again, it's not quite as bad as Funimation's description of the Otherside Picnic anime saying that Sorawo and Toriko are high school students, not college students.

It's good that the story is addressing the taboo nature of a potential relationship between Ai and Nagisa, as well as how Ai, as the adult, would take the brunt of the backlash if their relationship came to light. Most age gap romances that I know of have the younger person take the initiative to confess first, but the idea that confessing could cause problems for Ai will strongly discourage Nagisa from saying anything about his feelings.

It's nice to see the story proceed at a slow burn, but I hope they don't drag things out for too long. I'd like to see Nagisa confess within the next few chapters.

I can think of one way, but you're not going to like it.
Next chapter: He decides to wait until he's an adult to confess.
(Timeskip!)
Following chapter: Now an adult, he confesses, they get together, the end.

The whole jealous younger sibling thing, which I've seen in manga after manga . . . I'm an only, so maybe I just don't get it . . . but does that ever really happen? It seems like one of these notions that superficially looks like it could make some sense but is pretty much nonexistent. Like, in real life does anyone ever give a damn about their older sibling dating unless they're with a total douchebag?

Man, I don't care about the ships any more. Just keep dishing out the cute.

Sweet tears? Get that girl checked for diabetes. She could have been reading too much fluffy yuri.

I'm sure everyone knows, but I just have to go pedantic on the credits description of Boke/Tsukkomi. The Tsukkomi is not a Western comedy "straight man". In Western comedy, the "straight man" is the butt of the joke. The Western funny man/straight man contrast sees the "funny" win out; the straight man gets bamboozled by the nonsense of the funny man. A Tsukkomi is the opposite--the "Boke" is more like the stupid man than the funny man. In Boke/Tsukkomi, the nonsense Boke comes first and gets corrected, straightened out, by the Tsukkomi; the forces of order win.

There is actually Western comedy that's like that--you can see exchanges with a certain Boke/Tsukkomi style in many sit-coms. But you don't call that stuff straight man/funny man.

Ummm... The only "happy ending" I see here is Aizawa being one of these ghost of someone who is in coma. I don't see that's the case here since they said she was dead already, unless her family and/or company decided to spread the rumor because reasons... Worst scenario, MC kills herself to be with her. I really hope is not that-

I mean, if she can see and talk with her, is there really any reason they can’t be together, even if Aizawa is dead? It’s true that they can’t touch, but that doesn’t have to be a dealbreaker. There’s really no reason she can’t just date a ghost.

She being a ghost for sure means she has a regret that once cleared will make her ascend and rest in peace

So don't clear it.

last edited at Jul 26, 2022 2:58PM

Ummm... The only "happy ending" I see here is Aizawa being one of these ghost of someone who is in coma. I don't see that's the case here since they said she was dead already, unless her family and/or company decided to spread the rumor because reasons... Worst scenario, MC kills herself to be with her. I really hope is not that-

I mean, if she can see and talk with her, is there really any reason they can’t be together, even if Aizawa is dead? It’s true that they can’t touch, but that doesn’t have to be a dealbreaker. There’s really no reason she can’t just date a ghost.

Even there, it's only probably true that they can't touch. Maybe if she concentrates she can get a bit more solid. At least, she could be capable of poltergeist stuff, which gives them, um, one-way touch . . .

Swo!on indeed! Miss Sunflower also chose well the words, one could easily said "it would not bother me" or "dont be silly", but to thank and say that you loved it will become a powerfull memory.

All the more so given that Japanese + manga tendency not to include the referent. I mean, no actual misunderstanding here, but if she just said "Suki!" it's sure some powerful dream fuel for Matsuri.

So, what have we here? "Even Slower Start"?

. . . The great wizard Oz. Really. He sounds Wonderful. Someone should go off to see him.