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

I wonder why, in the manga, in the episode where Elsa is possessed by a mare and almost jumps off a roof, they changed the orders of the Villainess system.

This is because the beginning chapters of the manhua used an old version of the WN, where there were two villainess system options, but most importantly not a third zero-point option. In the updated, most current version of the WN, it was changed to what it is now.

Oh I get it now. So in the new version the VS has basically stopped working right and tried to force the death of Elsa with no way out... Interesting. I wonder if it's going to be a plot point later.

I'm wondering if there's an extra wrinkle here. Consider: In point of fact, Elsa was about to jump off the roof all by herself. Yvonne wouldn't have been there to save her if the Villainess system hadn't practically dragged her up there by the nose. So in a bizarre way, in appearing to endanger Elsa, the Villainess system actually saved her.

But if someone or something is actually manipulating the Villainess system to get them together, they must be operating under major constraints.

I find myself thinking about Morishima Akiko's "The conditions for paradise" little group of associated one-shots, which also featured an OL and a traveling girl, and had some of the most beautiful moments I've seen in any manga ever.

guys won't chat us up

It's a gay bar though, doubt straight or bi men would go there to hook up with women

They might. In my city it's a known thing that women go to gay bars to have a good time without being chatted up . . . there might actually be guys who would think hey, that means they can find women there--and who would not think past that to "You dough-head, they're there specifically to avoid jerks like you" because that kind of person does not think that way.

"Why can't I find my house keys?"--my wife is like that. She's always going to get the thing she needs from her backpack or purse, only to stress that it's not there . . . but it always turns out to be there, in the end, just needs a bit more rummaging.
May everything you all need turn up after a bit of rummaging.

For a non-LGBT example, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) uses the term 'disorder'. This term means 'contrary to the order of things'. From a purely denotational perspective, not only is this accurate, but it is probably also an accurate description of the entire LGBTQ+ spectrum. It is fairly easy to argue from a purely statistical perspective that being a lesbian is a 'disorder' and 'abnormal'.

I disagree with your version of the meaning of "disorder". What you're saying there is more like a derivation than a denotation--where it comes from, not what it means. Mind you, "disorder" has several meanings; if you haven't tidied your bedroom in a few weeks, it could be in "disorder". But when you're talking about autism spectrum or deafness or something, it means an ailment. The OED says "A disturbance of the bodily (or mental) functions; an ailment, disease."

And that does NOT apply to being LGBTQ+. But frankly, it DOES apply to anything very far along the autism spectrum; stuff isn't working the way a person would prefer to have it work, and that causes them problems; there's things they can't do well that other people not on the autism spectrum can easily do. There's a failure of function happening. So it's a disorder.

So there's a distinction between calling something (say being asexual) "weird" and calling it a "disorder". Being called "weird" can be hurtful because our society is too damn conformist, but is not inherently bad. As a person who is generally at the top of our society's dysfunctional little inherent status ladder (white, male, straight, not poor, moderately educated) I have leeway to actually take pride in being weird.
If what you are is called a "disorder" though, that's specifically saying that being what you are is functionally bad, an illness--that's going to be inherently hurtful, to the point where even people who actually do have a disorder for real, like deaf people, often would really prefer it not be looked at that way.

last edited at Jun 21, 2022 1:33PM

Two points about that intro question:

1) Miss Sunflower fully accepts that Matsuri loves her--not that she says she loves her, or she thinks she loves her, etc.

2) This is the bog-standard "early relationship" question--"What is it that you like about me?" It's a key to understanding the other person's feelings, and can be an ego-boost (you get to hear a list of your own admirable qualities) or a reality check (you find out whether that person's idea of you is grounded in a version of you that you even vaguely recognize).

Put another way, it's almost like a marriage-interview question. And at the end Miss Sunflower has no problem with Matsuri saying she loves her, just "not so loud."

Agreed. I was thinking along those lines--you don't deliberately ask about someone's love for you if you don't have some level of acceptance of that love, even some interest in starting to explore it.

It would actually be nice to see a doll get to get human or human-ish and fall in love with their person in an at least somewhat more wholesome way.

Yuu is able to be honest with herself now and yet the previous Miss Sunflower was not able to be completely honest in the end...

Every so often we are reminded that everyone involved is, or was at the time, really quite young. They're so smart, so literary, some have naturally surface-calm temperaments . . . but there are flustered kid parts underneath.

This person seems to have a habit of telling most of the story in character descriptions.

Well, that could have gone better... On one hand, Ai missed her chance, and on the other hand, Nagisa got a bit overwhelmed there and got a date before he could properly express what he wanted to say - which did seem like he did want to turn her down.

The thing is, a romance like this needs a bit of impetus to move it forward. Much like older-school yuri, the assumption that romance isn't on the table leads the characters to ignore their budding romantic feelings. The appearance of a rival sparking dissatisfaction and the question "Why am I dissatisfied?" is a very common way to push things along, because it has so many handy ingredients.

Nobody going to comment on how gorgeous a device it was to have their emotional renewed understanding underlined and culminated by their literal "getting back in synch" counting off the rhythm?

Dancing is like sex.

If I remember correctly, it was tango that was defined as sex on the dance floor (and sex as tango in bed).

I understand "Rock and roll" was originally slang meaning "dancing and sex".

Would there even be mental hospitals at their time which is like set in a medieval setting I presume?

Not like a good hospital to treat people, but a place to stash and hopefully care for them, yes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethlem_Royal_Hospital
ostensibly where the word 'Bedlam' comes from, founded in 1247 AD, maybe used as an asylum from 1377, transformation complete by 1460, which is almost out of the 'medieval' period.

Good info. But in any case, this setting is far from what I'd call medieval. This is a setting with cosmopolitan cities that clearly have, you know, sewers, plus airy broad avenues instead of twisty little medieval streets, coffee shops . . . this isn't even renaissance, it feels totally Enlightenment, like Napoleonic or thereabouts. Except with magic, perhaps magic replacing guns.

Love this author/artist! Very fun start and I'm excited to see more.

I can't believe Nirvana is on a Japanese highschool girls play list. Kurt Cobain passed away at least 10 years before she was even born. I could maybe buy Foo Fighters, but I'm not sure how big they are in the overseas market.

The entire point here is that she doesn’t listen to what others do, she says that. The other girls in her group don’t recognize the bands at all.

You think there can’t be one japanese schoolgirl in all the country with western music taste to make a doujin around?

I also had something else here but I deleted it, wooo

Your absolutely right. But it's weird. It would be like finding an American highschool kid who is into a Japanes rock band from the early 90's

It's definitely not impossible and more likely than you might think in this age of the internet, where media can be shared across the world to and from any country, for anyone of any age.

Edit: Thinking about it I'm someone around the ballpark of 30, who was listening to out of the norm bands from various countries, Japan included, that nobody else I knew was listening to back in my early teenage years. All thanks to the power of dialup internet. So I'm not even sure why this is a debate...

Wasn't really debating. I guess I was just a bit incredulous about two Japanese highschool girls bonding over a 30 year old American rock music. Don't get me wrong, it's pretty cool. I always like seeing American culture in manga. it's just weird

We haven't taken this discussion back to the mangaka. I mean, it seems like it would be exactly as unlikely for the probably young, female Japanese mangaka to be interested enough in that kind of music to want to make a lead who was into it, as for the character to exist. And yet, here we are.

Here in Canada, we have various incentives and programs in place to help with work-family conciliation, but even with that there are still quite a few stumbling blocks for career oriented women with kids. As I said earlier, quite a few of my friends had to put their professional goals aside and in most cases ended up dealing with various degrees of depression/self-worth issues because of it . It's just how it is.

Here in Canada, daycare is way too expensive. As soon as someone has a second kid, daycare for two is their paycheck. It should be public and very cheap.

So I'm looking at the credits describing bean daifuku. OK, so it's mochi, nice enough, filled with red bean paste, OK sounds decent and fairly typical, but what makes it special? Ah "the mochi exterior is studded with goodies"! This is looking up! "most commonly either soybeans, black beans, red peas, or more red beans"--Argh. Japan, we need to have a talk about the difference between dessert and main course. Those are not "goodies".

This one really rubbed me the wrong way. No, that girl's enthusiastic jargon and her ability to go to classy coffee shops her fellow temp can't afford are not pleasant and refreshing, they're frigging annoying. She's nice, kind of, but she's making herself part of the problem.

And while having people you like at your workplace helps you survive it, if it's as crappy a workplace as most Japanese office workers have to deal with that is NOT a solution, it's just a pretty nice band aid. Ideally, once you have people in your workplace that you like and trust, you can then start a union (or a socialist revolution :p ) so you can maybe get good actual working conditions. The whole frame of "My work sucks but it's all MY fault for having a bad attitude and I ought to be EMBRACING the unpaid overtime and crappy conditions" is a massive pile of BS.

"Science Fell in Lust, so it Analyzed Bra Hook Location"

This really an interesting one

Love the fact that the prostitute didn't end up falling in love or smth its way more realistic that way

though i do appreciate that in spite of her determination not to get emotionally involved, she has become somewhat fond of the client, to the point of actively wanting to comfort her. this ambiguity also feels much more real than the usual dichotomy where the sex worker is either just waiting to fall in love and be 'taken away from all that', or on the other hand completely jaded and cynical.

Yes. Absolutely this.

Sounds like a great title for a new yuri isekai.

I'm in

I'd read it, too.

This really an interesting one

Love the fact that the prostitute didn't end up falling in love or smth its way more realistic that way

It's almost as if she is a professional who is not morally obligated to fall in love with every client just because the two of them are the leads in a manga. :-)

To be fair, in real life prostitutes always fall in love with their clients if the two of them are the leads in a manga. Or at least, I'm not aware of any counterexamples where a real life prostitute and her client were the leads in a manga but DIDN'T fall in love. ;-)

I laughed, but she should have noticed the building was a karaoke.

I mean, I'm sure she did, but if manga tropes have taught me anything it's that karaoke parlors are also nice private spaces to have a breakdown after something bad has happened. So I can still see her rushing in with concerns.

If old school shoujo has taught me anything it's that karaoke parlors are also nice private spaces for something bad to happen in the first place. Bullying, betrayal, attempted rape . . . So I can still see her rushing in with concerns.

Well, that’s one of the less racist portrayals of goblin I’ve seen. Still not super great tho.

Because . . . REAL goblins are much nicer than their portrayals in fiction? Whu?

I think it's more that a lot of fantasy races, or at least the characterizations applied to them, tend to be modelled after extremeley dated stereotypes of ancient civilizations (voodoo tribes and the like).

Classic goblin depictions tend to involve early medieval technology (swords, axes and such, light to medium armour, metal helmets) combined with a social structure of territorial tribes smaller and less formal than nation-states. The main groups who fit that description would be Germanic and Celtic . . .

Well, that’s one of the less racist portrayals of goblin I’ve seen. Still not super great tho.

Because . . . REAL goblins are much nicer than their portrayals in fiction? Whu?

The comment section is everything I hoped for.