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BeanBeanKingdom
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joined Nov 3, 2018

Oh, I woulda sworn the mangaka was a man for this one. That was only judging by their self-insert in the omakes tho.

Anyway, it's getting pretty gay again after like a 2-volume hiatus. Let's keep this homo-mentum going

She's a girl, you can see and hear her at the start of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzmdliC3n_Y She tries to keep her face covered with a sticker on the video, but she accidentally slips out of the area it covers a couple times, heh.

Also, homo-mentum is an amazing word and I'll start using it myself from now on.

BeanBeanKingdom
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joined Nov 3, 2018

When making friends is hard, one real friend is worth a lot and you get attached. There's no guarantee that you'll find more friends after that, so instead you invest a lot into your actual friend.

But I never got the impression that Konatsu had nearly as much trouble making friends and being social in general as Koyuki did. She pretty much made friends with Kaede at the same time she did with Koyuki right after entering the new school. She herself acknowledges in her imagination this chapter that even without her, she can see herself surrounded by other people. The way I see it, for Konatsu it absolutely has to be Koyuki because she built this image in her mind of the two of them being the only ones able to understand each other due to their loneliness, even though it might or might not be the case.

BeanBeanKingdom
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joined Nov 3, 2018

Well, Konatsu actually snapped at Koyuki in this chapter so it's unlikely they'll just be able to restore the status quo without talking to sort things out. Though that in itself might take a while with them not acting friendly with each other in the meantime.

I must admit I'm starting to get suspicious of Konatsu's almost morbid attachment to Koyuki. Last chapter she stated their connection was formed out of shared loneliness, but now she's arguing that even if she was to be surrounded by other people and not feel lonely, it would still amount to nothing without Koyuki there. Kinda getting harder to see it as mere friendship, so I want to see where the author takes things.

I have a bit of dumb question will this series have a happy ending?

The short story it's based on arguably didn't, it ended with the salamander keeping the frog trapped in its cave with both being incapable of either admitting they enjoy each other's company or agreeing to break things off and letting the frog go. You could say we're currently at that same stage in this manga, but I don't think it can end like that simply because Konatsu has no means of stopping Koyuki from leaving once she graduates. They'll be forced to come to a conclusion.

last edited at Oct 27, 2019 8:33AM

BeanBeanKingdom
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joined Nov 3, 2018

How is this not gay?

Maybe Konatsu said 'no homo' offscreen.

BeanBeanKingdom
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joined Nov 3, 2018

Man, Konatsu is a mess. And she seemed to be the relatively well-adjusted one until a while back.

BeanBeanKingdom
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joined Nov 3, 2018

Thank you Lala, I mean Zexalfan. I signed up to Dynasty specifically to talk about Nettaigyo, so I better make it count. I find it to be a series where going a little deeper to analyze the characters' thoughts, feelings and actions is interesting and rewarding since just taking it all at face value can understandably lead to frustration as I've seen lately. I don't mean you have to like whatever happens (let alone the uncertainty/non-commitment over whether it's yuri), but if any of my posts helped anyone become less frustrated, then to me they were worth writing.

I've been a massive Layton fan since the franchise started, so I usually use profile pics of its characters. Definitely go back to watch Mystery Detective Agency when you've got time, everything comes together at the end and it's really satisfying.

last edited at Oct 3, 2019 2:34PM

BeanBeanKingdom
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joined Nov 3, 2018

That's the point though, Konatsu is being selfish. She's not acting the way she is out of a need for Koyuki's companionship caused by her own loneliness, she has Kaede and other friends to avoid feeling lonely. The issue is that she subconsciously grew fond of being Koyuki's only friend and confidant and once Koyuki managed to start making other friends (spurred on by Konatsu herself at that), Konatsu lost that special placement and is now trying to get her back under her "control" even though she knows she shouldn't.

It's pretty obvious when you consider the Salamander short story and see how the author keeps placing the frog and salamander metaphorically around the two girls. The frog is the character who initially lives freely, ends up entering the salamander's cave and gets trapped there by it because its presence eases the salamander's loneliness, even though the salamander knows that keeping the frog trapped will make it lonely as well. The initial setup of the story likened Konatsu to the frog and Koyuki to the salamander since the former was the one who ended up involved with the latter's aquarium club and stuck around to ease her loneliness. Now the metaphor has been flipped (ever since Konatsu saw Koyuki and Kaede walking around) so that Koyuki is the frog who would normally be free with her new friends and Konatsu is the salamander who wants to keep her trapped against her best interests.

Of course I'm oversimplifying things and it's only a partial analysis based on the current point in the story, but that's the gist of it and I don't think I'm off the mark due to all the visual metaphors.

BeanBeanKingdom
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joined Nov 3, 2018

To be fair to Koyuki, it was her first time ever out with "friends". She wasn't going to know how to behave socially.

BeanBeanKingdom
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joined Nov 3, 2018

Hagino-sensei drew Konatsu singing karaoke on her twitter since she was too gloomy to do it in the actual chapter.

BeanBeanKingdom
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joined Nov 3, 2018

^
If I recall correctly, Konatsu originally thought about that in regards to finding out that Koyuki doesn't seem to consider their first encounter special like she does. I also agree that knowing everything is better, but that's not true for every person, for some it can be tough to deal with it. "Ignorance is bliss" and all that.

BeanBeanKingdom
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joined Nov 3, 2018

Yeah, I think Kaede's helped out as much as she could, just bringing Konatsu to the karaoke place and pointing out Koyuki was there was exactly what she needed to do, without interfering further. Something that hasn't been really addressed so far is how Koyuki seemingly lacks the social awareness to understand how Konatsu might feel about the situation. Kaede also tried to make her realize it on her own, but she couldn't do it. I wonder if the awkward situation Koyuki got herself in with her classmates during the karaoke party might help her realize Konatsu's point of view of not wanting her to fit in with others and leave her behind, but I feel like Koyuki just won't get it until Konatsu flat-out admits it to her because she's just that socially stunted.

last edited at Sep 28, 2019 10:40PM

BeanBeanKingdom
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joined Nov 3, 2018

You can see from Konatsu's reaction to Koyuki's text (and from all her reactions beforehand) that she feels very guilty about bringing her back to her now that she's been breaking out, that's going to be difficult to bring up and properly talk about although she will have to sooner or later. And in the short term, they weren't alone so they weren't going to have such a private talk with Kaede and Fuyuki around. But I get what you mean, I always try not to think of how much time it takes in the real world for manga chapters to come out, it can be grueling and deflate your enthusiasm, especially in monthly series. I like to think that once all of it is out, reading it again all at once will feel much better and reflect the work's actual pacing.

BeanBeanKingdom
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joined Nov 3, 2018

Lovely chapter, it's quite a struggle for Konatsu.

BeanBeanKingdom
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joined Nov 3, 2018

@Senjougahara_sama: I'm interested in Konatsu's comment on page 9 about how she's been searching for that "something" that has been gradually changing around her. Right now she herself cannot define it and I want to see how she will figure it out. Not that it has to be romantic interest, but as of now, it would be the best bet as to how she'd realize something like that about herself.

@Star Light: I was just joking. Ultimately I don't think there's a huge correlation between marketing a series for tourism and what happens between the characters in it. Most people will just take an interest if the locations themselves are memorable.

BeanBeanKingdom
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joined Nov 3, 2018

Konatsu's issue right now is that she feels ashamed of herself for not being entirely happy about Koyuki managing to open up and find new friends and for desiring for Koyuki to stay the same so that she'll remain the only person Koyuki will open up with. This stems from her own loneliness and desire to be considered special by someone (either as a friend or romantically, this is what the author will likely never clarify and leave up to the reader's interpretation). Of course this is a contradiction since Konatsu herself was the one who pushed Koyuki to break out of her shell, so she thinks it would be wrong to talk to her about this, that the issue lies entirely with herself and she should bottle it up and pretend she's okay with the current situation for Koyuki's sake. There is no simple solution since Konatsu would have to admit to her selfishness and Koyuki might not respond positively to it. I think Konatsu will definitely have to learn to accept that Koyuki will have other people she can rely on from now on, but at the same time Koyuki will come to realize that she and Konatsu still need each other and that their bond and mutual understanding will always be deeper than what she could have with anybody else.

Kaede got herself into a real mess, but her method of indirectly prodding both of them is the most appropriate.

BeanBeanKingdom
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joined Nov 3, 2018

No because this series got trademark as tourism symbol so no homo.

Dunno, if I knew this was the town where cute 2D lesbians got together, I'd just be more inclined to visit.

BeanBeanKingdom
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joined Nov 3, 2018

@Star Light: Yeah, I get it, the monologue can feel like it drags, but I'm fine with it because there's always a point to it, in this case it's about Konatsu being in denial and thinking she has to bottle her feelings up while slowly realizing (and being made to realize by Kaede) that doing so makes her suffer. I think it's more of an issue of the chapter taking two months to release and only setting up a development in the next one (though it was originally meant to be a longer chapter). I'm sure that reading this part in the volume release all at once will feel just right and not too slow.

BeanBeanKingdom
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joined Nov 3, 2018

^ It's because she had stomach problems and couldn't release a chapter in July.

BeanBeanKingdom
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joined Nov 3, 2018

From Hachimitsu Scans: "According to her Twitter account, this chapter was originally a single, 91-page chapter, but this was split in two for size concerns, with the next chapter coming next month."

That would've been something. And I guess a big development will happen at the karaoke since it was meant to be the same chapter.

I also want to add that it's great having Konatsu back full time as the POV character, I really missed her.

@Star Light: Regarding the discussion on mangadex, I don't think the story is set to end soon, it's been set up to last at least until Koyuki graduates for a long time now. As for Konatsu's issues, I understand some people being annoyed at having a full chapter of her monologuing and failing to move forward, but I think that's the whole point. I loved the twist of Konatsu ultimately turning out to be the salamander equivalent after she seemed like she would be the frog and her sorting out her feelings will be the key for her and Koyuki's relationship not to end up like the one from the short story, which is basically where it's at right now.

last edited at Aug 31, 2019 5:45AM

BeanBeanKingdom
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joined Nov 3, 2018

The magazine releases around the 26th of the month.

BeanBeanKingdom
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joined Nov 3, 2018

Actually it's going to be a real tour now: https://www.ozujc.info/%E7%89%B9%E8%A8%AD%E3%83%9A%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B8/

This is cute.

BeanBeanKingdom
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joined Nov 3, 2018

I took a tour of the town from the manga with StreetView a few months ago, it looks like a pretty cozy place. Its manga depiction is also extremely accurate, the school and the seaside road are identical.

BeanBeanKingdom
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joined Nov 3, 2018

Not really. She said she doesn't label her work as yuri, but that people are free to see it however they want, so I stand by my point of view that the author isn't outright saying "no homo" and that it's more of an "I'll leave that up to your imagination" non-answer.

BeanBeanKingdom
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joined Nov 3, 2018

We really just don't know (yet). I don't even think the author is technically saying "no homo", it's more that she chooses not to focus on the romantic side of the relationship either way since it's not what she wants to highlight. That's how I see it right now.

BeanBeanKingdom
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joined Nov 3, 2018

^
There's plenty of works where the nature of the relationship between a male and a female character is left ambiguous. I'd also rather not judge Nettaigyo on this yet because it's still unclear what exactly the author means by not personally classifying her work as yuri. She also keeps saying people are free to see it however they want, so it's possible it will indeed fall into certain romantic yuri tropes and that the author sees those differently in the context of her own story. And of course she's vague to avoid potentially giving out spoilers either way.

EDIT: By the way, I'd better clarify I'm not suggesting your complaint as a whole isn't valid, I'm sure many here have been burned by Hibike and the like. I'm just saying I wouldn't apply it to this particular manga.

last edited at Jul 7, 2019 6:53AM