I am not sure this should be classified as Yuri. Just two very close friends, not a couple.

Is that a joke?

Yes she is and very much so. Anime hasn't gotten there yet. First season doesn't get into many of the relationships. As for where to continue from: chapter 25.

last edited at Apr 6, 2024 3:44PM

Mu posted:

….. to be totally honest, I’m not 1000% sure what’s happening here. XD

What the heck happened with that boy that apparently ruined their friendship? Especially considering how very not-present he is now, and how Komaki is trying to very literally get into Wakaba’s pants at the arcade. O_o I can only assume it was some totally wild misunderstanding? Komaki taking a joke too far, not realizing she’d actually hurt Wakaba’s feelings?

I have a hunch that Wakaba had a crush on that guy and Komaki struck preemptively and "dated" him (middle school dating, so hand-holding at most) to prevent Wakaba from straying too far from her.

"Better be hated than forgotten" I guess.

That's why Wakaba resented her.

Yeah, just look at Komaki's eyes during that flashback as she stares back at Wakaba. She was definitely challenging Wabaka there, the same way she's challenging her now. That wasn't a real relationship and that guy is unimportant. Doubt he'll ever show up or be meaningfully mentioned.

last edited at Apr 6, 2024 7:13AM

Having your body powered up through one person's alcohol alone is simultaneously the most yuri thing ever, and also such a shounen cheese move lmao.

"Heh, you've only seen a fraction of my power! Wait until my bartender arrives and I drink the special sake mixed with her hands!!"

The ultimate power up. The power of love and alcohol.

last edited at Apr 6, 2024 7:08AM

She also has the ability to contact Asumi but is being very lax about the whole thing.

Does she? How?

Mai knows that Asumi has been seeing the girls at her job. In one chapter she follows them and sees Asumi right before her but hides, remembering her friend's advice: "If you just wait she'll book you eventually."

She has the means to find her or let her know that she's there, with the help of the girls, but chooses to wait for Asumi to find her instead. Plus, Mai is friends with the girls, who know she's looking for Asumi (based on their conversations). Rather than wait to be booked, she could ask them to let Asumi know that Mai is looking for her. None of the girls seem like that would be an issue for them and she knows Asumi is in the area.

last edited at Apr 5, 2024 5:51PM

but other than the flimsy gender-reveal blackmail, childhood trauma triggers, and the filial piety angle, she does not have a lot of levers over the Emperor (at least that we know of).

I agree with your sentiment but to be fair, for a child, those can be some major levers.

last edited at Apr 5, 2024 12:51PM

aaaaaa it's been too long! I missed Riri. I never expected her to be the one we see the least, considering.... how she is

Just one of the many ways this is a deconstruction I guess. But also, show Riri more >:(

Sometimes being seen the least is a good thing: the author might be deliberately separating the "serious" romance from all the other shenanigans.

last edited at Apr 4, 2024 12:49PM

It adorable how hard Tsukushi wants this to work, even though she's kind of a dumb-dumb and it's all a bit over her head :P The wingwomen couple are once again the freaking MVPs, the main girls are so lucky to have them.

They're their mothers at this point.

last edited at Apr 4, 2024 8:59AM

Can someone explain why is Citrus not finished

Citrus is completed. This is Citrus +, which depicts events before the ending of Citrus.

Of course that's technically true, but Citrus+ continues the themes the characters and themes of the original series; I still think of it as "Citrus" too.

Since Citrus was one of the most popular and talked-about yuri series ever, it is rather surprising to see this in effect abandoned by the author (although maybe only temporarily).

abandoned? A few chapters ago someone posted a comment on this forum that Yurihime magazine must not have been very happy. perhaps it is the magazine itself that has said enough . It's all quite strange because they haven't even closed volume 6 to put it on sale. It's sad to say but citrus+ is nowhere near as popular as the original series and more and more people have gone abandoning it little by little. We'll see what happens in the future.

Are these a lot of assumptions or are there facts out there that suggest it's not doing well?

As far as I can tell, all we definitely know for sure is that there have been long delays between the appearance of Citrus+ chapters and obvious quality-control issues in some of the chapters that have appeared (such as un-inked and partially toned pages and goofs like a glass of soda apparently growing out of a character’s head).

Readers’ first inclinations were to speculate about Saburouta’s health, then to infer from fragments of evidence a fading degree of authorial interest, and now a potential problem with sales/popularity.

I do think it’s safe to say that Citrus+ isn’t helping with magazine sales when it isn’t in the magazine.

Definitely. But, as far as I know, the reasons for the delays aren't known. I was wondering if the previous person was just spreading assumptions or had actual evidence of bad sales or waning interest being the culprit. I'm not really interested in rumors--unless new info comes out, I'm fine leaving it with an "idk" and waiting. Guess we'll see.

last edited at Apr 4, 2024 9:14AM

Can someone explain why is Citrus not finished

Citrus is completed. This is Citrus +, which depicts events before the ending of Citrus.

Of course that's technically true, but Citrus+ continues the themes the characters and themes of the original series; I still think of it as "Citrus" too.

Since Citrus was one of the most popular and talked-about yuri series ever, it is rather surprising to see this in effect abandoned by the author (although maybe only temporarily).

abandoned? A few chapters ago someone posted a comment on this forum that Yurihime magazine must not have been very happy. perhaps it is the magazine itself that has said enough . It's all quite strange because they haven't even closed volume 6 to put it on sale. It's sad to say but citrus+ is nowhere near as popular as the original series and more and more people have gone abandoning it little by little. We'll see what happens in the future.

Are these a lot of assumptions or are there facts out there that suggest it's not doing well?

last edited at Apr 4, 2024 7:31AM

Annnnnd we're back. No worries.

last edited at Apr 3, 2024 5:58PM

Can someone explain why is Citrus not finished

Citrus is completed. This is Citrus +, which depicts events before the ending of Citrus.

Wait, I just realized a potential plot hole. Eve didn't have memories from the time as a kid because her future self and past self swapped thus those memories didn't exist, but in the place she should have had memories of a two months with some random lady but actually doesn't have any memories from then.

What does "should" mean here though? She could easily just lose her memory on the way back, or forget over time, or her memory and sense of time could be hazy after traveling back, making her think she was in a dream, or it could be like Miyazaki's recent film, The Boy and the Heron. There's lots of ways around that because the only character who knows "the rules" is the future woman.

last edited at Apr 2, 2024 3:08PM

Could someone recommend me mangas where the two characters are a couple, they fight and split up (and I mean an actual fight, not a peaceful breakup), then either one of them vanishes from the story completely while the other moves on to another partner and ends up happy, or they both stay in the story and find their own partners and end up happy?

Something like Lily Love and its sequel and the whole thing that happened with Ploy in those two works,

"How Do We Relationship," by Tamifull. Although they'll likely find their way back together in the end. Still, it's not a quick thing (they breakup around volume 4 and we're at 12 now? I forget). The breakup is serious, understandable and has lasting effects. They date other people, who are actual characters you love and root for and they have new, realistic struggles in those relationships that force them to learn more about themselves. They remain best friends through it all, though. It's ongoing and is one of my absolute favorites. It just depends on what you mean by "peaceful." It wasn't peaceful in the moment, even if they reconciled.

last edited at Apr 2, 2024 10:59AM

Don't feel bad that you forgot her. She's barely there. Part of why I find it hard to root for that reunion.

That's the opposite for me. I can't invest myself into Nanao because of the Mai plot.

It certainly hangs over the entire series. I agree with that.

Appropriately, as it does so for Asumi as well.

I've got no issue with that, just with how little we know of her character after all this time. She also could find Asumi if she really wanted to but is doing this waiting game. For me to root for her outcome over that of Nanao for example, I want a bit more to go off of. Hopefully that starts coming.

last edited at Apr 1, 2024 7:27PM

Don't feel bad that you forgot her. She's barely there. Part of why I find it hard to root for that reunion.

That's the opposite for me. I can't invest myself into Nanao because of the Mai plot.

It certainly hangs over the entire series. I agree with that.

last edited at Apr 1, 2024 5:35PM

I don't believe these arguments were made in good faith. My use of the term "development" clearly referred to the growth and change of a character as a person due to experiences within the story - character development. My argument was entirely consistent with that definition. I pointed out that Yuni remains as selfish now as she was at the start, illustrating a lack of character growth or change. This seems like a deliberate misinterpretation of my words.

Yuni has changed. She is not the same person now as she was before. She has developed quite a bit. No matter which angle we attack this from, your clarification doesn't change much. Whether you're realizing it or not, your choice of words seems to imply a certain idea about what counts as development. I also don't know why anyone would deliberately misinterpret something. We don't even know each other and it's a relaxed, casual discussion. Why would anyone do that?

last edited at Apr 1, 2024 5:03PM

The series does so much right, it's amazing.

Yeah, "pussy" would be an awful safe word.

Ah, that's what it was about. :D On the down side, we've never learned what Asumi's safeword is...

Hopefully this is where she meets Mai so we can have some real drama.

Who was this Mai, again?..

Don't feel bad that you forgot her. She's barely there. Part of why I find it hard to root for that reunion. She also has the ability to contact Asumi but is being very lax about the whole thing.

last edited at Apr 1, 2024 1:29PM

Hormonal teenagers ARE a pain in the ass lol. And I don't particularly care about defending a character so much as I can't comprehend "attacking" her. She's a well written complex flawed character. She's not failing to meet any of the requirements of a character, even if she's definitely failing to meet the requirements of an "ethical girlfriend," cuz this ain't a story about ethical girlfriends. Tbh, a story about ethical girlfriends sounds pretty boring. Yuni's job as a character is to be interesting and entertaining, and imo she's doing great at that.

Yeah, she's great. I'm also a bit confused by the suggestion that Yuni hasn't received much development. I'm not sure what that might mean. She may not have developed in the way some might want but that's not a requirement for narrative development. She's had the most development, rivaled only by her "partner in crime."

It's the traditional equivocation/ambiguity/confusion between "character development" defined as;

• Character grows and changes as a person (presumptively for "the better," whatever that may mean in a given context) because of experiences in the story

• Different aspects of a character are revealed or explained

The first one is something the character (i.e., the imaginary person) does, the second is done by the author to the character for the sake of readers.

Since I have little interest in characters as imaginary friends and I do care about how stories are told, I generally don't have much investment in whether an imaginary person "changes for the better" or not.

Definitely. I picked up on that too.

Hormonal teenagers ARE a pain in the ass lol. And I don't particularly care about defending a character so much as I can't comprehend "attacking" her. She's a well written complex flawed character. She's not failing to meet any of the requirements of a character, even if she's definitely failing to meet the requirements of an "ethical girlfriend," cuz this ain't a story about ethical girlfriends. Tbh, a story about ethical girlfriends sounds pretty boring. Yuni's job as a character is to be interesting and entertaining, and imo she's doing great at that.

Yeah, she's great. I'm also a bit confused by the suggestion that Yuni hasn't received much development. I'm not sure what that might mean. She may not have developed in the way some might want but that's not a requirement for narrative development. She's had the most development, rivaled only by her "partner in crime."

last edited at Apr 1, 2024 9:27AM

Now that's a kiss and a (wedding) ring all at once. Another great chapter. Now I wonder how the power couple will solve this problem using this new knowledge.

This is sweet but I'm wondering when we'll get back to Mistuki's threat of leaving.

The sale is to quickly make money for the ticket. /doommongering

That would be a twist lol.

This is sweet but I'm wondering when we'll get back to Mistuki's threat of leaving. I thought that would create more forward momentum but it's taken a bit of a backseat. I rarely have an idea of what'll happen next in this manga since each chapter is in some ways connected but also disconnected from what came before it.

last edited at Mar 31, 2024 2:31PM

Honestly, the most unrealistic thing in this series is the fact that Aki felt in love with Yori instead of Shiho. I wonder what kind of thought process went through her head to make that happen.

Well, Aki instantly fell in love with Yori's singing, but I think Aki's dynamic was also a bit different with Shiho from the start. Yori has a shy and awkward side, but isn't particularly troubled, so Aki could idolize her for her voice with not much getting in the way of this infatuation.

On the other hand Shiho carried deeper vulnerabilities, and didn't hide them very well, so Aki was compelled to take her under her wing, instead of idolizing her. The vibe I get is that Aki used to regard Shiho akin to a little sister she wanted to take care of, and only started seeing her in a different light when Shiho confessed to her, post-fallout.

Though Aki already has a real little sister, of course I don't mean that she saw Shiho as a literal blood relative. Rather that the feelings she has held for Shiho have an oddly gentle and warm foundation, which we could just call platonic, but feel kind of intense for the relatively short time they were close friends. (Compare the old school Yuri trope of sisterly relationships between senpai and kouhai, aka Class S culture.)

Some people seem to want to pathologize the way Aki is so quick to suggest taking the plunge with dating, calling it a desperate attempt at keeping Shiho close. But notice how Aki is not very isolated, and has a number of friends looking out for her. If Aki is desperate, then it's because she regrets letting her go back then, and doesn't want to repeat that mistake. Isn't there more than just desperation here? Rather than just keeping Shiho around as a friend, Aki seems to almost yearn for Shiho's presence. Even after their fallout, she never truly hated Shiho, and never stopped missing her.

I'm not saying that Aki has always been in love with Shiho, but she has always held deep feelings of some kind. Though her thoughts in these latest chapters have been left mostly unstated, it's pretty clear to me that by now an attraction has mixed into those feelings. Just look at her face when she was going in for a kiss. None of those thoughts are in the Bible.

I guess this was a long winded way of saying that some things needed to change to enable Aki to see her on again of again bestie in a different light.

This was interesting. Enjoyed hearing your thoughts. They're in line with some of my own, especially regarding their current relationship. Looking forward to more development from the leading couples, AkiShiho and YoriHima.

last edited at Mar 30, 2024 4:46PM

This anthology is great.