I'll agree that a lot of the art is rather ... minimal, but I actually like the character designs for a Touhou story. They have a nice mix of cute and elegant, without the overly young look that some of the more official work has.

As for the case, I think it's main problem is that it's not, well, a case. At least not in the traditional who-dun-it sense, since it breaks most of the cardinal rules of the genre. Though, to be fair, I suspect any mystery set across Gensokyo would and Satori is called out as a cheating detective. I honestly expected the Scarlet Devil Mansion arc to end as a gag for most of it based on how poorly the set-up worked for a mystery and the characters involved.

At this point, it seems to be going more for generic suspense, with the unknowns surrounding Marisa's behavior and the seeming misunderstanding on Yukari's part. Unfortunately, I think it's struggling because neither the stakes nor the rules are clear. What's more, Gensokyo has some pretty strong safeguards against things going too far and it's hard to believe those would fail, or discount their relevance, without a clearer idea of what's actually going on.

At this point, nothing serious has really happened to any one. After all, a few Yokai taking a nap for a few days each, one at a time, is pretty small potatoes as far as Touhou Incidents go and even when they should have had access to a lot of power, like when they possessed Yuyuko (how?!) they did basically nothing. I mean, if I told you Yuyuko or Chen took a nap for a few days or that Patchuli fell ill and was knocked out for the same, wouldn't the oddest part be the fact that I bothered to mention it? What's next, Reimu wanting donations or Marissa stealing a book?

That said, the focus turning to Marissa's behavior might signal a turning point in the story that could let it set up some stakes and better define what it's trying to do. That or a nearing anti-climax.

Today I learned that Tougou is the same age and Sayama; I'd always thought they had a senpai-kouhai relationship. I'm looking forward to these two new couples.

They do ... technically. Though that might be based more on their work experience and time with the company.

Is Alice going to start dropping Gunpla on people? I see your giant nun and raise you Wing Zero? Kiwi-chan, do you have any idea what you may have unleashed?!

Also, seeing Tres Magia getting more fleshed out, both in terms of how their powers work and their takes on Enormeta, has been quite interesting. The revelation about them all having special weapons and Azul only faking hers, in particular, opens up a number of questions. Utena and her crew could also unlock special weapons or modes to upgrade their abilities.

Azul seems to be into the whole bondage thing now, even without Utena stepping on her, which does seem to suggest that it wasn't a matter of breaking her so much as her experiencing something new and realizing she likes it. Up till now, it's seemed like Magenta was the most diplomatic and likely to get close to Utena, especially out of costume, but now I'm wondering if Azul might be the catalyst for the two groups getting together. She got rebuffed, before, because she was trying to throwaway her role as a magical girl, but now she seems to be getting a better grasp on her desires (even if she still letting them go a bit to far) and I could see her recognizing the difference between the way Utena and co act compared to the new group.

Is she still a useless lesbian if she still gets the girl, despite being completely oblivious?

I have to ask, are there actual delivery services like that in japan, with the weekly bulletins and messages back to the farmers and stuff?

@Omega Deuse
The one earlier Tales game I'd really recommend you to play is Abyss, Vesperia is a straight upgrade of it gameplaywise but its story is incredibly deep and thought-provoking for series' standards and is absolutely worth experiencing the game for.

Thanks for the recommendation; I'll try to keep it in mind. I've found the more recent entries into the series to be less satisfying, especially as a mage player, but I still want there to be another good one. Unfortunately, it'll probably be a while before I can get to it, since I have quite the back log that was made significantly worse by Itch.io's recent Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. Speaking of, if you haven't heard of that bundle and are at all interested in PC gaming, you should seriously consider getting it. There's only about a day left, but it's an insane value and a good cause.

last edited at Jun 14, 2020 9:22PM

That is a dangerous game you're playing there, Aya. You might be a Tengu, but she's still the Red and White Shrine Maiden.

Also, the artwork is awesome. They both look really sharp and I love their expressions and clothes.

Personally, Vesperia is my favorite tales game (though I haven't played any of the earlier ones), both in terms of characters and mechanics, with Rita coming in as one of my favorite mages in any video game.

My impression of the quality arc is basically the opposite of Aezeles's, I found the beginning very slow, with relatively limited access to abilities and a small cast of not entirely likable characters. However, as things progress and the characters grew I found most of them vastly more likable and the battle system greatly improved. The only one who really stays underwhelming is Karol.

Also, clearly Yuri goes with Flynn and Judith with Raven.

That said, if you do intend to pick it up, one warning: There are quite a few side quests that rely on you talking to certain people in certain places at the right time and some of them offer really good techniques or items, should you complete them. Unfortunately, while most aren't truly missable, there is no tracking for them what so ever, nor is there any notification to let you know that you've found or progressed one, so keeping a guide handy might be a good idea.

Then again, ToV also has a rather robust New Game +, so you may want to save the completionism for a second trip through.

Why does it always seem that in a story about a lesbian in a relationship with a straight girl, it's the straight girl with the experience, in bed.

It's more difficult for gay people to find people to have intimate relationships with because the amount of potential partners is 1/20th or less compared to a heterosexual person's potential partners. Also, many gay people don't even look for intimate relationships because they're afraid of being stigmatised for doing so, and likewise even if they meet another gay person they like, they might not know that person is gay and that person may themselves be trying to stay in the closet.

All of that being said, such stories are common because such real-life experiences are common, and authors frequently draw on their own life experiences when writing stories.

I wonder if part of it might also be that making the nominally straight partner the sexually experienced and proactive one leads to a safer power dynamic. Specifically, there's the old trope of experienced lesbians preying on impressionable, young, straight girls and somehow tricking them into being lesbians. However, if the "straight" partner is leading the way in the bedroom, and is otherwise both more assertive and proactive, then clearly they weren't tricked into it and their newly discovered sexuality can't be blamed a predatory partner.

Of course, the underlying premise behind that trope is complete nonsense, but bigots are known for being loud and obnoxious, rather than rational, and I could see some artist or publications wanting to stay far away from anything they could latch onto or any of the tropes they pushed.

That said, it might also have a more legitimate place in helping to balance out other in balances that you tend to see in these sorts of situations. A good example of this would be Chatting at the Amber Teahouse, where one partner is much younger than the other and, more importantly, is both a high school student and employee of the older partner who runs her own business. Normally, that level of imbalance would be more than a little skeevy, however, since Sarasa typically acts more mature and takes a more dominant role in the relationship and business she artificially comes of as being closer to an equal to Seriho and we get to experience them both growing and maturing.

Well, that bit at the end was clever.

Actually, I think this is the second time I've seen this sort of scavenger hunt in a recent manga. Is it related to some larger trend that I've missed? It seems a little bit too specific and unusual to be a complete coincidence.

No doubt, 2020 worst year.

And here I used to think a double 20 was a HUGE critical success...

Rpg wisdom has failed me.

Oh, it is, it's just that you aren't the one who rolled it.

That said, the thing about nat-20s is that, while they might let a character succeed where they'd otherwise fail, that's not the same as actually winning. A bunch of Nazi's might have gotten a lot more traction then they ever should have in this day and age, it's also quickly blowing up in their face. With any luck, and a lot of effort, all of this awfulness will help catalyze real reform and improvement.

Yup. I still love this series.

Also, I so feel Sarasa at the start of this. I like the taste of several types of alcohol, but I don't really like the effect they have on me, though unlike her I just become uncomfortable and tired. I only recently found a beer that's even somewhat tolerable and it's a pretty unusual style, so ... yeah.

I love how two of them are shy and bashful about it and the third's all in, without an ounce of shame.

Welp. That phones done for and Wanko may be taking a trip to the emergency room.

Just remember, Saber and Shiro are part of Rin's harem.

One girl and a group of witch giraffes.

I'm just teasing since this artist always draws such long necks.

I was going to say, they have a very ... interesting relationships with necks. The length seems mostly fine on the shorter characters, but once they start getting taller it just gets longer, like they're not scaling up properly. Part of it might also be the heads scaling to slowly.

She's gonna spill her drink nooo also am I blind or is her leg missing

It's pretty easy to miss, and I don't think her balance is quite right, but you can see her knee Massachusetts'(?) back.

Since they're in uniforms, I feel the real question is if they got dressed up to play with each other, or if they're in the middle of a fight and Ami just found Makoto's abs so captivating she just had to stop and touch.

Also, is Makoto standing on something, because I don't recall her because I don't recall their height difference being quite that extreme.

^She’s 180 cm( 5 feet 10 inches to those uncivilised imperial system users)

Wait, is Demon King Nobu only 5'8"?

This paring continues to be amazing and I want more of it.

It's silly and it's petty, but it bothers me that the editor says she's waiting on the final draft, but then talks about something that should have been decided in the very early stages of planning the story.

Lol- Super advanced robot tech like that and yet they have wires instead of wifi access and wireless charging even phones have lol.. Like you'd need to pug in a robot like that that is a thousand times more advanced than the laptop..

That credit page tho- that was damn funny lol :)

Also- obviously inspired by the bladerunner book :)

Wires tend to be a good choice for transferring data that you want to keep secure or that absolutely cannot be interrupted. There are a lot of tings that can go wrong with wireless transmission and it's inherently vulnerable to being intercepted.

As for the laptop, there's not telling how advanced it really is or what it's doing. If it's mostly acting as a diagnostic disply, then there's no reason for it to be anything special.

How does Kiwi not like watermelon? Who doesn't like watermelon?

I don't dislike watermelon but I don't care for it either. Messy, barely any flavor and annoying seeds getting in the way.

I feel like you must be buying bad or unripe watermelons if they barely have any flavor. I'm also not entirely sure how they're particularly messy compared to just about any other fruit.

Evil mascot does seem serious in world domination as well.

Actually, he opposed it in this chapter, and told them that disobeying him was treason.

What he said was that it wasn't time yet, despite the group proclaiming every magical girl bar Tres Magica was dead. Venalita seems to be under the impression that either they or Vatzhan are far stronger that the oldsters think they are. Given that Lord Enorme's minions are all three stars and she herself is a five star, this could well be correct if the evaluation of Baiser as a six star is right.

It could also be far more pragmatic than that.

Even if they have enough power to subdue any foe, they clearly don't have the infrastructure or mentality to rule. At best, they'll just be able to smash the things that annoy them and that is not a good long term strategy.

The characters in this are a bit over the top, but OOF if I didn't feel Ch1Pg8 and Ch3Pg2.

Futami's focus on sexual scenarios is a bit ... odd, and the way she hid behind her editor in the third chapter isn't very realistic, but I could see a lot of the rest happening as someone's internal dialog pretty easily. Blowing up little lapses into signs that you're terrible or agonizing over your behavior, to the point where you actively make things worse for your self, are both fairly common experiences, especially for people with certain conditions, like ADD.