Yumeno is a pos.

Eh, she's in the middle of a deadline crunch, she's dealing with a block, she's frustrated, and she already didn't like Maekawa much. I think we're proably meeting her at her worst, and her worst really isn't that bad.

Yeah, I know that it probably will, I guess I'm just so sick of seeing the 'lol question your partner's attraction/dedication to you because of a man/omg lol our relationship is transient and not real because men exist" thing that I am disgruntled. lol

I wouldn't say that's really true here tbh. She's less worried because there is a man involved, and more because in the past Maekawa described her relationships as very casual. Obviously her having dated only men before makes it worse, but I feel the "man" part is secondary here to the other stuff.

Whoop, clearly I need to finish reading the tread before I rattle off my replies on impulse.

Ohhh, EFFFFFFFFFFFFF that incoming misunderstanding bullshit. I expected better of you, Still Sick.

This manga does a lot of "here's a yuri manga trope! Now behold as it is obliterated by adult communication!" so I wouldn't freak out just yet.

Yeah, I know that it probably will, I guess I'm just so sick of seeing the 'lol question your partner's attraction/dedication to you because of a man/omg lol our relationship is transient and not real because men exist" thing that I am disgruntled. lol

I think the problem is less "because men exist" and more "because Maekawa has a self-stated history of being a noncommittal flake who dumps people when they get too serious."

Staaaaarting to get worried that the author might intend the misunderstanding to be the hook for the whole series, and I'm on board with the rest of you, that doesn't work. If Kanda doesn't either fess up or at least start trying to figure out how to fess up soon...It's really hard to get invested in a relationship that is entirely built on dishonesty.

Is this missing some pages? Some of the page transitions seem a little disjointed, like around 18 and 19?

Ohhh, EFFFFFFFFFFFFF that incoming misunderstanding bullshit. I expected better of you, Still Sick.

This manga does a lot of "here's a yuri manga trope! Now behold as it is obliterated by adult communication!" so I wouldn't freak out just yet.

Hey can someone explain to me what do the black page backgrounds signify?
They seems as if they are random

Looks mostly like the author is using it to show passage of time. Panel backgrounds go dark at sundown and light at sunup. That accounts for most of it, but the author also mixes i some moments here and there where the character's mood brightens the night or darkens the day. By and large it mostly looks like the night/day cycle is the main element. It's kind of an interesting trick, actually.

That's how I'm interpreting it as well. It can be a bit confusing at first as black borders are traditionally used to indicate flashbacks, but I don't she's used it for that purpose so far.

I've also seen it used to convey mood, or even danger. I don't know that I'd say there's a "tradition" for it, although using it for flashbacks is the most common technique.

Hey can someone explain to me what do the black page backgrounds signify?
They seems as if they are random

Looks mostly like the author is using it to show passage of time. Panel backgrounds go dark at sundown and light at sunup. That accounts for most of it, but the author also mixes i some moments here and there where the character's mood brightens the night or darkens the day. By and large it mostly looks like the night/day cycle is the main element. It's kind of an interesting trick, actually.

Lol weird how they both happened to be at the same time in that grocery shop and the little sister seemed to immediately recognize Uno from the dropped ID

It's already been established that they live near each other. That's why Satou ran across her at the bench in the first place.

My adoration for the sister is boundless.

She even made the effort to befriend her crush's crush, compared to Fujishiro being a jealous wreck lately.

No no no hold up right here. She didn't know before Fujishiro told her and when Fujishiro did told her, she brush it over as "But that's what friends do" when it was obviously not and Izumi was trying to make her princess not change by saying it wasn't love but just friendship. She is not evil but don't try to make her the good guy here. She will do anything to not make her "princess" change. I'm tired of having sadbackstory third wheel who past "dangerous" vibes moments was justified because she is insecure.

(I'm kinda half-replying to you, half responding to stuff Circa has said here, just for clarity)

She could have, and side-crushes in manga frequently do, spent all her time trying to neg, sabotage, and undermine their relationship, but she didn't do that. You can also have an argument as to whether she was trying to undermine them by lying or whether she was skirting denial herself. but either way, she's never said or done anything -mean- to anybody.

Fear of losing a cherished relationship can make people do some stupid stuff, but just comes off to me like a Nice girl doing her best.

I do totally agree that Sayaka was even nicer, but crissakes, Sayaka was a freakin' saint. ;p Izumi is mostly doing okay. ;p

last edited at Jan 13, 2020 10:06AM

JerryChops posted:

Talk about shit friends. Though, I'm also gonna have to give the MC some flack for being such a pushover. If you don't like something just say "No". Keeping others happy is not your job.

You can't blame her for living in a society if she strays too far from the norm then her superiors could receive complains like "uncooperative" or "hard to work with" and idk if her friends have boyfriends yet, they're really pushing the subject on her but in their own way, they think that's the best.

I actually have more issues about forcing yourself to buy more expensive food with your friend and then having almost nothing for later, aren't they all getting pretty much the same salary?

We don't know if the other girls are single and living alone, or if they might live with boyfriends, or husbands, or parents. They could have cheaper rent, or parental support. They might spend less on clothes than she does, or it's also possible they've been working for the company a bit longer and have more raises under their belt.

Just my thought but i end up comparing Izumi with Sayaka as the close friend in love with the MC who is in love with another girl. More so after this chapter with the infortunate backstory with a girl in middle school then the fall in love at first sight in highschool. Main difference will be that Sayaka was less evil as a character and know what Touko needed to change when Izumi want Fujishiro to stay the same. Also Sayaka wasn't as possesive as Izumi. That's just my point of view thought. Oh and Iroha remind me of Nene from Citrus with the obsession at shipping the MC with her friend.

Izumi....isn't evil, though? Like not even a little? The most evil thing she's done is lose her cool and confess when she's afraid of losing the girl she loves. Other than that she's just stayed close, supported her, been nice to everyone, and hoped it wouldn't get to this point.

Author's Twitter

Link?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D-Ja68uU8AAcp7l?format=jpg&name=medium

So my japanese is still pretty basic, but it looks to me like this is a joke about an accidentally suggestive back cover image rather than an actual statement about the characters.

It IS however definitely about Iroha touching Izumi's ass, though, so make what you will of that.

One thing that links into the poster issue is that both of the protagonists start the story dedicated to projecting what they think of being a “suitable” self—Nanaki as The Incredible Hulk of Cuteness, Kurokawa as the outsider otaku nobody.

One of the major themes of the story (in the beginning, anyway) is about personal style—including room decor—being about the way the girls want to be perceived rather than who they really are (the truth about which the rest of the story seems to be devoted to discovering).

(I must say that a problem I’ve personally had with the story all along is that I think the at-start Kurokawa and her style is completely adorable, and although her makeovers render her more conventionally “attractive,” the changes seem like a net cuteness loss to me. )

The other thing is that it's not unusual for LGBT people to gravitate towards queer romance in genenral. Yaoi has a lot of tropes and themes that might feel true to life for a young closeted lesbian or bisexual girl, and vice versa, and yaoi has an extra layer of plausible deniability that could help protect her, either from being outed or from realizing her own preferences. (She might know it "feels true", but not know exactly why)

Basically, a straight girl might be into yaoi because the boys are pretty and they empathize with the desires of the protagonists, a gay girl might be into yaoi because the story feels true to their lived experience and they empathise with the emotions of the protagonists.

Nanaki as The Incredible Hulk of Cuteness

That's a title I never thought anyone would use for referring to someone cute but now I'm stuck with a Kawaii Hulk image in my head and I blame you for that

Kawaii Hulk: (gently hands you a spare taco)

(Oh btw, the expensive car? Chapter 18: check!)

Talking about cars, it seems the car is Lex*s LS 500

I looked it up, and I think you nailed it.
The pics online look just the thing. And the description says: full-size luxury sedan, hyped as the best of the best in Toyota's luxury division.
Then I looked up "price" and found that the Lex*s LS 500 starts at $75,450 and I spat my coffee on the monitor screen.
Shit, damn, being a manga editor gotta pay real well. Either that or that guy is so good that the company gives him CEO treatment.

Eh, or he might come from money or something. Or bought it used.

What apartment is this? Is it QT’s usual bedroom? Because SJ talks about being “home.”

(I know that’s not really an unusual idiom among close friends—“We were out and now we’re back home”—but I was wondering if this was one of those forward time skips to where the two of them live together.)

Bit of a time skip to when they are living together. If you look at the official art you can see scenes of them living together.

Oh, indeed—the one of the two of them in a bar is among the hottest images in the series. I just forget if that outside shot of the apartment is the same as QT’s usual one.

Nah, the apartment QT shares with her mom is a big loft apartment with multiple levels and a balcony, the one where they live together is a tiny one-bedroom with a cramped kitchen. You can also tell from what they're wearing. I've never see QT wearing that green jacket except in the jumps forward. Also Sun Jing has her shoulder-length future hair cut. (though it's a little difficult to tell in this one, there are a couple panels that show it, tho.)

(oh, also, Tan Jiu just seems to like jumping forward for holiday fluff. Does it most-if-not-every Christmas)

last edited at Jan 11, 2020 12:34AM

Enough teasing, I just need one simple kiss. That's all I ask.

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/their_story_11112017_update#3
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/their_story_ch183

Really unfortunate hearing about the Chinese government censorship. I hope some day this series will be able to continue developing the original plot. Still want to know how things progressed after the scene in Chapter 145 and onwards between Qiu Tong and Sun Jing. I was also looking forward in the new development of the other girl who was hinting at her interest in Sun Jing, and how that would've been resolved. But the author has since moved past that. sad days :( Nonetheless, I still appreciate the updates we get.

There...hasn't...been....any...censorship...of...content.

The censorship prevented the author from publishing a book. That's it. There is some -speculation- that that event discouraged the author and threw her plot off track, but that's about the emotional state of the author, not anybody imposing anything on the content. Some people speculated that the author had reverted to subtext, but since then they went on a date, shared a second kiss, and Sun Jing explicitly called herself Qiu Tong's girlfriend. They have also continued to be super gay for each other in various ways.Also, the author does't just have this comic. There's also a yaoi story that has continued as well. There's no indication that the author has compromised retreated from any story decisions based on government pressure.

Seriously, anybody at this point who thinks she's pulling back on the gay because of the Chinese government: Are you reading the same comic as me?

Yeah, the Mo arc seems to have gotten dropped. I myself speculated early on that maybe that was because the author didn't want to deal with the angst while dealing with the IRL stuff, but again, that's emotional state stuff. And also, it's speculation. Also, it's just as credible to speculate that maybe she just decided to abandon the plot because Mo was being met with no small amount of hostility. (Like, comments in a few places were outright mean.)

Sorry if I'm a little snotty about this, but I get really tired of people spouting off unsubstantiated or even falsifiable ideas based on hearsay and conjecture. It gets my goat.

Again, the only thing that resulted from censorship is a book deal fell through. Don't get me wrong, that's bad and stupid and frustrating, but the content is as gay as it ever was, it just veered away from angst to fluff.

last edited at Jan 11, 2020 12:20AM

I agree that we haven’t seen much either way of Wataru’s sisters, but the mom has so far absolutely played the role of a matriarch who suppresses resolution in favor of convenience.

The whole “girls kissing doesn’t even count!” reaction was a great way of invalidating both her son’s and daughter-in-law’s concerns about the relationship they’re in and encouraging them to put the blinders on.

Moving them in primarily seems like her way of more readily micromanaging her kid’s life (and by extension the person who’s a piece of “his life”).

She didn't say "girls kissing doesn't count!", she said a kiss isn't a big deal. That's explicitly why she asked how far it had gone in the first place, because there IS a point at which things have gone too far. And she's not wrong. Kissing someone other than your spouse is wrong, but it's not necessarily a good reason to get divorced. -We- know that Ayano is actually going through a deeper emotional crisis, but Wataru's mom hasn't heard any of that. (She did even ask if Ayano likes women, to which Ayano said she didn't know. I don't think it's crazy to suggest that maybe she's just hoping for a resolution that doesn't involve her son having a broken heart.)

As for the rest, we don't really have any evidence of that. You say "micromanaging her kid's life" but we haven't seen her micromanaging anything. It could be that she just literally needs the support, or it could even be that she wants to make Ayano feel more like part of their family. And even if she is being pushy, that doesn't mean she's being the kind of conniving manipulative control-freak bitch that some on these forums seem to want to paint her as. Everythig we've seen suggests that she cares about her son's happiness, that she likes Ayano and treats her with respect and affection.

I don't think it's unreasonable to disagree with the way she's handling the situation, but I -do- think it's not fair to start characterizing her as a terrible person based on what we've seen so far.

His family is about secrets and power. Growing up with his mom, he's learned that the way to handle things is to tightly control them so no one finds out the ways things have gone wrong. A big part of him is trying to suck Aya away from her more open family and into his, where shame will keep her quiet.

Of course, the other interesting layer is that he hates his family, too. He knows that whole deal sucks, even as he's acting it out now... that's why he's usually so passive (he rightfully resents his awful mom, but he knows it does no good to pick a fight, so he just lies down).

Are we even reading the same story?

Because I have no idea how you reached any of these conclusions.

Yeah, some people on this thread seem to have taken "Kaede doesn't like his sisters" and spun that into HIS FAMILY IS A WEB OF LIES AND MANIPULATION

Guys, his mom visits them regularly, brings them hand-made presents, and worries about their happiness and well being. She didn't get judgemental at all when she found out Ayano kissed a woman, (kinda the opposite, actually,) she just tried to encourage her son's wife to cherish their marriage. She's been nothing but nice this whole time. Yeah, she's probably trying to keep her son's wife from running off with another woman, I mean...Of course she is? She's looking after her son's happiness. She was pushing about children the first time she showed up, but the flashback after that made it pretty clear Wataru wants kids, and Ayano is meh about it, so...again, worrying about her son's happiness. She asked them to contribute financially now that her husband is injured, but they've got medical bills to worry about and her husband is hospitalized, plus she's got an adult daughter that seems to be living off of them. They seem like they're actually in a significant jam, so it's not that weird that she'd go to them for help.

We've seen basically nothing about the sisters, aside from Kaede doesn't particularly like them. This issue showed us that the youngest is a shut-in who loved her grandmother, and the oldest is using her old bedroom as a storage space.

THOSE BITCHES.

Wataru has expressed zero ill will towards his family that I can recall. He was vaguely embarassed by his mom when the family met. Not exactly uncommon. (He also smilingly talked about how she was happy about the marriage, which suggests that he's happy that she's happy.)

I re-read their interactions just to make sure I wasn't missing anything significant, and I can't see anything that suggests Wataru's family isn't just a bunch of pretty normal people.

And here I understand the origin of why you thought Ayano told HIS sister about the affair.. NOPE! That is AYANO'S sister! Her OWN sister. She told her OWN sister that she had an affair, but DIDN'T tell her that it was with a woman, then Wataru sent her to the bar to discover that his sister had an affair with a woman. So... that's what happened.

I might have made a mistake about who Kaede was but the point still stand, if Ayano didn't talk to her sister about the affair, she wouldn't have ask her brother in law about the matter and i didn't he will have bring it

but he does know that Akari's last name DOES, so he sent her there expecting her to find out that the person Ayano cheated on him with was a woman...

How ? Saying the person's name start with a H is not the same as saying she is a woman. I mean, she even think it's a man atfirst and just bring the pieces together by thinking it throught.

Why did he tell her where the person works, and what their name is, if not to allow her to figure it out? That's like saying "No, officer, I didn't murder anyone, I just tied them up on the train tracks. How was I to know a train would come along and splatter them over the countryside??"

He clearly doesn't know that there happens to be a guy whose name starts with the same letter working there, he gave her enough information to figure it out, which she did, and he did it because he wanted her to find out, which she did.

He de-closeted his wife. Just because he didn't literally say "She has fallen for another woman" doesn't mean he didn't clearly do exactly that.

You can make an argument (a decent one, actually) that this is one of the very few situations in which exposing someone is at least understandable, you can argue that he might actually be trying to help the situation rather than make it worse, but arguing that he didn't just deliberately out Ayano (and Akari, for that matter) is just silly.

(Random side thought, how much you wanna bet Ayano doesn't bother unpacking most of her boxes after the move?)

You also have to keep in mind his situation is pretty goddamned frustrating. His mom dragged them both back to live at home and is insisting they should just ignore what happened. He knows his wife is going through a serious identity crisis. I think he suspects that she's gay. From his perspective, he may not want it to be true, but a lot of things about their relationship are probably adding up in his mind. The laid-back nature of it, the way they're more like best friends than lovers, the way she does't really seem to cherish their wedding rings. So when her sister starts on "how could she do this?" I think he wants her to understand that it's more complicated than she's assuming it is.

last edited at Dec 31, 2019 2:17AM