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YeShallBeAsGods
Image Comments 31 Jan 18:45
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joined Sep 10, 2015
[cube85]%2037234249_p0

Total coverage!

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joined Sep 10, 2015

Does anyone know how to get in contact with the group scanlating this one?

YeShallBeAsGods
Ovum discussion 15 Jan 01:56
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joined Sep 10, 2015

Yeah, I get feeling nonplussed by this when not much really happens, but it's 200% consistent with the kind of fiction you find in 90's lesbian magazines from Japan. It has more to do with queer counterculture art than yuri as a genre. It's not really about girls falling in love with each other, it's a story about embracing your sexuality, moving on from your small-minded family, being proud of yourself and your community, and learning not to expect too much from curious straight girls. That stuff's a little old hat for us in 2017, but I think it may have been a lot more transgressive and inspiring in 1997 Japan.

Aside from that, though, I feel like it's trying to challenge the idea that heterosexuality makes any more sense than homosexuality. If the common view of lesbian relationships at the time was that it's a bizarre and delusional diversion from the Proper Social Responsibility to meet a man and get married and the Proper Woman's Destiny to be a mother, then the manga asks whether those things are actually any more obvious and sensible by themselves, or if we're all so steeped in those concepts that we've just become desensitised to how weird they actually are.

Natsumi stumbles around the lesbian bar like it's a zoo, fascinated by these strange creatures she's discovered and their peculiar ways, but her fixation on her own ability to procreate - which she doesn't even understand! - and her fetishization of conception, is just as strange and contradictory, if not more so. She happily shows off her "egg" as a symbol of her fertility, a symbol of her womanhood as a whole, as if it's something marvellous, and then happily flushes it down the toilet. Because we don't actually think of it as something magical. Most women ovulate, and the vast majority of the times that they do, it's not a magical symbol of femininity and a deep source of pride, nor does it actually produce a child. It just goes in the waste, end of story. The manga might be pointing out this contradiction between what we say is valuable about womanhood, and how we actually treat those things in day-to-day life.

The random guy in the cafe, I'm guessing, is supposed to reflect the idea that most guys are kind of confused and grossed out by the whole process, and might not even care about the mythologising of conception and pregnancy at all, but are still willing to go along with it as long as it means they can get some.

In the end, Yuki isn't just cheerfully waving goodbye to a weirdo freeloader, she's cheerfully waving goodbye to her lingering apprehensions about her role as a woman outside of motherhood, having come to understand that, despite what her family taught her, being gay is no more perverse than being straight, and straightness was never going to satisfy her anyway.

At least, if I wanted to read a bunch of metaphors and symbolism into the story, that's what I'd come up with. I feel like it more or less fits as a response to Japanese cultural norms at the time, coming from an offshoot of second-wave feminism (the magazine says "for womyn" right there on the cover, after all) and is consistent with the tone and imagery of the manga. I don't really agree with all its assumptions and conclusions, but saying that doesn't really mean anything when I basically just made it all up off the top of my head without knowing much of anything about this stuff to begin with, lol.

This is a completely legit close-reading. Seems entirely accurate, in any case. The critical view of heterosexuality is there, at least that it can be entirely perverse while paradoxically the socially acceptable way. There's a clear juxtaposition of their two lives and which one really meets the society's values. The straight, super feminine one is a pervert and yuki is a nice person concerned with what her family thinks of her.
Hell, since it's connected to second-wave, it's probably an intentional deconstruction.

And then there's Lililicious with the consistently great releases!

last edited at Jan 15, 2017 2:01AM

YeShallBeAsGods
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joined Sep 10, 2015

I'm glad this manga got picked up again. The plot it's really interesting!

There's a plot?

"Anyone attempting to find a plot, will be shot."

No one called you out on this, Nez. I'm calling you out! This probably has like twice the plot as Huck Finn. Or half. No telling, really.

YeShallBeAsGods
Image Comments 10 Jan 01:29
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joined Sep 10, 2015
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Brendan's hat! Oh, wait... Not his hat.

YeShallBeAsGods
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joined Sep 10, 2015

In an odd way, it's a subversion of Tiger Lily in that both old women actually acknowledged how they felt about each other.

Tiger Lily! That's what I was having deja vu about.

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joined Sep 10, 2015

She's a Joestar!

YeShallBeAsGods
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joined Sep 10, 2015

It was very easy to see how it would end, but that didn't make it any less enjoyable!

I was just mentioning in the IRC that there's really nothing original about this, the enjoyment is more about how well it's executed. Like listening to someone perform an old standard, you know the content already but it's still worth your time for the performance. In this case, I like the airy quality of the art, it reminds me of Konno Kita's stuff.

As to the actual story, it's basically a mix of Graffiti, as others have mentioned, and The Cherry Tree Correspondence. The story of the latter was pretty obvious too, but I still liked it.

That's yuri! Ever read 40 Years of the Same Damn Story by Erica Friedman? It's a short article about the main core of yuri, though yuri has grown and changed quite a bit lately. But, one of the main draws of romance fiction is it's predictability, not it's originality. You read it seeking out certain experiences you want to go through!

YeShallBeAsGods
Untitled
joined Sep 10, 2015

"And thus we have a-"
" NO! "
"...And thus we have a love tria-"
" OH GOD NO! "
"......And thus we have a love triangle in this yuri you like so-"
" NONONONONO! WE WERE SO CLOSE! WE WERE ALMOST FREE! WHY MUST WE FOREVER CARRY OVERUSED CLICHES AROUND WITH US LIKE A SCROTUM FULL OF HORSESHOES? "

Oh Yatzhee, thank you for helping me always knowing what to say and how to say it

But cliche is the engine that runs yuri. Cliche is what makes yuri so enjoyable. If you don't like cliche, why are you reading yuri? Cliches are an easy way to pack in a ton of meaning into one small spot because they're easily recognizable. They're what make pop fiction and romance fiction, well, popular. They're great to use in writing, regardless of what your creative writing teachers say. And besides, experimental fiction is a chore to read and pretentious. Innovation isn't always fun when you're seeking out derivative romance fiction. Even Takemiya Jin, the revolutionary queen of yuri style, uses love triangles (The way she picks apart and nukes older yuri conventions in the first chapter of Fragments, though, is exquisite).

And as long as the writer can breathe some new life into the cliche, like here with interesting characters and a fun story, rather than just mindlessly use old tropes, it's fine. And good yuri doesn't even have to do that.

Calling a love triangle cliche is rather odd, though. It's a standard story archetype. Like, you wouldn't say it's cliche to end a chapter with a hook, or to have a rising action followed by a climax, would you?

last edited at Jan 4, 2017 12:33AM

YeShallBeAsGods
Untitled
joined Sep 10, 2015

The full version, sans Roundabout, in Japanese, if anyone's dying to know the rest:
http://g.e-hentai.org/g/681127/26dd7912e2/

YeShallBeAsGods
Image Comments 03 Jan 02:31
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joined Sep 10, 2015
C0gxy7dusaakene

Less than four weeks until the manga comes out!

YeShallBeAsGods
Renai Kowai discussion 03 Jan 00:28
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joined Sep 10, 2015

Oh no. It's one of those lesbian turns het stories.
Speaking of which, how come there isn't a tag for this?

Halberstam. In honor of her pointed analysis on love triangles where the hetero dude wins the bi woman from the lesbian.

YeShallBeAsGods
Game Over discussion 30 Dec 11:21
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joined Sep 10, 2015

The whole faking something ridiculous and the characters going along with it, the absurdist aspect, was a lot like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead too. Though, they acknowledge it in this story, so maybe it's like playing at Stoppard.

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joined Sep 10, 2015

Save me Eirin-doka!

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joined Sep 10, 2015

That was intense

YeShallBeAsGods
Lucky Point discussion 16 Dec 23:36
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joined Sep 10, 2015

Dayum drpepper, you QC everywhere

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joined Sep 10, 2015

Ah too bad it didn't end with Meiling x Sakuya :/

These days I'd be happy with Meiling x anybody so long as I got to see Meiling being romantic.

Let me tell you about Zounose's Dragon Killer... It's horrifying. Don't read Zounose. It's also in Japanese and I can't read it. Actually, it's less horrifying, but I don't really get what's going on.

Speaking of great Meiling, there's that Meiling and the oni one. It's really good! Not yuri though.

last edited at Dec 13, 2016 9:17PM

YeShallBeAsGods
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joined Sep 10, 2015

Thanks! I'll take that to heart. I love making settings and npcs, so that should be a lot of fun. And I remember almost wiping against a ton of little guys in the strahd campaign, so I'll keep an eye on the monsters. And your written English is better than a lot of native speakers! Trust me on that one.

I'll check out that YouTube series too.

Scanlators dropped it, and is no longer being worked by them. Maybe someone else will pick it up, but it's not being worked on atm as far as we know.

It wouldn't be out of the question for /tg/ to pick it back up, depending on why they dropped it and if they have the raws.

last edited at Dec 12, 2016 9:04PM

YeShallBeAsGods
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joined Sep 10, 2015

How many of these games have been translated? Tokyo nova looks like a lot of fun. I might have to go see what they do on /tg/...

And man i would realy like to try some of those modules and settings, i only DM basic D&D with custon settings those days...

Any tips for a new DM running 5e? I'll be starting something soon. I've played a lot of 3rd and pathfinder with a little 5e but no real experience running anything.

last edited at Dec 12, 2016 10:39AM

YeShallBeAsGods
Sonomama discussion 08 Dec 01:52
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joined Sep 10, 2015

It's always good to take some time and make sure you can summon your oni.

I know I can't when I'm stressed or not enjoying work.

last edited at Dec 16, 2016 3:22PM

YeShallBeAsGods
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joined Sep 10, 2015

And so ends a wild ride.

YeShallBeAsGods
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joined Sep 10, 2015

This is really moving, in a gritty, Witcher 3 sort of way.

last edited at Dec 5, 2016 12:44AM

YeShallBeAsGods
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joined Sep 10, 2015

Well, sometimes it's hard to judge whether a work counts as Moderate or Lots, as it's not always about number of pages as much as it is content and % of sex. Sometimes I'll upload a release and see what other people think it deserves.

And honestly, if a sex scene is like 1-2 pages, it usually doesn't get tagged at all.

When I see the tags, before I read something, I assume they mean: nsfw for nudity is in this manga, lots of sex for this manga is meant to be consumed as pornographic, and moderate amounts for some meaningful amount of story is in this piece but there's gonna be a significant amount of sexytime too.

This holds up in every case I can think of. I normally just attribute these tags for how the reader is supposed to read the manga.

YeShallBeAsGods
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joined Sep 10, 2015

Flan, the self-portrait artist

YeShallBeAsGods
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joined Sep 10, 2015

A heads up to all! Search for the Japanese dub Osana Reimu on youtube, mute this video, and play the dub in the background so you can get maximum feels. Plus, the dub is so good.

Then, you get on back to the Youtube and search for Reireimu and watch the sequel.

Then, you curl up in a corner and don't go outside for a few days.

last edited at Dec 1, 2016 1:12PM