"She was tolerant of others taking steps towards her, yes, very much so, but good luck if you ever wanted her to take one towards you."

Good lord, this is a good quote. I've known people like this a few times and they're always such a pain in the ass. Adachi, find someone who cares about you as much as you care about them, girl.

This was what I noticed by the end. Shimamura holds out her hand, she says how she'd like to be the one resting on Adachi's lap sometimes, she's the one touching Adachi in the pool... Oh, also, the way she shows up for their date like 30 minutes early, she seems really eager to see Adachi as soon as possible. They're really subtle things, but they're also Shimamura changing the dynamic bit by bit.

I suspect the author is going to be a jerk and just pick the story straight up from Shimamura's viewpoint instead of actually going back and letting us know what Shima thought of Adachi's rant and then their long silent streak. It's still going to be really interesting to see just how rocked her worldview is though.

last edited at Feb 22, 2020 1:55AM

Definitely a big thanks to sneikkimies for the continuing translations!

I'm going to have to reread this chapter again, first impressions:

Shimamura started off in extra-super-duper Shimamura mode, to the point that I was starting to think the author was going to pull some kinda BS "oops Adachi you pressed the mute button before you started your rant" nonsense. She seems very determined to just not acknowledge anything and keep going back to friendship mode. But then she starts slipping. She literally has to go fan herself off when Adachi's getting naked (lol), and then she gets more and more affectionate as the evening goes on. And then by the end of the night she apologizes and they're standing outside holding hands and it feels like Shima's maybe coming to terms with what's going on between them. I definitely got the impression that Shimamura's been quietly freaking out ever since the phone call and trying to act like she's not.

last edited at Feb 21, 2020 10:31AM

I mean Shimamura has explicitly considered the possibility multiple times and then her brain immediately goes HAHA NO JUST KIDDING IT'S JUST FRIENDSHIP! She even thinks about how her explanations don't actually make any sense. Or we get sequences where Shimamura just refuses to consider the meaning of her own actions - buying that flower hair clip that matches the one she's already got for Adachi, for instance.

I think sometimes the author pulls it off better than other times, but overall he's pretty clearly established that Shimamura's just in denial. She'll follow Adachi's lead wherever it takes them, but she refuses to think of any of the implications beyond the moment.

last edited at Feb 3, 2020 11:45AM

I have no outside knowledge, but I have to think Shimamura is definitely on her way to Adachi's house. Like it would just be too brutal to do practically anything else, the audience would lose patience with Shimamura entirely. And we only have like two more chapters to end this book, and I doubt the author's gonna leave things hanging entirely until the next book.

And it's rough too cuz like... this is the first time she's actually said ANY of this out loud. Most of the time she won't even admit most of this stuff to herself. Like she's always talked around liking shimamura. we get what she means, but this is the first time she's actually openly and directly just said that she likes shimamura.

So she finally started talking and then she couldn't stop.

Adachi obviously comes across as kind of a crazy ranting loon in this... confession? Rant? But I kind of like that for once it's not like a sparkly beautiful stereotypical confession scene, she's not even fully aware of what she's saying it just all comes out. Some of it's on Shimamura too, she never responds so Adachi just keeps on crying and talking.

And it is tough on Adachi... She knows she doesn't have the right to be jealous because she's just a friend, but also it kills her that she's still just a friend, and she's been kinda hoping that OK well, technically we're just friends, but really maybe we're something beyond just that, we just haven't said it openly yet. The way Shimamura always goes along with everything but also never really provides anything to hold on to really is kinda brutal - Adachi and Tarumi kinda need to form a support group together, they're both having the same struggle!

And there's also obviously other shit going on for Adachi too. The series doesn't really focus on gay angst but it's stuck around under the surface, and she's obviously freaked out Shimamura would hate her if she's too open with her crush.

the dick part its something i picture tomoko saying in the actual manga at some point.
Like the quote "if i was a boy ill may be having a boner right now" when she was smelling nemo's clothes.

Yeah, or when Tomoko was hanging out with her hot underclassman and thinking about how if she was a boy she'd totally NTR his girlfriend away.

Tomoko soooort of gets that she likes girls, but she just thinks of it as her being like boyish instead, or she thinks about how if she was a boy she'd be turned on right now - without admitting that as a girl she's plenty turned on.

oh god everyone is so nice and everything is so fucked up and no one just gets to be happy or even really seems to feel like they deserve to be happy

We all can agree that Asuka totally wants to get into Tomoko's pants, right?

The manga does a great job subtly letting us notice that she changed just to go over to Tomoko's. Like she was already wearing a cute outfit, instead of wearing that she changes into a sexy little black skirt that's totally not the kind of clothing you'd normally wear to go to a friends' house in the middle of the afternoon. She changes from cute and comfy to blatantly sexy.

Watamote isn't exactly yuri, in that it's not really a romance manga exactly. But it does definitely know it's about a gay character, Tomoko has always been into girls, but early on she's so worried about her social status in high school that all she cares about is getting a boyfriend, so she won't be a loser. It's actually a really good job of writing about someone whose gayness super shapes her behavior and her relationships, but who personally has no clue she's gay - or at least refuses to admit it yet.

As she's stopped worrying so much about being popular and doing Popular Girl Things, she's correspondingly stopped caring about boys. She's totally been crushing on Asuka for a while, and surprisingly Asuka actually seems into her back. None of this is exactly spelled out, but it's a lot more than just subtext, too.

I think these last couple of chapters brought back the best dynamic between Adachi and Shimamura, which feels like it had been missing for a little while.

Adachi is quite conscious now of her attraction to Shimamura and is awkwardly working to get them closer together.

Shimamura is still -kind- of in denial, but in the sense that she's just refusing to think about where any of this is going. Instead she just follows Adachi's lead and agrees to Adachi's requests, and lowkey wants Adachi to keep pushing. Everytime Adachi's request gets them closer Shima's really happy about it, but she still refuses to think about why that is.

It feels much more like a believable human relationship than when Shimamura's just being incredibly dense.

Calling someone just by their first name is pretty intimate. Close female friends might still do it, but it would be very casual, and Adachi and Shimamura are still waaay too nervous around each other to be that comfortable.

Oh and also I'm totally waiting for us to find out In volume 5 that shimamura engineered the whole alien girl sleepover, thereby occupying her little sister and letting shima stay with adachi.

I'm also fully expecting shima to insist that she only did it to make her little sis happy and that she had no opinion on it herself.

last edited at Dec 23, 2019 1:19AM

Yeah lots of good stuff in those last two chapters.

• Nagafuji and hina both acting extremely pleased with themselves after their sexy bath together, to the point that even our clueless duo were super picking up on it.
• Adachi just going for it. If I didn't know better I would've thought she was really going to smooch shima there when they were sleeping together.
• Shimamura just happening to go shopping (which she hates) while Adachi's at work and then just happening to already have that exact jewelry and then just happening to give Adachi a frickin flower to wear in her hair. Oh and also that then her narration just doesn't mention it, because shimamura just refuses to acknowledge when she does gay shit.
• shima keeps like spontaneously happy giggling at the smallest things when she's hanging out with Adachi .
  
• shimamura actually taking the initiative on them sleeping together, though she acts like it's all just for adachis sake.
• in class shima's like "maybe I'll just stare at adachi all day, this is nice" and both of them just blatantly being super pleased about the weekend.

last edited at Dec 23, 2019 5:28PM

Yeah, I think for the most part the story does a good job having shimamura be in denial more than actually being dense. Like you get the clear sense that she does understand where this is all going, but she's just refusing to think about it until/if things really happen.

But there are a few parts that do feel more like the author just stretching shit out, too.

I feel like I'm always complaining and I'm actually really enjoying it and looking forward to new releases! One reason I hate the stuff that feels like foot-dragging is cuz I think this author could explore a lot of interesting ground once they do start to get together.

Yeah it's funny cuz whenever adachi isn't around shima is subtly missing her, when shima has to hang around others she's thinking about how it would be better with adachi... and then with adachi she's like... ok can I go home now?

Don't get me wrong im still enjoying the series, It just annoys me cuz it feels kind of artificial, like in the first volume or two the two of them were constantly lowkey flirting, finding excuses to touch each other, etc. Now they're circling around in a status quo, when there's such more interesting ideas the story could be exploring.

Shimamura is doing that thing again where like ok she has a semi-crush on this girl, even if she's in denial about it, and yet when they talk all she wants is to stop talking, and it kinda drives me crazy, lol.

Especially after shimamura kept like missing adachi in her last chapter!

I feel like when they do finally start to get together shimamura really needs to take the initiative, because right now she just doesn't feel like she deserves any of these girls devotion!

Adachi and Shimamura has a good chance thanks to the upcoming anime, I guess.

I'm kinda nervous about what direction the anime will go in.

Like if it's a bit more realistic and psychological it could be really good. There's a really nice like slow-burn romance there with both girls enjoying each others company and gradually figuring out why they're so into each other. And the author really is good at writing them flirting-without-quite-realizing-they're-flirting, make the most out of that stuff.

OTOH it could go very cute-girls-doing-cute-things, never really deal with just how gay they are, and be content with basically being a gals-being-pals sort of stereotypical yuri. And that would really suck.

It kinda felt like the author realized they were running out of pages for this chapter and rushed the whole blackmail setup into the last couple of pages. The art is nice, but hopefully it'll move away from this blackmail thing fairly quickly.

Thanks! Read the new stuff.
I actually liked the shimamura chapter. Tarumi is really putting in some work trying to hit on her, but Shima's just not as into it as when she's with Adachi. Like shima always plays apathetic, but with Tarumi she's not enjoying going along with things and she's relieved when alien girl shows up.

I didn't like the Adachi chapter as much, it feels like adachi has finally admitted that she loves shimamura like 3 times now. The fortune teller blatantly cold reading her was amusing though. Well have to see if things payoff in this volume.

Those two side chapters sure were gay though, huh? Little sis just hit puberty hard thinking about tasting fingers, and hino and nagafuji are both sneaky excited to take a bath together.

wait what? So where's the new chapter uploaded to?

last edited at Dec 2, 2019 4:22PM

This story is just WAY too much of a slow burn, I find it too hard to get into it. They still barely even interact with each other.

I was rereading through the first 3 volumes and this was something I noticed, especially in vol 3. Like for a romance series they don't actually spend much time together? Which is annoying, I liked in volume 1 even though they don't really know they're flirting yet, they can't help but constantly flirt or try to touch each other. It's very teenager. And Shimamura was really obviously into Adachi, she was just a bit more passive and more in denial about it.

But as the series has gone on... We still get little scenes now and then hinting that Shimamura cares more than she wants to admit, but there's also a lot of times Shimamura just comes across as genuinely uninvested in their relationship. It feels pretty jarring compared to their early scenes together.

I feel like Haruka's giving those vibes as sort of a red herring.

Or well, not really a red herring, but like, she's said how she's messed up previous friendships by getting overly attached.

Us readers are like, yeah, cuz girl you're super gay and you crushed on your straight friends, you're not some horrible person who gets overly attached, you're just a normal teenager who happens to like girls.

But Haruka feels like she is, and so every time she gets more intimate with Kanae it's sort of got the tone of like, oh shit, she's gone too far this time, it's gonna screw everything up. Except that Kanae is also super into her right back, so they keep progressing their relationship, with them both obviously realizing that something more is going on by now than just being friends.

tl;dr: I think Haruka gives off those little yandere vibes because that's how she feels about herself, but she's actually just a kid with a crush who likes her back.

One of the little Shimamura details I enjoy is everyone around her assuming that she has a boyfriend when she's getting ready to go to Adachi stuff. Even if she can't doesn't think she does, everyone else sure notices how much effort she puts in for Adachi.

last edited at Nov 5, 2019 3:01AM

I love that Haruko/Kanae chapter. Haruko's trying to act all casual, like she hasn't been staring at Kanae's hand and trying to think of an excuse to hold it. And then their little conversation about if Kanae is OK with it, and "it" is definitely understood by both of them as more than just holding hands one time.

edit: also how it starts off with Kanae's hand just loose in Haruko's grip, and then a few pages later and she's gripping Haruko's hand right back.

last edited at Oct 23, 2019 1:41PM