Gah, these two are so cute I can’t even. And as people here have been saying, the supporting characters are really top-notch.

While in the broadest sense I’m a standard yuri reader hoping for relationship “progress,” I love the atmosphere and the character interactions in this series so much that I’m fine with the story taking as long as the author wants to take. (But I am always greedy for more chapters.)

Once more looks like there'll be no new Citrus+ chapter in October, either https://www.ichijinsha.co.jp/yurihime/next/

I'm sorry I haven't been keeping up, what is going on with Citrus' publication?

That seems to be the big question. Some people have speculated about the author’s health, but as far as anyone can tell that is indeed completely speculation. Saburouta does seem to be doing some Citrus-related work, like for the collected volumes. But new chapters of Citrus+ have been very few and far between and with (at least in my opinion) not a great deal of focus in the plot or characterization, and sometimes with the art obviously not completely finished.

If anyone knows more I would certainly be interested to hear it.

Kinda get the feeling that their friends would be okay with them dating each other, so the whole secrecy thing is starting to just feel arbitrary.

They know.

Told ya 6 years ago.

Wait...

Six years for this?

“This” as opposed to what? The series was never going to end with a NSFW scene.

As the “it’s a secret from everyone” tagline told us over and over, the reveal to the friends was always going to be the big moment. Although there’s one more chapter, so theoretically we might get to see Nanoha and Chidori push the beds together in their new love nest.

As opposed to the blandest shit I've ever skipped through.

So the "six years" was just figurative, then? I knew what it was from the start, and have enjoyed it. I don't know why anyone would think it would turn into something else. Different strokes . . .

that is like ignoring context to pretend you were right or something, we have many mangas were we were 100% they were gonna end up together only to be a wet fart of an ending, like please spare me the idea that 40 chapters was enough of an indication were i got stories that you couldn’t say they were NOT IN LOVE with one another only for the author to pull the we are best fewnds, so yeah thank got we got 80 chapters to reach this conclusion, should i thank the gay gods it paid off instead of going 130 without anything changing? YAP I’m gonna make an offering to the Yuri Goddess and thank her :3

YOU might have many manga that you thought they were gonna end up together and were wrong, but not me. Maybe I just know how to read better or something lol? To date my one and only failed prediction of canon gay is Lycoris Recoil, and I'm pretty sure that's only because the show got censored (and the light novel follow-ups written by the same author corrected that and made them textually gay).

don't claim victory before the match's over fella.

[SNIP]

But also this "match" IS over. Akebi's Sailor Uniform is gay. The gay Sailor Uniform ship has sailed. I did predict it four years ago before it happened but it's already happened by now, Komichi explicitly said she is in love with Erika. That's why the "subtext" tag on this manga got replaced with a "yuri" tag!

We probably need to cut the “yuri skeptic/pessimist” community a bit of a break—they clearly still suffer from a lot of past trauma (although I’m not sure we can say the same of the “yuri tag police” aka the “on-panel fisting or it’s just subtext” crowd).

My own personal counter-example was Nettaigyo, which had to work far harder to NOT end up as explicit yuri than it would have done to just go with its own well-established flow—when you have to back off from an “isn’t the moon beautiful?” scene, you’re doing Olympic-level back-pedaling.

I totally agree on this one, though—the mutual blush-sex scenes alone approach NSFW levels.

I just noticed that in the previous chapter when Tachibana and Shiki are studying English, Tachibana asked to review the present-perfect tense. I thought that was a nice touch, since present-perfect is an aspect of English grammar (one not found in Japanese, as I understand it) that often gives scanlators a bit of trouble--you'll see, "This is the first time I come here" rather than "This is the first time I've come here."

Oh my...I wonder what they're gonna do.

Well, for one thing, there’s a good chance Erika will wash her feet.

Because this artist and feet.

last edited at Oct 20, 2024 12:42PM

“We aren’t going to be able to do our love scene on stage in front of the whole school, so let’s do it by ourselves in Erika’s room in the middle of the night.”

Works for me.

Kinda get the feeling that their friends would be okay with them dating each other, so the whole secrecy thing is starting to just feel arbitrary.

They know.

Told ya 6 years ago.

Wait...

Six years for this?

“This” as opposed to what? The series was never going to end with a NSFW scene.

As the “it’s a secret from everyone” tagline told us over and over, the reveal to the friends was always going to be the big moment. Although there’s one more chapter, so theoretically we might get to see Nanoha and Chidori push the beds together in their new love nest.

Impromptu first dates are the best.

Now I’m racking my brain trying to remember which romance manga had a major “guy looks for lost hairpin in the snow” sequence.

And then trying to remember if those are the only two “lost hairpin” scenes I’ve read, or is it an actual trope I’ve seen other times?

Misa has some weird mutated feet.

Realistic-looking feet are not exactly in the draftsmanship wheelhouse of a lot of mangaka.

Dogs, either.

Slow burn manga is slow.

Wow, Chinese lesbians are all impossibly gorgeous—who knew?

I really don't think "groomer" has a useful place in analyzing this story (or most any story there's pretty much always better terms that don't have the disgusting political baggage that we could use).

Let me say first that I agree with the entirety of your post, and I'm not taking issue here with anything at all about your reading of the story, just riffing off what you've said.

I do think it's interesting what the "idol" trope (in stories and in real life) does to the concepts of adulthood generally and to "grooming" specifically.

Taking the second part first, being "groomed" (as a performer and a public figure) is both figuratively and literally what becoming an idol is all about--it's all singing and dance training, deportment lessons, etc., and if a manager isn't literally the person doing an idol's hair and makeup, they're in charge of the people who do it.

And the idol ethos is specifically about keeping the performers if not literally infantilized, then in a state of enforced perceived adolescence--sexy but not sexual, desirable in fantasy by everyone but supposedly never partnerable by anyone in real life. These are professionals generating considerable sums of money (although apparently much of the revenue goes to parents, agencies, managers, etc.) who are denied most visible signs of transitioning into adulthood like drinking, dating, etc.

And that's just the most neutral "default" idol mode, not the documented extreme career pressure, overwork, media exploitation, online bullying and rumor-mongering, etc. It's pretty easy to see why being-in-control-of-not-being-in-control could fit an idol character in a series like this one to a T.

I fucking love Narita.
Hands down th best male character in any yuri manga.

Came here to say: Narita, who we all first thought (yes, I did too) was an evil plot device called Jerkface is actually an angelic plot device called Uber-Wingman.

And maybe the most adorkable school principal in yuri?

I hope everyone can see the difference between CNC and true non-consent :)

Pretty sure if people can see that difference here it’s because Flowerchild does a superb job of dramatically enacting that difference visually and contextually.

So is the “we’re supposed to be girlfriends but she (other MC) isn’t acting like it” trope becoming more common, or am I just suddenly noticing it?

That last panel—poor Aya . . .

I feel certain that all will be well in the end. But . . .poor Aya.

They all look... SO young. ;s

Leaving aside the usual Itou Hachi themes, since they don’t come into play here, do the characters really look all that much younger than in the main series?

Granted, Himari in particular looks rather smaller, but being pretty small and young-looking are her defining physical characteristics anyway.

Basically, Aya had regarded the record store as 'their' place, a space in which she and Koga could appreciate music uninhibited and the latter could dress and act how she preferred. Koga has been being more open with such things in school, and so didn't really think much of sharing that space with the sudden tide of girls *wanting to be her friend (*read: swooning over her). It's a pretty standard jealously thing. She already had competition for Koga at school, now she'll be having competition at the record store. No one likes having to strike down interlopers making moves on their oblivious crush 24/7.

But I’m pretty sure Aya also resents being lumped in with the kouhai as one of many “visitors to the store” rather than one of the “store family” and Mitsuki’s “special friend.” As you say, it’s “their place,” but the way Mitsuki says, “You can come with them” doesn’t acknowledge that special relationship.

In context, a kind of horrifyingly “anti-progress” response, actually.

Thanks, Daphie! Always look forward to your excellent choices.

Yeonhwa from the Korean erotic thriller manhwa White Angels Get No Rest (read content warnings/tags before trying out this one).

Yes, absolutely be sure to do that. Read them twice, maybe.

So does anyone know if the “X and Y / Sitting in a tree” teasing rhyme is also used in China, or is that a localization of something else?

Neither. The raw used the English phrase.

Thanks.

The flirting is so good between them. Makes me grin like an idiot reading it.

Same. The MCs are cute, of course, but there’s something about the combination of the characterization and the art that makes this especially tasty fluff (when it’s being fluffy).

So does anyone know if the “X and Y / Sitting in a tree” teasing rhyme is also used in China, or is that a localization of something else?

Takemiya Jin's works generally fall under this category. Most of her lead characters are lesbian and never question it. I think Fragments of Love is the only one of her serials I can think of offhand that deals with a leading character who doesn't explicitly self-define as lesbian at the start, and even then she's sharing the spotlight with another character who does.

Thanks for the recommendation. I'd somehow never read any of her work and added several of her most popular works to my Plan to Read list.

Oh my, Takemiya-sensei’s works are a very particular flavor but, IMO, highly recommended.