Once they get together and have magic lesbian babies, then there'll be powerful magic in the non-magic noble family. No need to buy their kids' way in like this :3

Reading this second chapter, IDK if this is the intention, but just my interpretation at least, is it reads as a little bit like being in a cult, and the isolation and control tactics used to keep one in it. (Mainly based off that significant shot of the shrine during the talk with the parents in this chapter.) First chapter was an outsider being brought in, initially uncertain, but turned against the outside world; the second is someone of wavering faith trying to get out, only to be foiled in the end.

Or it might just be about how small towns kinda suck lol

last edited at May 16, 2023 8:15AM

Is it bad that I skimmed those spoilers and just got even more interested? Idk, I'm enjoying the trainwreck, don't quite get why people are so up in arms. Again, may just be personal experience talking, but this feels like a "reality is unrealistic" sort of thing.

last edited at May 14, 2023 6:03PM

I think it's more of a dramedy, somehow. It makes me smile but and I love it but I don't find it super funny. It just makes me wonder what sort of thing Ayaka will do next to try to get Hiroko haha. I love seeing Hiroko flustered because she thinks it's accidental haha. Idk maybe I'm weird. But yeah, it's not supposed to be exactly funny I think.

Seconding this

I think Tomoe-chan's my favorite character tbh. She was just fun.

Idk, I don't wanna be too negative, especially after the overreactions earlier in the thread, but this really kinda felt to me like the Monkey's Paw outcome of that "I wish this really nice oneshot got a serialized continuation" feeling. I can sorta see what the author was going for, but something about the execution just didn't sit right with me.

---

To be honest, all the commentors getting upset with Ritsu kinda threw me for a loop, because at least for the first half, I was very frustrated with Kyouko, and how she felt like an exaggerated, hypocritical version of how she had been presented in the oneshot. In the oneshot, she was like, yes a drunkard who slept around a lot, but still ultimately really thoughtful and trying to piece together her response, along with like, shutting down the shitty homophobic gal she was talking to. But then in the series, she came across as like, even more immature, throwing temper tantrums, getting roasted by her new friends in a way that felt simultaneously way too mean-spirited but that the narrative kept backing up as justified, and just being genuinely unpleasant with the controlling, jealous attitude well before there was any real justification for her to act that way. The last part may just be a Me Problem, since like, that sort of thing really rubs me the wrong way so I'm more sensitive to it, but like, some of their exchanges in chapter 1 and 2 made me sincerely hope this would end in them breaking up. That scene in Chapter 1 where Tomoe asked what Ritsu liked about her and all she could come up with was "a pretty face?" after flashing back to all her most obnoxious moments felt really emblematic of that, and kinda ties into another issue I had. But yeah, I loved her in the oneshot, but after that she felt flanderized beyond likability.

At least, until the chapter that took her POV again, at least, and then it was like, she's back to being a real human being again, her jealousness was (mostly) portrayed as reasonable insecurity rather than toxic posessiveness, and I found myself kinda rooting for her again, which made the Drama Chapters(tm) more bearable. On the whole, despite the first few chapters really making me dislike her, I ended this mostly on her side and willing to chalk that early toxicity up to authorial mistake.

---

And then on the other side of things, a lot of people were really upset with Ritsu, but honestly my feelings about her throughout was a pretty consistent "meh." Again, she was decent in the oneshot, but after her initial confession, it felt like her... interestingness, for lack of a better word, got disposed of along with her hair. As the aformentioned "A pretty face, I guess?" scene kinda exemplified, the story felt like it undercut any real sense of interest she had in Kyouko that the oneshot had established, and then failed to really bring any of that back. So I can sorta see how it might have come across to people like she lost interest, but to me at least, in combination with the lack of development of that supposed middle school crush, and how Kyouko suddenly felt super controlling and stuff, like her interest in her was really just a shallow infatuation all along with no real basis, and then the rest of the story did nothing to really dissuade that notion. Also why her interest in Makoto didn't really feel to me like a "cheating heart" situation, because the story made it feel like emotionally at least, there was nothing there to really cheat on in the first place. On top of that, the story set up the senpai and by extension the big sister as this big mystery to investigate, which was at least a cool and interesting new direction to take, until they did nothing interesting with it and just made it about Kyouko's jealousy again, leaving Ritsu with nothing really going on in the end. I didn't hate her or anything, I just didn't give a shit about her.

While we're on this, it felt like Makoto's characterization did shift a slight amount too, from a somewhat daffy but ultimately harmless person with some evident face blindness, to this sad, slightly sketchy person trying to use Ritsu as a replacement for Akane. Which was alright, I guess, but I don't like how it basically justified Kyouko's paranoia, (even if ultimately the point was to then counteract that with Ritsu turning her down) and I just enjoyed her characterization right up until the kiss much more.

---

TLDR? Oneshot was cute and good. Chapters 1 and 2 felt like they undermined everything the oneshot was doing to create a new setup where Ritsu is in a onesided relationship with a toxic controlling flanderized version of Kyouko, while working together with her friend to dig into the mystery of her sister, through a somewhat daffy Senpai with face-blindness. Chapters 3 and 4 then turned the tables on Kyouko's characterization back around to her original version, but failed to course-correct Ritsu or do anything interesting with the new direction. That kiss scene in 4 also did Makoto a bit dirty IMO. And the pacing throughout was so breakneck that none of this felt like natural character progression or evolution, just weird sudden swerves, even the stuff that feels like it should work on paper. So in the end, 5 and 6 felt like an insincere and unearned happy ending after everyone became less than the sum of her parts. Except for Tomoe-Chan, who was fun. I really feel like it should have stayed as a oneshot.

All that being said, thank you Daphie for the work you did on this; despite my feelings on the story itself, you did good with it, and I enjoyed your notes at the end of each chapter a lot ^^

last edited at May 12, 2023 3:13AM

Aww, I was really enjoying myself until like, the last few chapters, which suddenly felt like, super rushed. Alas, the axe has no mercy. At least the bonuses were nice. Just kinda felt like the subplot with the senpai and Sui like, barely got to happen at all, that immediate 180 on Sui's part felt weird. And yeah, the dad twist was neat, but I still feel like the actual confession and stuff felt like kind of a nonevent after all that buildup. Also wasn't sure what was with the maid. On the whole I still enjoyed it, but that was a rough landing.

Hmmm, wonder what that co-worker's trying to do there. Backfired help trying making Hiroko jealous, or run interference and keep her denseness intact?

I was kinda half-expecting the mask reveal to show something more... dramatic, I guess? Like a scar or something, that might have been why she was so shy about her classmates. So in that regard, I was a bit amused by that not being the case. On the other hand, I still liked this direction, too; sometimes it's not all that dramatic, and people are just living their lives. Plus, covid. So yeah, short and sweet, would love to see more of these two, but what we got was good already.

last edited at May 12, 2023 3:05AM

I'm still enjoying it, tbh. Ayaka's struggle as a straight-passing lesbian with such a strongly misunderstood reputation, is... actually surprisingly relatable? It may just be unique personal experience talking here, but this honestly doesn't feel that hard to suspend my disbelief. Even the bathroom scene happened while she was extremely drunk, so yanno, it's easy to dismiss her actions. Idk. This was one of the rare series I favorited on chapter 1 because I'm so confident in its direction, and so far it hasn't let me down.

last edited at May 9, 2023 10:17PM

I haven't caught up lately, but saw the tag on the most recent chapter and was concerned. On one hand, I don't think depicting the rape is itself an inherently terrible idea; as Clueless1 said, this is the risky dark side to this line of work, and if handled well it could feed into some interesting commentary or like, mark a big shift in the story's direction, being the last straw that leads to her trying to finally untangle herself from this mess.

On the other hand, given what I read of the story's general tone so far and how the comments have painted this chapter, it sounds like that's probably not what's happening here? So uh, yeah, in that case, fuck this.

Tbh, after the whole "Hey, check out my cat!" "I don't care about you as a person, let's just have sex already" exchange, I'm kinda glad it ended the way it did. Like, I feel for Akina, I do; clearly her ex dipping out like that is going to cause some abandonment issues and need for validation, so the "well I want you to come to like me too" bit was an interesting reflection of that. But (speaking as someone who's usually a sucker for the more romantic route these usually take) I find it refreshing in this case that the outcome was so realistic; she may have "fallen for" Rikako, but did she really? Or is it just that the good sex propped up her shattered self-esteem and she wants more of that? Without coming back to the cat conversation it's ambiguous whether her feelings have really changed as significantly as she thinks, but I come away from this with the vibe that they haven't. Rikako is an emotional salve to her, not her own person with her own life. And Rikako herself probably has to deal with a lot of her clients becoming infatuated like this, and seems a deft, experienced hand at managing and balancing maintaining distance and maintaining retention with these sorts of people. (Or at the very least, didn't let herself forget that insult from earlier.)

While it could be possible for the relationship to change over time, and I would enjoy seeing Akina actually coming to see her for her, I feel like ultimately, this is a case where it turning genuinely romantic sometime down the line just wouldn't feel right; them remaining friends and occasional bedpartners but finding long-term girlfriends elsewhere feels like a good way to go. Ultimately all that is kinda beyond the scope of this oneshot, but just like, again, I respect that they didn't go the easy route, and painted such a picture of the dynamic that I can extrapolate and speculate like this, without needing to see a continuation directly. Good stuff.

I kind of get the feeling that people have been misunderstanding what this series is about from the very beginning. If you think of this as just a romance manga certainly it’s going to be frustrating to read.

I think of it as being like one of those art installations where someone rigs an existing type of machine to go through a pattern of surprising variations on its usual behavior.

So it’s really, really stupid—and I mean that in the best way possible.

Yeah I'm surprised by some of the reactions as well. Taking things a bit too seriously, I'd say but who knows. It's a romance buts it's having fun with variations and evolutions of a type of gag. It's tongue in cheek, with some heart to it. I actually like the evolution out of Kimura along the way. Should be a fun ending in a couple chapters.

Yeah, definitely feeling this too. Is it the most emotionally in-depth and gripping romances ever? Eh, nah. Is there some kinda fucked-up implications to the dynamics if you really think about it hard? (at least going a bit in both directions now lol) Probably, yeah. Do I care? Also nah. It's a fun and silly gag manga predicated on cringe comedy, and it knows it; going in expecting something else is just gonna result in a bad time. I'm liking it, personally.

last edited at Apr 28, 2023 8:54AM

Finally, we have all three

last edited at Apr 24, 2023 3:58AM

Though also, if she finds out Michi has been aware of and ignoring her this whole time, that might make for some initial hurt until they can sort stuff out.

If this goes a route of Aizawa staying a ghost, (IE not passing on while Michi ends up with Kasumi or someone, and no coma fakeout; resurrection seems unlikely with how officially established her death was, so popping back out of the ground and resuming her regular life would be hard) I wonder if her muteness will also remain? Part of me feels like the pointed lack of dialogue from her is building up to her speaking at a big moment, but part of me would really love to see the communication challenges of that having to be actively overcome.

I'm glad I read these two chapters back-to-back, because it really does work excellently as a two-parter. Chapter 6 established the original course of events, and then Chapter 7 shows the small but key differences; even if the destination is the same, the path there is distinctly not. It's interesting to me that while certainly incited to be angrier on Natori's behalf than her original self, after a certain point in the duel, Diana started to look like she was enjoying herself. Still angry, but kind of embracing it in a weird way.

At the same time, something else interesting to me is that other than Natori's presence, not a whole lot has actively changed leading up to this? If I recall correctly, what Natori said to Diana during that discussion of her magical strength was almost identical to what OG!Lapis said, just perhaps phrased a bit less eloquently outside of that one specific line? And like, being jelly of the prince instead of falling for him. On that note, the line near the end of Chapter 7, about how he has an active obligation to help problem students, gives me the vibe that that was his reason for tutoring Diana even in the OG timeline, even if it wasn't stated so explicitly there. In essence, while I do feel like yeah, she is most definitely more bloodthirsty-leaning in this timeline, she's still not actually as far off from her game version as one might think; it's as much a difference of framing as it is Natori's influence, particularly in the choice of showing the destruction to the courtyard that got glossed over in (Natori's recollections of) the game. Again, I really enjoy how this is putting that Might Makes Right attitude under the microscope, even as it furthers the possibility of a heroine/villainess role reversal.

Though I don't know if this is just poly bias on my part, but I'm not entirely sure this will be going for something that straightforward. It's interesting to me that the ending of chapter 7 made a point of showing Diana's response to Lapis wasn't envy, but almost regret? That, plus what she said to the prince about how despite her power, she couldn't meaningfully protect Natori. Like, yes, the manga is making a point to show her in a darker light than her original self, and this can further snowball into a full Corruption arc, given enough time, but they're also taking care to show the attributes that made her a good heroine in the first place. That, in combination with the still-extreme nature of what little of Lapis's plan has been revealed to us, makes me wonder if they won't actually go for a full reversal, but rather a much more muddied and grey take on the original course of events where neither party is fully in the right or wrong.

The brief direct interaction between Lapis and Diana toward the end of the chapter was also interesting. Partially from Lapis once again taking an opportunity to foist Natori off on the Prince, (this time more successfully than her first attempt, it would seem) which makes me suspicious there's a specific goal in that beyond just putting distance between them, but mostly in how she responded to Diana's frustrations. In pointing out how protection magic is more complicated than offensive, she shifts away most of the blame Diana's putting on herself, along with encouraging her to take this chance to fix that gap. It honestly doesn't feel that far off from how she then talks to Natori about her self-esteem issues. I think that rather than singling out Natori specifically, she's trying to get both of them to grow into better versions of themselves, which is interesting. However, this being Lapis, there is still a certain level of necessary questioning about if this is genuinely done for its own sake, or as a part of her big-picture plans. Still, it makes me feel like, from her perspective at least, both are equally important. Here's how Poly can still wi- shot

last edited at May 9, 2023 10:37PM

It's not that I mind Zanka having a type, or focusing on a single topic. All their work and art can be about maids, sure, that's no problem. Make a million different maid manga, hell yea that slaps. Nagori Yu is one of my favorite artists, and they have a one track mind too (small young girl and big scary older woman)

The problem is when Zanka keeps one of the series going, it just feels like the same 5 pages over and over. Nothing seems to really change. It even explains to us the premise every single time.

Yeah, even internally it's an issue. I just binged these five chapters and it struck me how repetitive and shallow they were. Idk, maybe I was expecting too much, but it struck me how we know nothing of what the mistress actually does during the day that she needs to relax from, anything about the maids aside from their vague rivalry or personality difference that feels like set dressing more than anything meaningful, or why they both love their boss so much. The first couple chapters were a decent hook, but by 5 it just felt artificial, and like it's stuck on a loop.

Love how genuinely considerate she is. Especially in contrast to the treatment from the prince... poor heroine really needs some therapy. She did what she had to, yeah, but it's still unfortunate that her sense of consent is so skewed.

Wouldn't be an Isekai without a love triangle where one girl is inevitably going to get hurt. Especially since most of these writers never have the balls to go with the polyamory ending

Right... It takes balls to fizzle drama and tension...

I mean I can't remember the last love triangle I read that actually had either of those things. It's almost always transparently obvious what the endgame will be or it all amounts to vague status-quo-is-god waffling in the end.

No kidding

Pardon me for jumping in, but I feel there may be a miscommunication here. While it may be true that some of us simply want an ending where everyone is happy and would take whatever leads to that result, I think many people who ask for a poly ending to a story are looking for something deeper than a typical harem ending. We aren't looking for dozens/hundreds of chapters of potential romantic partners fighting over the protagonist just to end it abruptly with "well, why can't we all share her together?" A proper polyamorous story involves all partners coming to love each other, not just multiple people all loving the same one person. It takes work to do that properly.

Seconding this

Exactly that, with a small caveat: I don't agree with the last sentence.
A polycule doesn't have to have everyone involved with everyone to be "proper". And a polyam story that handles the relation between the metamours who have mutual partners but a platonic relationship with each other can be just as great and takes just as much work to be done properly as one where everyone gets with everyone.

DIfferent flavors of polyamory but all delicious.

Seconding this as well

They're talking about harem endings. And they're correct. If you count harem as poly, which we seem to be considering we're calling one girl having two girlfriends who have absolutely zero interest in one another "poly", harems are far more common in the isekai genre and adjacent genres than monogamous relationships. The "wishy-washy ambiguity" part comes from the fact that the protagonist doesn't usually officially end up with any of the countless characters in love with them, so that the reader self-inserting can fantasise about the protagonist ending up with their particular favourite love interest.

And that's why this is such a point of contention. I think poly-enjoyers might have the wrong idea that poly itself is hated, but in this thread harems and poly are being fully conflated. Harems are, narratively speaking, disgusting. They're Mary Sue bullshit, bad writing that objectifies women for the purpose of fulfilling people's gross self-insert fantasies. I get that there's a market for self-insert fiction, a massive one at that, but harem fantasies in particular reduce women to being property. Every girl in a harem story exists for the sole purpose of falling heads over heels for the self-insert, usually as soon as they meet and for no discernible reason other than "they were nice to me once". I loathe it. Absolutely, positively hate it. It is literally the single biggest problem with the ACG fiction bubble. But it fucking sells. It sells incredibly well, and for bigger series it sells figurines and merch as people chase their waifus. So it just continues proliferating and my hatred of it continues growing.

All of that to say, this is why I desperately hope this manga doesn't go down that path. I'm not opposed to reading about open relationships. But you will never see any of the non-MC characters in these stories having their own relationships. Not with each other, and not with third parties who aren't involved with the MC either. In my eyes, that is absolutely not poly. Because all of the characters exist only to serve the MC's desires, and have no desires of their own. There's nothing romantic about that, and it's certainly not a progressive depiction of relationships.

I feel like the issue here is partially of definition, yeah.

---

Setting aside like, connotative implications and typical tropes, I would say a Harem is a setup where multiple characters are interested in a monogamous relationship with a singular focal character, and compete with one another for the focal character's interest. (A Love Triangle in the typical sense, is merely a very small harem of two.)

Now connotatively, as you said, that usually entails a self-insert wish-fulfillment slant with a bland protagonist, an open-ended ending (though every once in a while there has been the option for First Girl Wins), and a general lack of development or respect for the love interest characters outside of their direct (and often rather shallow) relationship with the focal character.

I do not care for Harem stories as a rule, but Hamefura, (the first season, anyway) along with having a rare bisexual harem, did show it could be done well without most of the above bad tropes. The characters all had decently-established lives and interests outside of their dynamic with Katarina, while Katarina herself, being a decidedly eccentric sort, easily averted the typical Cardboard Cutout Protagonist pitfall. Most importantly to me, at least, one of the things I liked was that even as the characters treated one another as rivals competing for Katarina's attention, they also still generally felt like genuine friends who still cared about and respected each other first and foremost. (Except for everyone ganging up on Geordo, but that was okay because Geordo's the worst.) The first season did wind up in that open-ended state, admittedly, but it still managed to do so in a way that felt satisfying rather than frustrating, since who Katarina wound up with wasn't really the core focus of hers or any of the other characters' arcs. (And besides... in hindsight, that's a much better place than the second season left off.)

I would still define it as a harem because it was still fundamentally monogamous in its framing, and the characters were actually friendly rivals, but still rivals. But at least, it is proof that despite the typical trashy tropes that plague the vast majority, the genre concept isn't inherently terrible and can be done well. That being said, with how Season 2 poured all that goodwill down the drain, and with how I have seen no sign of any other shows or manga breaking that trend, yeah I'm still with you on not caring for the genre as a whole.

---

Meanwhile, Polyamory can take a variety of shapes, not always with a clear focal point individual. Sometimes it's a perfect lattice where everyone involved is in a relationship with everyone else, or sometimes, as Giftnova pointed out, there can be metamours, people who aren't directly romantic with each other but are still friends or at least on friendly terms and happy with sharing their mutual partner or partners. My step-brother is in a poly relationship that resembles a line more than anything else, with metamours a few times removed. I myself am in a relationship that is probably more akin to a "harem" structure, with my girlfriend also dating my two best friends. The key difference, IMO, is in the distinction between metamours or rivals. We're all cool with the situation.

(And one can have a plot where the focal point is in a relationship with more than one of the other characters, but it is still a harem rather than being polyamorous... that would just be cheating.)

---

Bringing this all back around to the original topic, I would currently define this manga as a love triangle, or basically a small harem, yeah. I think it has the potential to be a good one, yes, since both Diana and Lapis both have their own conflicts outside of their dynamic with Natori. (Diana and her relationship with her Might Makes Right attitude, and Lapis's whole brewing scheme, even if the exact details and motive are yet unclear.) Natori herself currently rides the line between being a self-insert and a distinct character, kinda underdeveloped like a typical bland harem/isekai protagonist, but still some distinctive traits and a solid motivation in her anxiety and need for validation. It's still too early to really say if this will improve further, but at least at the level it's currently at, I would rate it above a typical schlock harem handling, but still needing room to grow to match or possibly surpass the small handful of actually good harem/love triangle plots out there.

I guess the big thing is, when we poly enjoyers say we hope this turns into a poly relationship, on the most surface level it's hoping that Natori can be in a relationship with Diana and Lapis both, yes, but on a deeper level, it is hoping that the dynamic between Diana and Lapis will also be explored and shifted in a positive direction, whether that be a full romantic relationship as well to close the triangle, or simply as metamours. Unfortunately, I'm not sure that that is the direction this is going, so I certainly understand your reservations, but that's still what I'd like to see.

Because this forum is exclusively for people who are extremely fun at parties.

Yeah ^^;

last edited at Apr 5, 2023 7:08PM

Very, VERY intrigued by the maid

last edited at Apr 3, 2023 7:41AM

I love characters who are absolute cinnamon rolls but also Will Not Hesitate To Cut A Bitch
Still rooting for Poly, but with the Prince turning out to be a relatively decent sort, and Diana acting more violent this chapter, kinda wondering if this is headed toward her being turned into the new antagonist over time... Would be an interesting direction to turn the tables like that.

Wouldn't be an Isekai without a love triangle where one girl is inevitably going to get hurt. Especially since most of these writers never have the balls to go with the polyamory ending

More writers have the balls to go poly than to have a clear-cut ending where one love interest is picked and the rest are cleanly kept away without wishy washy ambiguity.

Please tell me where this supposed trove of poly stories is, because I'd love to read that.

Though based on you saying wishy washy ambiguity, I think you're talking about something completely different.

last edited at Mar 31, 2023 5:47PM

This seems like a fun start! I hope we get more soon ^^

This seems shallow, but fun.

I was ready to throw this in the trash and just write it off as a dumb decision, and keep this in my reading list for those junk food days.

Then I realized what they're doing and what direction this is going in and now I'm even more on board.

ALEXA. PLAY "HOLDING OUT FOR A HERO." MAX. VOLUME.

Same here

This is perfection

Reading this: "Ahh, this is lovely and well-written, I can't wait for more!"

Reading the comments: "...How are you people calling this boring?"