this hand of mine is filled with an awesome power
its burning tips tells me to make u cum
TAKE THIS!
MY LOVE, MY ANGER, AND ALL OF MY SORROW
YURI FINGERS!

Why is this actually the best thing ever xDDDD

Characters don't always have to be likeable, but they should be interesting.

The fact that many of the decisions these two make frustrate me to no end, yet I'm still unsure of and heavily invested in what'll come next for them is a testament to Torajiro's writing.

This kinda looks like a Kannazuki no Miko reference...

“Mei displays effective administrative ability by delegating authority” isn’t quite the sort of thing I had in mind by the term "narrative energy."

Mei from earlier volumes would've likely tried to handle the situation herself be exerting her authority and trying to put Sayaka and Matsuri back in line. But Mei "delegating authority" to people she knows could handle the situation better, especially in Matsuri's case since she acknowledges that even Yuzu wouldn't have worked, shows that she's becoming more emotionally sensitive and knows when the time is right to be the strict authority figure. This was the case for Sayaka, who Mei only punished after Yuzu helped her come out.

TL;DR, Mei is showing emotions and is taking action when necessary, but at the same time is still developing as a character. Try as I might, I just can't see her with the criticisms you have no matter how many angles I look from.

—she’s just not a source of significant narrative energy anymore. She’s passive, insecure, lacks communication skills that she used to have, and is no longer the driver of significant plot or character developments.

Also Mei in Citrus+: Stands up to the academy board declaring herself the first chairwoman, works with Yuzu to help Sayaka, convinces Harumin to go after Matsuri.

Just sayin’

last edited at Nov 21, 2020 2:50AM

A lot of people seem to feel that Mei got nerfed after the election arc. While I can understand that, I personally disagree. The way I see it, after the election arc is when Mei truly began to open up to Yuzu, but as she said in chapter 26, she doesn't know how to handle those feelings. She did start becoming demure from vulome 8-10, but that was because of the guilt she felt for going through with her arranged marriage.

Now, in Citrus+, we are seeing Mei start to act like her confident old self again, like when she told off her father for trying to give relationship advice, standing up to the academy board and declaring herself the first chairwoman, pushing over Yuzu to reveal her bruise, and shooting down Sayaka's attempts to criticize her changes to the school policies. of course, she still has moments of emotional vulnerability, like when she asked Harumin to help Yuzu because she understands her better. I believe Saburouta has found the perfect balance between Confident Mei and Vulnerable Mei with Citrus+, and I find this version of her to be both compelling and adorable.

But to each their own, of course. I know some people who claim to love Citrus but still hate Mei all across the board.

Even a 1000-degree knife couldn't cut the tension between these two this chapter. Can't wait to see how their conversation plays out next chapter. Something tells me there's going to be a lot of passive-aggressiveness, followed by actual aggressiveness, definitely some tears and hopefully a big fat hug at the end.

Matsuri's lil bro is super adorbs. It's such a nice change of pace to see her being a caring big sister towards him. Also, I think it makes sense we've never heard of him till now since she's never really disclosed her personal life to anyone before.

Also, Harumin knows Matsuri likes sweet things <3 (cue It's Not Like I Like You by Static-P)

One chapter into this volume and it's already shaping up to be one of the best. We're finally getting some proper development for Harumin, which we haven't really seen since Volume 5 of OG Citrus, and I'm excited to see what we'll be getting from Matsuri. Backstory? Finally being honest about her insecurities?

I also love the detail at the beginning where Harumin just wants to eat wherever her grandmother wants, and Mitsuko says "she should choose once in awhile." Then at the end, Harumin puts her foot down and says "I'm gonna help her, leave this to me Yuzu." I hope Harumin will remain the protagonist of this volume.

And of course, I gotta gush about Mei. Letting Yuzu doll her up, trying that monster of a burger, and giving advice to Harumin... ugh, I love her so much. She really has come a long way with her development. The original, stone-cold Mei never would've done any of those things, at least not out of the good of her heart, and probably would've just disciplined Matsuri instead of trying to help her. She's such a sweet, caring and understanding girl now ^_^

This was one of the best chapters of C+ so far, right up there with Chapter 6 and 8.

So.... Majoccoid tweeted that the final chapter will be October 27th.

Just wanted to throw that out there so y'all can get those "Axe-kun" comments out of your system.

This doujin is so beautiful. Gladyus is an amazing artist (they do a lot more Citrus stuff on Twitter) and this warmed my heart to no end. It satisfies all my YuzuMei and MeiDom desires.

When it goes down in the actual manga, I hope we get a situation similar to this. Mei taking the lead for their first time would be the perfect conclusion to her character development.

How would you have ended it?

Dunno. Making an ending for an axed series is hard. But timeskip ending is the laziest one. Anyway, this ending would be better if we could at least get a glimpse of Maki and Midori's life during that 10 years timeskip. Something like a quick composition of panels ala "show don't tell" with them raising this kid. And then what we got in this chapter. It would be more consistent.

First, the series wasn't axed. I was 4 volumes long, but 16 chapters was all it needed to tell it's story. Not every yuri series needs to be 8+ volumes.

Second, I think it was a bold and original choice to not show our protagonists at all during the timeskip (though we did get to hear Midori's voice). Learning about how their family is still facing challenges from the perspective of their daughter was highly effective, and her attitude in this chapter was very much consistent with the series' themes of running away from your problems before accepting them, realizing you're not alone, and dealing with societal expectations.

Timeskips may be a trope, but trope and cliches can work if executed in an original way. And I think this is one of the best written timeskips in any manga I've seen. Perhaps even better than Bloom Into You's.

Ugh. Time skip ending. How original. No wonder this manga wasn't popular.

How would you have ended it?

While I do agree that the whole "person suddenly appears, girl sees their love interest hanging out with them, misunderstanding ensues" plot this seems to be going for is tiring, I'm honestly more intrigued by Kurokawa's behavior towards Fujishiro. We haven't gotten much perspective from her yet, and now that we do it's coming across a little obsessive and creepy.

And judging by the comments on this aspect of the chapter, many people seem to be of the mindset "it's not what I was expecting, therefore it's bad writing." Even though, as someone pointed out earlier, this didn't exactly come out of nowhere...
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/useless_princesses_ch02#15

As for both of these developments, I think Ajiichi has garnered enough trust from me as a writer so far, both from this story and Dear My Teacher, to have me reserve my judgement until things finish playing out.

Just saying, I don't recall anyone ever complaining when a guy was introduced in Girl Friends ¯_(ツ)_/¯

It seems like whether or not people are content with the axed ending depends on whether or not their favorite couple got together. In my case, I'm happy Risa and Aya made it, but I wish we could've gotten that one cover of them getting married, or if not maybe trying on wedding dresses together? Heck, I would've at least had them wearing rings or something in their last scene.

For fans of the manga, it's because they want to see the culmination of Yuzu and Mei's relationship (before their marriage at least) and see them have a truly intimate moment where there's no more hesitation between them.

That does seem like a pretty big misconception of Yuzu and Mei's characters though. A huge point about the series is how important true love is and how it is more important than simple carnal desires. Yuzu and Mei relationship did start physical but it quickly moved into being about the two of them connecting in a way they didn't with anyone else.

That's a good point. Most of their interactions in the early volumes were back-and-forth kisses led purely by uncontrollable desire (or in Mei's case, just screwing with Yuzu). But of course, we had the occasional heartwarming moment like Yuzu helping Mei with her father, or the bus stop handholding scene.

Then in the later volumes, they began spending more time bonding like the Student Council arc, the date, trying to read each other's feelings in Volume 7, etc. As time went on, and the two fell deeper in love with each other, kissing became something more difficult because it meant so much more to them at that point. Speaking from experience, when you don't understand how love works, kissing someone you like, even while you're dating them, is far from easy.

In my opinion, I'm glad YuzuMei kisses are more infrequent now than earlier parts of the story, because it makes those moments all the more special.

For real, why are people so invested on seeing Yuzu and Mei fuck?

For fans of the manga, it's because they want to see the culmination of Yuzu and Mei's relationship (before their marriage at least) and see them have a truly intimate moment where there's no more hesitation between them.

For non-fans, at least from what I can guess based on the last few posts, it's to have an excuse to drop the manga faster. As soon as Yuzu and Mei bang, they'll be out of here because they see no value in the story beyond that.

yeah talking shit about citrus was a 2019 thing, the new trend is to ignore citrus and let it die, just like this thread and it´s popularity is doing, slowly but surely

Haven't we been doing that in 2019 too? Heck, there's an argument to be had that the current policy may have had it's very first beginnings as early as late 2018, during the golden age of hating on and talking shit about citrus?

Mmm i mean yeah, but back then citrus had this "so bad that is good " vibe, it was fun to hate on citrus, there was a community that eagerly wait for a new chapter just to argue with fans and point out how dumb citrus was
Right now citrus is just boring, is not even fun to hate on it , even fans just keep reading to see if yuzu and mei are gonna have sex and to see the harumin x matsuri couple (wich might not even happen)

It's awfully presumptuous of you to assume why the fans are still reading Citrus. True, some of us like HaruMatsu and all of us are eagerly awaiting Yuzu and Mei's first time. But there are also lots of fans, myself included, who genuinely enjoy Citrus and Citrus+ because we love the characters and relationship between Yuzu and Mei. We enjoy theorizing about upcoming chapters, gushing over cute character moments and laughing at funny ones, discussing our favorite ships, etc. You know, stuff that a fandom usually does. Contrary to what you might believe, we're not that shallow.

I adore how perfectly timed this chapter was with Pride Month. Yuzu helping Sayaka overcome her internalized homophobia, the flashback to Sara's speech on how it doesn't matter what gender you fall in love with... such a beautiful conversation <3

Reminds me of Pride Month 2018, when Yuzu came out to everyone (Chapter 39). Saburouta knows what she's doing ^_^

I went back and took a close look at all these panels with Yuzu's new hairstyle, and I didn't find anything aesthetically wrong with the head shape, size, or hairline. I think any discomfort one might find with her look is just design whiplash, since we're so used to seeing her with her bangs down.

Design changes, even the smallest ones, are always a risk and may not please everyone, but at least she looks normal(?) again once her hair is down at the end of the chapter.

Yuzu seems badly off-model for most of the chapter, though normal on page 33. Harumin also seemed off, though less so, and normal again on 33.

Could just be a result of her doing her hair up and exposing her forehead. Besides that, any off-model or unfinished art in the web version is usually fixed/improved for the volume release.

My absolute most hated cliché in lesbian romance is going on a date with some asshole being how you find out you're into girls. Thank GOD for this manga. Seriously.

Cliché? I can't say I've seen that exact plot in yuri before. Unless I just haven't read enough stories. Closest I can think of is the abusive husband in Run Away With Me, Girl. But even then Midori already knew she was into girls.

Could I get an example of a story(s) like this? I'm genuinely curious if this is a cliché.

I also agree that the last arc was poorly written. It's a major flaw in the overall story, but name one long-running series in history that didn't have a major dip in storytelling at some point. I also believe that Citrus+ has been doing a great job of making up for all the problems that Volume 10 caused. If the last arc was a big poorly-written reset button, then Citrus+ is working hard to be the best darn reset it can possibly be, and to great effect In my opinion.

There was no reason the author even needed a second series to make up for the enormous plot gaps in the first one except her own ineptitude and time-wasting in the main series (like that interminable fireworks festival, the big payoff for which was???).

This was an immensely popular series, and I've never heard that Saburouta was pressured to end it quickly or to make it anything other than she wanted it to be. Saburouta's pretty good at creating individiual scenes (especially comic ones) at times, but has demonstrated herself to be quite hopeless at long-term plotting and very erratic with characterization.

And the major flaw in the characterization is that the author clearly had no idea what to do with Mei and Yuzu's relationship from the point where the two of them agreed to move forward together (Chapter 24, if I recall correctly). So we immediately launched into the amusing but completely irrelevant Shirapon business, and then a bunch of wandering around with various characters, and also a bunch of artificial reasons for Yuzu and Mei to not communicate with one another (like Yuzu's part-time job) even though they sleep together in the same bed. Meanwhile, Mei gets more and more withdrawn until she's practically catatonic, then is taken entirely offstage until the final moments of the series.

After the initial chapters had set the stage and until that preposterous final "arranged-marriage" arc, the only dynamic between Mei and Yuzu that the author seemed to be capable of conceiving was Mei fending off Yuzu, Yuzu apologizing to Mei for various things, and Mei coming out with some outburst of affection/desire that was then immediately tamped down again.

I'll say it again: Mei was always my favorite character, not as an imaginary human being I could project myself onto, but as a source of narrative and thematic possibilities for developing the premises of the story that the series had set out in its opening chapters. My criticism of the character has nothing to do with liking or disliking that imaginary human being; it's about seeing a potentially interesting fictional construct very poorly served by its creator.

Look, you don't have to go this far to explain why you don't like Citrus anymore. I've seen almost every comment you've written in this thread and I know your opinion on the series through and through. I think you bring up some good points, and like I said, I agree with you that Volume 10 was a misfire.

But most of what you say about Saburouta and her writing abilities I do not agree with. Everything she threw at Yuzu and Mei was meant to test and challenge their bond and love in some way. Contrived? At times, yes. Compelling? In my opinion, also yes.

You think Citrus+ doesn't have a reason to exist? Fine. Maybe you're right. It doesn't change the fact that the series so far has given me more beautiful moments between one of my favorite yuri couples, and evolved Mei into my favorite character after Volume 10 nearly ruined that. I'll continue to read, enjoy and defend this series, and you're free to continue pointing out its flaws. I'm not gonna endlessly argue with you when I know neither of us will change how we view the series.

That's all I gotta say. Truce?

I'll probably come under fire for this, but I'd argue that Bloom Into You's last volume, or at least after Yuu confessed to Touko, was a dip in storytelling. Not that it was bad, but that it was boring and absolute nothingness.

If you listen extremely closely, you can hear the sound of all the blood in my body boiling.

Well that's me when people shit talk Mei, so welcome to my world.

but name one long-running series in history that didn't have a major dip in storytelling at some point.

3 examples come immediately to mind: Bloom Into You, Girl in the Birdcage, Her Shim Cheong.

Haven't read Girl in the Birdcage, but you're at least right so far about Her Shim Cheong. Though I'd say we can only be sure when the translations catch up.

I'll probably come under fire for this, but I'd argue that Bloom Into You's last volume, or at least after Yuu confessed to Touko, was a dip in storytelling. Not that it was bad, but that it was boring and absolute nothingness.