I love how this sort of rides the line between a cute, 'wholesome' tone (particularly due to the art) and a twisted, ominous one. Throughout the story, I was expecting a turn into absolute insanity and potential violence, but the story doesn't quite take that road. As constraining as their codependency is, the characters show self-awareness and a semblance of remorse. They're certainly not good for each other, but they're not plain yandere. They feel like real people with real issues.

Even at the most dramatic points in the story, the art isn't especially dark or serious. Haa looks cute - not scary or tragic - when she lashes out. Ryou's smile looks genuine and not yandere-ish when she reveals that she was purposefully inciting Haa's jealousy. Ryou watches blankly as Haa apologizes and invites her friends, and when the next page doesn't show her face it builds some tension, but then you see that she's just cutely pouting. The 'heaviest' parts, visually, are some large panels with a lot of negative space that place our main pair off-center, which further emphasize how they have built a prison for themselves. Well, those panels along with the few isolated, totally black panels.

I've really liked the few stories available from this author. Hope to see more from them.

let us know where the volume breaks are, and we can fix it

Every nine chapters, at least for the first two volumes.

I dunno. Both Saeko and the ex-not-girlfriend look pretty mature and down to earth. "It doesn't work? Well, let's get over it and look into the future!"

There's nothing mature about bottling everything up and constantly lying; or about ghosting your friend for a year because you might have feelings for them, only to suddenly come back to make a pass at them.

But Miwa is constantly on the wishy-washy side, unable to take a stand. I understand she lacks self-confidence, and people like that are a thing, but I can't empathize with that kind of characters. She strikes me as lacking maturity.

And if everyone is "a bitch" to Miwa, it's precisely because of that: she doesn't have a presence, she's completely passive and doesn't communicate properly.

Miwa has plenty of room to mature, but she made strides during the music club trip, whereas Saeko has only gone further down the rabbit hole of denial.

As far as communication, Miwa has repeatedly asked Saeko about her past and what's going on, but Saeko has put on a brave face every single time. It's difficult for her to dig any deeper when she knows that she has annoyed Saeko by worrying to much about the little things before. Miwa also told Saeko that someone she had a big crush on (she clearly still harbors some feelings for her, but she was probably not completely aware of that herself) would be at the reunion.

She "got over" her old crush because she saw a pic of her with a guy, but now that she know it was just a fling, she's suddenly agitated.

To be fair, it would be hard enough nursing a crush on (1) another woman (2) who lives far away and (3) has been ghosting you. It's not surprising that it would take something small for her to 'give up' on Shiho after that.

Aaahhhh, good, the TL's not dead. I hope we don't have to wait more than a month for the next chapter, but I have no idea what's going on with Detectives at this point. Any particular reason why their releases have been so sparse since October?

My apologies! Things have been really hectic for several people on the team -- 2020 is being kind to no one. Things have settled down and it should be smooth sailing from here on, though!

Thanks for responding! Sorry if I sounded whiny, I was just wondering what the situation was.

Aaahhhh, good, the TL's not dead. I hope we don't have to wait more than a month for the next chapter, but I have no idea what's going on with Detectives at this point. Any particular reason why their releases have been so sparse since October?

Personally, I think the kind of expressions that Nakatani draws are just too understated for a character like Adachi. Even aside from that, I think it would just be too big of a leap from Non's style.

Given that the next volume will likely cover Valentine's again, does anyone think we can hope for a kiss on the lips? Though, I'm most anticipating a resolution to the Tarumi situation. We got no indication that they had met again even after so much time had passed.

I hope Namori keeps putting out these dramatic one-shots. The last two chapters of Yuri Yuri 2 were something else. I wonder how dramatic the Yuru Yuri teachers spin-off might get.

The good news is that the second volume (chapters 10-18, I think) just came out in NA. Unfortunately, it appears that the third volume will take another six months, unless that's just a placeholder date on Amazon. I just hope we won't be waiting till then to read chapter 27 at all.

Something slightly curious I noticed before:

The intermission with Shou at the end of chapter 3 starts with the date "2033 [etc.]," which would obviously refer to the day in the future that Shou "makes a stunning discovery." However, Yashiro says that it will happen around 16 years from now, which would make it around 2017 in the LN as of now. Why would it be set in 2017? The first LN came out in 2013, and it would only be 2014 if that was the in-universe date to begin with. Has the year been mentioned before? Maybe it was decided to be consistent with the references; I remember Demon Slayer was referenced in Volume 8. I just wonder why he chose 2017 specifically. Maybe he didn't think much of it.

That's probably the most honest, direct, and deep conversation that Adachi and Shimamura have ever had. Also the first time Shimamura has really gotten embarrassed when telling Adachi that she loves her, as far as I remember. I can relate to how Shimamura finds relationships tiresome and easily moves on from them, so it's really touching how she's showing Adachi that she's committed to making their relationship last. I feel like this might be the start of Adachi actually having some security in their relationship. Though we're getting relatively little AdaShima content this volume, this chapter alone was really big for them. Not to mention the part when Shimamura actually did sexually harass Adachi for once.

The moms are fucking perfect, especially Shimamura's (I'm not sure whether Shima was thinking of Yashiro or her mom or both when she said that some people might never feel embarrassed). Somehow, they're almost like elementary school versions of their daughters. I hope we see more of them in coming volumes, though it's a little bittersweet seeing Atsuka's minor attempts to support Adachi when you know that they have no contact with each other ten years from now. Still, I appreciate that they've somewhat caught on to the relationship between their daughters and are putting in effort to support them. "Welcome home, my daughters." How lazy, sweet, and perfectly fitting.

Though I really don't like that they took up about half the volume, I enjoyed the look into Hino and Nagafuji's pasts. I always get a kick out of Nagafuji's way of looking at things, and the relationship between Hino's mom and the maid made for an interesting parallel. (At this rate, the series might end with even all of the moms being WLW.)

Are many people not able to wiggle their ears? It's easy to me.

One of the best stories about a messed up relationship that I've read here.

I disagree with the people who see it as a happy ending; at best, it's an ambiguous ending (which is clearly what the author intended, imo). Chiharu is deliberately trying to gloss over the past, which says plenty about her character, even if she does care deeply for Asami now. What Asami did is also obviously fucked up, though understandable in a way, as it sorta lets her have her cake and eat it too. As much as they love each other, even if Chiharu is totally faithful from now on, she might never fully regain Asami's trust.

Funny that I only know about them having croquettes at butcher shops from another yuri series.

Good chapter. I had wanted to know more about Shimamura's middle school life after the ending of volume 7. It seems like she lost interest in other people when she realized how tenuous friendships could be. (I can relate to that; my family moved frequently, and the number of people in that family has changed many times.) That kouhai seems like a pretty entertaining character. I laughed when Nagafuji and Shimamura imitated her by giving the middle finger. She might start a trend, lol.

I think the moms are actually less mature than their daughters. Their dynamic makes me think of how a younger Hougetsu and Sakura might be together, funny enough. I hope there will be more of these two. Will even the moms not be safe from Big Gay?

The latest episode was really good and - judging from the next episode preview - the season will probably cover everything up to the fourth volume. Tarumi has such an interesting personality, so I'm wondering how she'll come across in the anime.

That flashback strongly reminded me of a quote from Carmilla:

"You must come with me, loving me, to death; or else hate me, and still come with me, and hating me through death and after. There is no such word as indifference in my apathetic nature."

When I started this, I figured it would just be softcore fetish hentai without much of a plot, but the drama got really interesting and complicated. It's unclear exactly how fucked up everyone is in the beginning, so when Ai strangles Hina and holds her out the window, or Yoshimi masturbates to Yuu, or Hina feels happy after seeing Ai throw up, it makes an impact on how you view the story and characters. I like reading stories about fucked up people and relationships, but the writers often lack the guts or self-awareness to portray it in a genuine and consistent way. I like this series because it doesn't seem to make excuses for its characters or hand them get-out-of-jail-free cards. They have to deal with the consequences of having the most abnormal parts of themselves exposed. Whereas the early chapters might have elicited disgust mostly towards the characters' actions, it now elicits disgust towards the characters' thoughts more than anything.

Wheres new chapter? Is this a puse between volumes or?

Akiba Detectives pretty much update at their own pace. They've only made a few other updates since the last chapter of this, so we'll probably get the next chapter without having to wait, like, several more months. And I think there's one more chapter left of this volume.

The wait is torturous, though, especially after such a significant development. Haven't seen Saeko in a couple months...

Volume 9 came out like an hour ago, so I'm now working on that.

Wow lol, I appreciate your dedication.

One thing I forgot to bring up in my post earlier: why the fuck would the teacher let them out of the bus?

So Yuri's a transmuter huh

I don't know when the last part will be posted on here, so I might as well just write my thoughts on it and the rest of the volume.

It's nice to see that Adachi eventually regains her chill, to some extent. It also sounds like she's not quite as closed off as she used to be. It's a little sad that she never really connects with her parents, but that's to be expected. Some things about their situation in the future are left vague, like their physical intimacy and whether Shimamura's family knows, which I actually appreciate.

I found the side characters to be completely inoffensive this volume, despite what some people think about Yashiro's antics. Her involvement was really amusing this time around, and it's not like she derailed the story. It even led to Shimamura being (politely) assertive about getting a little space from Adachi, which I'd like to see more of.

It was funny how long it took Shimamura to realize what was going on with Adachi in the onsen. She even checks her out a bit without thinking anything of it. I like how calm and calculating her thought process can be even in an embarrassing situation. The whole conversation with Pancho was gold and I hope she comes up from time to time going forward, similar to the scammer with a gaydar, I mean fortune teller. Having also read the first of the Saeki Sayaka novels, I wonder if Hitoma Iruma is recently making an effort to write explicitly lesbian characters rather than the common "gender doesn't matter" or "only because it's you" kinds of yuri love.

I wonder exactly how Adachi will deal with Shimamura meeting with Tarumi. I can't see Shima keeping it a secret at this point. One way or another, I think Adachi would probably end up coming along and trying to rub their relationship in Tarumi's face. I really hope Tarumi finds someone, though. Maybe the girl who used to crush on Adachi? That would be ironic.

Anyway, I really enjoy the couple's dynamics and how they're evolving. Shimamura gets a lot of fun out of teasing Adachi, but even she's shown to have insecurities and wants Adachi to think she's cool. I do think it would be interesting to see them get in a major fight at some point, which wouldn't be surprising if it happened in the next volume.

Oh, thanks. My bad.

I can't believe we're actually caught up on AdaShima.

So happy that we already caught up.

Huh? Where's this coming from? There are still two more chapters left of volume 8.

I don't think it's probably going to end up platonic. I mean, she couldn't get the word "love" out of her head when she touched Asahi's hand to do her nails, and the way she described her features as she was imagining kissing her seemed adoring. Hinako likely still has a long way to go in learning to give and receive affection.

But well, as long as the feelings aren't too one-sided like in Moratorium or something, I'll be fine with it.

Nakatani looks quite a bit like Yokoe when she has her hair down. Tsubaki continues to be adorable and a little creepy.

I remember reading the first chapter of this a while back. It was really intriguing, so I'm glad it turned out to be a full series. Was it originally a one-shot, or was the rest of the series just ignored by translators for a long time?

I had guessed who the real Ouka was around halfway through. Regardless, it was a good twist. The series was excellently plotted and Sayman took the concept about as far as it could go without dragging it out. I actually feel like this was the most complete and coherent series I've read from them. It makes me all the more frustrated that so little of their work is published in English.

Getting personal, I also tend to use maladaptive daydreaming to cope with suicidal ideation (well, also out of sheer boredom). And, like Ouka's dreamscape, those fantasies aren't always filled with pretty, happy scenarios. The series takes a character who's willing to go to absolutely any length to be with the one she loves, and shows how that ideal can become extremely twisted and violent. Though the ending comes across as cynical at first, I think the overall point is how dangerous and pointless it is to retreat further and further into fantasies.

On a side note, it's a shot in the dark, but I'm guessing the CD/TG person is a representation of how Ouka views her actual body. She might be trans, or she might just feel insecure in her femininity.

Edit: Not sure how it didn't occur to me right away, but the final twist is basically the same as that of the movie I'm Thinking of Ending Things.

last edited at Sep 25, 2020 7:09AM

for the first time in my life, i would support cheating in this situation

...Why? The worst thing about Saeko is her lack of honesty, and Shiho just suddenly appeared out of nowhere after ghosting Miwa for two years. There are plenty of other fictional (and real) relationships that are much more strained, or outright abusive. As things are right now, cheating on Saeko would be awful. If she still loves Shiho, then she should break up with Saeko rather than cheat on her.

This series sure moves fast. Not that I'm complaining.