I've had my suspicions that Sumiko-sensei might be American, and this puts a lot of credibility to that lol (if there's any interviews about it, I don't know but I'd be interested to read) I mean, what western teen show DOESN'T have a prom arc; I can imagine her lamenting the idea that she couldn't write one for her characters, then going "Wait, this is my story! Of course they can!!"

love Narita so much, he is absolutely best boy and is just living for this love story just like all of us 10/10

She's Japanese, but spent at least part of her childhood in the west due to her parent's work and is fluent in English. Years back on twitter she said she'd tweet in Japanese and English because that's what's comfortable to her. There's an interview where she talked about feeling lonely at first when they moved so spent a lot of time listening to her dad's music and specifically Beck and Nirvana (https://yoi.shueisha.co.jp/body/culture/6900/3/). She was also a Glee stan which would narrow her down as a millennial. If I had to guess it would be the UK though because of some obscure local bands references, vocabulary, and UK orgs she's had merch for like WWF.

There is that manga where the girl goes back in time to when her teacher was a student. That was an original take.

With this series it doesn't seem like there will be a time jump since this is running along with the other characters, so perhaps it will stay a slow burn.

Stories like this don't come around very often. I'm not sure where this is run of the mill when, for GL especially, it's school kids or office ladies with the occasional gems but certainly not a bumper crop of unique period dramas. To exist somewhere that this is an average story would be great. Sign me up.

The official release just came out and vol 1 finishes with chapter 13. There’s a nice color front and back page and about 30 pages of extra content at the end. I’ve not read through it yet.

It's the Kinokuniya USA store exclusive cover for vol 1. They teamed up with Yen Press for it. The other booksellers will just get the regular cover for vol 1.

She released an official album under a band name clearly about her and Aya filled with songs written to Aya. For a manga where music is the love language they use, advancing in tandem, that seems like very significant progress for them.

For what it's worth this is the only translation I read and I do a little skippity skip when I see it appear. It's one of my favorites.

There is now one gay braincell being shared by three people. It's going about as well as you'd expect.

Hope some of y'all purchase at least one volume of this work if you enjoyed it so much. I have, though I wish it could've been better paced. Like we needed one more volume, but I know that's a big ask for companies to gamble on a Yuri story. Sigh...

Author's gotta be a Danganronpa fan.*Junko* Shirakawa and black and white is too much of a coincidence.

Funny enough...I'm pretty sure I saw it just got picked up as a single omnibus. After vol 1 had been left dangling in the wind alone for years. Instead of reprinting vol 1 and releasing the rest you have to repurchase it all together to get the other volumes.

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/press-release/2024-08-25/seven-seas-licenses-fourteen-new-releases-at-anime-nyc-2024/.214724

Do I need a plugin or something to see the show? I made an account and logged in but the player is all black with no images just the sound

There isn't a plugin. Try turning off ad block for the site. It might be conflicting. Or try to use a different browser.

I watched it using the phone app version cast over to my big tv. So if all else fails that should work.

I know omega-verse plays it fast and loose with the rules so it can be hard to know what type they're going for at first. In this case whatever is going on down there it's either magically gone or waaaay different than standard since she is hiding as a "beta" fashion model who does photoshoots including swimwear. The majority of time it seems like she can physically pass without any concerns.

She wouldn’t, she hates her, and cuz Lily doesn’t really combat it, the sis prolly never even thought suicide was an option, ESPECIALLY when in her eyes, her sister is super happy

That’s kinda how it is with a suicidal person. No one knows til something happens.

I felt like the sister actually read her mood correctly and was giving her a way out nobody else would. She walked a blind girl into a dangerous area and gave her private time to do what she might decide to do. For the sister who seemed to understand the dangers of her blindness and environment because she often exploited it to bully her she wouldn't lack the imagination of what could happen there.

While they don't put to words what they are going through in that family because they don't have that kind of relationship... they both can understand their counterpart in ways nobody else can.

last edited at Aug 25, 2024 8:22PM

Also I haven't seen any mixed reception tbh, it's not like I've gone trawling for responses or reviews but everything I've casually come across in English is positive.

That's good to hear. I'm mostly on places where the audience hasn't read the manga and are focused on Japanese and Korean GL/BL TV so their thoughts were entirely TV related. Existing fans of the manga largely liked it from what I saw. And a lot was positive from everyone, but there was some predictable things: 1) The typical age gap / dating your boss complaints ("She should quit her job to date Ayaka"), 2) the degree people were willing to accept Hiroko being a hot mess. Straight girl complex was the level many wanted it to go and once that was solved her other deeper mess acting as barriers didn't match her bar reputation ideal they seemed to have latched onto early on so that was a problem. 3) And then concerning all of her friends spilling her secrets in their efforts to help her via Ayaka. I did see some Japanese fans iffy on that but mainly because Risa wasn't always trustworthy with the info, not that asking Hiroko's bar senpai or work peers was a bad move on it's own. I am to the point I can't figure out what people want in their shows. This one did so much I want to see. Especially the generational issues and the dynamic reversal gags carried to the very end.

Finale aired and according to the Japanese reports I saw, it was very well received. Happy for Sal Jiang and they seem happy all over twitter as well. Seems like people really liked the casting too. The whole thing is officially available in English (subs) as well.

It felt different from the manga to me, but Kanna as Hiroko made it work imo even when things weren't entirely on the rails towards the end. I also looked in on Japanese fandom and they all seemed universally thrilled which to me is important more so than the mixed reaction from western fans. The boxset is ranking very well on Amazon which they say could sway any s2 decision. It will have a bunch of extra and English and Chinese subs for the episodes, but it doesn't look easy to buy without a proxy.

The newly drawn chapter of Hiroko's school days came out and Sal was clearly in her own stash on that one. Hopefully someone picks it up.

Oh. Sal is releasing an extra newly drawn chapter 8/23.

https://x.com/y_horie_89/status/1823896519688503328

Rereading from the beginning it seems clear now she knew from basically the start. The early questions about the sister moving in as well to feel out how the girl was trying to play this out. "I can't wait to meet her" perhaps trying to tell her she'd be welcome just as she was. Getting the "moved overseas" answer made her know this was a longterm deception. "That's a shame." Asking introductory questions like she was getting to know a new person vs the brother she likely had already talked to about those things.

I even wonder if she somehow sensed the suicide attempt or can see shape outlines in direct light and spotted the shears. That "it's lonely when you won't speak to me" seems desperate. As if she knew she was trying to stop a suicide attempt. In any case rereading it is an entirely different experience now.

While we know that Aya has a big crush on Mitsuki (mostly rizz version), the reverse is unclear.

Her seduction moves are mostly unconscious and she got close to Aya because she wanted a friend to share music, something she hadn't ever had.

So, I'd think that for now, Mitsuki's feelings aren't romantic in nature, but more like she found a soulmate and a pillar of support for her fragile ego.

When Aya thought she was a boy Mitsuki was actively flirting and knew the implications of their interactions because she got to hear a play by play of it at school afterwards. She had too much info for it to all be unconscious rizz for much of the misunderstanding part. She liked what they had going on. That's why she felt so torn up because she thought what they had would all fall apart to nothing once Aya found out she was a girl and retreated into a friendship request by the end. Even Aya thought that was silly when she heard it. Aya didn't ask for that and has been working her way out ever since.

We are due more info, particularly more Mitsuki POV, but I don't think we're waiting on Mistuki to have romantic feelings start. To me Kanna and Joe who know her best are accepting her relationship with Aya in that way already.

This chapter felt a bit redundant? Sure, Nekomori backstory was a bit expanded but I think we got the gist of it already, and the rest of the chapter is just her overhearing the argument that alreaedy started in previous chapters :P

I agree. Knowing this is the last volume and that the ending is a bit rushed (not bad just rushed), I'm a bit sad a better editor wasn't able to do a better job guiding the mangaka through the last chapters.

She's the one character holding all the cards right now so knowing her personal consequences clearer would make what she does next mean more. If anything they used very few pages on her yet all of her potential choices of what she does next have some merit. She's experienced false familial love, destitution, accepting salvation, and now is reminded of her lack of agency she has so far accepted but possibly could buck here at the end. Her master is facing those various fates too.

This was a nice recent interview with Sal. She talks about how she started drawing manga (it was an... erm... interesting place to post her work), living abroad, working as a sales person at a company, how she comes up with the stories including this one, and her impression of the live action. Though it sounds like the interview was before the premiere.

https://realsound.jp/book/2024/07/post-1724219.html

Wonder what those lyrics on the chalkboard say. I’m curious if there’s anything specific about Aya in them or if they’re just generic love song lyrics

This person on twitter was working through it, but keep in mind it was originally English put through MTL. So turning it back into English would be several times removed from any meaning. There was what looked like a pew pew gun drawn too, but that was drawn by the boy for some reason.

https://x.com/Azuki_hoge/status/1815028681926144035

The live action series seems to be doing really well. It's up to episode 3, very gay, and they are taking extra attention to detail like having rl lesbian influencers be including in the bar scene and the mangaka and actress attending a panel at PIAMY Fes. Sal seems to be having a good time with it all and happy with how it's been adapted.

There is going to be a pop up at Shibuya and also online (international proxy) for the show and the manga.
https://www.manga10.com/event/2796
https://www.manga10.com/event/product/2796

The Moon on a Rainy Night by Kuzushiro

More of the cast have been revealed. I assume those are the main cast but there should still be several more minor named characters yet.

Still looking good to me so far in the bts clips posted on social. I admire their dedication to acting out the manga covers.

Terrific. Now I'm going to have to stop reading people's theories here.

Aw heck yeah let's gooooo! Lesbian representation!!! The actors are perfect (ﾟ▽ﾟ)

Their promo shots looked good and I saw them in a video and it sealed the deal. Never in a million years would I have guessed. I follow the mangaka and she seemed pretty quiet once the manga wrapped up outside of a few one shots, but I guess this was brewing the whole time.