My problem isn't lack of versimilitude, it's contrivance. Obviously the setup is unrealistic, but it isn't absurd. I like that the author took this setup and played it out in a way that is faithful to the characters, treating them like human beings with motivations driving their actions. So even if things are unbelievable, there is emotional resonance with the characters.

This latest chapter made the characters feel like puppets acting according to an author's script. They go along with a ridiculous plan more because it's a nice dramatic device than because of any sort of internal motivation. I guess my problem isn't with the play-within-a-play, it's that the author has done a bad job dressing it up.

last edited at Nov 5, 2017 3:33AM

You joke, but drama (as in theater) can be useful sometimes as a therapeutic tool. Look up drama therapy.

I'm sure that it is. I've encountered it before, though only briefly. My joke is more about the obvious artificiality of the setup than its potential effectiveness.

The conversion towards this climactic play-within-a-play stands out more and more as an obvious fictional artifact, something too convenient to exist outside of an imagined story . I'm sure it will be fittingly emotional and dramatic, but personally it's just ruining any feeling of immersion I had with this story and its characters, which up till now had been one of its strong points.

Expert strategy for getting your date to take you home with them: contract hypothermia.

last edited at Nov 5, 2017 1:20AM

After the very cliche setup and silly characters, I didn't expect this to actually address the consequences of her predatory and manipulative behavior in a substantial way. It seems like the author actually has some kind of serious statement to make. I have no idea whether she (he?) will be successful, but it's definitely interesting.

I could translate, if needed. Judging by the author's pixiv, the sequel, like this story, seems to be in 3 parts:
今夜は、ずっと、先輩と
今夜は、ずっと、先輩と２夜目
今夜は、ずっと、先輩と３夜目
(Konya wa, Zutto, Senpai to [2-yame/3-yame])

The raws are available on eh for only the second of the three.

last edited at Nov 2, 2017 2:56AM

Rots? What's that supposed to mean? I liked it a lot until that point.

That woman preys on innocent teenage girls and is uninterested in serious relationships with adults, because she is a sick and disgusting human being.

She's totally going to go off script and force everyone to adlib at the very last moment.

She's going to sing a slow mournful aria about her dilemma, then the cast will jump in one-by-one as the tempo increases and Touko grows silent. Suddenly the rest will drop out, leaving only Yuu singing a reflection of Touko's melody, inviting her into a duet. The key shifts, and the previously oppressive tune becomes more positive. The other singers join back in for a celebratory finale.

I think all relationship problems should be resolved by writing and starring in a play about them. It's much more dramatic and satisfying than doing it the boring old fashioned way of actually talking to each other.

The first time I read the first story, I had assumed Shiori left her, since it seemed fairly established that there was something deeply unhealthy about their relationship.

But rereading and reading this one, I'm thinking she's dead. Just that last line "she is no longer" almost always means "is dead now" (though it's hard to be sure, since we only see the translation, and not the original line).

Or it's intended to be ambiguous. Either way, it's certain she is irrevocably gone from Touko's life. That seems to be the point - it doesn't matter what happened to Shiori, she's not here anymore.

I thought the white album 2 anime was quite touching. But I guess this story is completely unrelated, except that it's a romantic drama that involves music.

I hope with this we're finally through with that-idiot-arc...

I wouldn't get my hopes up too much. This wouldn't be a Korea webcomic if not for the absurd pointless drama dragging on way longer than is reasonable or engaging.

That's one way to raise the stakes.

I'm just wondering how they got this idea?

Clearly it was a holy vision sent to convert idolatrous heathens.

What's menhera?

Something along the lines of corrupted cuteness, with inner demons manifested outwardly. And yes, I did just google that.

Two Car is not at all what I expected, but I like it. I thought it'd be gayer, but the incredibly petty and stupid relationship between the leads is nice too. Some of the other teams seem more likely to be gayer.

last edited at Oct 19, 2017 5:31AM

I think the cut marks are just part of Chiaki's menhera aesthetic.

I guess it makes sense if you just think of them as body modification, equivalent to her piercings. Logically, they aren't really any different, but it still rubs me the wrong way. Seems a little too close to glorification of suicide, or romanticization of mental illness.

Other than that, this was neat work, and I hope there's more.

last edited at Oct 19, 2017 1:18AM

I'm getting huge Strawberry Panic! vibes from this series. Which is a good thing seeing how much of a masterpiece it was.

Strawberry Panic? What I remember of that was a strange combination of romantic melodrama, political thriller, and silly slice of life, tying them together with these bizarre machinations around who gets to be queen of the high school(s). I agree it was incredibly entertaining, but I'm just not sure which part this story resembles. Maybe the relationship between the two main characters?

The fact that the three most listed series among men and women are the same seems pretty remarkable. In general I didn't expect to see so much similarity in selected series in an open-ended question. But I guess that format of sorting them by number of selections might be behind it - the highest ranked series was only chosen by 25% of respondents, so rather than implying that everyone likes the same series, it just means that the pluralities among each group were similar.

I think if you try to convince someone that something they think is bad is actually good by pointing out that other people like it, you're missing the point.

Isn't bashing Citrus out of fashion by now?

I doubt bashing Citrus will ever go out of fashion, unless by some miracle it suddenly becomes good.

Haha was wondering why they didn't just talk about. The lack of yuri anime to begin with... XD

For girls who are sexually attracted to girls and into anime, they seem oddly uninterested in yuri (or romance of any kind, minus Aimi, who presumably hasn't been corrupted by the the 2D world). It's probably because they're just so into fanservice that they don't care about the details as long as there's sexy shots of anime girls.

To be honest, what surprises me isn't the characters fucking so much as the fact that itou hachi did porn.

...That's not what I've seen. From my hand, giving no explanation for the killing game just proves you have no investment in the story or characters.

In a good story, the setting evolves as an extension of the characters' interactions and progress. Often only part of the mystery is revealed, rooted in conveying a sense of the social and political conditions that could lead to such a thing.

On the other hand are series with sudden reveals leading to contradictory, internally inconsistent explanations. Or silly and convoluted explanations that feel like jokes.

If the writer goes out of their way to add some stupid reveal with a half-assed explanation, it only makes the story worse. A good explanation is better than no explanation, but a bad explanation is worse than nothing. In this story, the characters are forced into some horrible circumstances without knowing why. It's perfectly reasonable that the characters never learn the reason behind their torment, and thus we don't either.

The worst part of this series was the ending, starting with Komiyama's betrayal and bullshit reveal. Do you really think more of that would have improved this story?

last edited at Oct 6, 2017 2:31AM

Probably the best-written killing game I've read was The Long Walk, because there was actually an established setting that explained the existence of the game and what happened to winners and their wishes.

Most others just settle for some vague explanation "something for rich people to bet on" or "a method of the government exerting control" which always feels like a lame attempt to sidestep the real reason: "There is a killing game because you wanted to read about a killing game."

Here they author didn't even attempt to explain what's going on or why, which has the benefit of at least not insulting the reader's intelligence with an explanation that's obvious bullshit.

last edited at Oct 5, 2017 11:42PM

pretty sure there's some incest going on. Main character is clearly in love with her sister, and there's no indication she suddenly shifts into non-romantic feelings. Still, yuri romance or not, crap ending.