Flash news: not every yuri manga has a yuri ending.

True, though het endings are way less popular than they used to be.

Wait, there was a time when those were popular?

Yes. I mean, not with yuri fans or queer genre fans in general, but with manga artists, it used to be. Manga in the 70s and 80s was replete with "It's a phase" stories or "and then they moved on and got married" stories, because they reinforce the "Normal" sociopolitical paradigm. Hell, this is part of why some older fans on these forums are so goddamn traumatised that they see het endings loom the instant a male characters hows up in a single panel.

For any of us that actually empathise with LGBTQ characters and want to see ourselves represented, the current trend of girl meets girl, girl gets girl, is kind of a recent phenomena.

Reiichi is kind of the wild card here. He has shown both signs of just being with Kaoru out of guilt and actually loving her.

Quite so, which is one reason the failure to clarify what the deal with him actually is feels like the author simply withholding information from us in order to preserve the possibility of playing that wild card in whatever way happens to be convenient when it’s needed.

Reiichi cheating?:
* Preponderance of the evidence: YES
* Guilty beyond a reasonable doubt: NOT YET

I can't agree. I mean, I think this is where it is For Kaoru, sure, but with what we've seen of his and Risako's behavior when they're away from Kaoru (hell, sometimes when they're with her) I think it would take a special kind of naivite to rule not guilty.

Of course, “he really loves his wife but is still cheating because reasons” is like the oldest cheating-husband cliche in the book, so common and hackneyed in real life that it’s relatively uncommon in fiction, because after all, if you’re cheating what difference does it make if you “really” love the person you’re cheating on?

Evidence points to "He married her out of pity after her mom died". He likes her, but his heart belongs to Risako and always has. Plus -she's- clearly bitter about the fact that she lost him to Kaoru's personal tragedy. I seriously doubt it's a -coincidence- that his "business trips" happen to keep coinciding with wedding anniversaries and birthdays and couples holidays. I don't think he pays attention to those things, but I'd bet money Risako does. I know there's no concrete evidence on this point, but it just makes too much sense to ignore.

What I find interesting about that is that, if he doesn't turn out to be an asshole homophobe ("But you're both girls!!!"), he'll probably end up feeling EVEN SHITTIER about everything. If he doesn't already know, which honestly also wouldn't surprise me. It'd add a lot to his feelings of being trapped and disgruntled about the marriage if he knew that he was also tearing out his little sister's emotionally traumatized heart and stomping all over her feelings all the time.

Again, the extensive list of things that supposedly matter but don’t actually matter for long stretches of the text is the basis of my dissatisfaction with the series, countered only partially by the several signicant things it does well, or at least sufficiently well enough to keep me reading.

I disagree, but I feel like it's pretty subjective, so I can't argue with it. ;p I think we've been setting up dominoes up to this point, and Uta just kicked over the first one.

Urgh..., this manga is slow. It's interesting, how many volumes it takes for Kaouru to develop romantic feelings to Uta, 4 or may be 5? I mean, they should, somehow, end up together, it's a Yuri Hime manga after all.

Flash news: not every yuri manga has a yuri ending.

True, though het endings are way less popular than they used to be. I still suspect this is going somewhere relatively happy in the end. Right now I'm wondering if Uta facing her fears and pain of rejection might inspire Kaoru to do the same with Reiichi and confront him about the affair.

Mhm, if this is alluding to climate change, then the main difference is that it's seemingly far away. If you told people "in 60 years all men will have died out if we don't start doing things now" they wouldn't do anything either.

But the closer you get to the actual crisis the more likely we are to do something about it ^^; Planning long ahead is unfortunately not a strength of current human society.

The problem is that it's a question of if we don't do something -right now-, then in 60 years.... The consequences are far away, but the urgency of the solution is most definitely not.

On page 18, shouldn’t the line be, “then you won’t have to leave here anymore?”

On re-reading the chapter I have the usual dilemma that I can’t quite tell if the problems and ambiguities are with the character or the writing—is the character supposed to be so vague and unaware of her own emotions, or is the writing sending contradictory signals?

She went into the room to confront Uta about the fact that Uta is in love with her, then acts shocked (in the previous chapter) when Uta says, once again, that she’s in love with her.

Eh, I don't think it's that hard, Uta confessed, but Japanese is ambiguous enough that "Kaoru, I like you" can be brushed off as just an affectionate comment between friends or family. She denied it because she wanted to deny it, but she knew what she really meant, and eventually she had to break down and acknowledge it, but even through all of that, she couldn't -really- believe it. She doesn't WANT to believe it.

She seems to realize how painful it must have been for Uta to live there feeling as she does, then she treats her like a little kid who can “go back to the way things used to be.”

Because she needs to believe it -can- go back. Uta has always been her primary support structure. Without Uta, she's walking on a tightrope without a safety net, and Risako's been kicking the line.

These things aren’t mutually exclusive, of course, but sharper writing would clarify how to understand them.

As another example, I think we’re supposed to perceive that Kaoru prepared herself mentally for the conversation, but then froze up at the crucial moment. But the line “What would be the correct way to answer her?” makes it sound like she hasn’t given the matter any previous thought at all.

I don't think she hasn't given the matter any thought, but she's in a situation where there ISN'T a correct answer. At least not one that goes where she wants to be. She's getting faced with a harsh reality. Uta can't be family anymore. It won't go back to how it was. The only way forward is change, and change is terrifying for her right now, because things are going badly with Reiichi, her "best friend" is stabbing her in the back, and the only person she's ever been that close to besides is Uta.

It’s sort of miraculous that I find myself still caring about Uta as a character—I want to see things work out for her, but I’m not sure the writer wants me to think that Uta needs to get away from Kaoru as fast as possible and stay away permanently.

Maybe Reiichi will come home and somehow make everything all right. lol

Reiichi's probably boffing Risako about now, honestly. :p

I'm not sure what to think of this chapter tbh. Kaoru's feelings seem so fuzzy. Kaoru's response to Uta makes it clear in my opinion she doesn't feel romantic attraction for her as of now, otherwise she would probably not say she doesn't feel the same way so quickly. At the same time, she has such an emotional dependence on this poor girl, and only thinks about herself. I mean, seriously, if you are not gonna respond to her feelings, just let her move on! I hate this type of woman.

Well, first of all, she didn't say she doesn't feel the same way, she said she can't respond or accept her feelings. The following panel is focused directly on her hand with her wedding ring, that isn't an accident.

She isn't even considering that she might feel the same way, because she's married to Uta's brother. Even if there are feelings down there somewhere, she's not going to go looking for them.

As for the last bit, I feel like that's a little unfair. She's -trying- to let her move on. She's hoping they can still be together as family. Yeah, that's naive, but I can't really hold it against her. Uta and Reiichi are her ONLY FAMILY. Her mom is dead, her dad is gone, her in-laws are insufferable. She has couple of business acquaintances, and a small group of friends that aren't -super- close, one of which is almost certainly boffing her husband.

Honestly, up until the hot springs trip, Uta was kind of her only sanctuary.

We've been primarily seeing Uta suffer in silence up to this point, but I have a feeling that things are going to get pretty freaking dark for Kaoru now.

When your species survival is on the line, surprisingly people stop caring about the little things and pump funds into the crazy ideas.

I'd like to believe this is true, but the last few years have made me pretty cynical on this specific topic.

That's called dating, stupid.

And so, Kasumom's random comment made her daughter look from seemingly indiferent, to just bashful... at least up until Sakurako is unable to keep her kinks under control, in which case she's rightfully annoyed.

What are you talking about, "rightfully annoyed"? She's clearly explicitly playing along with the kink her girlfriend JUST expressed to her! ;p

PS: I originally wanted to comment on the kimonos, but that sutff blew me away. Kasumi is wearing cherryblossom and pink (Sakurako) and Sakurako is wearing light blue (mist/Kasumi). To put it like a terrible fanfiction author: "They were stained in each other's colors."

Terrible fanfiction writers might also want to mention how Kasumi seems to love anything sakura-flavored. Her brain, her heart, and her stomach must be overlapping.

Yeah, that stuff was all very "hmmmm". ;p

She literally said "I want to be with you forever". That's pretty gay.

Yeah, and she said it after the other girl explicitly said she was in love with her and kissed her.

Not that it isn't still a bit ambiguous, but there's definitely room for a happy ending in there.

People are complaining about it because it was tagged as such.

Yeah, and my point is that people are going to complain no matter what

Based on the reception of some of the commenters here, this was poor baiting. This is merely my assumption, so please take it with a grain of salt, but I would assume readers seeing a yuri tag/looking for yuri are looking for predominant or noticeably present romance/relations between two female characters.

You know what happens when you assume. ;p

I can't speak for other people, but one of the main things I'm looking for in a Yuri tag is queer representation. Gay people(girls, in this case) being gay. And that's here, so I'm satisfied. I get that you're not, and it's subjective, so all we can really do is agree to disagree.

Based on the percentage of what you've defined as yuri activity, the making out and, Imma say, groping, is too small to be seen as a justifiable reason for a yuri tag. Even the assumption on the girl trying to seduce Gin whom she thinks is a girl, is still a last page kind of deal. What is dominate is Gin's erection and Gin's ejecilation.

I disagree. First of all, girls can have penises, if you want to argue otherwise that's some TERF bullshit. And if Gin does end up identifying as Trans, this is absolutely yuri. But again,if they don't, if Gin decides he's a bi boy who likes dressing girly, This is still a girl hitting on a girl. It might not meet your standards for the tag, but it meets mine, and apparently it meets the standards for the mods.

And, going off a bit on my opinion, whether Gin identifies as male or female, the girl (I can't be bothered to look up her name real quick) thinks that Gin is biologically female. Gin hiding the fact that there's a little Gin hiding in their shorts, making is deceptive if the other party is assuming she's hitting on a female partner. Also, imagine the backlash from that. It could be possible that Gin is seen as an even bigger pervert if its found out before Gin has a chance to say it themselves.

If you're seeking a same sex partner and you're cool if said partner is trans, that's all fine and dandy. All I'm saying is there's gotta be some open honesty so everybody is in the know and knows it's all good.

Sooooo, nope. Nope nope nope. I get that you don't mean anything bad by this, I understand why it sounds reasonable to you, but it's very problematic. As has been mentioned, Gin didn't do anything wrong here. Leave aside the fact that Gin is being blackmailed to even be there in drag, Gin is also -not seeking any sexual activity- here. Gin just agreed to dance lessons, had an unintentional physical response to an attractive girl, and was then seductively approached by said girl.

No person is obligated to share what's in their pants with a stranger, even if that stranger is making sexual advances. She took Gin's hand and put it on her breast without permission, and she has no right to complain if and when she finds out the truth.

Trans people face threats to their -lives- if the wrong person finds out that they're trans. They don't have to tell anybody anything unless they have decided they trust that person. If they want to have a serious, committed, sexual relationship built on trust, they are eventually going to have to trust their partner with that information, but that's -their choice-, and they don't have an obligation to anyone. Gin may or may not turn out to be trans in the end, but I will absolutely not let comments like this slide by without commentary regardless.

It's back! And I don't remember anything! Time to re-read the whole thing! Thank you!

Eh, it's basically a new story about a new side-couple, so even if you didn't go back, you wouldn't really be missing anything important.

Looks like a suitcase on page 109, so she left. One might argue that it's not really adult yuri with basic communication incompetence like this. Was expecting the worst when I saw Shuninta's name, though.

The shot of the girl with the suitcase is the happy working girl, not the neglected girlfriend. Look at the hair length and the energetic nature of the panel.

Somebody call Guinness, because i'm pretty sure we've got some world-record contenders on the "long jumping to conclusions" category.

Are you all the kind of people that freak out if someone doesn't text you back within a minute? There is nothing in this manga that suggests that she jumped, or killed herself in any way, or left her girlfriend, and certainly nothing suggesting shew went back to her husband or another guy.

She left the room. That's it. The empty apartment is meant to be lonely, and we're supposed to recognize that there's a disconnect between how the two women are feeling, but that doesn't mean the world has ended or that anybody's gone suicidal.

Not that weird. Like I said, it’s pretty common trend in stories to introduce a character to rock the boat.

But it never did. The closest it's come was Mo, and she was crushing on Sun Jing. We've seen plenty of scenes of QT at school interacting with various students, and she's never showed the -slightest- interest in anyone but Sun Jing. That's where the weird choice is, not the idea of a rival in general, but the idea that they would have one and not bring it up AT ALL in the time between "Sun Jing confessed" and "They are now a couple".

Though as I said, it seems to be a moot point now since it seems like the author might be losing steam for the story so I’m thinking this’ll be less complicated. Which is fine because I just want QT and SJ to live happily ever after. Which according to the future shots, they will.

Well, yeah, they definitely were always going to end up together, the question has always been how, not if.

last edited at Mar 17, 2019 1:38PM

She is certainly in control, though I would not necessarily say that she stops Sakurako from physical affection transcending cuddles or anything serious. It really does feel more like Sakurako herself is holding back and intentionally not crossing that line. She often talks about it, but in the end she never forces anything on Kasumi. Basically, I have a feeling Sakurako is waiting for Kasumi to open up and show that she wants it. There were several instances where Sakurako almost hopefully thought Kasumi would kiss her or get touchy-feely, but when she actually fawns over Saku that makes her weak and meek.
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/a_room_for_two_ch29#10

What Kasumi harshly turns down is this "worship" of herself. She seems to find it profoundly creepy and unecessary.
This is just my own interpretation, but I believe that Kasumi wants an equal give and take relationship. Sakurako always puts Kasumi on a pedastal and that gets in the way of them being on eye-level. Kasumi shows the most affection and attachment when Sakurako isn't being all crazy over her.

I get the impression that it's actually something like the jealous streak that pops up here and there. She doesn't like having to compete for time with the fantasy version of her that Sakurako builds up in her head. So Sakurako spending time on Kasumi journals or taking pictures, or spending time with the catgirl Kasumi-chan from her virtual pet game actually takes away from the time they actually spend together, and that annoys her.

last edited at Mar 17, 2019 1:32PM

. (Of course I still think it's weird how we skipped the resolution on Mo's plot. Sorry, B, we're on opposite sides of that one. ;p ) I don't think it's necessary to explain her behavior.

Mo boring--must smash! lol

I think there's just no room for Mo in the new one-page dispensation; she would have been fine (I guess) in old extended-arc mode, like that chick who had the hots for Mophead.

I just don't get all the love for what hits me as a pretty much nothing character.

(Rub chin) I empathised with her before we even got the (somewhat) explicit reveal that she was in love with Sun Jing. I remember that feeling of being in high school, liking someone but being afraid to express it because they might not feel the same way. And knowing that she was always on a collision course with heartbreak because while she has no idea about QT, we're all watching that relationship develop...

I just felt bad for her. She wasn't doing anything wrong, she seemed nice, but the world just isn't fair sometimes, and SJ liked somebody else. On top of that, I was kind of hoping that her heartbreak would lead to some character development for Sun Jing. Maybe teach her to pay attention to what the people around her are feeling a bit.

Aaaaand honestly, I was also kind of hoping we could get another side couple going out of this eventually, but it sure looks like Tan Jiu has just decided to abandon it entirely. It'd be nice to at least know why, too. Was the IRL stuff getting her down and she needed a waffy date arc? Or did she get blowback from defensive fans? Or some other reason I haven't thought of?

I dunno, but the way it just dead-ended just left a bad taste in my mouth.

So Qui had someone else she likes/liked aside from Sun right?

Chapter 63
Qui admits she likes someone.

Chapter 65
Qui just looks at Sun when Sun asks who it is.

Chapter 86
Qui says she’s unable to return Sun’s feelings so that means Sun isn’t the person Qui likes.

Chapter 146
Qui does ‘that’ with Sun but it seems like she only did it cuz Sun looked sad.

Now it’s clear Qui’s developed feelings because Sun is just so smooth but I wonder if whoever Qui originally likes/liked will later disrupt them?

It could just remain nice and fluffy but I think there might be a little drama later.

Since it seems the pink haired girl’s been dropped from the story that means probably someone new is gonna come in to stir up trouble.

Talk about cherry-picking evidence:

Chapter 63:
QT says she likes someone.

Chapter 64:
QT rubs her face on SJ’s tits.

Chapter 65:
QT looks at SJ when SJ asks her who she likes.

Chapter 81:
SJ tells QT she likes her (romantically).

Chapter 82:
QT says she can’t return her feelings.

Chapter 87:
QT feels awkward around SJ and isn’t sure she wants to see her. SJ turns and smiles, and QT’s heart totally loses its shit in an epic putong-putong, doki-doki, pitter-patter meltdown.

My reading: QT has liked SJ for quite some time, but in chapter 82 she “can’t return her feelings” because they’re both girls. She later decides that “we’re both girls” doesn’t matter.

And while absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, there’s absolutely no other evidence that QT likes someone besides SJ, and a great deal of evidence that QT likes SJ, and pretty much always has.

Likes her a lot, in fact.

What's more, if you go back to that first scene where she says she likes someone, Why would she dodge the subject if that person isn't Sun Jing? Her behavior there only makes sense in the context that she is thinking about Sun Jing.

But being gay isn't easy in most societies, and China can be particularly harsh about nonconformity. She recognizes her feelings there, but later, when Sun Jing confesses, she is afraid to take the plunge. So she retreats for awhile, but is unwilling to break ties, and then later when she realizes how much her hesitation is hurting Sun Jing, she breaks down and dives in.

Is it -possible- that she had somebody else she was crushing on? I guess, but it'd be weird not to show it. (Of course I still think it's weird how we skipped the resolution on Mo's plot. Sorry, B, we're on opposite sides of that one. ;p ) I don't think it's necessary to explain her behavior.

last edited at Mar 16, 2019 10:53PM

Nice placement of the whistling kettle as sakurako mentions warming each other while naked. Also very cute with the earrings but koruri's reason to go out with her so she doesn't lose interest is kinda sad.

Eh, she seems pretty obviously serious about it, though. I took it as more "I was nervous about starting a relationship, but my fear of losing her got me past that" rather than "I will enter a relationship I don't want because I'm afraid of losing my friend."

Jesus, you people have no chill.

Like, there is a whole host of explanations for that last panel that aren't "she's sleeping around" or "she killed herself".

She probably, as mentioned, -went to bed-.

Yeah, this story is sad because the protagonist is hurting her girlfriend without realizing it, yes, it is partly the girlfriend's fault for not speaking up, No, there is no reason to immediately jump to the worst possible conclusion just because the girlfriend isn't in their living room for a panel.

This is a story about how working hard to support someone financially can lead to neglecting them emotionally.

^Not sure if trolling or serious.

Ogura has always been advertised as the "Bi" character. See right page here: https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/giniro_no_genders_ch01#1 She's supposed to have good chemistry with Sumon too. And it's yuri, since at this point, she thinks Gin is a girl and is actually trying to turn "her" lesbian. If she discovers his true gender, they are probably to have a huge drama. Nothing proves that she'll jump with him in bed.

At this point, as the title suggests, I think the MC is gender-fluid. Depending on who he interacts with, he feels more like a guy or a girl. That's consistent with him cross-dressing.

As for Seiji, he's a closeted gay and is going to make mistakes.

Malibus, please put a few blank lines after the text you're quoting before you start typing your reply. It's difficult to tell where the quote ends and the reply begins.

I mean seeing how stupid and porny this work became, I bet the blonde lesbian will have sex with this guy or will make him cum or soemthing idiotic like that when she will confront him over other girl having interest in him and will discover he is a guy just for "drama" sake.
Or they will have a threesome.

Or Gin will continue getting into awkward situations about coming to understand his/her/their gender identity and sexuality, which has literally been the theme of the entire book since the very first chapter.

Also this chapter pretty much confirmed to everyone that the MC is not a transgender person, just a guy who loves to crossdress but as his sexual attraction goes he is straight and into girls.

It didn't. Being attracted to girls doesn't have anything to do with your gender HOW DOES SOMEBODY BITCHING ABOUT MISUSE OF THE YURI TAG NOT KNOW THAT

Plus no, a girl where readers know that one character is 100% a guy in mind and body being seduced by a female who is bi and might've even noticed his boner, is not yuri related at all, and should not be tagged like that.

We don't know that. The way Gin perked at the explanation of transgender was interesting. It may yet turn out that way, but we don't know.

Plus 2 pages of cheap fantasy of the male MC too shouldn't get a tag like that which is just poor baiting others.
I honestly can't understand why people don't want any standard when the tags get used.

The readers don't know that, and tags have two purposes, to alert people to the presence of content they want to avoid, and to alert people to the presence of content they want to see. This could fulfill either of those purposes for some people, even if it doesn't for you. Either way, there is a girl trying to seduce what she thinks is another girl, and there are images of girls making out and having sex. Pretty sure if it wasn't tagged, somebody'd be complaining about it.

Flashback arc! We finally get to see the aggressive Arisa!

We will finally know how she got so assertive!

I don't think it's really any more complicated than "Mari's sexy crying face flipped her switch."

^Not sure if trolling or serious.

Ogura has always been advertised as the "Bi" character. See right page here: https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/giniro_no_genders_ch01#1 She's supposed to have good chemistry with Sumon too. And it's yuri, since at this point, she thinks Gin is a girl and is actually trying to turn "her" lesbian. If she discovers his true gender, they are probably to have a huge drama. Nothing proves that she'll jump with him in bed.

At this point, as the title suggests, I think the MC is gender-fluid. Depending on who he interacts with, he feels more like a guy or a girl. That's consistent with him cross-dressing.

But is it that he feels more like a guy, or is it that she can't be honest about who she is with certain people?

I think there's a lot of ambiguity in this so far, by design. Gin doesn't really understand gender issues and is learning about a lot of concepts for the first time. I think this is about this character discovering who they are, gender-wise, and what they like in terms of preference. Gin definitely seems to be somewhat bi, but also seems like they might be a trans girl that just hasn't figured it out, or might be more genderfluid, or maybe the original assumption, of a boy that likes being feminine and dressing like a girl, is still correct.

As for whether this qualifies as Yuri, well, at the very least, the fantasy sequence definitely qualifies, and one of the characters -does- think she's seducing a girl, and depending on where Gin comes down on the trans spectrum, she may yet be. I think there's enough there to justify the tag.

The main character comes off as extremely in denial about their gender feelings rather than just being into crossdressing

I don't think it's denial so much as a lack of education. Once the concept of transgender and gender dysphoria was broached, It seemed like something clicked for Gin.

Nah, that'd be too tiresome. Also the premise won't work with rational and distant Mari.

Well, I wasn't being particularly serious. ;p