This sort of plot where there's a big dispute because the characters have different views on sex just annoys me. Especially when one of the characters is like Saeko. If she says she's ready, she's fucking ready! Don't second-guess her because of your own issues with irrational guilt. And now she's probably gonna cheat on her because she would feel bad about sleeping with her, or some stupid shit like that.

Except she clearly wasn't ready. She wasn't enjoying herself, she was pushing herself because, and she said it herself later, she wanted to make Saeko like her better. She wasn't doing it because she wanted it. And that is -exactly- why what Saeko did was 100% the right thing to do.

And that's part of what I love about this series, because people DO have different views on sex. and figuring out how to communicate and reconcile those is part of working out a relationship. It's realistic and relatable, IMPO.

“Mandarin oranges” is a marketing term.

No one cares what botanists say when there’s money to be made. Lol

(BTW, I happen to think Cute Little Boy is a pain in the ass. Mostly.)

Awww, c'mon, apart from his freakishly huge mouth, he's only been any kind of hinderance to our protagonists once, and both times he's met them he's given them stuff for their troubles. He seems like a pretty sweet kid to me.

His mouth is just an abominable void from which there is no escape.

laughs so much it hurts Why you do this to me, Heavensrun?

The laughter of others brings me joy.

Heavensrun I have 2 giant papers due in 2 days and you just made me laugh so hard- many thanks hahaha.

I'm glad I could lighten your day. Good luck on the papers. ;p

(I'm a little worried I may have ruined this character for everybody here, tho)

I couldn't reply after ",,,and they are literally called mandarin oranges"
(https://i.imgur.com/sQimZJU.png)
How can you be a mandarin an an orange at the same time, all these years peeling mandarin and drinking orange juice has been a lie? and google told me that the translation of mandarina is tangerine but now you tell me that tangerine and mandarin are two different thing but it's okay to call mandarin an orange.

Or is it they color? I don't care anymore, I just want to go home.

I miss the old days, they played basketball and we were all like "yeah that's basketball, alright" and we were happy

https://www.google.com/search?q=madarin+orange&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS758US758&oq=madarin+orange&aqs=chrome..69i57j46j0l4.3039j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

If it helps, it looks like while "Mandarin Orange" is a popular descriptor, to a botanist, a Mandarin isn't actually an Orange, but is a cousin of the orange, and tangerines are a subgroup of mandarins.

So it depends on your definition and whether you're talking about breeds by ancestry or just popular terminology.

Regardless, you can totally peel an orange by hand. ;p

That's it, I'm done debating citris fruit species here, although I might buy an orange later to eat it by hand and report back the experience. ;p

last edited at Jun 8, 2019 8:13PM by Nezchan

Thanks Junji Ito

It was that or a Kirby joke.

Heavensrun posted:

Just sayin' That must be a tangerine~ Like, is hard to eat an orange in the street imo lo/ what kids would eat is a tangerine because is easy to peel and you separate the bits inside, very nice for a meal.

Plot twist: the kid is actually QT dad watching over her in disguise.

https://www.instructables.com/id/Easiest-cleanest-way-to-open-an-Orange/

No really, in that picture you posted all I see is a tangerine (or mandarin whoever you want to call it), they're alike but different in flavor and one main difference is that one is easy to peel and the other is not, oranges over here (tropical country) are peeled with a knife to later make juice commonly, the reason why I'm having this really not important debate is because the idea of giving an orange to a kid seems to bizarre that I can't let it go.

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/tangerine-vs-orange#bottom-line
https://www.foodrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/orangeedit_0.jpg (the last two are the most common)

If we let oranges be mandarins then lizards can be salamanders and I'm not sure if I want to live in a world like that.

I know it's silly but is true.

I mean, the guy that posted the instructable said it was an orange, It looks like an orange, and I have no reason to doubt him, I also found other sites that say you can peel oranges by hand. Tangerines are easier, but so what? If the kid likes oranges better, you give him an orange. if he needs help peeling it, that's part of a teacher's job.

Also mandarin oranges are a different fruit from a tangerine, and they are literally called mandarin oranges, so if that's a mandarin, they could call it an orange.

He looks like a fucking pufferfish.

It’s so awesome to see a yuri manga with a complex relationship between realistic, human adults. Don’t get me wrong, the cutesy stuff is really nice, but I feel that one of the big challenges for lesbians (and queer people in general), especially in places like Japan where being open is neither accepted nor common, is the lack of realistic representation of what one’s experiences might be like. I remember reading an article a while back proposing that one of the great burdens homophobia and heteronormative society places on queer people is preventing us from openly exploring romance and our sexualities the way straight people are encouraged to, thereby denying us an important chance to learn how to establish and maintain healthy relationships, and I believe the lack of accessible, realistic queer media compounds that problem. One of the valuable things about media of all types is that it allows us to learn from others’ experience or provides a scaffolding for counterfactual thinking, giving us the opportunity to have low-risk, low-cost experiences for ourselves that help prepare us for the future, or ready us for nuances of life that are difficult to pick up on one’s own; with that in mind, the ability to read about or see romantic relationships between people like you is crucial to help the romantic and sexual development of queer people at any age, even more so when we don’t have ready opportunity to experience things for ourselves or talk to others like us. Thus, I think this work is not only excellent and interesting on the level of an artistic pursuit (which of course has its own value, but there’s been lots of discussion about that), I also think it has a real value in terms of human well-being, too; this kind of work, which explores the positives and negatives of a specific lesbian relationship in a concrete way (that is, the scenario isn’t abstract “anime bullshit” that represents a cool idea, but is rather a depiction of the human condition), meets an important and rarely-fulfilled need for realistic representation, and seeing that kind of thing really gives me hope. I’m really grateful for what tmfly is doing here, and I can’t wait to see where the story leads!

Paragraphs.

Um...asexual lesbians? Maybe?

Yeah, that was my guess too, because if they were having sex then they wouldn't be questioning if they were lesbians or not. So I figured maybe romantic asexual lesbians?

(whoooosh)

What woosh? The comment they replied to wasn't a joke.

Yeah, I know, that whoosh was directed at BOTH OF THEM. ;p

For reasons BugDevil pointed out.

You have a curious idea of self respect if you would abandon your social and academic responsibilities because a crush let you down gently and hurt your feelings. I'd describe that less as self respect and more as self-centeredness.

I understood Sayaka was in the StuCo in order to be close to Touko. We didn’t have that in my high school so I didn’t know it was important academically lol so obviously if it important academically or is something you genuinely care about (rather than something you do deep down in order to be around your crush) then by all means keep at it. It was just an example.

Fair enough. StuCo isn't like most clubs. In Japan, dropping out of any club (especially if you have a leadership position) would hurt you academically and socially, but especially so with StuCo. Student Council is responsible for the management of school events, and they assist the teachers in organizing and interacting with the students. It's a big responsibility, and an honors student like Sayaka is definitely going to want that on her CV when applying for college admissions. I guarantee that while being near Touko was probably a strong factor in the decision, Sayaka was definitely not oblivious to the other benefits (and responsibilities) of being in Student Council.

Dropping out of StuCo halfway through her second year would: Inconvenience the teachers, hurt her relationships with her juniors, Hurt her reputation within the school, Hurt her chances of getting into her first-choice university, and would generally be regarded as a flake move in a society that is notoriously unkind to students that shirk responsibilities.

Here in the US, it's less of a thing, but if you were trying to get into someplace difficult, being in student government looks really good on your application and if you dropped out halfway through the junior year, that's gonna come up in the interview and "A girl broke my heart" is not a good answer.

Maybe I should try the "simpler is better" approach to humor more often.

It tends to work out that way.

The more we see of pre-amnesia Arisa, the more I start to think that top Arisa was just Mari's imagination

Mari said straight up that pre-amnesia Arisa used to be like post-amnesia Arisa, back before her switch got flipped in the pub bathroom.

(Edit: Also we know she wasn't just Mari's imagination, because we -do- have video(audio) record of her)

last edited at Jun 7, 2019 4:49PM

Just sayin' That must be a tangerine~ Like, is hard to eat an orange in the street imo lo/ what kids would eat is a tangerine because is easy to peel and you separate the bits inside, very nice for a meal.

Plot twist: the kid is actually QT dad watching over her in disguise.

https://www.instructables.com/id/Easiest-cleanest-way-to-open-an-Orange/

I was just being honest. I bet most people say these things, that they are "happy for the other person" after being rejected and the girl they like chose someone else, but it's just rationalization. The person considered you unfit for being with them, and thinks someone else is better. The message is clear, that you are not good enough for them, which is why it hurts usually.

So I'd never stick around to see the girl I'm into being all lovey dovey with someone else...At least for me it's a matter of self-respect lol Which is apparently what Sayaka lacks, since she is going to keep being friends with Touko despite crushing on the girl for what seems like years.

Only after I don't care anymore and have someone else, would I then become friends again. If I was Sayaka I would submit my StuCo resignation next day and ghost from the "friendship" :P But Bloom Into You is so extremely PC, obviously that won't happen.

You have a curious idea of self respect if you would abandon your social and academic responsibilities because a crush let you down gently and hurt your feelings. I'd describe that less as self respect and more as self-centeredness.

Is it really so odd to have basic human decency? If you love someone, you want them to be happy, no? If not, then all you wanted was your own happiness.

It would be a different matter if Yuu was bad for Touko (in Sayaka's eyes), but despite their differences she has never looked down on Yuu. Sayaka had already accepted never confessing to Touko in the first place, so it is far easier for her to accept this than for someone who has been pursuing her forever.

Eh, I agree on the surface, when I broke up with my last relationship I wished nothing but the best for her. Eventually. It hurt a lot at the time, but I want her to be happy and I just had to accept that I wasn't the way to make that happen.

But sometimes a relationship ends because you've been actually wronged, which makes it a lot harder to be magnanimous, so I'm not gonna get judgey when somebody says they don't want their ex to be happy. ;p

She's upset that QT was careless with her own safety, I think she's grabbing her leg and bending down to inspect her injury, she's angry so she grabbed her more roughly than she should have. Basically it's a case of a kid losing control of their temper under stress.

I have an idea.

Threesome.

Nah. I mean for one thing (spinoff novel spoilers:)

We know it doesn't happen, because they're all still friends in college, and Sayaka is moving on to new prospects.

But aside from that, I don't think any of them have an inclination towards polyamory, and Sayaka's feelings towards Yuu are definitely not romantic at any point. They make good friends, though.

....is this ending soon? If not, I'm worried.

This is the last volume, starting with Chapter 40. We probably have three or four chapters left, at least one of which I am betting will be mostly epilogue. So yeah, we're in the home stretch.

Um...asexual lesbians? Maybe?

Yeah, that was my guess too, because if they were having sex then they wouldn't be questioning if they were lesbians or not. So I figured maybe romantic asexual lesbians?

(whoooosh)

I think they are lesbians, not sure though so dont quote me on this.

Let's not get carried away. Just because they had a lifelong romantic relationship between two girls culminating in marriage and growing old together doesn't mean-

-What's that? Yes. Yes? Definition, you say? I see. Yes. Uh-huh. Thank you for clarifying.

Yeah they gay.

Translation out elsewhere.

So cuuuuute.

There’s trenchant analysis you can’t get anywhere else.

They aren't wrong, tho.

Whenever I see a series like this where the author is like "No, see, they're just friends!" it makes me wonder...Like, did she have a friendship like this, and not realize that they were totally crushing on each other?

https://imgur.com/a/42gPXkr Ch 41 Raws.

They are so fucking cute!
I thought I was going to lose interest once Touko and Yuu were together, but thankfully I was wrong.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

They are super cute together. Sayaka bullying Yuu briefly as a small revenge before conceding is also kind of adorable. Koyomi demonstrates once again that she is the most observant person in the series.

Woah, hey, a plotline may have been dropped, but it is -not- subtext.

Maybe subtext was the wrong word. Indirect is more like it. Sure, they can talk about what they mean to each other and be cute together, but they can't really show it as explicitly anymore.

But....They -just- had their second kiss. They were explicitly flirting. They're a couple. Tan Jiu hasn't shied from -any- of that.

The censorship just has to do with her work not being -published-, keeping her from making money off of it. She's still making it as an explicitly romantic relationship.

Fuck China.

I know how you meant this, and the person that got pissed over it was explicitly wrong, plus you clarified, but it might be better to go with "Fuck the Chinese Government" from the get-go in the future. ;p

I think Tan Jiu has the talent for large narratives but seems unfocused and impatient. She jumps around and backs up to fill out backstory like someone who has a good eye for how to structure a narrative, but lacks the patience to finish out plans and execute them.

No offense, but that sounds like my point.

Someone who could do A but finds themselves distracted into focusing on B would seem to be strong in B rather than in A.

I intended it to expand on your point. You said she was better at character scenes than managing a large narrative, I was pointing out that I think the skill and instinct for a narrative is there, but lacking the focus to piece things together in order.

Edit: There’s also the Other Gay Guy, the not big one.

Upperclassman is the only gay guy, though. I'm assuming you mean Sun Jing's and Mophead's friend, who Upperclassman likes, but nothing Tan Jiu has shown us so far indicates that he reciprocates UC's feelings. In fact, most of his reactions so far are of crippling discomfort and panic.

In other words, if he's gay, he's at least closeted, in denial, and maybe even self-hating. Is it possible that the story is about him becoming comfortable with himself and dating UC? Maybe, but there's no real indications of it.

Or is that the wrong person, and I'm forgetting someone else?