@meena

having read the (translation of the) novel (so far), this scene https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/a_story_about_buying_a_classmate_once_a_week_5000_yen_for_an_excuse_to_spend_time_together_ch06#26 where Sendai puts her hand on her abdomen after swallowing Miyagi's blood is such a powerful image, you can almost feel her thinking that she feels Miyagi has become a part of her, and she doesn't know how to feel about that

This is a good example of how the artist is trying to translate it to a visual medium. It's successful enough that an observant and thoughtful person could figure this out based on what was a much briefer description.

At the same time, it's possible to miss Sendai putting her hand on her stomach entirely. Someone who does notice might not know why Sendai is touching her stomach and then move on without thinking about it. There's only so much that can be condensed, even with images, so other details really will be left out.

The manga will likely feel like a complete work in its own right, while I myself have a number of stories I don't care about enough to read the source. I understand if not everyone needs to know details like exactly how Sendai felt about swallowing Miyagi's blood. Those of us who do will need to read the source, hopefully on Avelilum.

@Blastaar

That's an artistic choice, though, not a function of the difference between verbal and visual mediums. It's perfectly possible to depict a character's inner thoughts in manga/comics through the use of thought balloons and captions. Granted, when a lot of important information in a story happens inside a character's head, it can be a challenge to compose panels effectively without things getting cluttered visually, but it certainly can be done.

I recently read both the LN and manga versions of Kusuriya no Hitorigoto (The Apothecary Diaries), and many of the important actions and character beats take place inside the head of the MC, Maomao, and scenes commonly depict two characters interacting while each is saying one thing out loud while thinking something else.

If we're not getting all the information of the LN, that's because, for whatever reason, the author has decided not to present it, not because of the limitations of the medium.

I haven't read these, but I know what you mean about the thoughts since I've seen the anime. I sometimes do have trouble understanding everyone's statements and actions with the anime, though this is likely partially because I'm not watching in English.

I would say someone doing this successfully doesn't necessarily mean it's easy to do it successfully, that everyone has the ability to do it, or that everyone is given the artistic license they need to do it when the publisher has certain expectations for tone or genre.

There is a lot of non-thought content that must be depicted too in this case - there is not really any wasted visual space in this one. The arcs could be slowed down, but otherwise I think it would be difficult to include it all.

last edited at Apr 6, 2025 2:59PM

@RandomFanZ

...My bad...I didn't mean you, I was just giving my worthless 2 cents on the whole therapy topic above that many posters are chatting and talking about (Started on page 10 and till this page) XD

Probably should have been more especially when I said comment above, many comment above talking about therapy. Your comment was a short amusing funny type of comment type about the latest chapter to me though, good humor lol.

In addition to many people talking about it, there may have been one commenter who went on a long, unprovoked, multipost rant, but I wouldn't know anything about that.

@ Red K.

To anyone seeing this, I highly, highly recommend the web novel. You can read a very high-quality, non-MTL translation by Ave Lillium here https://avelilium.com/story-about-buying-my-classmate-once-a-week/

Between the release of this chapter and the previous one, I have binged the entirety of the first 2 volumes and am halfway through the 3rd. It is easily one of the best yuri novels available right now, and this manga adaption, unfortunately, does not hold a candle to it. So much of this story is contained in the inner thoughts of the characters, which unfortunately is not very well represented in manga format. The tension the author manages to create between Miyagi and Sendai is so palpable, and when all that tension finally releases, the subsequent intimacy feels so well deserved and satisfying. Seriously, to anyone at all curious, give it a shot—you won't regret it.

I know people always say to read the webnovel, but this is one instance where it's true, even as someone who doesn't generally read webnovels. This is indeed "the translation" as well. They recently changed names and added a second novel that's being translated by a different person, but one can read there or download the epubs and never lose their place.

The manga adaption seems like it's going to be enjoyable, so there's nothing wrong with sticking with it in that sense. A lot of 'the magic' is nonetheless lost, as the internal thoughts and perspective shifts between the two characters form the bulk of the story. This recent "I Know That Miyagi Doesn't Taste Good" webnovel arc is my personal favorite thus far, with the way it's written showing that the author understands what these situations are like to experience.

For example,

"It didn’t matter who it was, no one’s blood tasted good.

The sensation of licking blood off someone else’s finger was even worse than I expected.

Miyagi’s blood tasted exactly like mine when I licked my own blood – like rusty iron. That being said, I’d never licked rust or iron before, so I couldn’t say whether that was really true or not. Regardless, it tasted terrible. Even soda, which I wasn’t particularly a fan of, was way better than this.

「Lick it properly.」

She said as she pushed the finger further towards me. "

-https://avelilium.com/2023/07/20/i-know-that-miyagi-doesnt-taste-good-iii/

You can see from those 8 sentences that it was a much more intense experience for Sendai than what we could tell in the comic chapters. That's part of why she's not more mad about the popcorn-soda-ing than she is, despite feeling like Miyagi went too far this time.

Or like Sendai says to herself at the beginning of the arc:

"I didn’t like pain.

I also didn’t like being treated so rudely either.

But despite all of that, I felt more at ease being in Miyagi’s room than my own.

Maybe there was something messed up about me too.

Even if the things we did to each other had no deeper meaning to them, doing stuff like licking each other’s skin was >probably distorting our sense of distance. But now that we’ve come this far, I had no intention of going back; Miyagi most >likely wasn’t going to right herself either, after heading down the path of corruption."

-https://avelilium.com/2023/07/17/i-know-that-miyagi-doesnt-taste-good-i/

The story shifts between the two perspectives in roughly equal amounts, with Miyagi's thoughts being equally revealing. We get to see how they view the same situations differently, without it ever feeling repetitive since the story is always moving forward. Sendai does tend to be a favorite for her unhinged thoughts, which she usually avoids saying out loud. Miyagi's thought process and why she is making these choices is much clearer too.

last edited at Apr 6, 2025 7:11AM

You are probably right. I'm hoping they took it at as general April fool's venting delivered unto the void from people who are looking forward to their update, but I posted that partly in case they hadn't. We are lucky we don't have the type of scanalators who get into arguments with readers when they complain, anyway.

Why are people so irritated by this prank? To me this attitude comes across as a bit rude to the scanlators. It's not as though they are obligated to deliver us free translated chapters. Plus, this chapter might as well not have been uploaded today in the first place, it's not like there is a fixed release schedule, as far as I'm aware. And even if there was, it's just one day's delay, for a completely free service.

I thought this was funny tbh, but it's not that big a deal regardless. I did fall for it for a moment and then went, oh April fool's day, and that was it. I can just log in again tomorrow or in a couple of days and read the chapter then. There sure are some essays here about not being "REALLY that mad".

We are actually annoyed, but it's not actually because of the comic, for the most part. Some of us are even aware of that.

I do appreciate the translators, who are the only reason I know about this story.

You should also be aware that some people have had their credulousness taken advantage of or used to mock them, leading to negative emotional associations with this type of joke. This ended up being the thread some people vented about that- or at least I think that's what's going on. If we consider the likely demographics of this type of website, I assume some others have had that experience at least as much as me.

wow that's a lot of miserable cranks in the comments, I bet they didn't even see the sick ass pose.

Fun pranks are a dying art out here, keep it up yuri comrades

Oh, yeah, SUCH a “fun” prank. It’s the equivalent of dressing up in a brick wall costume and standing in front of a door, preventing anyone from going through it for a whole day. It’s not fun or entertaining; it’s an inconvenience.

Sure, it’s ultimately harmless and not that big of a deal. But it’s still fucking annoying. At least past April Fool’s stuff that used silly dialogue or memes and stuff has SOME entertainment value. This is just boring and unimaginative as far as “pranks” go. What’s the joke? You can’t read it? Yeah, and I can’t read Japanese either. I could look at literally any other untranslated piece of media or fucking a picture of a road sign in Vietnamese and get the same experience. It’s not humorous. It’s just “whatever” at best.

And before I get lynched by the joke police for the crime of being a grouchy grumpus, I’m not REALLY that mad or anything. Again, it’s just a small, annoying inconvenience that I know I only have to deal with for a day. But that’s why April Fool’s sucks so much. Just a whole 24 hours of mild annoyances and inconveniences from people who think “comedy = (lying + disruption) X frustration”. Just a stupid thing to have to deal with others forcing on you EVERY year when all you want is the thing you came for. In this case, the next chapter of a story I liked reading.

tl;dr: life then no comic update

(count me among the grumpy for today)

I am meaning I am the one who would dump my trauma on people if I'm not careful, so I hope neither you nor anyone else took that as a statement about other people's posts. I enjoyed hearing your thoughts.

@ rainbow8

You're choosing the most hostile possible interpretation of what might simply be non-optimal wording.

Being gay, in itself, is not a burden. Being gay in a homophobic society creates social problems for the parents as well as for the gay person. Okay?

I've found that "burden" is one of those words to which people often have a strong emotional reaction, thereby coloring how they interpret what they said. Someone taking the worst interpretation doesn't surprise me.

Factually speaking, I do think you're right here. When someone is very stigmatized, their close relationships also are stigmatized, albeit to a lesser degree. Some people are going to handle that badly.

@ FluffyCow

I'm not the person you're responding to, though I want to say that parents having an idea on what the optimal version of their child is definitely hits home for me. Getting a bit personal for a second, my dad loves me in his own way, though he doesn't really understand or accept me for who I am, as I don't meet his expectations for who I should be according to his inflexible vision of what he thinks the optimal version of me is.

Congratulations, for I also wasn't the person the other person was responding to,

I try to avoid posting personal information on here, partially because the discussions can get emotionally charged and I want to avoid dumping my own trauma on people. It has been part of my experience too, though, especially when I was a minor or otherwise financially dependent. I imagine this applies to many people, albeit to varying degrees.

More generally, it can be a challenge to not place expectations on what other people should be in other contexts. An example is in a romantic context, where we might want our partner to have certain qualities, or even strangers in public. That's something I'm working on, though this doesn't mean I never criticize people. There's a difference between trying to control someone versus accepting the current situation is what ever it is and then doing my best to figure out the best response. Parsing that difference in the moment is the hard part.

last edited at Mar 30, 2025 7:54PM

My dad said the exact same thing to me when I came out as trans, or at least the same underlying reasoning. Though much wordier and more hurtful things lol. It's a shockingly common viewpoint for people who are fine with queer stuff on the surface but never really seriously consider anything about queer people.

I remember reading, in a disability context, something like,

"Parents increasing conflate wanting 'the best for their child' with wanting 'the best child'."

This related to attitudes like not wanting to give birth to a disabled child or more generally wanting that 'their future child' to not be disabled. They form an idea of what their child is like or will be like and then hope for the optimal version, rather than staying open minded, seeing what their child is like, and then deciding how they can offer support within that reality.

With some other parents' child, they haven't spent years or decades building up this image what the child should be like, so it's much easier to say that however those children are is okay. Or at least, this is how I see it. This gets combined with people more harshly judging people who they see as 'like them' than those they see as outsiders, with many parents seeing their child as almost extension of themselves.

last edited at Mar 30, 2025 9:43AM

I could see Meguru accepting Azuki's love as more than just physical attraction but still having trouble with the sexual aspect of it, so they'd get together again and later realize their needs are not really compatible even if they love each other, ending in a (hopefully) clean break-up, opening the path for AzukixRemu.

Sorry, not toxic and dramatic enough. Rejected. /s

Pacing is fine, the chapters are too short. Not criticizing anyone, but I long for more content.

A quarter of a chapter would be one or two pages in this case, which isn't enough time to develop much.

last edited at Mar 20, 2025 8:40PM

I think you came up with something highly plausible (and we could come up with other possibilities), but I wonder how long their purported arc will be. Luxi's mom is written in a way where she's very isolated and seems to have no one besides Luxi, whereas the mom friendship hasn't been going on very long and had its trust severely damaged. Reestablishing the friendship without false pretenses seems like it should be its own arc, while I don't think the author will want to spend too much time away from Luxi / Tong Tong. Unless the author is going to make most of that happen off screen and surprise the MCs, I would expect it take more than one arc.

last edited at Mar 10, 2025 5:26PM

But there are many ways of dealing with trauma/issues, and therapy is not really popular in Japan. That why is always make me laugh a bit when people are mentioning therapy for Japanese characters. Talking about therapy in Japan is seeing Japanese society with a western lens and it doesn't apply very well. I'm not saying that there are no therapist in Japan btw, just saying that is not common and therefore it's not something that we can expect to see in fiction as a way to resolve characters' issues.

I don't know anything about the state of therapy in Japan, so I can't comment on that. I do know that, even in the US, many people have limited access to therapy. This can mean needing to choose from a smaller set of options (what will the parents approve if you're a minor, what's local and covered by insurance, who treats on a sliding scale, etc), possibly at random until you find someone appropriate.

Most of those options will be subject to the same general biases of your local and national culture. This is known to impact healthcare outcomes (eg, Black people being treated as being at a lower pain level than White people who make the same statements). I think it has a much larger impact where therapy is concerned. It's not like a situation where a skilled surgeon with a god complex could give you a good outcome. A therapist who's trying to stay professional but is secretly a bit weirded out by teenage gay stuff and secret BDSM coded transactional relationship will impact the whole process. For someone in an emotionally vulnerable situation, this could have long term repercussions.

I know I'm very seriously responding to an idea that was mentioned off handedly, so I hope everyone will forgive me for that.

last edited at Mar 9, 2025 4:09PM

I think the situation is delicate in a way that therapy not being on the table is something I find easy to accept, at least this early. The thing about therapy is that -except when mandated by court order or you get committed/taken in by ambulance- it's voluntary and requires some level of willingness. And it can be hard to realize that you need it if nobody around you suggests it in an encouraging, non-judgmental way.

I'm just going to go there and say therapy isn't as good as people say it is.* The therapy techniques are not backed by science (ie the techniques perform similarly, even ones that are less scientific sounding like crystal energy healing). People subjectively liking how something feels isn't the same as improved clinical outcomes. See bath salts for an example**.

I'm not saying it -can't- help people, but people act like it's a miracle treatment suitable for all people if only they are willing to give it a try. This would make it unlike any other kind of treatment that has a failure rate, even among people who properly follow the treatment plan.

Not being able to talk about their relationship with anyone at all ends up being the root of a lot of challenges for them and so a therapist might help in that sense. I can't imagine most of the ones I've seen really understanding their situation or being able to respond in a helpful way, though. As a web novel reader, I just want them to talk with Maika... Okay, who am I kidding, I want more drama as they dig their hole deeper.

*I could say more about my personal situation, but I've had more success with non-therapy measures despite trying extensive therapy with different therapists over many years while doing my best to take it seriously. There's no one size fits all approach to healthcare.

** Yes, therapy is more likely to help than bath salts. It's just an example.

last edited at Mar 9, 2025 11:10AM

Child abuse does not require bad intentions. It's frequently done thinking it's the right thing to do, even, and that doesn't make it not abuse in any way. Abusers say "this is for your own good" all the time. Their supposed ends do not justify their means. Especially in cases like this where the desired "end" is forcing someone to deny their sexuality. Luxi's mother scarred her terribly and she'll never be able to make up for it or continue having a relationship with her daughter if she clings to her supposed good intentions, because it's not up to her.

It requires it as I'm using the word, which is relevant to the meaning in my posts.

People will also say their intentions are all sorts of things, sometimes even convincing themselves. How they respond when confronted with evidence that what they did isn't helping is much more revealing than what they say. There's a reason why I included subconscious intent.

last edited at Mar 7, 2025 7:09PM

I also am up for differing perspectives, but I feel the need to clarify here. Luxi did not lie to her mom, nor did I say she did. Her mom thinks Luxi lied to her because she thinks Luxi was in on Tong Tong's mom lying to her. Luxi's mom came up with a narrative where everything is related in a way that confirms her worst fears about herself.

I also don't see thinking homosexuality is a disease as abusive, so much as ignorant and deeply harmful. I think she genuinely believed it was dangerous and that pursuing the gay stuff would be extremely bad for Luxi. It's the parent's job to step in when their child is about to make a major mistake, especially one that could ruin their life (eg alcohol addiction). The problem is that, when they don't check their biases, they can end up being the biggest source of harm, despite genuinely wanting to help.

It's like a parent denying their child life saving medicine because someone on social media convinced them that the medicine would kill their child. The effect is the same as if they were trying to harm the child (that is, as abuse), but it's a genuine attempt at good parenting. People define abuse in different ways, but for me it cannot be abuse when both the conscious and subconscious intent is to help someone.

If I'm right, realizing that Luxi is both successful and happier will make all the difference to her, along with finding out that Luxi never lied to her and still values her. Neither of these are information she yet has.

last edited at Mar 6, 2025 9:28PM

I think the mom is more upset that
1 she was lied to about this and her daughter couldn't trust her
2 the friend she thought she had was also lying to her and their own relationship was built on manipulating her .
I think she's more than likely gotten more accepting of her daughters queerness and is hurt shed hide it from her ( even though her daughter has no reason to trust her with it )
Clearly she was wrong about lin and tongtongs relationship effecting her hard work . I think she'll talk to tongtongs mom and come to a realization that she's no longer homophobic .

Being lied to almost certainly the major part of what she's upset about.

Her past depictions were less abusive to me and more overworked and stressed, but while feeling like there was a reason for her to sacrifice that much. With her purpose gone so to speak and the years of her life never coming back, she has to figure out what to do with herself. She also has to live with the fallout of the social skills and network she didn't adequately developed. We know her marriage/romantic life didn't go well.

With the latest chapter, she took all this as a rejection: no one trusted her, no one appreciated her, and now that her daughter doesn't need her anymore her daughter is done with her. This will be a lot of motivation to come around on the gay stuff, especially when she sees her daughter doing better than she is (good grades, social network, etc in addition to a successful relationship). We also know Luxi does appreciate her, which is part of why this is hard for Luxi.

She really needs some time away from Luxi and to hear that she is appreciated. In the mean time, she has Tong Tong's mom to help her figure out what she enjoys and how to live more independently. Really fairly realistic without the mangaisms (the present, the phone calls, etc).

last edited at Mar 6, 2025 7:24AM

Slenderman does seem to be meant to be both comical and someone who likes to make convenient nonsense as they go along. The premise of the story is still Itou learning about normality from the perspective of other outsiders, the monsters. I think we are meant to read into it a little, rather than entirely dismissing Slenderman's perspective.

"Kill the normies" may also appeal to certain demographics for obvious reasons, even if they wouldn't really want it to happen.

last edited at Feb 24, 2025 4:14PM

They're engaged now, so naturally they would be doing things like aquarium visits.

Slenderman may have been trying to draw out the worm to get more information about her abilities, since she could be both a threat and ally to the plan. I'm not sure the last part was sincere. We haven't had a lot of scenes, but it felt out of character to me compared to what came before.

I will say I don't otherwise see hypocrisy. Wanting people to be free to do things like murder doesn't mean you want to be personally murdered. It just means you want people to be free to try. A comparison: I might want someone to be free to tell me their real feelings about me, but then end up being disturbed by how they really feel. This doesn't mean I wanted them to lie to me, as I wanted the truth, but I would have preferred that the truth was something else if that had been possible.

Slenderman clearly is also proposing rules, from what I can tell, to the point even he must be aware of it. His end goal is to create a media human farm. That presumably will involve protecting those humans from monsters that don't value entertainment media. He wants a very different social environment than what exists now, but still is envisioning one.

last edited at Feb 24, 2025 7:48AM

I'm fairly certain what happened is that she had to stop reading due to Luxi coming home early, so she never got past the part about building anticipation. She did this part very well, but eventually Luxi got annoyed about it being drawn out and took over.

last edited at Feb 23, 2025 8:00PM

I agree that police often have good intentions, though what they always have is guns. Most of us have done something we shouldn't when scared or angry, maybe even convincing ourselves we were justified after the fact. There's a limit to how badly this can go if you're unarmed, which I make a habit of being partially for this reason.

Anyway, it does seem like this story is likely to end with the self acceptance route. We have the example of the grandma who is very strange but also considerate, which is something of a middle ground compared to our protagonist. Both the worm and protagonist don't seem very happy with themselves. It would be satisfying seeing them get to the point where they both are okay with themselves while having made their peace with society.

last edited at Feb 23, 2025 7:22AM

US stuff about Trans...Yeah I am not going to touch that with a 10 foot pole but the people representing them as a group in the court/City council...They need better well educated people to represent them...I am starting to think those people are just hired to make the Bi, Queer, Trans etc. group look horrible and stupid. There must be more better and intelligent people part of the LGBTQ group that can do a better job...

You did, in fact, poke it with a ten foot pole.

I wasn't referencing entertainment media anyway, more social/political things like healthcare access, bathrooms, sports, etc. Most people didn't care that much about these topics 20-30 years ago. Of course, trans people didn't have access to what many now have access to it, nor can you call the police on a trans person for simply using the bathroom* in most of the US (except Florida). In the past, many carried around letters from their doctor so that they could explain why they were in the bathroom when the police got called on them. The cultural environment was very different.

None of this was a reaction to trans people per say. Things were set up that way due to cultural norms and legal precedent, which often had been set without being aware of trans people. That 'normal' got challenged once people started becoming more aware that trans people are a thing and once doctors realized there is medical evidence in favor of supporting transition. The average trans person was not trying to make a statement about gender politics, but nonetheless society became forced to consider it.

Edit: *I should say that people can and do call the police on people in the US for all sorts of stupid reasons, which sometimes leads to violence. Nonetheless, the response in the past would have been both more reliable and more reliably dangerous.

last edited at Feb 22, 2025 6:59PM

Clearly they were both gay, with the story having been written about their presumed straight love interest to try to force themselves to move, and then- hang on, we're not supposed to post these online.

@ Gutterslob

Not to put words in anyones mouth, I think its the original "model" for the figure also having been a real person that sets the precedent that this wouldn't be AS immediately offensive to her.

I think this too. It's obviously different when it's about -you- rather than someone you've never met, but I don't think she would in general think less of someone who did this.

I don't really have a problem with the idea of Japan being more rule abiding. It seems to be somewhat true (albeit I'm simplifying it to the point of absurdity) that following the rules is seen as the way to show respect in Japan, whereas in US it's by letting people do whatever they want.

Despite that, I would agree everything about normality also applies to the US. The standards of the group are simply different (despite significant overlap between all cultures). Sometimes the standards of normality in the US precisely relate to giving people the space to do what they want, even if it's selfish or not strictly a good idea.

Also, I didn't know this one was on dynasty. I'll have to read through the comments at some point.

Edit: I think people may have misunderstood the concept of not getting in people's way to some extent. If, for example, someone sees heterosexual relationships as both standard and correct, having an openly gay relationship challenges their understanding. This manifests as unease - getting in the way of how they want to see themselves and society. Hence you can get in their way simply by existing.

Since people have mentioned trans people, this is really evident in the US right now. Most trans people just want to live their lives. However, if trans peoples' needs and experiences are acknowledged, it invalidates a lot of the traditional understanding and choices around gender. This leads to trans people being subversive by their nature, even if they'd very much prefer to be seen as normal (or even as uninteresting, as far as their gender status goes) and embraced by society.

Many people are trying very hard to change the norms for this very reason, to allow more inclusion and acceptance to a wider range of people. People who don't want to change their understanding feel angry and threatened for this reason, despite generally not being materially threatened in any way.

last edited at Feb 22, 2025 12:50PM

Well, Remu did consent to being the model. That makes a difference with this kind of thing. The nonconventionality of it isn't the part that would be an issue for her.

The public nature of it is indeed the biggest issue, along with her seeming unwillingness to consider that Remu might not like her that. Both of these could create a lot of problems in a way a private journal or even a story with the names changed wouldn't.

It's not clear how recognizable the stories would be, but they seem to involve real places they have been. It potentially could be pieced together by someone. Given that's the most dramatic and harmful possibility, it seems like an event that will happen at some point. At least, that's one way this could go, but it's hard to predict where this story will end up.

last edited at Feb 21, 2025 7:57PM