are we supposed to feel sorry for her? Because if anything, this chapter just made me roll my eyes.

.

How to make an unlikable character more likable ? Just give them a tragic story, add a dead loved one in the mix and a promise and boom.

Do we then have to wait some time for that formula to work? Because apparently the effect is not always immediate.

Glad to see that I'm not the only here who doesn't feel a shred of empathy towards these side characters.

This chasing-after-dead-person-dream reveal is just dumb and forced. Now I don't just hate Shiho, I hate the whole fucking band and this dead character whose name I already forgot, because they're fucking dumb and unnecessary.

We could have had a wholesome story about love between two girls. Instead we get this shit.

Jesus, I forgot how stupidly angry this manga makes some of you guys. Like okay you don't like it, I get it, but somehow your dislike has turned into a seething rage you for some idiotic reason feel compelled to inflict on everyone else.

Obviously this type of layered complicated story telling is too high level for you, you should maybe try something a bit more simple and on your level...like Bluey.

You're kidding, right? There's nothing "layered" or "complicated" about it. This backstory doesn't even explain why Shiho's a bitch. She was like that before Kyou died, and keeps being so even after her death. No character development whatsoever. That's not layered or whatnot. That's just lazy writing.

All there is to Shiho is that she's obsessed with being number one, and every time she can't, she runs away. She ran away from Kyou because she couldn't beat her at music, and ran away from Aki because she couldn't be her number one in love. That's all there is to Shiho. She's a one-note character. That's why people don't like any of this. It's a pointless storyline about a pointless one-note character. And there's no character development and no progression and nothing.

This backstory did explain why the other members of the band put up with Shiho's bullshit, but that's about it. The problem has always been Shiho herself, and this backstory doesn't change anything about her.

last edited at Aug 23, 2022 1:44PM

Are we supposed to feel sorry for her? Because if anything, this chapter just made me roll my eyes.

last edited at Aug 23, 2022 12:20PM

We kind of knew all this before

Kinda, but we didn't know what kind of love Himawari-san had for the previous Himawari. Now it's more clear she saw her as a mother figure.

Chapter 6 was crazy on another level.

KawaiiSuika posted:
I'm just confused why she says she's never told anyone she loves them. Hasn't she told Sakurako that before? I swear she did.

She has; this was my failure as a PR because JQ and I both know she means "going up to someone you don't know and telling them you like them" but neither of us stopped to ask if that was conveyed in the English. Oops.

If that's what she meant, then maybe "confessing to someone" would have conveyed that meaning better. Just a suggestion.

last edited at Jun 26, 2022 1:40PM

It's weird that Ayame clearly loves Miss Sunflower more than friends in multi occasions but no one in the comments section talks about a potential love triangle, or we all accept that Matsuri is the chosen one?

Why choose one when Himawari-san can have both?

I mean it's just the motivation behind her choice. Booking stuff to celebrate doesn't really sound like a very honest attempt at a search. Hence why I was wondering if we just forgot that part of the story and we're just following Asumi the heart-conquerer.

i also forgot that mai is in fact a character and also the reason asumi started this whole crusade, honestly the author could just pretend she never existed and it would probably take a while before anyone notices it

Mai has already said that searching for Mai was silly pretext, she knows what she is doing is a terrible way of actually looking for a person

A pretext? No, searching for Mai was her main objective. It's just that along the way she got addicted to having sex with prostitutes and things kinda got derailed. No idea if the author will ever get things on track again or just forget about Mai entirely though.

last edited at May 10, 2022 2:42AM

Meanwhile, in Japan its popularity continues to grow. It is currently the best-selling manga of the entire magazine.

Japan also constantly votes Bakugo as the best MHA character, there's no accounting for tastes.

Just because you don't like something doesn't mean it's bad.

The corollary for that is just because a lot of people like something it doesn't mean it's good.

True, true. So can we all just agree to like the things we like and leave those who don't like it alone?

You mean be mature on the internet? If only it were so....

Holding back on voicing your opinion is not mature. If anything, being mature would entail that you can handle people who disagree with you.

It depends on your opinion and who you're saying it to. Telling someone their clothes don't fit right when they're trying stuff on at a store is fine. Telling a bride her dress doesn't fit right is really shitty. It's not a one size fits all thing, sometimes the more mature thing is to not engage. This doesn't apply to this thread since I think the majority here is critical, but if there was a thread somewhere where 99% of people wanted to gush about something they like, then jumping in and shitting on it is not mature, it's making voicing your own opinion more important than how everyone else feels.

So, no, I don't agree with that.

That's cool. People aren't gonna agree about everything. Being able to deal with that without getting your pants in a bunch is the mature thing to do. Even more so when it comes to taste, since everyone is entitled to their taste anyway. But again, it's okay that you don't agree.

last edited at May 6, 2022 12:57PM

Meanwhile, in Japan its popularity continues to grow. It is currently the best-selling manga of the entire magazine.

Japan also constantly votes Bakugo as the best MHA character, there's no accounting for tastes.

Just because you don't like something doesn't mean it's bad.

The corollary for that is just because a lot of people like something it doesn't mean it's good.

True, true. So can we all just agree to like the things we like and leave those who don't like it alone?

You mean be mature on the internet? If only it were so....

Holding back on voicing your opinion is not mature. If anything, being mature would entail that you can handle people who disagree with you.

So, it was never axed and the haters are just bullshitting.

Chill, dude. No one was hating on this. I only said this was axed because that's how it looked to me. I mean, if chapter 28 is the intended ending, that's a surprise because there's no conclusion in chapter 28. You don't have to believe me, just go read it yourself. The raws aren't hard to find.

Maybe the bonus charter gives it some sort of conclusion. I don't know. But my point is simply that the ending from the serialization was inconclusive and unsatisfying. That's not hating

Still bullshit: there are only 12 chapters (13 with the bonus one).

And while the end isn't clear cut, like, "and they lived happily ever after and had many science babies", its does end with Misaki "not being against the idea" so it's a positive ending, even if not as definite as some people would like.

Besides, it's been published in a pure shoujo magazine (and it looks like it's one of the rare, if not the only, yuri work in that magazine), so the tropes, tone and aesthetic are to be expected.

As usual: don't like it, don't read it.

You're just making all the wrong assumptions. I didn't say I didn't like it. I said the ending was inconclusive and I still think it is. That been said, I did like it, which is why I hoped the bonus chapter would give it some sort of conclusion.

Also, maybe they grouped the 28 chapters into 12 for the tankobon, but it was published online in 28 parts as you can see here:

https://pocket.shonenmagazine.com/episode/13933686331779315286

Now I hope we can end this pointless argument here, because I'm not hating on the manga.

last edited at May 5, 2022 5:50PM

So, it was never axed and the haters are just bullshitting.

Chill, dude. No one was hating on this. I only said this was axed because that's how it looked to me. I mean, if chapter 28 is the intended ending, that's a surprise because there's no conclusion in chapter 28. You don't have to believe me, just go read it yourself. The raws aren't hard to find.

Maybe the bonus charter gives it some sort of conclusion. I don't know. But my point is simply that the ending from the serialization was inconclusive and unsatisfying. That's not hating

Miss Sunflower has only had the single romantic attraction in her life,

Himawari-san wasn't romantically attracted to the OG Himawari. Her brother and Yuu-san were totally into her, but for Himawari-san, the OG Himawari was a motherly figure. This is gonna be covered in volume 12 so I'm not gonna elaborate on it. Don't wanna spoil the whole thing.

last edited at May 3, 2022 1:36PM

I liked it. It was an interesting story.

I don't think it's yuri though. Their relationship isn't romantic and they're fine with that, and I'm fine with that too. But that's not yuri.

last edited at Apr 30, 2022 3:33AM

So Himawari-san and her brother didn't have a happy childhood. That's interesting. I hope we'll get more details about that. If we haven't yet. Maybe we did and I just forgot. lol

Welp, I went and read the raws, and overall I thought it was pretty unsatisfying. Nothing ever happens between the MC and her friend because the manga was axed, and the only kiss we get is a forced kiss with the dude.

So yeah, not very satisfying.

Why even bother translating a series that was axed before it's time I'm not complaining, I'm genuinely asking

Well, I heard the last volume has a bonus chapter. Maybe the author managed to give the story some sort of conclusion there. Not sure about that though. I only read the raws from the serialization.

last edited at Apr 17, 2022 10:03PM

Welp, I went and read the raws, and overall I thought it was pretty unsatisfying. Nothing ever happens between the MC and her friend because the manga was axed, and the only kiss we get is a forced kiss with the dude.

So yeah, not very satisfying.

last edited at Apr 17, 2022 7:17PM

Momoka was all kind of crazy. I don't know why some people think Rin was the one in the wrong here. Nor do I care to find out, to be honest. Suffice to say I totally disagree. Momoka was the one dating dudes in a misguided attempt to get Rin's attention, then getting pissed when Rin thought she was disgusting. Of course Rin would think that, considering what happened with her mom and all. What was Momoka even thinking? Then when they actually get together, Momoka is pushy and jealous, and isn't satisfied unless she gets all of Rin's attention. All the while Rin's just trying to sort out her feelings, because you know, the thing with her mom still weights on her.

Kinda funny that now that Rin caved in and decided to dedicate all her attention to Momoka, the latter is like "are you sure about that, aren't you gonna lose your friends??" Dude, this is what you wanted all along. Why are you acting as you have nothing to do with it?

I don't think Mizuki's sexuality is important in this context. Clearly what she takes issue on is the fact that Tsuzuki doesn't treat love as seriously as she does. That seems to be her main dilemma rather than being gay or what.

Is it love that Mizuki takes that seriously, or just the concept of weddings?

Probably both. Or more precisely, she seems to believe a perfect wedding is the natural result of the perfect love. Heck, she said so herself here:

"She really loves her boyfriend, and her boyfriend really loves her too. I'm sure it will be a fabulous ceremony, like an explosion of bliss."

The concept of a perfect wedding and perfect love are deeply intertwined in her mind. In a way, this explains why she's not all that into her own wedding. Meaning, she probably isn't all that into her boyfriend to begin with.

But a much more interesting question is how this concept applies to Tsuzuki. Was Mizuki just projecting on Tsuzuki and then unilaterally getting disappointed when it turned out Tsuzuki didn't fit into her preconception? That's part of it, of course. But maybe Tsuzuki is actually more similar to Mizuki than meets the eye. Maybe Tsuzuki's sorta lack of interest in her wedding also hints a lack of interest in her lovers. Chapter 3 did kinda suggests she got together with these dudes simply because they were the first ones who understood and sort of shared her approach to relationships. But I didn't get the sense that she truly loves them.

last edited at Apr 2, 2022 10:45PM

You know its an Akiyama Haru work when all the weirdos come out of the woodwork to argue about random shit sheesh

Anyways, she’s so very clearly in love with her and obsessed, I’m just wondering where the author is gonna take it. The obvious (to me) route is that she’s a repressed lesbian who only is marrying her boyfriend out of obligation, and she’s gonna realize that, break up, and have some funny romance times with our poly gal here (although not necessarily in that order), but with the way this story has been going I can’t really predict what’s gonna happen.

I don't think Mizuki's sexuality is important in this context. Clearly what she takes issue on is the fact that Tsuzuki doesn't treat love as seriously as she does. That seems to be her main dilemma rather than being gay or what.

Also, a point that no one has brought up yet is that while Tsuzuki claims she loves both her lovers, she doesn't seem as drawn to them as she is to Mizuki. At the very least that's the impression I got from chapter 3. She got together with her current lovers because they seemed to be the only ones who would agree to a poly relationship. But her curiosity and attraction towards Mizuki seems fundamentally different. To start with, she lied to Hiroki went he suggested it was love at first sight. She dismissed the idea, yet in her head she can't shake off her curiosity and attraction towards Mizuki. And even after learning Mizuki doesn't dig her way of life, she's still drawn to her all the same. Just look at this chapter. She took off her dress right away and went after Mizuki in a hurry, leaving one of her lovers alone. Although I doubt he would have a problem with that considering his NTR fetish. lol

last edited at Apr 2, 2022 5:27PM

I wouldn't put Chen and Ren at the same level here. Ren is just a friend that Youzi ships with her mom but Chen actually seems really close with the mom.

Oh boy do I have news for you in the next chapter ;)

That's funny considering I read up to chapter 8 already and my opinion hasn't changed. lol

last edited at Mar 29, 2022 10:56AM

Kazu-kun posted:

You're missing the point. The story was shit not because Yukino was an asshole and got scot free. That's not what I meant.

You sure?

The problem with the writing is the Akiyama did mean for Yukino to get character growth but he didn't provide the heavy-lifting for that to feel earned. That's why having a character face the consequences of their actions is important. It's not a matter of morality. It's a matter of narrative internal logic. If a character doesn't face the consequence of their actions, the narrative can't justify their personal growth properly. And that's what happened with Yukino. Her character growth at the end feel forced rather than a logical consequence of her character journey.

Kazu-kun posted:

Most people who liked Octave didn't understand it either, since the only translation available was pretty bad.

I read it in Japanese and personally, I thought it was trash. It was the story of a very narcissistic person whose idea of what she deserved clashed with reality, resulting in her being self-absorbed and selfish. That's not a bad premise in and of itself. The problem is Yukino never faced the consequences of her actions. For example, when she cheated, she was forgiven right away because Setsuko blamed herself. We can argue whether Setsuko was to blame or not, but it doesn't change the fact Yukino got away scot free. And it's exactly because of that reason that she didn't grow as person until the very end. When the author tried to sell us on the idea that Yukino had finally grown the fuck up, it ended up feeling forced and unearned.

Sounds to me her being a asshole who wasn't punished is your main problem

Not exactly. Like I said, the problem is not the moral issue of Yukino getting scot free. The problem is the lack of internal logic due to lack of consequences. It might seem like it's all the same to you, but it's not. And that's all I'm gonna say about Octave on this thread.

last edited at Mar 25, 2022 5:36PM

Fukunaga has an NTR fetish. He gets a kick out of seeing his loved one with someone else. That's interesting.

I gotta give Akiyama some credit here. Other authors usually have characters who are initially averse to polyamory relationships because they're understandably jealous when they see their loved ones with someone else, but they eventually have a "change of heart" and get into polyamory anyway. Manga written by Canno come to mind. That's super unrealistic imo. I don't think feelings like jealousy can change that easily. Humans simply don't work that way. I think people like Tsuzuki who simply don't feel jealousy at all, are more likely to find happiness in polyamory relationships. And maybe people with an NTR fetish like Fukunaga. lol

So yeah, so far so good. Let's hope Akiyama won't screw this up. I think whatever happens between Tsuzuki and Mizuki will make or break it. Like, Mizuki seems to have a thing for Tsuzuki but definitely doesn't dig the polyamory stuff. Are we gonna have to swallow the unrealistic and dreaded "change of heart" here too? I sure hope not.

last edited at Mar 25, 2022 5:26PM

Story gives me bad vibes, so I'll be very caution with checking it out. Will probably not really follow it.

malibus88 posted:

Since this is well know retarded cheating lover kind of author of what we remember being done in Octave, we can bet both girls will sleep with guys around before settling for each other in end configuration or something.

Good to know you didn't understand Octave at all.

Most people who liked Octave didn't understand it either, since the only translation available was pretty bad.

I read it in Japanese and personally, I thought it was trash. It was the story of a very narcissistic person whose idea of what she deserved clashed with reality, resulting in her being self-absorbed and selfish. That's not a bad premise in and of itself. The problem is Yukino never faced the consequences of her actions. For example, when she cheated, she was forgiven right away because Setsuko blamed herself. We can argue whether Setsuko was to blame or not, but it doesn't change the fact Yukino got away scot free. And it's exactly because of that reason that she didn't grow as person until the very end. When the author tried to sell us on the idea that Yukino had finally grown the fuck up, it ended up feeling forced and unearned.

And that’s what stories are, folks—blame games. If someone acts badly and isn’t punished sufficiently, that’s a bad story. And if someone suffers disproportionately according to the amount of “blame” they have earned, that’s a bad story.

I’m not sure what the relative quality of the translation has to do with the apportionment of blame and punishment required to be meted out to fictional characters whose behavior one disapproves of. Even we stupid readers who accepted the available translation and liked the story could see that Yukino cheated and yet somehow was not forced to endure the emotional equivalent of wearing sackcloth and ashes.

You're missing the point. The story was shit not because Yukino was an asshole and got scot free. That's not what I meant. The problem with the writing is the Akiyama did mean for Yukino to get character growth but he didn't provide the heavy-lifting for that to feel earned. That's why having a character face the consequences of their actions is important. It's not a matter of morality. It's a matter of narrative internal logic. If a character doesn't face the consequence of their actions, the narrative can't justify their personal growth properly. And that's what happened with Yukino. Her character growth at the end feel forced rather than a logical consequence of her character journey.

Of course this isn't a problem if you don't intend your character to get any character growth. Statics characters are a thing. And if there is no growth, there is no need for the heavy-lifting required to justify that growth either. But that's not where Akiyama was going with Yukino.

As for this manga, it seems way better than Octave already. Mostly because the characters are openly shitty people. THIS type of a story is all about how deep the rabbit hole can get. I like that.

last edited at Mar 22, 2022 3:23PM

It's not that hard to understand, actually. The backstory is fairy simply. At some point in the past a huge earthquake made almost all landmasses of the world sink into the ocean. Now only a tiny portion of Japan is left. In other words, this is a post-apocalyptic world.

There is a supernatural element too. Spirits of the death and other supernatural entities seem to dwell in the sea. Probably the spirits of people who died during the earthquake or other disasters. The characters who are aware of these spirits call them "sea oddities."

Minato, the protagonist, is special because she seems to be possessed by a mermaid sea oddity. Maybe this is the reason she can see the true nature of the sea oddities around her.

Now in the latest chapters they introduced the two major factions at the academy. The Halcyon team who seem to regard the sea oddities as curses from the sea and are openly hostile towards them. The Halcyon team seem to be the main faction in the academy, sort of like a student council. On the other side there's the Guardian Club. They seem to have a more positive view on sea oddities. The president of the Guardian Club got interested in Minato since she saw her mermaid possession sea oddity in chapter 3, and they recruited Minato into the club.

I take it the rest of the story will focus on the ongoing conflict between the Halcyon team and the Guardian club, with Minato at the center of it all.

last edited at Mar 22, 2022 3:51PM

People seem to have forgotten we already saw Shiho's past [...]

Well, yes. But we still don't know what actually happened to cause the rift between her and the band. This is the part everyone's still wanting to see.

Wasn't it shown in chapter 20 perhaps? Shiho wasn't satisfied with ss girls band performance, then she and Aki had an argument, that ended up with Aki slapping Shiho and then her quitting : P

Pretty sure there's more to it, seeing how Shiho is still refusing to talk about it. Which sparked the battle of bands in the first place.

Shiho doesn't want to talk about it probably because her reasons are dumb. At best, she was in love with Aki and threw a tantrum out of jealousy. At worst, she did it simply because she couldn't stand she wasn't Aki's number one.

There's a reason we were shown her past from before Shiho met Aki. It established that Shiho has been a huge bitch from the get go so we shouldn't expect her to have sympathetic justifications for her current actions.

last edited at Mar 21, 2022 1:54PM