It's just mind blowing how you are so willing to press on Kaoru having a crush or the potential to have a crush/sexual attraction to Uta,

It’s ridiculous to deny this—that’s literally the entire initial premise of the whole series.

Kaoru is extraordinarily bonded to and emotionally dependent on Uta, she expresses her affection in notably physical ways, and (as almost literally couldn’t be made more obvious) Kaoru uses Uta as a replacement for the attention and support that she doesn’t get from her husband.

If that were not the case, Uta’s feelings would just be completely delusional and perverse—“Here’s the story of a weird girl’s obviously doomed quasi-incestuous crush” is not how this story has presented itself.

Omg, do you guys even read what I'm saying? I should probably stop replying because this conversation is on another type of pink fluffy cloud.

You literally cut my sentence right in the middle (the comma is still there) and deleted the other part which is the most important part of the sentence, only to repeat again the same point you made above. If you can base your whole view of what a story is about based on a couple of scenes and ignoring the "contradictory" scenes only in favor of making it seem Kaoru is aggressively affectionate to Uta, then it's mind blowing to me how you can brush off the scenes with Reiichi and Risako.

No, if Uta's feelings are truly unrequited, that doesn't make her creepy and it doesn't make this manga meaningless. Stories are not always about finding love. It can very well work for showing how hard it is to overcome a love, and showing the stages of doing so. Uta has shown some of the stages of getting over Kaoru so far.
First was realizing it. Then she went on thinking she could keep living with it and ignore it (denial). Then she accepted it and had to make the hard decision of cutting off Kaoru. After that there will be slip ups (like how she went back to the house for checking on her) because it's not easy.

If you insist of thinking this story is about them ending up together, then you will read all the rest of the info about Uta getting over Kaoru as "the story contradicting itself" and bad writing.

It might turn out to have been a rather clever way to distract us from just how aggressively affectionate Kaoru's behaviour actually was.

Lmao I cracked at this xD this is a manga, not real people who try to go out with each other and get away from prying eyes.
If the author wanted to add that, they would.
I'm not denying there is a possibility they'll end up together, but you are just literally isolating this specific scene and writing paragraphs on it to make it seem bigger than it is in the grander scheme of things. It reminds me of these people who think everyone who looks at them fancies them.

It's just mind blowing how you are so willing to press on Kaoru having a crush or the potential to have a crush/sexual attraction to Uta, yet with Risako's feelings and Kaoru's feelings for Reichii you are literally applying the exact opposite logic.

I guess a better title of this manga would be "Kaoru and her aggressively affectionate sexual advances to her sister in law"
Rated: X

last edited at Jul 29, 2020 8:59AM

Weren't you telling me only a week ago, re Risako, that being unable to give up an obsession with someone means attraction?

Yeah, except I don't think Risako's interest is simply an obsession. I think it starts from attraction, and because Risako is the person that she is, it gets expressed as obsession because she tries to suppress and erase the feelings instead of accepting them and move on.

At least this is based more on the reality that's presented by the manga, if you compare it to your own theory that's literally a headcanon about Risako's family.

The statement that "Kaoru never had any romantic feelings for Uta" is, of course, an irrelevant red herring--the question was not did she have those feelings, but could she develop such feelings

When you talk about scenes like the necklace, then someone who reads your post will think that you are talking about whether she had those feelings in the past, especially when you don't mention that your are talking about the possibility of her developing these feelings.
Not everyone will automatically know to which one of the two you are referring to, especially when there have been posts above of people saying Kaoru might be a lesbian.

the idea that the title constitutes some sort of ironclad promise about the nature of the story's conclusion is simply preposterous

I didn't say that. But it can very well do, so that's for some people who read the story with the narrative they wish to happen and skip other clues because it doesn't fit into that image.

aggressive skinship

Yeah, that's a strong language to describe them, I'd personally only use that it they rubbed carpets.

last edited at Jul 28, 2020 11:11AM

Harumin's facial expression and the way the whole scene was, made it clear (to me) Harumin had a thing for Yuzu that she decided to give up on right there and then to support her as a friend

Yeah like come on! I know they will never be a thing, but to me it's astounding how far people can go to excuse something blatant when they just don't like that certain narrative.
And I'm not saying this necessarily means Saburuta doesn't make fun of HaruYuzu shippers through Nene, but since I believe there were some underlying feelings from Harumin, I don't think she'd make fun of her own writing.

But then when Uta made her feelings clear, everything went hard in the opposite direction, all of which can be rationalized on psychological/character grounds, but making "where does this story think it's going?" more of an open question than ever.

This story's direction was clear right from the beginning. Only if you read the necklace moment as a romantic development and hoped/thought it meant they were going to end up together, it doesn't make sense.
It makes sense right from the start if Kaoru never had any romantic feelings towards Uta.
These scenes that people keep mentioning are not much really. Hence why it's called Unrequited Love. Kaoru is attached to Uta, but that doesn't mean in a romantic sense.

I was reading Citrus on facebook, and the translations there were behind compared to other manga sites. I wanted to see people discussing about it, but in these other sites there barely were/are comments and only on facebook you'd see people having full conversations about it.
Then someone in the facebook comments linked this site and said "go ask them when the new chapter is coming out"

I like how the fourth wall kinda breaks here with author having the mermaid say that there are weebs in Europe lol. The author knows we're reading.

I wonder how Anastasia watched anime into the sea though. Electronics and books don't really work underwater.

Jesus Fuck.
I've been following this manga for so long I don't want to read another 10 chapters of love triangles
Lemme see main coulpe scissor each other already :/

Lmfao for that you'd have to wait at least some 100 chapters, since they're so useless.

They don't have to scissor or even kiss, but this jumping to the secondary characters right after there has been some development is really annoying.

But physical attraction of some sort is rather critical to whether her feelings for Reiichi are evidence of heterosexuality, even more so if we are talking heterosexual attraction to the exclusion of homosexual attraction (it wasn't a mandatory checklist, it was just a few examples of things that someone attracted to men, not just a particular person, might notice. My mom loves beards, but that definitely isn't Reiichi).

Although I think it is unlikely at this point, even lesbian isn't out of the question. Fixating on an idealised unattainable guy isn't unheard of for for lesbians still working things out (it is safely theoretical, and gives a handy reason for not being interested in available ones).

Fixation is a very strong word for it to merely end up being nothing. If you ask any lesbian she won't tell you she was ever fixated with a guy in the romantic sense.
If we really thought like that, then every single woman in the world can theoretically be a lesbian. Because if you take it a step further, even the ones who exhibit sexual attraction towards men could be doing it because they are attracted to the idea of what that man represents and be conditioned to think it's sexual attraction. Also even in rape situations, the woman's down low gets stimulated automatically, which could be used as an argument that even arousal is not a sexuality indicator (it's not with the rape situations, I'm just using it as an example)

It's contradictory when you say Kaoru could be a lesbian because we haven't essentially seen them doing the deed with Reichii or Kaoru drooling over him, but at the same time she never showed any sexual attraction towards Uta or any other woman. She even slapped Uta's hand away when she confessed.

Attraction doesn't always express itself a certain way. You don't have to "like someone's smell" to check attraction points.

Risako is trying to get rid of "these feelings" for years, and she dated Reiichi to prevent Kaoru from confessing. Idk what else you would call that if not attraction. It doesn't always start from finding someone hot.

Risako is a lesbian imo. And there were strong hints about that during that chapter where she and Kaoru were hanging out with their other friends, and Kaoru said something like "it must be nice that you can focus on your career and not be so dependant on someone" (a man, because as far as I remember they were talking about men before that)
And Risako was like "Do you think I like it?"

It confuses me how people don't even mention that and are still surprised Pikachu face about Risako's sexuality.
Also she wasn't even interested in Reiichi and only got with him after she realized Kaoru was getting bolder with her attempts at confessing to him.

Regarding Kaoru's sexuality, I still don't believe she's even bi, but for manga's shake she might very well end up being, although I'd rather that to remain realistic and true to the development so far.
As for attracting two females, that really has nothing to do with her own sexuality. There is a bigger percentage of straight people, so it's just all about statistics. Plus gay women are hint on by men too.

last edited at Jul 22, 2020 1:06PM

when and how Saburouta hinted that Harumin has feelings for Yuzu? she just said "I love you too....as a FRIEND" that was just Harumin trolling around with Yuzu and I think that scene was needed to clear any doubt about Harumins intentions for Yuzu

She didn't need to clarify it though. If there was nothing there, a simpe "I love you too" would add up more. Like, you don't clarify the "as a friend" or "as a family member" etc, when you say I love you to your friends and family. Also the way her expression was drawn was weird.
Even better, because that scene was emotionally charged, a "I support you no matter what" would make even more sense. "Saying I love you too...as a friend", especially after someone comes out just makes me wonder.

Anyway, it's clear Yuzu never had feelings for Harumi, but I think the opposite is pretty debatable.

Except that's not what the former wording implies. Not inherently, anyway, 'less you're kneejerk paranoid.

Lmao what? You're not making any sense and just diverting from the actual point of discussion to make a straw man argument.
Plus, it wasn't your comment and words I was replying to, so you don't even know what that person exactly meant by that.

"Make fun of" is not the same thing as "find ridiculous", just sayin'.

And the point is? "making fun" and "finding ridiculous" doesn't change the meaning and context of the argument.

Not sure what "argument" you're even referring to, but I'd say the difference in tone would be quite relevant.

Saburuta making fun of HaruYuzu fans.
Saburuta finding people who ship HaruYuzu ridiculous.

There is a small difference if you want to be 100% accurate (ridiculous is an even stronger version of making fun), but both words just imply that Saburuta dislikes the HaruYuzu pairing, and that disliking of hers was manifested through Nene to make fun of the people who shipped them.
But at the same time she added that very unnecessary for the plot Harumin scene after Yuzu coming out, which was like a hint that Harumin liked Yuzu that way. All this after she already knew people were shipping HaruYuzu.
The fact that she finds it funny or wants to make fun of these shippers is contradictory with her adding that scene, especially when it had no point for being the for the plot development.

"Make fun of" is not the same thing as "find ridiculous", just sayin'.

And the point is? "making fun" and "finding ridiculous" doesn't change the meaning and context of the argument.

Lmao this was pretty hilarious. I've always found Nene's reactions funny
When she was clinging to that wall, pretty sure she was stalking HaruYuzu lol

Also I always felt like Nene was a manifestation of Saburuta that secretly ships HaruYuzu.

Nene us just sabus way of making fun of people who ship the wrong ship lol
At least that's what I think

I disagree. Sabu almost hinted that Harumin might have feelings for Yuzu when Yuzu came out with dating Mei. She didn't need to add that, if she found the HaruYuzu shippers ridiculous.

Lmao this was pretty hilarious. I've always found Nene's reactions funny
When she was clinging to that wall, pretty sure she was stalking HaruYuzu lol

Also I always felt like Nene was a manifestation of Saburuta that secretly ships HaruYuzu.

In an ideal world, everyone would be with someone they are in love with. But this isn't the case most of the time.
So I understand Reiichi's pov. The thing is, even if they stayed together would he still be tempted to see Risako? And how would these lingering feelings affect his relationship with Kaoru. Could he eventually get over it, or would he become more miserable? Personally I think the first, if he took some time off away from Risako.

But I also don't believe that "learning to love someone" and being with them for a long time means it's better than dating someone you were in love with but broke up.
People just love convenience and simple things, and some don't like having very strong feelings for someone. So that's the companionship type of relationship, which is just friendship with sex. It's not romance.

last edited at Jul 20, 2020 12:49PM

Isn't Yurika's campus life literally gay for pay though? Because she keeps stating that she's not interested in women but she needs the money, plus men don't like her at all.

It is real as it gets. Very evident is not all ships are in together at this point. IRL, most people don't end up together since they are afraid to confess. It takes a lot of courage from whatever point of view if you are serious about what is inside you. That anxiety/agony of knowing what is the unknown is too much for some people. Take the case of Moe and Hikari, Hikari's wide open arms in the hotspring is an invitation for Moe to be part of her life. She is just a simple girl who's contented to have somebody by her side(married men is also outside what is generally accepted to be with). By the mere fact that Moe didn't move forward and give an excuse to come late at night, gave Hikari the impression of "can't be" or a "stigma of unaccepted relationships". Moe is precious enough to Hikari, so, by not losing her, she made it easier for Moe the following day of not remembering the night. So, people IRL must take relationships without labeling. Love is just everything that it is competely nothing.

This analysis is very interesting. Especially the part about the married men. I was always interested in Hikari's character regarding that, because I felt like it showed an information about her in a less visible way, but I didn't look into it much.

I remember two other moments after the hot spring situation that can support this angle.
One when Moe was talking to that guy from the gym about going on a mixer and she was trying to hide it from Hikari, Hikari came behind them and the way her expression was drawn when she said "what are you guys talking about?" seemed extra nice and sweet and it was a bit suspicious. Like when you're being all too nice etc because you're trying to hide something.
The second was when Hikari started swooning over that older man who came to work, and when she was talking about him with Moe she also added "Besides, I don't want to keep causing trouble for you" which was most certainly referring to how Moe struggled after almost kissing her and then was gone for a full night.

I liked this pairing because of how they started. Moe was genuinely supportive of Hikari in trying to get over the manager without any other hidden motive, and I found it very refreshing, since a love interest would just be all angsty in that type of situation, thinking "why can't they love me instead"
All in all, it's funny because it turns out Hikari was the one who knew more about Moe's feelings than vice versa, since she was always the one portrayed as the less bright.

Did she really have to have that wedding in the end though? Axed or not, this is a shit ending.

I'll just go ahead with a headcanon and think Hikari divorces her husband after a couple of years and finally gets with Moe. Bye thnx.

Is no one gonna talk about Hikari remembering what the snacks tasted like when she's supposed to not remember what happened that night she was "smashed"? That smile she had when she mentioned those snacks gave me the same vibes as Moe's reminiscing.

I might be jumping into conclusions but I wouldn't be surprised if Hikari indirectly lied about not remembering her and Moe's almost make-out session. I mean... Hikari has been shown to put up a front with her cheerfulness.

Yeah, that's what I had thought too when that chapter had originally come out, and this one just confirms it.
It just shows she always knew how Moe felt.

I think people are not talking about it because it doesn't change anything. We can see she had some type of feelings too, but they weren't enough. She liked fooling around with Moe but she never wanted anything more.
I think these two couples in this chapter are the parallel to the Aya x Risa and Miyu x Nozomi situation.
It just goes to show that the ones who end up together are the ones who fought for it.

Also I do think that if Moe was a guy and Hikari felt the same type of attraction (or not?) for Moe, they'd actually end up confessing. But this just really highlights the fact that they were both girls and how that actually did play a part.

last edited at Jul 9, 2020 3:07PM

That moment where Moe is just telling people at the wedding about how she fell in love with Hikari as if it's a funny story... I don't mind that they're not a couple, but that's really awkward... Maybe it's just because it's so abrupt idk

Also, please do not harass creators. Unfortunately this is something that needs to be said

She's not actually telling them. The parts where she talks about being in love is what she's thinking, that's why they're outside of the box.

My best guess is that potential readers are far more tolerant than you and don't move in absolutes and the black or white specter. This manga was axed because it was dragging already, not because it had het in it.

Lol this part shows you haven't really read this manga. You are absolutely guessing out of thin air that this manga was axed because it was dragging. No one knows why, but if you pay close attention to the chapter where Aya and Risa fight and then make up right after that, it's pretty evident that their development was very sudden. We were even guessing after that chapter that the story might end soon, because their arc felt way too rushed.

And I never said this manga was axed because it had het? We even had het with Hikari over a year ago, with that whole situation with the manager. And I didn't care about that het back then because it made sense with her character and we weren't even that deep into the Moe x Hikari thing.

The problem is the fact that the author was romantically developing them for a long time, and then suddenly after the hot spring chapter we are here now, with Hikari getting married.
I would be upset even if this was a woman Hikari married in the end, because the whole story completely changed direction suddenly.