Though I agree that it's NG+ probably for both the cloaked woman and system-Yvonne-thing, it had better be more complicated than that.

She's not time-traveling. She is on the New Game+ cycle...

Is a New Game + not time travel? It's time traveling but something extra comes back. The dialogue of the cloaked woman mentioning past and future didn't make it sound like there was another save file / timeline.

Can someone please explain why they find this specific prince-type tomboy hot? It's fine, I just don't get it. The design, confidence, and glee? Sure. Rawr. But this take on the unflappable prince trope is so beyond not my thing that I'm curious why it works for you in this case.

Claire is still in love with Manaria despite learning that right?

Oh for sure, Claire loves Manaria even knowing she's not a boy. We know Claire is bi, she must almost never notice and she's motivated to ignore it. The current Claire is a bit more mature, though she still adores Manaria the same way.

Now that my memories of this arc are returning that's about as much as I can safely write~ There's a lot tucked away in this chapter, and probably even more plot points in the next.

I glanced at the novels and learned that somehow Rei and Claire get married and somehow get kids? Don't know how the story is going to properly deal with that and keep everything alive.

About the daughters on the Volume 3 cover: The girls are adopted, and had no family records.
How far we are from it: We're halfway to meeting the twins, and they show up before the mid-point of the series. Thus the majority of I Favor the Villainess is centered on two badass moms.
Why the story works after that point, what general type of story it is: When Rei and Claire get together they have great chemistry as a power couple, even more so after being together for a few years. They are parents with important duties and their own independent goals. The story is rarely about the daughters. There are always characters providing angst. Unless you're eagle-eyed about foreshadowing you haven't seen a hint of how far this story can shift its tone!

In short, the story stays alive.

last edited at Jul 9, 2022 6:53AM

Somehow I didn't know until now that there was a second chapter... Thanks "Featured Series" chooser! This is a gem.

This story was simple and sweet. Chapter 2 left off in a way that makes me desire more chapters, yet at the same times it feels like a totally satisfying place to stop.

Thank goodness, Saki isn't going to feel as pressured to out herself. At the same time she may feel more accepted. "So long as Saki is the one who does it, I don't mind being used or deceived by her" is a lot of leeway and proves Kanon has some kinda love, platonic or not. Maybe Kanon recognizes that Saki is sometimes uncomfortable and hiding something, and ignores it because Saki is somewhat pure ? (rereading without being so cynical and yeah... the mood is just getting so good between them)

Rinne was ended rightly, and so quickly! This story runs at lightspeed compared to Kuzushiro's other ongoing manga.

last edited at Jul 5, 2022 4:13PM

Okay... endgame Elsa from a parallel save file or New Game +. Assuming that older Elsa is a regressor trying to save Yvonne, then there's a good chance the fake Yvonne seen in the Villainess System regressed as well.

Looks like Yvonne already was fated to suffer when she was young. If the little girl witch-Elsa wanted to protect in the past and future is truly the same person as the sadist Yvonne from another storyline, it raises the question why she stayed gentle rather than became a psychopath in this lifetime. Her memories of being a commoner on Earth also make time travel even more confusing.

Manaria has nuance and is a nuisance. She's necessary so I won't complain yet.

This arc is a bit painful, and where I most appreciated the canon parallel novels. "She's so Cheeky For a Commoner!" adds a lot here, mostly Claire's perspective and wavering heart, and more about how her followers and roommate think of her mood.

last edited at Jul 3, 2022 3:12PM

Is that censored handholding on the last page? Planetariums are so lewd. It's probably for the best that Ibuki hid her debauchery with those fashionable sleeves.

More seriously, that was a sweet date and space talk.

Im so happy for them. They’re together in a way that they both enjoy. They’re not normal, but they’re enjoying their own normal, together.

Roodypatooti said it best. What a sweet couple.

I'm loving U-temo's style, and look forward to their next works. Thank you Windyfall.

Oh, and judging by the board the chapter one reference "ever since that day we still couldn't be normal" was apparently for the chapter 18 confession, not for them meeting in high school. Nice fake out.

I don’t get it what do you mean here?

In the new chapter (17 not 18, oops), Takahashi mentions the parent teacher conferences and we see the exact same image of a classroom. Chapter 1 used the image as a cutaway, and it wasn't explicitly connected to the high school storyline, it just happened before the Christmas date(?). So "ever since that day we still couldn't be normal" is as much about the confession event as any high school stuff.

last edited at Jun 24, 2022 10:16PM

After a confession on a sort of romantic day, they decided to be partners. Happy end achieved.

I got a laugh from Yamashita researching all the tropes of confessing in a classroom, yet she talked over the mention of romance.

Oh, and judging by the board the chapter one reference "ever since that day we still couldn't be normal" was apparently for the chapter 17 confession, not just for them meeting in high school. Nice fake out.

(typos)

last edited at Jun 24, 2022 9:46PM

Oh good, it looks like a hiatus gave the author the space to deepen the characters! Zhang Guo's attitude now is clearly a crush with little to no toying with Dai Yi. She's still oblivious, but it won't come off as one-note and callous if we know her meticulous but still unfocused side from laundry, which proves her quirks aren't restricted to dealing with others. Quick touches like these can massively clarify and improve story and character! I think the author wanted to portray her as a strong mysterious person, but for me instead of relatable (like "been there, sis") she just came off as lacking empathy (at its worst in the childhood flashback).

Dai Yi has kept thinking like in ch10. This final ritual for complete closure is properly asking someone out ready to be rejected I guess? Or testing someone's sexuality in any case.

"What exactly are we--Nozomi-san and I?" Shino, we've been asking the same thing for 40 chapters, if not 109. Questioning that relationship is like falling down a rabbit hole (you are here).

And "At any rate, if we always stay like this, things might get difficult." Always? Difficult? The sister-like relationship seems fine, it doesn't seem like it will hold back Nozomi. That sentence doesn't make sense without it being either overly embarrassed or intentional subtext. Maybe the publication will take a different angle, but at this point if the story doesn't follow through on the subtext it's a plot hole.

last edited at Jun 20, 2022 5:05AM

Thanks for the translation of this 'platonic' 'yuri'

This is a very healing manga, at least after not normal days.

I've apparently missed a meme, what's the significance of 7/7 @ 7:00?

7/7 is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanabata the reunification of the lovers.

And supposedly in the evening, so 7 PM would fit. I don't know if that's specifically part of a meme.

777 is used as a sign of good luck or something holy. So Mikan's timing referenced reuniting lovers and good luck. It fits with Mikan being an otaku who wants the good luck to reunite with Fuyu, in a possibly romantic way.

777 sometimes turns up in fortune-telling things. In media, 777 is used like a counterpart to 666 but angelic instead of demonic. 777 is symbolic in mysticism and 7/7/7 awards a large payout on many slot machines.

Aside from the author having a bit of fun with Fuyu's phone screen, what kind of person holds off sending a text to reconnect a relationship until 1900 on the 7 July date for Tanabata to get triple seven? It's dorky, romantic, and slightly desperate. I love it.

This was superb, mind that the pacing was secondary to the photographs and layout. A photographer or artist story about what you see within the frame, no surprise.

Everything worked nicely up until the epilogue / volume 2 bonus. That was cute but nonsense.

In the original ending, Amane proposed the relationship but only said "I have a great time when we're all together", not that she was in love with Kou. Kou's slightly excessive concern for what Amane thinks bothered me until Amane noted that "Taru-Taru loves both of us". I hadn't caught that how Kou looks at her models in an identical way, and similar to how the manipulative senpai thinks about Amane. I only noticed Kou had the potential to fall for both Amane and Nene, and she fell for Nene quickly when confessed to, but not that she already loved both her models. Everything came together into a believable aysmmetric poly relationship where Amane hasn't thought about Kou much yet because she spent the full story pining for Amane. By the time of the wedding pictures long afterwards, maybe Kou fell in romantic love, maybe not, either one could be healthy.

The epilogue doesn't have a location in its background, so it could have taken place any time after the ending trio started dating. It's far enough out that Amane's feelings could have grown deeper. But without buildup, no clues for the timeline, and being the sort of question she'd probably ask very soon after the three started dating, it felt rushed. It's fine but, with this author, two chapters leaving Kou with a sadder position might have been more satisfying than the finale and epilogue being this disjointed. It was just a slapdash publisher-requested feel-good fluff extra.

Akeuchi has got it bad. It's yuri, it's forehead yuri!

Mercifully, unlike some other subtext-to-romance stories, the romantic development seems to be a long way out from the final chapters. Though because his series also has almost zero chance of building up to a finale that satisfies the realistic spaceflight setup, it's nearly inevitable it will end suddenly with a fast-forward, magic, and/or Akeuchi deciding to stay on Earth with her lover / crush for now.

last edited at Jun 12, 2022 8:36PM

I didn't see that coming at all... It was such an economically told story, with premium Murasakino flair. Like, this was condensed twisted beauty. I wish that the abattoir interpretation was more likely, and it's a fine headcanon, but abusive parents are more abundant than murder rooms so the setting is very likely the murder of abusive parents or guardians.

This is very likely this pair's last summer together.

These two will probably be caught by police investigating the missing parents after they are gone long enough. Both of the girls are now complicit and may never meet after that, even if they are minors and turn themselves in and receive shorter sentences within Japan's harsh judicial system. It's somehow touching that both are cleaning when the murders have been committed by only one of them. There is a slim chance they clean up evidence well enough that an investigation wouldn't catch them, or that local authorities assume that the parents are deadbeats who ran. So the girls have one summer together and then they have a high chance of being torn apart - though there is a slight chance they will be free for years or a lifetime.

If you liked this story I highly recommend Toumei Ningen no Hone (" The Bones of an Invisible Person "), a slow-paced girl's love about a highschooler who gained the ability to turn invisible at will, used it to kill her abusive father, and the unsolved murder weighs on her even though she's not at risk of being discovered and others around her might forgive her.

This must be how some people feel after watching horror movies. I got creeped out almost immediately, so I recognized what was coming, so the tension built up like a nascent scream. That was painful and satisfying.

If I wasn't reading through these in a collection I probably would've been shocked. Murasakino-sensei is not writing idealistic fluff.

I assume Mikan in some way regrets how she grew distant from Fuyu, and any other debris of their parting. There's a lot of progress from buying into erasure (probably), misunderstanding or denying Fuyu's preexisting feelings for her, and then recently reconnecting with a 7/7 7pm text. Is this a redemption arc? Is Mikan a well-meaning antagonist? Hmm.

Thank you for your service Windyfall, good work, see you lot in another manga someday~
(But also please replace your Ch 14 Troll Version for future readers. It was a fair response to comments but you made your point by the time you swapped "I'm just befuddled" with "I just at sea". Befuddled is cute.)

Zhang Guo's conceitedness grates on my nerves. Whatever she knows, whether or not she ever learned the meaning of "bats for my team", she's an insensitive lonely jerk who has no idea how she's affecting Dai Yi. She won't take a hint that Dai Yi wants a little bit of distance, and if Zhang Guo has even a microscopic hint of self-awareness of her comically blatant flirting she's still as selfish and mean as she was as a child. I can't bring myself to like her yet, she's somewhere on a spectrum from empty and dense, to a bit dense and selfish, to just selfish and cruel.

At least Zhang Guo is partnered with a friend she probably can't totally lie to, though it sucks she needs to do this. The man knows Zhang wasn't a fountain of empathy in childhood. I hope Zhang isn't making unrealistic assumptions and unfair asks of him as well. If she's going to hurt childhood-friend here, people would be better off if she instead used gay bars or fake-relationship matchmaking services to pair up with a gay man.

Dai Yi however continues to be adorable and handles her homophobic family in a firm way. She's got a cool side.

last edited at Jun 10, 2022 4:37PM

Mikan texted Fuyu at exactly 1900 on July 7. That's 7/7/7 (pm). Especially in yuri, that's a tad heavier than just wanting to make peace with an estranged friend.

Looking back at chapter 13 sunk my theory Mikan never fell for Fuyu. I totally missed it.

I guess we'll see a love triangle.

last edited at Jun 10, 2022 3:05AM

New: A good flashback chapter. Mild development, all foreshadowed. We met Fuyu and Ririka's close friends who they each interacted with by phone in the present-period. Absolutely no surprises.

Best part: Fuyu got hooked on yuri (and by implication otaku things in general) because when she was slightly exposed to anime some tiny bits of LGBT content were "neat". You and me both, sister.

I think it's great when people suddenly get attached to an art because a surprise emotional connection to a tiny element of it.

last edited at Jun 9, 2022 1:55PM

I like the panels highlighting fashion in this manga. The clothing designs are strong and well-suited for each personality, though it may strain credibility that every one of these college students has this much breadth in their wardrobe.

The old spirit was so minimalist that I felt something was off from the start. A spirit inspiring perseverance and mindful presence in nature is interesting, but she's still a liar. Guess that's her form of entertainment.

last edited at Jun 5, 2022 1:03PM

Is there a name for this? Like the person having two identities and their loved ones reminiscing about the other persona while they are with them. Like with Superman and Spiderman.

Loves My Alter Ego / Two Person Love Triangle

That went better than expected! There was no outright rejection or ongoing confusion that would reduce my respect for the characters. Ririka acts incredibly strong while Fuyu acts as a flighty animal.

The character roles are backwards and I love it. Ririka is proactive and at this point the clear protagonist of the romance plotline, the POV is just broken because Fuyu is a dolt and Ririka is too flawless to have much internal conflict. Even the fortuitous Tanabata bamboo slip face-slap is a product of Ririka's agency, previously established patterns, and intentions. It's still random but less so from her perspective than the reader POV. If Fuyu won't assert herself about love and fails to be a mob, then she can only be a heroine and Ririka takes the lead role.

Fuyu is all monologue and no action, she wishes so hard to not be a romance protagonist that I can't help but see her as a love interest in Ririka's story. From what Luna said before, Fuyu comes off as a suspicious small animal, so she failed to be an inconspicuous mob a long time ago because of being an opticamo wallflower, and sometimes romantic mediator and voyeur. She went so far as to attend a school perfect for projecting her ideals of girl's love onto others but is in denial she could be loved. Even her long hair used to be arranged in a less mob-ish fashion, an aesthetic confirmation of the massive damage that brought on her self-deception. (Cue the Mika chapter.) It makes sense for Sana to have apathy for this outwardly-shy avoidant girl but I hope that changes. What delectable contradictions. Fuyu turned out to be more of a wreck than I expected.

That was a lot of antiquated dialogue, it was fitting for the genre but the code-switch was a bit rough on my groggy brain. Is that antique versus modern style difference in the original? I feel like I've seen the trope and it's too much for just separating formal and informal speech in the English translation. If that's present at the school then I'd like a translation note.

last edited at Jun 5, 2022 7:44AM