Yeah, ghosting someone (to their face!) will normally make them think they've been rejected! But let's just chalk up not talking for hours to a sudden fever. Whatever, I'll take it if it means it's not extended further. Good for them. Looking forward to what they do next as girlfriends now! Definitely not a dream anymore. Happy times ahead.

last edited at Mar 2, 2024 5:31PM

Girls gotta do what a girls gotta do

And she's gonna do her brother's girlfriend.

Such is life.

with only a moderate amount of stretching the interpretation of the characters by viewing the affection between Lapis ans Diana as romantic and assuming the characters would be okay with it.

I don't want to drag out this part of the discussion too much longer but: this would require more than "a moderate amount of stretching of the characters" based on how they've been presented thus far--especially this idea that Lapis has romantic feelings for Diana. That's not a minor stretch that's a major stretch. (Quick Aside: they also don't need a poly ending in order for Diana's role to have purpose and depth. It already has purpose and depth).

And your "assuming the characters will be okay with it," point is also not something that can be so easily brushed off. The portrayal of their personalities and relationships thus far indicates they would actually not be okay with that; in fact, their personalities up to this point suggest the opposite. Your response kind of hand waves the two major, actual issues, and the rest of what you said doesn't work if those two major issues don't work--at least in my opinion. It would take some considerable change over time but people have been saying "poly" since near the first chapter. It just sounds like wishful thinking, which is fine, as long as it's not treated like the text supports it right now. In that case I'd have to disagree.

last edited at Mar 2, 2024 6:33AM

In other words, sci-fi.

As long as sci-fi isn't being used as a pejorative, then sure.

Never. I actually do write sci-fi and fantasy stories in my spare time, I love the genre.

On the subject of sci-fi stories that make use of an alternative biology to explore sex and gender, have any of you folks read The Left Hand of Darkness?

I'll add that to the reading list. Thanks!

I cant believe this place is more moderate in discussions about the various yuri elements in this manga than fucking mangadex. No grooming accusations, no love-shaming Riri accusing her of being a easy woman, no general shallow understanding resembling ironic yuriweebs. What happened? Did you guys lose all the twitter retards to that place?

If you speak it into existence, it will come.

We're not shown enough to know for sure, but what we do see is only the emperor doing her empress, not the other way around. And considering the very title of the series, I'm pretty sure the emperor is still managing to keep her wife in the dark, as ridiculous as it may seem. :D

She continues to address the emperor as "he" even in her thoughts. She definitely remains unaware. Presumably, she assumes there are concealed issues "down there" that she can compensate for with her hands. She's "right," in a really roundabout way, which makes the emperor's reactions funny.

I don't know if we would trust gendered pronouns as authoritative in translations: they come up in English way more often than Japanese, so I wouldn't be surprised if the same applies in Chinese. I remember with Mihoyo games there's been multiple translation errors over the years where they inserted gendered pronouns where none were specified before, and ended up guessing incorrectly.

Super fair. I think there's more reasons to suspect she doesn't know beyond the pronouns but yeah. On another note, I feel for the emperor and her being forced to present herself in a way she doesn't desire. Her mother is terrible and the situation has similarities to "I'm in Love with the Villainess," although this mother might be worse.

last edited at Feb 29, 2024 3:20PM

As an aside, I don't get why so many people want a poly ending, I feel like that would cheapen the themes of the series and feel like a cheap copout.

We want everyone to be happy. Also it'd be hot. And I don't see what themes would be cheapened.

Not themes (at least ones that we can discuss right now) but rather the personalities of the characters. It's unlikely for individuals to simply stumble into a poly relationship, and I don't believe any of these three characters have demonstrated that inclination. In fact, I'd say they've shown a lot of opposing qualities and I don't see that taken into account in discussions like these.

It mostly seems like a desire not to have any character suffer a "loss," more than anything. That's fine too and I get the idea; but I can't personally support it unless the characters seem like they'd be the type.

Ratana Satis' "Beast Knights" is an example of an evolving poly relationship that made sense because the characters were the type, long before it happened. It made sense in-text.

last edited at Feb 29, 2024 2:29PM

We're not shown enough to know for sure, but what we do see is only the emperor doing her empress, not the other way around. And considering the very title of the series, I'm pretty sure the emperor is still managing to keep her wife in the dark, as ridiculous as it may seem. :D

She continues to address the emperor as "he" even in her thoughts. She definitely remains unaware. Presumably, she assumes there are concealed issues "down there" that she can compensate for with her hands. She's "right," in a really roundabout way, which makes the emperor's reactions funny.

last edited at Feb 29, 2024 10:57AM

Now that I think of it, both series have a very similar dynamic between the 3 women and even similar outcomes. That's getting a sequel btw, for those who have read it.

Yoooo Alter Ego is getting a sequel? Good shit!

Yeah! Alter Ego 2: Noel and June. It'll be officially out in English in a couple months.

last edited at Feb 29, 2024 6:13AM

Omegaverse is wild. When they talk about glands and stuff it feels like a scifi story.

While the ABO genre has been maligned by lots of folks for years as pointless and/or toxic smut (and, to be fair, a lot of it is), at its core, it is just a speculative fiction setting that, at its best, allows for an examination and even critique of sex and gender dynamics through a decidedly fantastic lens.

Yeah there are some really good stories there. Like anything else, quality just depends on the writer and the specific story. Some people treat even the idea of it like the plague. I've never understood that intense reaction and the few times the aversion has been explained to me hasn't changed much.

In other words, sci-fi.

As long as sci-fi isn't being used as a pejorative, then sure.

last edited at Feb 28, 2024 12:57PM

I did not fully understand this chapter uugh

Compare this chapter's Sena to the Sena from the start of the story. Would a meeting and conversation like this be possible back then? Or was it the conversation itself that you were confused by?

The fiancee must be a ghost, 20 chapters and nowhere to be found. Yuna does not sound too excited about him. Maybe Yuna is a lesbian after all and marry a man just to have a sperm donor, plus society's approval. This story can easily have a biphobia subplot. Yuna dumping Kiku for a man.
2 more to go.

I think she just knows to be cautious with that topic around Sena. Sena mentions that she hadn't talked with her about him before, since Sena would avoid the subject.
Beyond that the sister seems happy.

It's similar to how the MC in Alter Ego realized that because she was jealous of her best friends boyfriend and hostile to ever discussing him, she left her friend without someone to depend on. The friend knew never to mention anything related to him, especially all the good things.

Now that I think of it, both series have a very similar dynamic between the 3 women and even similar outcomes. That's getting a sequel btw, for those who have read it.

last edited at Feb 28, 2024 6:56AM

Thank you! I think I understand her better now. Maybe I should read the LN to better get inside their heads.

I highly recommend it. Nothing against the manga, it is good, but the LN is just so much more because of just how much you get to see into the minds of Adachi and Shimamura. Shimamura in particular loses a lot in the transition because a lot of her characterization is in her inner dialogue. Adachi's constant state of gay panic is also much more entertaining when you get to see her thoughts at the same time as well.

Yes! The story is their internal thoughts and struggles. It's so much more internal than external and manga (+anime) are more externally focused. It really does take away from Shima the most since she is the most contemplative.

last edited at Feb 28, 2024 6:45AM

It's just harder for me to believe that Tianli would deliberately do such a terrible thing to Xiangyuan if she was in love with her, and hadn't even been explicitly rejected, and then stayed friends with the bullies that helped drive her love away. She definitely had some sort of monopolizing desire for Xiangyuan but it was one where she fully thought the ship has already sailed. This makes the study abroad scholarship especially seem like a very important motivator imo.

She might not have even been thinking about it as outing her, she might have been thinking of it as trying to chase Wang away from her. But even if that's not the case, when somebody is hurt, they lash out, and sometimes in the moment children (and I mean, that's the thing, they were children) don't understand the consequences of what they're doing.

I think it's also that Tianli would not have been fully aware of her feelings back then (which that other comments argument seems to suggest). She didn't consciously consider Xianyuan a love interest because she was very confused about her connection to her and also upset at how easily she was discarded.

The Tianli of the past always seemed unsure of herself and questioning many things and it feels like that questioning was pretty broad. So my assumption was always that all these factors led to her lashing out in confusion and harming herself (like a pokemon, it's on my brain now!)

So while she might have been confused and hurt, she also likely wasn't literally thinking "I'm going to hurt my love," because she probably wasn't in a place to realize or accept that her feelings for Xingyuan were a bit different than what she showed for others around her. She has a strong desire to be with Xingyuan that I don't think is explained otherwise, coupled with the other evidence mentioned previously.

last edited at Feb 28, 2024 6:39AM

My main thing about arioto I didn't like was the child predator bartender lady. Same reason I don't like wataten.

That's fair.

I guess I should be clear that it's not the wager per se that annoys me about arioto (I mean, that would be more like a laundry list of complaints) but that the nature of the wager seems based on the idea that Marika isn't gay and the story (at least in the manga) doesn't do a good job of establishing otherwise up until that point, so the whole thing feels off. Here, though, I can come up with no other reason for actually initiating such a wager rather than just, like, studying harder and getting better scores and then bragging about them against her; none of this makes sense unless both of our main characters are gay as heck.

Well, I guess we'll disagree but Marika was was in denial of her feelings as early as chapter 2-3. She pretty much outright thinks it. Then there's blushes, hearts, "heat" and "heart thumps" galore. Her whole character was about facades and it didn't seem that subtle. So, while the setups aren't exactly the same, I don't see these as being all that different, premise wise.

last edited at Feb 27, 2024 8:01PM

Arioto also had a 'wager', and it's not like Marika was desperate enough to be called coerced. She wanted a nice bag, not food or rent or tuition money.

That, plus I don't understand the idea that she was coerced into being gay? She's just gay. They're similar because neither girl actually needs to continue the "game." They both continue to "play" for other underlying reasons (or feelings) but there isn't any real threat to "losing," beyond pride and a handbag.

last edited at Feb 27, 2024 5:46PM

Omegaverse is wild. When they talk about glands and stuff it feels like a scifi story.

Question at the ABO experts. Alphas can impregnate Omegas, right? Do Alphas always have a penis or how does it work in this universe? Wondering how the girl can just the bulge while wearing a bikini.

Depends on the story. It's not always specified because some of this stuff is implied and it can be assumed that the reader understands the basics. Plus it's just the background setup and not the focus.

Most stories won't put much emphasis on explaining this stuff. You'll figure it out through the normal pace of the story. In this story they already discussed it's "Two Test" system, one of which is to check for outside external sex organs (mentioned a few chapters ago).

So you can assume why that kind of test would be useful for differentiating between Alphas, Omegas and Betas and what that might say about whether this story maintains common Alpha traits.

As for the bulge thing (and to put it crudely) the idea is often that the female Alpha can present how they want to when needed, so no bulge or anything because nothing is there.

last edited at Feb 27, 2024 9:43AM

Uhh, so I'm no expert on ABO stuff, but isn't marking in these stories usually something permanent? I recall it being super serious (more permanent than marriage), so Tang Chao suggesting it here in a casual way here is wild.

Depends on the story. This one hasn't specified yet (unless I've forgotten). Sometimes it is more permanent than marriage because you're marked for life, but not always (for example, in some stories the marking is temporary). Each story will normally specify these things through the narrative or other clues. I think someone said it's not much different than vampires. There's common vampire traits and rules. Some stories will follow the basics, others will have them sparkle.

last edited at Feb 26, 2024 10:05PM

Glad this is here. Really love the whole series with these two. This one and "I Live with my Boss" are all the sweeter knowing what they went through to get here.

last edited at Feb 26, 2024 9:22PM

How is this YuruYuri? Yes there are some elements of the relationships being used for comedy but YuruYuri as far as the anime went just had the gay element only for the sake of comedy and beating around the bush. This series has actual couples and even sex. There might be some pairings that excused the kiss as part of the trend, but there are very clearly canon couples here that have been progressing forward.

I think the short chapters are skewing their perception of the rest of the series. The chapters with development still come with regularity, but there's a lot of little gags and snippets that have been thrown in the mix that give the feeling that there's a lot more silly fluff than there used to be. Especially since the translators did a big catch-up on those at one point, so there were a lot of content dumps of short chapters for awhile.

They're just taking these lighthearted chapters far too seriously and running away with wild assumptions.

last edited at Feb 26, 2024 7:22PM

Yeah, as many people is saying I too felt like this chapter was kind of a deus ex machina device, I don't know how to solve the tension or don't want to step on the definitive line (yeap, this or that character is a lesbian) so I make them kiss as a joke to keep my readers happy and not bother the higher-ups. I know Kishi is a yuri author but this isn't serialized in a yuri magazine, hence, there's some stuff you can't show entirely so, welp.

Is this really an issue of higher ups not allowing yuri to be show? I mean mio and shizuka literally slept together in a very dramatic chapter showcasing the development of their relationship not too long ago

That's what I'm saying. It feels a bit like we're forgetting how upfront some of these couples are (that silent chapter was amazing, btw). This manga hasn't been at all coy about this stuff. Just depends on the current progress of the relationships. This was just a fun little thing in their daily lives, like normal.

last edited at Feb 26, 2024 2:35PM

This looks like Takemiya but I don't remember this. Where is it from?

You would be correct! It is from this One Shot

Also sorry for the wait. I basically posted and then immediately went to work.

Thanks! And no worries, I do the same all the time.

last edited at Feb 26, 2024 12:21PM

Cute chapter! Don't know what some of the worry is about?

This looks like Takemiya but I don't remember this. Where is it from?

last edited at Feb 25, 2024 11:26AM