besides half the characters in "happy end" romance stories probably broke up off-camera eventually after their series ended anyway
people change, feelings change, people move on, etc etc etc

NO! NO! NO! THEY MOVE IN TOGETHER, GET HERS AND HERS TOWELS! THEN ADOPT A COUPLE OF CATS, NAMED SIR FLUFFY BOTTOM, AND MADAM BLACK SOX! THEY LIVE HAPPILY UNTIL A RIPE OLD AGE, WHERE THEY DIE PEACEFULLY IN THEIR SLEEP KNOWING THEY SPENT A LONG AND FULFILLING LIFE WITH THEIR ONE AND ONLY TRUE LOVE! THE END! They leave that crappy real life drama and angst stuff, to bittersweet one shots, and country and western music.

last edited at Sep 21, 2018 5:16AM

It takes the fun out of the series, knowing it's heading for bad end.

Idk how people breaking up and still being good friends can be considered bad. It's okay too be happy without being in love or in a romantic relationship.

I know it's not really a bad end, but the idea that love doesn't blume for these two saddens me. I'm a romantic at heart, I want happily ever after for all characters I like.

last edited at Sep 20, 2018 11:41PM

This is darked than Mira's usual stuff.

It takes the fun out of the series, knowing it's heading for bad end.

It's cute, but.... I just think the protagonist of a harem manga should earn their harem, over a few chapters. Not have it thrust upon them, in the first chapter, for no apparent reason. This way seems forced, and uninteresting.

Well to be fair, it's not uncommon for a male harem lead to just have his harem (sometimes literally) just randomly dropped on him

And those series feel just as forced, and even more uninteresting. The only reason I'm not going to give this series a hard pass, is because it's a yuri.

Let's not pretend we read harems for plot.

I don't know about you, but plot counts for something, in my book(pun not intended). An orginal and creative story, is way more fun to read than a recycled, and unimaginative one.
Look I get it, it's a yuri harem, a rare and wonderous creater, I going to read it, that doesn't mean I can't want it to be better.

I could come up with alternatives explanations for every point that, White Rose brought up, that paints those two as a couple of women trying desperately to keep up the appearance of being happily married, just to cover their shameful mistakes.

Occam's razor. Learn it, love it, live it.

If we're throwing around those kind of terms, here is one for you, confirmation bias.

Oh, for crying out loud... have you even read the chapter? Walking together with big smiles, texting their friends messages with hearts and sparkles, that little girl full of pep who was able to interact with unknown adult women in such a plucky and confident way... Of course they are in warm & happy marriages! Everything we see screams happiness! There isn't even the shadow of a hint that it may be otherwise!

Wow! that is some grade 'A' conclusion jumping, right there.

The Nile isn't just a river in Egypt.

(sigh) I'm pretty sure I'm not the one bathing in those metaphorical waters.
I'm not saying that those two aren't happily married. I just saying, there is no information, to agrue either way. Weak circumstantial evidence, an active imagination, and a lot of wishful thinking isn't proof of anything. (I can't understand why any self respecting yuri fans, would argue so hard for happy het hookups, anyway.) I could come up with alternatives explanations for every point that, White Rose brought up, that paints those two as a couple of women trying desperately to keep up the appearance of being happily married, just to cover their shameful mistakes.

Edit: For the record: shameful in the japanese culture's eyes, not mine.

last edited at Sep 20, 2018 5:04PM

It's cute, but.... I just think the protagonist of a harem manga should earn their harem, over a few chapters. Not have it thrust upon them, in the first chapter, for no apparent reason. This way seems forced, and uninteresting.

Well to be fair, it's not uncommon for a male harem lead to just have his harem (sometimes literally) just randomly dropped on him

And those series feel just as forced, and even more uninteresting. The only reason I'm not going to give this series a hard pass, is because it's a yuri.

It's cute, but.... I just think the protagonist of a harem manga should earn their harem, over a few chapters. Not have it thrust upon them, in the first chapter, for no apparent reason. This way seems forced, and uninteresting.

Based on personal observation, my recommendation:

Roller Derby

Except the recommendation. Roller Derby is a terrible idea. Roller Skating, now that's better. /s
Absolutely great assessment!

I dunno--I know of more than a couple of grown-up women (queer and straight) who have a lot of fun being tough together in local roller derby. (It's not nearly as dangerous as it looks, I am told.)

Wow, really. I don't know if there is even a roller derby team around here. Let alone anyone on one.

I absolutely would love to see a manga series about domestic lesbian parents. Just a couple of gay women trying to make there way through a heteronormative world. It would be great.

Me too. I'd like a tag for this general ballpark of things also. In fact I'm going to post a suggestion right now.

yeah. Would be cool. I even found myself wanting to read this story two gay men raising a young may relative in Japan. One of the men was Canadian. At the time It hadn't been translated. I think it has been now but I haven't got around to it.

And we almost had this story with that one about two Japanese lesbians becoming moms but BIG SPOILER the got a divorce before one even got pregnant and that was based on a true story. :(

anyway. This story is really good.

I was kind of following their story. I even watched the youtube video of their commitment ceremony, at Disney World Japan. It broke my heart a little, when I found out they split up.

last edited at Sep 19, 2018 11:39PM

I don't see anything in the story, that supports your claims, that Tomoko, and Michiko are in happy marriages.

Oh, for crying out loud... have you even read the chapter? Walking together with big smiles, texting their friends messages with hearts and sparkles, that little girl full of pep who was able to interact with unknown adult women in such a plucky and confident way... Of course they are in warm & happy marriages! Everything we see screams happiness! There isn't even the shadow of a hint that it may be otherwise!

Even Takabe was jealous of their obvious cheerfulness and wanted them to invite her next time. Duh.

Wow! that is some grade 'A' conclusion jumping, right there. You have got to be an F.B.I. profiler. No mere layman would have ever picked up on those clues. lol.

I absolutely would love to see a manga series about domestic lesbian parents. Just a couple of gay women trying to make there way through a heteronormative world.

I see. My recommendation is: forget manga and go read a book by some American lesbian feminist. You'll find the stuff you like a-plenty.

I do read a lot of lesbian literature, but, like mainstream literature, most of it focuses on getting the girl, and not on what comes next.
I did see a movie, that I loved. It was called Concussion. It was a bored neglected lesbian house wife, who turned to prostitution to spice up her life. I really liked the way she fit in with all the straight bored neglected house wives, she hung out with. They truly accepted her, as one of their own. It was kind of touching, in a weird way.

last edited at Sep 19, 2018 11:36PM

There's nothing wrong with the life choices of Tomoko and Michiko. One wanted to get married, have kids and live a happy housewife life, and that's exactly what she's doing. Give her some respect. The other one had a boyfriend and was doing fine with him: they had a good relationship, and planned to tie the knot some day... but then she got pregnant and they had to speed things up. Not the ideal, but not a problem either: she's obviously very happy with the whole deal. The angry rants I've been reading are every bit as uncalled for as Takabe's nagging and scolding -- that sort of attitude alienates you from your friends.

And I have to say I don't understand the rabid hate some of you have against motherhood and children. Calling mothers "breeding cows" and their children "piglets" is very offensive, you really need to tone down that aggressive streak. (Also, you fail biology forever.)

This. It is super weird how people in this community can't fathom the idea of a woman wanting to be a mother. You guys know there are even lesbian women who give birth via in vitro fertilization right? Most women aren't coerced into giving birth against their will. Parenthood is a strong biological desire that completely overcomes any kind of disgust you might feel at the idea having a living being "leeching" off you for 18+ years of your life, and at some point in your life, you'll either feel that desire yourself and go out of your way to have your own child, or you regret not having one when you're much older and it's too late.

And on the subject of pregnancy killing their friendship. This is how friendships work. People change, and when the basis of a friendship is incompatible with that change, then nothing can be done. Pregnancy isn't the only thing that does this. I had friends in high school who I have not talked to since graduation, and really have no plans to do so. It's been five years, I've moved on and made new friends, everyone does.

I absolutely would love to see a manga series about domestic lesbian parents. Just a couple of gay women trying to make there way through a heteronormative world. It would be great.

There's nothing wrong with the life choices of Tomoko and Michiko. One wanted to get married, have kids and live a happy housewife life, and that's exactly what she's doing. Give her some respect. The other one had a boyfriend and was doing fine with him: they had a good relationship, and planned to tie the knot some day... but then she got pregnant and they had to speed things up. Not the ideal, but not a problem either: she's obviously very happy with the whole deal. The angry rants I've been reading are every bit as uncalled for as Takabe's nagging and scolding -- that sort of attitude alienates you from your friends.

And I have to say I don't understand the rabid hate some of you have against motherhood and children. Calling mothers "breeding cows" and their children "piglets" is very offensive, you really need to tone down that aggressive streak. (Also, you fail biology forever.)

I don't see anything in the story, that supports your claims, that Tomoko, and Michiko are in happy marriages. Infact we're not really given any information, at all about Tomoko, and Michiko's relationships, outside, of one had a shotgun wedding. It's kind of weird, that you would write about those two characters relationships in such detail. It's like you made up their backstory in your head, then used it as proof in your argument.

Just for the record, I'm not anti-marriage, or anti-parenthood. I'm against teaching girls that their ultimate gool in life is being a wife and mother. Being a wife, and mother should be a woman's personal choice, not a necessary requirement for adulthood.

last edited at Sep 18, 2018 4:45PM

I agree that the MC wants to grow up, but the focus, of chapters 3.1 and 3.2 was definitely on becoming a wife and mother as being a necessary step on that path.
I have nothing against marriage and family. I get the need to find someone to love, and start a family with. (I wish Japan would step into the 21st centry, and let our gay and bi friends start families with who they chose, though.) What gets me angry is the message that a woman needs to be a mother to be a successful adult.
The fact that one of the MC's friends got pregnant, by accident actually proves my point. The story is implying that, the woman, who has made such a reckless mistake, was more of an adult than the mc, simply because she was going to be a mother. If anything those girls were even more childish for cutting ties, to one of their friends, just because she hasn't joined the married with children club yet.

On an unrelated note. I don't like how the mc hasn't thawed at all, towards her "love interest" yet. The girl has had some touching moments, and the mc is still at the "she is annoying, but I can't ditch her, because of reason", stage.
I'm not saying the mc should be ready to jump into the girl's arms already, but she could have at least been a little moved when the girl, told the mc, why she was crushing on her.

last edited at Sep 18, 2018 6:26AM

This one looks cute. More please.

I absolutely hate when anime and manga makes, like becoming a wife and mother are the only goals a woman should have in life.

Well, that explains a lot.

Man, this one was a bit too close to NTR for my liking

I'm very sensitive to NTR but i think this is far from it. The link with Kenji just seems like one of those vague 'friendships' between childhood friends. Not a normal friendship but far from lovers either. So it's far from NTR.

I agree, using drugs to sexually enslave a girl, and crush a budding innocent romance, is way more like the plot of a cheap hentai than NTR.

Man I feel bad for Koyori. She's so useless. Her's is a tortured existence.

It makes me sad. I could really get behind Hana and Miyako as a couple, if Hana was just a bit older, 4 or 5 years at least. They really are cute together. But, as it stands it feels like a tease, because no matter how many cute little tender moments they have together, I know it can't actually happen. At least it shouldn't happen, and I feel like a dirty perv rooting for it.

The clear solution is to bang Hana's mom. Obviously. Or Myako could just... wait.

The only two ways waiting would work is the series ends with Miyako promising to hold off a full romantic relationship, until Hana is old enough, which feels unfulfilling, or a time skip to show the couple together, which feels a little creepy because we spent the whole series with Hana as a child, and we probably won't get the time to know the grown up Hana. Either way a failed end.

last edited at Sep 11, 2018 2:04AM

Another element of this gag series is endless unrequited love chains:

Matsumoto -> Miyako. Hinata -> Miyako. Noah -> Hinata. Miyako -> Hana.

Except Miyako -> Hana seems to be progressing forwards. I disagree. I don't think this is a purely gag manga. There is definitely a gag component to it, but gag mangas never feel like they are going anywhere. This one does. Miyako and Hana have had more than a couple of moments, that I would consider romantic. At least I would if I felt comfortable calling the relationship, between a college girl, and an 11yr old romantic.
Also Miyako isn't a typical lolicon gag yuri protagonist. The usual creapy pervs, that headline these affairs, are normally after anything in a skirt, that's under the age of 12. Miyako is only truely after Hana. More over Miyako's attraction to Hana is evolving. When the series began, Miyako acted more like a typical lolicon gag yuri perv, creeping everybody out with her attempts to photograph young girls in cute costumes. Since then Miyako's attraction to Hana as became more innocent (for the lack of a better term for it.) The cute blushes, the heart pounding, the shy befuddlement when Hana is around, Miyako is acting more like a young girl having her first crush, than a creapy child hungry pedophile.

last edited at Sep 11, 2018 2:01AM

Forget Noah's mom, let's talk Hana's mom. In fact that's one of my two ships with Myako.
Either Matsumoto or Hana's mom, if she's available. Noah is just as young, and roughly as cute, as Hana. The other girls aren't far behind. But it's Hana Myako fell for, so possibly her mother would be an acceptable substitute.

Eeck! How can Nanatsu Mukunoki keep making a pedophile's infatuation with an 11yr old, seem so cute, and innocent!?

She definitely has arrested development. That said, she doesn't obsess on the youngness of girls per se. She's like a cross between Noriko and Mimika, really.

Arrested development? That makes alot of sense, actually. It explains much of Miyako's behavior. Still, I don't think it matters why Miyako is a pedophile, in the long run. It only matters that she is romantically drawn to a child.
It makes me sad. I could really get behind Hana and Miyako as a couple, if Hana was just a bit older, 4 or 5 years at least. They really are cute together. But, as it stands it feels like a tease, because no matter how many cute little tender moments they have together, I know it can't actually happen. At least it shouldn't happen, and I feel like a dirty perv rooting for it.

last edited at Sep 10, 2018 5:54AM

This story would have been way better, with more story, less over the top sex. Something more along the lines of Mira's The Heir of the Curse. the Story would have been more enjoyable, if Wakana's feelings for Momiji, were not completely drug induced. as well. Also ditching the whole orgy thing would have been a massive improvement.
It would have been cool if Wakana was the one to get pregnant. Kenji could have been a minor character. He could have appeared at the beginning, treating Wakana like crap. Then at the end Wakana could reject him face to face, revealing her pregnancy. I see an image of Wakana, standing in front of Kenji, looking down, while she rubs her swollen belly. A small content smile on her face, as she tells the jerk goodbye.
I could have done without the exaggerated art work. I can't undrstand some artist need to draw girls with disproportionately large breasts. Do they think that's sexy? Because it just looks ridiculous, to me.
In short, I think Yamada Gogogo waisted a decent story premise, on crappily drawn, lazily written porn.

Edit: It was Nagashiro Rouge, that wrote The Heir of the Curse. Not Mira. My bad.

last edited at Dec 8, 2018 12:18AM

Eeck! How can Nanatsu Mukunoki keep making a pedophile's infatuation with an 11yr old, seem so cute, and innocent!?

^
I agree: you’re totally crazy to think something is up.

I think he/she is a literature teacher

That’s not how a literature teacher interprets textual evidence.

No, they interprets the author's thoughts which some author didn't even know they've been thinking like that.
True story from my country

Literary interpretation and paranoia are both forms of pattern recognition, but they aren't the same thing.

"Yuri-scepticism" is a trauma-induced form of neurosis that manifests in a kind of paranoia where, when characters in a story repeatedly say "we're dating," the paranoiac responds "they're not dating."

Stop picking on me (sob). I know, I have a problem (hic). I tried to get treatment, but my health insurance won't pay for anti-yuri-scepticism medication (sob).

I’m sorry—I just lost it a little bit when one of the cutest yuri couples in the history of the universe was off-handedly accused of being not yuri. And so I was meaner than I should have been.

Call it what you will—what Chidori and Nonoha have is real, dammit. They’ve given us the hottest in-PE-class eye-sex ever witnessed by human beings, they’ve introduced us all to the sensuous delights of upper-arm-pinching, and they’ve performed the most erotic and deeply emotionally resonant indoor-shoe footsie ever.

And no one can come along with some conventional bog-standard middle-class white-bread definition of what counts as “yuri” and try to take that away.

No one. Ever.

That said—can we be pals?

It's all good in the hood dude*. You are right, Chidori and Nanoha are complete yuri overload. It still bugs me that Chidori started an inner monolog with stating neither of them have a boyfriend, though. Why would she harsh my yuri mellow with boys? I hope my lover wouldn't need to clarify, that they're not seeing anyone else (regardless of gender). When Chidori thought that. I was like wait, are you saying that it was a possibly for you two to have boyfriends while you're "dating"!? Please don't tell me you're not doing the "gay for the stay" thing. That would make me sad. While I freely admit I let my yuri-skepticism taint the total yuri cuteness of this series. I still find it disturbing that Chidori started the monolog that way.
*Disclaimer: I use dude as a gender neutral pronoun. I