Man, that was too cute. There has got to be a limit to how much cute you put into 10 pages.

Is the valentine story a web thing?

I wish Takashima Hiromi would stop stalling, and get back to the story. They always seem to do this in manga and anime. The story would be coming to a big climactic moment, then suddenly switch gears, with a bunch of episodes, of back story, or exposition. Damnit I know Sakura is stupidly in love with Sasuke, I don't need to see the same set flashbacks for the fifth time. Just get to Naruto and Sasuke's fight already.
I can't think of any american series this happens in. At least no to this extent. It must be an japanese thing.

"I'll bully her, so she'll she will stop what she is doing. That way she won't get bullied anymore." Man that is some serious moral gymnastics right there. It's right up there with religious people claiming we're discriminating against their religious right to discriminate, against people they feel are not living by their god's wishes.

last edited at Aug 13, 2018 1:08AM

Over protective parent!? Yeah that's it, parent. Mel is like a daughter to me. I mean what other kind of relationship could I possibly have with a 12yr old girl.

last edited at Aug 13, 2018 12:36AM

Wow a reverse makeover. I don't think I've seen that before. Wait. Have I? I don't know anymore. I read so many of these things.

How long is Tamamusi going to tease us, with the constant near misses between Arisa and Mari. The the whole "Arisa is turned on, but to nervous and shy, to do anything about it" gag is wearing thin. I'm starting to get frustrated and bored.

I think Miyako's shy adolescent like crush on Hana-chan is almost as creepy as a perverted one. I get suckered in by how cute and innocent it all seems. Then it dawns on me this is a collage woman, crushing on an 11yr old. (shiver) I think I need a long, scalding hot, cleansing shower.

The story suffers a bit from lesbian insta-love. Other than that it was a sweet love story. I did hate that traitorous jerk Midori. Not only did she infect herself with the stench of a man, she tried corrupt poor innocent Ten, as well. This is the ultimate sin of a yuri girl! I think she should have thrown out of the bar, and told don't come back.

I don't think lesbian insta-love is a problem. I've personally caught that disease at least three times in the past. Also, chill, Midori's bisexual, and we have no idea what Ten's sexual orientation is, so as far as we know she didn't do anything wrong.

Hey, this is a yuri story, and I'm allowed to hate any character that harshes my yuri mellow, because YURI. On the more serious side. It did seem, to me, like Midori was trying to steer Ten back towards men.

last edited at Aug 7, 2018 6:51PM

I can't get into this series, since I discovered that Ootori Manhiro is a guy. All I can think is: This reads like the fantasy of a teenage boy.

So if the author was a woman then suddenly it would be better and more acceptable? If Comiket has taught me anything, it's that women have fantasies just as weird and fucked up as men.
I can't even imagine what the reactions here would be if Mira was revealed to be a man, makes me wonder how many yuri authors pretend to be women just to avoid this kind of comment.

Anyway, I might be the only one, but I actually enjoy this manga, the art is pretty unique (though the proportions are a bit random) and it's like reading a story set in a different universe where our moral and logic doesn't apply.

I would much rather read a ecchi story writen by a woman. It feels like I'm sharing a fantacy with her, very sexy. While reading a ecchi story by a guy, feels kinda awkward, a little like watching porn with a room full of your friends.

Plus I find guys tend to write women too raunchy. Women can write sex too, but their work leans towards more subtle. I have always suspected Mira as being a guy.

I can't get into this series, since I discovered that Ootori Manhiro is a guy. All I can think is: This reads like the fantasy of a teenage boy.

last edited at Aug 6, 2018 2:08AM

The story suffers a bit from lesbian insta-love. Other than that it was a sweet love story. I did hate that traitorous jerk Midori. Not only did she infect herself with the stench of a man, she tried corrupt poor innocent Ten, as well. This is the ultimate sin of a yuri girl! I think she should have thrown out of the bar, and told don't come back.

Anyone else find the twist really predictable?

Sometimes the twist isn't the point. The story is about lost love and regret holding two star crossed lovers together across the great divide. Sad, but beautiful in a way.

Lost love and regret. A one, two punch to the old heart. Well played, Emura Ei.

I take my opinion back. This was definitely social commentary.

Wait, right there in the office. SWEET!

You know, the back story between Erica and Sakura would be a great set up for a romance shoujo. I think I would rather have read that story.

Another side note: Why do they keep having little moments where the characters act like a girl being into another girl is unusual, or weird. like ch 11. pg 9. Where Sakura asked if Aoi has ever kissed another girl before, or like ch 8. pg 15. Where Aoi is absolutely shocked to see Klara an Mizuki kissing. I'm pretty sure girls loving other girls would be the norm in an all girl world. I don't even know if it would be considered homosexuality anymore.

Just because the male half of the species is wiped out it isn't likely to change the fact that the vast majority of women would be born heterosexual. They just sadly wouldn't have any way to fruitfully pursue those desires. I guess it is true that society as a whole would tend to be a lot more accepting of homosexuality, but I imagine it would still be a minority of people that are actively lesbians.

I disagree. I think the human animal needs love and physical contact. I think you place people in an unisex environment they would bond with each other, especially after a few generations. The same sex taboo would be gone and the women would find loving other women just as natural as it use to be with men. The alternative would be a life of lonely masturbation, or worse, living a sexless existence with no intimacy at all. I think that existence would drive people mad.

Just an added thought: If it turns out that you would be correct, that would make that ridiculous adam and eve system even more stupid. Instead of forcing woman to simulate hertosexual marriage, they should just let them choose if, and when they wanted to have children. They could partner up with a friend, for help if they want, or go it alone if they wish. Heck they could join a commune of women and raise the children sister wives style, if they wanted. Minus the dirt bag polygamist husband, of course. I should think that, would be more productive, and frankly way easier to sell, than arbitrary and meaningless pair bonding.

last edited at Aug 2, 2018 5:43AM

You know, the back story between Erica and Sakura would be a great set up for a romance shoujo. I think I would rather have read that story.

Another side note: Why do they keep having little moments where the characters act like a girl being into another girl is unusual, or weird. like ch 11. pg 9. Where Sakura asked if Aoi has ever kissed another girl before, or like ch 8. pg 15. Where Aoi is absolutely shocked to see Klara an Mizuki kissing. I'm pretty sure girls loving other girls would be the norm in an all girl world. I don't even know if it would be considered homosexuality anymore.

Well at least no one used the line "It's okay. We're all girls".

The “ugly girl doesn’t look ugly” thing is an issue of long-standing in popular culture, although a slightly different one in comics/manga than in live-action.

In TV and movies, producers need to pick from a pool of real human beings trained in acting who have already been strenuously vetted for physical attractiveness, and if you’re going to do that “ugly duckling > swan” transformation, you’ve got to start out with someone swanlike and try to disguise them as a duck (i.e., you can’t even use the very small pool of “the ugly one” character actors, almost all of whom aren’t actually ugly anyway).

But even though comics have a lot more flexibility in depicting a character’s appearance, for some reason they also habitually suffer from that “supposedly ugly but obviously not” problem.

I read a lot of romance comics from the 1940s-1970s, and almost all attempts to portray an unattractive or even “plain” protagonist are truly laughable in real-life terms. Generally the artist just takes the “stock attractive female” figure and gives her something like frizzy hair, freckles, glasses, or what are supposed to be dowdy clothes. (The fact that I’ve known absolutely adorable women with any one or all of those attributes just makes the problem even worse).

Given that manga often have an even narrower range of human faces/bodies than Western comics (in a lot of manga or webtoons I’ve gotten confused about which character is which by losing track of small differences in hair style or color), it’s no surprise at all to see the “ugly isn’t ugly” problem once again.

Whether it’s because of artistic laziness or convention or what I do not know, but it’s truly an issue that’s very widespread and has existed for a very long time.

I like your idea, about needing a good looking person to go through the ugly duck/swan transformation, way more than my theory that humanity is petty and shallow, and can't really root for actual ugly person.

I think the make over trope is suppose to represent a coming of age moment, where the MC awakens to her femininity. This usually marks the start of the character's interest in boys (or other girls, as the case may be) and dating. It normally brought about when the MC's crush says, something like, I think you would look better with...

For the record the "plain" look does not mean unkempt. It means comfortable jeans and a t-shirt, little to no makeup, and a quick, and easy to maintain hair style. In my opinion I'll take the woman rocking the jeans and tee combo over a the fashion plate runway model any day.

Ultimately, as in most stories like this one, the whole premise is demolished by the author's failure to make the main character ugly. You can't just draw a normal girl, put some glasses on her, and call her ugly. Now I have to just pretend that this character, who obviously isn't ugly, is. When the author of a visual medium forces you to ignore your own eyes in order to buy into their story, they have completely failed.

You get the same thing in movies and tv show. Everybody treats the MC like he or she is ugly, when, a lot of times they're the hotest ones. I think, it's because the audience is suppose to empathize with them, and as sucky and shallow as it sounds, most people don't really like ugly people.
Also I think themusicman500 is right I don't Kurokawa is suppose to be ugly just plain.

last edited at Jul 31, 2018 2:31AM

You can tell this series was created by a man.

can you? really?

:thonk:

Okay, so it was obvious. I was just hoping I was wrong. There is nothing sexier than a woman who's willing to let her perv flag fly.

last edited at Jul 31, 2018 12:37AM

The feels (hic) oh god the feels.

I like this series, it's really shaping up ito a series that I can get into. It's just, even in manga like this they have to add a gratuitous panty shot, Do the japanese need to see a schoolgirl's panties in every manga?