It's a yuri slice-of-life. Focusing on the side characters and taking a while to end a narrative arc is a staple of the genre.

Huh. This is cute.

Can I just say that I like how consent-centred this scene is? Touko makes damn sure Koito is willing to accept it before the kiss, and even after the "permission denied" she hesitates to make sure that it was just Koito reacting to being teased rather than an actual revocation of consent. It really says a lot that she doesn't just kiss her out of nowhere or force it.

Even when Koito says Touko is invading her personal space, Touko apologises and backs off a bit. It's cool to see them actually communicating and talking to each other, and I like that Touko is frank without being pushy (imo).

I'm fairly sure Hotaru has been quite overt about her feelings; Yuma's just being clinically stupid.

I'm always "meh" on sex in doujin because doesn't really do anything for me.

Would read anything with this art, though. Damn. Absolutely gorgeous.

Eh, I kinda like the way it's being handled. Both Mew and Donut are handling it in a mature-ish way, with Donut understanding that Mew is helping out an ex and that doesn't necessitate cheating, thus showing trust, and Mew tolerating Ploy as much as she has to whilst being clear that she isn't interested in anything more.

Mew is already showing impatience with how Ploy is treating Donut, and I reckon if Ploy does anything ridiculous, Mew won't hesitate in kicking her out for taking advantage of her kindness.

Gimme all yo confessions.

Let's hope this is only the beginning.

last edited at Aug 30, 2017 8:00PM

Not really a cliche, quite a lot of times when you have a fever you are more red in the face.

No, it's definitely a cliche. The red flush of a fever is distinctly different from someone who's blushing out of embarrassment, and I'm pretty sure feverish people aren't leaping around the room in an energised frenzy whilst stuttering out denials to inquiries into their health.

No idea how anybody can think a blush is anything like a fever. A fever is a symptom of an illness, for one, and it's very rarely the only one.

Have fictional lesbians never seen someone blush before in their lives? Who mistakes blushing for being sick? Genuinely have no idea where that cliche even came from.

It violates "show, don't tell" really badly. Sure, Keiko got closure. But the reader did not. That's kind of important.

Especially since the entire point of the manga (imo) was to see the two grow as people and to see Keiko resolve the major issues in her life. We got one nice sense of closure when Ran saw her playing with the kids, but with nothing else.

even in reality, loose ends aren't always tied

Good job this isn't reality, then! Stretch is, in fact, a fictional story. So we should treat it like a story, and not like real life. Because it's not real life.

You know what else is realistic? Sleeping. Why doesn't Shou dedicate entire chapters to repeated drawings of Ran and Keiko sleeping and the clock changing hours until they wake up? Why doesn't Shou dedicate entire chapters to Ran and Keiko brushing their teeth and deciding their outfits for the day? Why doesn't Shou dedicate entire chapters to Ran and Keiko lazing about watching random TV? Because that's not a good story.

You know what else is realistic? Working. So why doesn't Shou dedicate entire chapters to watching Ran read off anatomical names from a textbook, waiting a bit, and then testing herself on them? Why doesn't Shou dedicate entire chapters to Keiko being professional at her job? Why doesn't Shou dedicate entire chapters to Ran mixing drinks and interacting with every single customer? Because that's not a good story.

Honestly. Invoking "realism" isn't an automatic get-out clause for criticism of bad writing. Shou isn't making a documentary. He's telling a story.

I think, if there's a planned continuation, this "ending" is fine, in the sense that it feels like a cliffhanger for a second season. Like, the ending for 2013's Dracula is fine if they would've gotten a second season, but it being cancelled means that there were too many new plot elements that were never tied up.

If this isn't an ending made with the idea that there's a definite sequel, then yeah, it's bad. Imagine if Assassin's Creed ended after the first game? There's a major plot event introduced and not done anything with, and we have no idea why Keiko is even moving out, or what happened with her ex. There's too much beginning and not enough actually resolved.

Invoking "real life" to justify it is also pretty stupid. It's not real life. It's a work of fiction. Writers should always bear in mind that, if they adhered to true realism at the complete expense of writing a story, what they wrote is going to be terrible. Nobody is looking to read a Facebook wall of irrelevant crap; they want to read relevant events that tie together into a cohesive narrative that's entertaining to read.

There's a reason Shou didn't detail every single thing that happened in their day-to-day lives, such as going to work or going to shop for the groceries each week, and that reason is because it wouldn't make a good story. Why make allowances for a terrible ending that goes nowhere and does nothing?

tl;dr It's a good move if there's a sequel. Terrible one if not.

I dunno! Like I said, I think it's a possessive best friend, and that this problem has already been partially resolved.

Wasn't this already semi-resolved? Seemed to just be expository backstory rather than foreshadowing.

Herp derp, looks like I made a skimming error.

^ Why do you think Ran was "confused" about the dream? She seemed more wistful to me.

I do like that even in a manga with such a light-hearted premise, there is some genuine conflict and character development. Shou seems to know when to turn on the angst and when to break it up with some humour or happier sections.

I laughed harder than I think the artist intended.

Well, I sympathise. It must be difficult not being able to see the person you love for so long, and barely being able to contact them. Long distance is hard enough already without such a busy and public lifestyle.

She could've gone about it better, but eh.

Guilty Love (Part B) keep coming back for it! xD really love it, one of my fav. :3

It's qt as hell.

I have persistent affection for this series.

To be honest, if you remove your yuri googles, Ran's emotional involvement toward Keiko may be totally non romantic.

It might be, but I don't think it's just "yuri goggles". Ran had a dream about Keiko that Shou specifically wrote in, and when pressed on whether she was having "trouble with her boyfriend", Ran replied with "something like that". It's clear that there's an intended implication of romantic feelings on Ran's behalf.

Keiko's investment in Ran, however, is more ambiguous. But I think it's silly to pretend Shou isn't putting in any suggestions at all for Ran being romantically interested in Keiko.

Someone explain please, what was she going to say ? I don't get it.

that shes not gay and this manga is one big ole' cliffhanger

That she's going to try to make things work with her ex and she regrets letting him go

This made me give a short, hysterical laugh.

Just.
Fucking.
Do it.

last edited at Aug 26, 2015 10:11PM