I've never seen a story unite a fandom in hatred like this one. I Wonder If the author is aware of how much this work is despised. At least outside Japan.

I certainly wouldn’t call my feelings for this one “hatred.” I think it’s kind of delightfully bad in a way I can’t look away from (hence the term “trainwreck-watching reading”). For instance, one of the most fascinating things to me about this series is the yawning gap between how the writer obviously expects the audience to perceive the characters and how those characters actually come off in the story.

As one example, the characterization of Liz that we see in this chapter, the “alluringly sexy mystery girl with the mischievous smile,” is so past its sell-by date that if it were a carton of milk it would be rancid cheese curds filled with maggots.

I wonder how many readers actually think Liz and Maki ending up together would be a good thing. That is, besides the no-doubt numerous “these two deserve to be locked together forever in a hell of their own making” contingent—a group of which I may well be one.

last edited at Jun 17, 2025 8:56AM

I remember at some point this devolved into hate reading.

I prefer to think of it as “trainwreck-watching” reading.

"Liz liked getting cakes too" holy shit, that is so unbelievably weak, it's beautiful. Absolute poetry. I was worried, with the long hiatus - what if the writing has improved? What if time and distance from the project has made Kitta Izumi grow as a person, and she looks back on these characters and sees how pathetic they are, and that their trash personalities no longer speak to her soul? But no, miracle of miracles, Liberty has returned, and no amount of heartbreak, sorrow, and self- actualisation can stop Liz from acting like an insufferable bitch to Maki for no reason. Dreams do come true. All we need now, is one more chapter, where Maki runs back to Liz like a helpless little puppy, no lessons are learned, no apologies are made, and it fades into dreamy white light as if these two getting back together isn't the bad ending. It's all I want.

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

And anyone familiar with my track record here knows that’s very high praise.

EDIT: “It’s a story that’s behind us” resonates in so many nuanced ways—it’s like the author is looking directly into the hearts of the audience.

last edited at Jun 16, 2025 8:01PM

Like a fine fucking wine . . .

Idiot Couple tag when?

...And that's why Sensei is garbage.

Seriously, I do not know how you people look at a teacher stringing along their student like this and think there is anything remotely attractive about that. This woman is the worst.

Since you do specifically ask about other readers' reactions, for me characters in harem comedies (het, yuri or otherwise) have almost nothing to do with "teachers" and "students" (or any other social role) in real life--they're more like counters in a fairly ritualized game.

To me, Sensei has about as much to do with student-teacher ethics as Col. Mustard has to do with the likelihood of retired military officers murdering absent-minded professors in the library with a lead pipe.

Ah, the good ol' "pretend to be lesbians so that everyone thinks you're not actually lesbian but actually you're super lesbian the whole time" manoeuvre. A classic. Works every time.

I wrote this as a joke then I actually thought about it some more and this is literally the plot of every single fake dating story, and I freaking love those, so now I need to reflect on some of the life choices I made to get to this moment in my life.

I say just roll with it.

There won't be any "NTR", I wouldn't be surprised if the dude is actually gay. It's just a buzzword to grab attention which is clear working since the comment section exploded because of it. So far she and the dude have zero connection, does he even know her?

A shame this is censored, he should go all the way with the ecchi.

You aren't wrong. The MC mentioned wanting to commit NTR like some hentai villain, and I went not my cup of tea. Lots of back and fourth happened around all of it, and so I went heck might as well see at least a bit of what happens after all of that. So far it's unfolded like a fairly typical ecchi series, so I wonder if the mangaka instantly dropped the notion of NTR or if the NTR is coming later lol

Or, as has seemed likely from the start, is it a piece of characterization that the character is so brain-dead she doesn’t understand what “NTR” actually is.

This of the kind of dumb as fuck whiplash I can get behind.

Agreed. This started out with people parsing all kinds of nuanced ethical issues, and now it’s just, “These two are either the dumbest fucks in the universe or else playacting some weird sex game, and so let’s gooo!”

Or both.

I’m inches away on regretting reading this and not wait for the story to finish and whatever is a tragedy or some bittersweet ending with Ayano having a child but also having Tsubaki as a mistress >.> OR a happy ending? but the chances are getting lower chapter by chapter T^T

Has there ever been a yuri manga that ended up with the protagonist in a het marriage with the other half of the OTP as a side piece? Especially one where the MC is a sweet, pure-hearted girl like Ayano?

My money is that luxi explains that that is how things were but that things are changing. Author seems to like painful cliffhangers into people behaving reasonably.

Also how cute is top luxi??????

Very cute. Very cute indeed.

This is a classic pointless nonsense bullshit drama setup and the author knows it.

That's way too quick of a judgement, I think. I'm also not understanding the idea that this would be pointless or a misunderstanding. She has felt inadequate the entire season. That's the whole reason for trying to study her Dom in the first place. That's part of her fears when meeting the mother and why she's been overworking herself recently.

Inadequacy has been the overall theme since the start, so this would be an appropriate extension of that. She doesn't have to mishear things or misunderstand for it to be an issue. It's already been one. If anything, I'm assuming she'll hear Luxi trying to lovingly cover for her to her mom and might feel bad because her GF feels the need to do that. The series handles these things really well anyway.

Yep, that’s been the series hallmark all along. Even when plot developments actually did look truly dire (like Luxi’s mom forbidding their relationship when she first found out about it), the crisis was resolved pretty quickly and benignly.

I mainly see the last panel as part of Luxi’s new determination to be truthful to her mom as well as a way to take the pressure off TongTong, who is trying to be “perfect” in the mom’s eyes.

“Cool” Mitsuki with glasses is just the cutest.

Mitsuki kinda already made the whole album dedicated to Aya, though... (⁠~⁠￣⁠³⁠￣⁠)⁠~

Hard copies, man. With liner notes and everything.

If this album thing works, we may be able to hold the divorce arc at bay, at least for now. Lol

This pretense of being baffled about what I was getting at is fascinating; rainbow8 had no trouble at all. Readers of Citrus+ didn’t necessarily expect explicit on-panel sex scenes (although obviously some did), but they did expect, as they had every reason to do, a yuri romance manga that built on the MCs’ prior relationship from the original series rather than an arbitrary regression and a substantially rebooted characterization of one of the two protagonists.

And the idea that “for all we know, Yuzu and Mei might be having sex off-panel” is a bizarre violation of the most fundamental principles of understanding narrative. Certainly some actions are always assumed to take place outside a story’s representation (we don’t see every meal, bath, or bathroom break a character makes), but when the story itself makes a major point of the characters giving each other kisses on the cheek, the notion that sex may be taking place off-panel because it’s not thematically important is quite preposterous.

It’s long been obvious that the series as a whole has backed off considerably from its fairly racy beginnings, but the depiction of the MCs on the covers and in associated marketing images still emphasize a degree of romantic connection and physical intimacy that the actual story rarely even remotely approaches.

You think they don't have a sex life? Has the series communicated that? It wouldn't surprise me if they do have sex off screen but I don't remember if the series has said anything one way or the other.

You think maybe they're ninja assassins or JAV idols offscreen? They haven't shown it, but that doesn't mean it's not possible.

This has been discussed innumerable times here. The "readers only complain because they just want to see Mei & Yuzu fuck" canard has been refuted so many times and in such specific detail that to assert it again amounts to trolling.

Point me to the person who said or even implied that in this recent conversation? The topic was mentioned as part of a different talk. I think you're confused about what's being discussed.

Right, I‘m confused. Lol.

Citrus has always been “Teenage Premarital Lesbian Bed Death.” Anyone who expected anything else is just being delusional.

last edited at May 23, 2025 5:48PM

You have a point and I assume is related with the weird fixation the fandom has for seeing Yuzu and Mei fucking. I mean sure, it would be nice but I don't think that is something that would add something meaningful to the story as a whole.

I don't care if they have sex or not, though I do think sex in a romance story can be a meaningful act due to it being a way to progress physical intimacy, even if it's off camera. For some it's an important part of a relationship.

Also Citrus tends to be very sterile in general so I don't blame people for wanting more.

Personally, it's exactly because it's not a sexual series that I never understood the expectation for sex.

This has been discussed innumerable times here. The "readers only complain because they just want to see Mei & Yuzu fuck" canard has been refuted so many times and in such specific detail that to assert it again amounts to trolling.

Welp, what Kase is saying to Yamada is correct and valid in isolation. But at the same time, she is probably the last person to be morally justified for complaining about her girlfriend neglecting their relationship to please a third party, given her, uh, track record with that.

except neglecting their relationship isn't the main thing Kase is complaining about. Like, of course she's upset that Yamada misses the race but what she really gets on her case about how she's running herself ragged for a part-time job and neglecting her health.

She says "Don't bother coming" but what she means is "It's hot here, you're exhausted, go rest instead."

Very true—it can mean that at a literal level. But in a relationship, “Don’t bother” is kind of a rhetorical hammer, as compared to “You don’t need to” or “I’m worried you’ll be too hot,” etc.

Not that either of them are expert communicators . . .

I find that the relationship between Yuzu and Mei is not really a backward development, but rather a forward, maturing development. When Mei told Matsuri about starting over to respect Yuzu, she did exactly that. For us who used to see the lovey dovey scenes in Citrus, the interaction between Mei and Yuzu feels cold or odd or "business like". But it is a book separation between personal and non personal (business) lives.

Unless you mean that the implicit subtitle of Citrus+ is “Mei Aihara: Devoted Businesswoman,” a “separation between personal and business” is exactly what the series has not actually shown—for Mei, “business” has been everything, everywhere, and their “personal” life together means almost nothing compared to Mei’s official role.

Recall the “birthday” fiasco—first it starts out with Yuzu feeling bad that Mei and her mom will be busy on her actual birthday, then on the day set aside for a “substitute” celebration Mei decides that she really needs to do paperwork for most of the day and Yuzu isn’t even allowed in their room.

No one would be complaining if there were an actual clear separation between times when Mei is focusing on her official duties and when she is devoted to her relationship with Yuzu, nor would anyone have a problem if the series actually reflected the yuri-heavy images on the covers and in the promo materials. But the discrepancy between the tone of the color images and the actual content of the stories comes very close to being false advertising.

Some Citrus fans have always been committed to rationalizing the writer’s sloppiness and lack of focus, but it’s rather grasping at straws when “OMG, Mei smiled at Yuzu!” (you know, the person she’s in love with and is going to marry) is seen as a major sign of actual face-to-face affection from Mei to Yuzu.

last edited at May 21, 2025 6:33AM

Duly noted. Your implication that grandma’s excessive pessimism was a form of “mental illness” would likewise be “utterly rude,” except she passed away decades ago, so it won’t bother her.

I'm probably going to regret getting into this, but I feel like I should point out, you mentioned anti-depressants and while they are not prescribed exclusively for depression that did seem to be the implication in your post. Depression is as a mental disorder, so if what you meant was "excessive pessimism" and not depression, I don't think the fault lies with the person who replied to you.

Thank you for your opinion on where to place blame. I’m sure it will be very useful to someone for some reason.

Now that was a beautiful kiss. ^_^

The last page brought up a bit more trouble again, though. But I'm sure that's nothing they can't handle together.

Somebody please spell out for me what is so troubling about that last page. (I’m not quite clear what is happening in the “OW!” panel—my first thought is that she got some of Mitsuki’s black polish on her own hand and broke a nail trying to scrape it off. And further, that every little thing reminds her of her gf, distracting her from studying.)

But I could certainly be misreading it.

That looks more like blood to me, and her other nails are in a pretty horrible state as well, so she very much seems to be overworking herself and worrying too much, to the extent of destroying her own nails with nervous scratching.

Ok, I can see that reading. Aya’s nails definitely are longer on previous pages. But given that the drama in this series has hardly been tragic and is usually resolved pretty fluffily, “Aya seems anxious about studying” strikes me as a hell of a long way from “incoming divorce arc.”

"need to study harder" alone in a dark room -> cutting back on time with Mitsuki -> divorce arc/relationship crisis

Holy shit—I had a grandmother who also saw disaster looming in every little gray cloud or random stumble. But she just needed anti-depressants.

"Romance interferes with studies, throttle back on romance" occurs a lot in fiction, and sometimes in real life. Your implication that the people worrying (likely based on experience) are mentally ill is utterly rude and uncalled for.

Duly noted. Your implication that grandma’s excessive pessimism was a form of “mental illness” would likewise be “utterly rude,” except she passed away decades ago, so it won’t bother her.

last edited at May 18, 2025 4:11PM

"need to study harder" alone in a dark room -> cutting back on time with Mitsuki -> divorce arc/relationship crisis

Holy shit—I had a grandmother who also saw disaster looming in every little gray cloud or random stumble. But she just needed anti-depressants.