BL/Yaoi: the over-the-top "gay male" genre that isn't an exploration of female same sex relationships by other means. No ma'am! It is not a concious attempt to disguise female homoeroticism by overcompensating with exclusively Male characters. Characters who are obviously not extremely effeminate, impossibly sensitive and well shaven. These are all caps GAY MEN! And nor is it a darker yin to the yuri yang, with its rampant violence, prevalent rape, common shota characters (perversity that is so prevalent that some researchers think that yaoi exists simply to safely insulate "forbidden" female lust from outside patriarchal scrutiny and its hypocritical codes of "good girl" behavior. Sublimating this lust into gay sex makes it too weird and upsetting for straight men bent on policing female sexuality from even gazing at the covers of BL books). But clearly Yaoi/BL is pure bliss and joy.

what is with the slew of dark and twisty oneshots? first Watagiri Saya and now Mochi Au Lait. I'm not complaining. I am just a bit shocked.

It's a sign of growing confidence and tranquility in Japan's LGBTQ community. Even though marriage equality hasn't been attained, improved social acceptance by mainstream societ, and the fact lesbian women aren't subjected to the oppressive social pressures as heterosexual women (marriage, childbearing, virtual domestic servitude in a staunchly patriarchal society) means there's more freedom and space despite lingering prejudice. Plus a stronger sense of community and solidarity with each other. I

With a general sense of wellbeing of this strength exists in any community, artists and their audiences are more daring in entertaining darker themes (whereas in more turbulent times they deal is lighter distracting fare to allay anxiety). Bottom line is that traditional Yuri with its fluffy stories and flippant characters no longer reflects the actual Lesbian experience in Japan, and we're seeing the beginnings of a move towards darker (supernatural, horror, sci-fi, and more deviant hentai) material in the next 2 to 3 years.

That mall mascot is really something . Imagine if your thumb and a slug had a baby together this is what it would look like. Hey kids, its Slumbelina! Sadly Japan is replete with misshapen mascot characters that look like refugees from a biopsy slide.

Mimi seems fairly lively for a dead girl. Most corpses don't move around and talk quite that much.

This is what is referred to as "gap".

Y'know despite the obvious parallels to a certain anime, this is shaping up to be a really promising series.

Y'know despite the obvious similarities to a certain video game (COUGH*Overwatch*COUGH), this might be an interesting series. (There better not be a monkey scientist though.)

But she's never talked to one of her classmates.

Me: what the hell, she's popular and all, clearly she must have talked to at least one of her classmates ... ... ... ... oh, right, it means she's never talked to a specific one classmate named Tadokoro-san. Right, right. Need more coffee ...

Nothing like a literal translation to sow unnecessary confusion.

Kuki x Tsubomi actually seems like a healthier relationship than Kuki x Hana.

In the same way that somebody with severe diabetes is healthier than someone with terminal cancer.

Their usual dynamics are knight/damsel with roles set in stone, so I say it would be trope-smashing if Tadokoro turns out to be the top in sex, lol

But reversal is a trope, too ... ^^

Just make them both switches and do a double reversal ;).

Did versatile suddenly fall out of fashion? Nobody takes turns in the saddle anymore? Kids these days.

Fun fact: the Japanese use three different writing systems to convey literary information: Kanji (Chinese ideograms), Hiragana (phonetic syllabry, with a character corresponding to basic Japanese phonemes), and Katakana (another phonetic syllabry, with different symbols for the same phonemes, and is used exclusively for foreign loan words). Attaining literacy in Japanese is almost a heroic quest given the differences in cognitive abilities required by each system, and Katakana is the most extraneous and perhaps the one Japanese students have the least proficiency.

The joke in this manga revolves around Katakana, as Mahiru is basically confused by four different English words that are written similarly (they all have the same Katakana suffix).

An old horror trope being reused in a yuri manga. Pubescent girl suddenly develops telekinesis (because... you know... pubescent mood swings) and has to flee society because she has early Bruce Banner levels of self control over her rage. A virtual outcast, she comes to a small, remote town to hide (note to all humanity: a sparsely populated rural area is the absolute worst place to hide) but as a wise man once said "No matter where you go, there you are." Being an outcast she comes to empathize with another outcast (Kon). Eventually the small town population becomes aware of her ability, tensions escalate, a torch-and-pitchfork wielding mob forms and the lovers go into hiding. Then bad stuff happens yada yada yada a major crisis erupts yada yada yada our heroine saves the day yada and so on and we a Lifetime channel lesson in appreciating and accepting each other's differences THE END.

The best thing about Asuka x Kuro is leaving the door open for Yuri x Nemo :)))))))))

Hinata: "You hate me, don't you?"
Yuri: "I don't hate you, but I don't like you either."

The last few chapters have been rather revalatory. In fact there's almost too much information to absorb here. So here's an interpretive recap:

-The mother Ayuko seems to be suffering from a mild to moderate form of dissociative disease called Emotional Detachment Disorder (EDD). Her normal reaction to other person's emotions is to put up a fortress wall of aloofness and eliminating any trace of empathy. She can disguise it through smarmy politeness and a modicum of kindness to, but she treats everyone like they were a passing acquaintance or a customer. She has very few friends and no lovers beyond her late husband.

-This aloofness extended to her daughter Asuka. Her inability to form emotional attachments and show affection made their relationship unstable, and instilled great anxiety in Asuka, whose deepest fear is one of maternal abandonment. Ever since she entered grade school, Asuka has worked tirelessly to try and win Ayuko's approval, including academic over achievement, hypochondria, and mild to moderate self harm. But the only thing that has aroused her mother has been appealing to her suppressed kinks and perversions.

-There is a heavy subtext of past and present sexual abuse. Disassociative disorder is usually due to abuse, and Ayuko displays other red flags as well. There are problematic statements: "All the crimes I've committed" in the monologue at the beginning of chapter 5, or telling Asuka that it's "probably my fault" for her daughter's incestuous desires. And a highly codependent relationship anyway. Given that her mother is a pharmacist, with access to sedatives and depressants (including insomnia drugs whose side effects include short term memory loss, and were popular with Japanese rapists a few years ago), and demonstrates dodgy professional ethics, there is the strong suggestion that Ayuko has been clandestinely abusing Asuka, and the latter only has a few fragmented memories to inform her.

In summary: this is a deliberate train wreck of a manga full of damaged individuals. And I haven't even touched the secondary characters.

I wish I got paid for reading out loud lewd lesbian video titles.

Instead, I do it for free...

But you have to do it either panting or out of breath to get your pay. JAV titles always sound like the copywriter was trying to die from a self inflicted cerebral hemorrhage.

:^(
Why...?

Don't worry. In 24 hours the school administrators and student council will suddenly remember the whole premise of this show (students form idol band to prevent their school from closing due to DECLINING ENROLLMENT.) and will invite Nozomi back for a day long ass kissing session.

ITS THE PHANTOM OF THE COMBOVER!!!.... Oh that's just her mom.... whew....

last edited at Jun 3, 2019 4:36PM

Maybe it still to early to assuming something,,, are they really the only left person on earth ? I dont know.,,

This could just be two hikikomori living out their lives in a virtual reality simulation. In fact this scenario is almost ideal for someone with melancholia.

a quick game for anyone to play:
if you see a series tagged as "Age Gap", flip ten coins. if any one of them landed on heads, then you can rest assured that the series will probably be about a pedophile

Interesting considering how many age gap stories on this site don't feature kids at all.

Actual pedophilia (sexual attraction to young children) is comparatively rare within a public body. Sexual attraction to pubescent adolescents (Hebephilia) and older teens (Ephebephilia) is much more common. Fun fact: young adult women aged 16 to 19 are the demographic most likely to be raped or assaulted. Most hentai porn concentrates upon that age group, and a lot of it condones rape and harassment of these women. If you're worrying about the prurient and legal ramifications of a casual age gap manga, I can assure you that it's much more wholesome than the so called "mainstream".

^ Not to necessarily excuse the premise, but sleep deprivation is known to result in hallucinations.

Yes, but normally these are visual hallucinations, sensory ghosts created during a liminal phase of conciousness that exists very briefly before the person either dozes off or forces themselves back to wakefulness. One does not hold long conversations with them, nor do they involve auditory or tactile sensations.

No. The anime only covered her freshman year in high school, and that arc concentrates on her introspection, without major character intros.

What is her obsession with Schwarzenegger movies?

"I'll be back"?. Seriously she keeps coming back for more humiliating rejection. Like a soulless, monotonous automaton.

morosexual.

I dunno what this means but I'm stealing it.

Morosexual: A person who systematically pursues partners with a significantly lower IQ than themselves (Urban Dictionary)

We see Marie ordering around the maids here and even her master, and it looks normal to them, but then, they don't seem to be seen as autonomous people. We see the police asking where the master is, as is normal in Japan when they see a wandering kid (but they ask for their guardian, not their "master").

On the other hand, the lack of adult beastkins is puzzling. It almost looks like beastkins are grown in vats and appear out of thin air. Because if they have parents, or there are adults of their race that can take care of them, this society is cruel. Parents are never mentioned. Young beastkins are just conditioned in their institution to wait for their future master.

I am going out on a limb here, but one possibility is that we're not on Earth (or some fantasy world analog) but on some alien world where the Beastkin (a human name btw) were the dominant intelligent species. And then human colonists appeared in orbit, armed with superior weaponry and proceeded to wipe out the native sapients. A few hundred years later the surviving indigenous population languish in forced labor camps, but remain unbroken in their resistane.

Enter the Institute (full name the Mengele Institute for Beastkin Betterment. Official motto: Work Will Set You Free) and its pilot program of indoctrinating orphaned or separated Beastkin children in their subordinate status within human culture. These children receive enough education to navigate human society, but nothing beyond the fourth or fifth grade level. The most obedient children are then parceled out by the government to loyalists among the ruling elite to work as domestic servants that are dependent upon their human masters for survival. The goal is that these children accept their position as beasts of burden, so that eventually they'll be used in a captive breeding program, and their children will adopt their mothers submissive attitudes. Selective breeding will be used to identify and promote individuals with desirable traits of submissiveness and obedience, to be passed on to their offspring. (Itou Hachi could have been inspired by the Russian Fox Experiment for this dystopian nightmare. This is the dark flipside of Moe.)

Incidentally Sophia and Mel's master are more progressive in their treatment of their wards. But that's about it

How dare you! How dare you raise your hand against a beastkin girl and strike her down! I don´t even know your name, dipshit, but you just skyrocketed towards the top of my list of anime/manga characters I want to kill!

Easy there! A beastkin kidnapper is only the tip of the iceberg here. This manga is basically the Handmaid's Tale with furry lolis. The beastkin are basically slaves of humanity, marked and treated as property. And the whole reason that Mel and Marie are orphaned? Genocide.

Repeat after me: there can be no retaliation without escalation. The idea from game theory is that any act of aggression must be met with a disproportionate level of response as a deterrence against further attack. Or as "Untouchables" called it, the Chicago Rules. Although admittedly this was.... excessive (the baseball bat? Sure. Verbal abuse? Okay. Stabbing them with scissors? ....Dafuq is wrong with you?!

Repeat after me: there can be no retaliation without escalation. The idea from game theory is that any act of aggression must be met with a disproportionate level of response as a deterrence against further attack. Or as "Untouchables" called it, the Chicago Rules. Although admittedly this was.... excessive (the baseball bat? Sure. Verbal abuse? Okay. Stabbing them with scissors? ....Dafuq is wrong with you?!