I like the panels highlighting fashion in this manga. The clothing designs are strong and well-suited for each personality, though it may strain credibility that every one of these college students has this much breadth in their wardrobe.

The old spirit was so minimalist that I felt something was off from the start. A spirit inspiring perseverance and mindful presence in nature is interesting, but she's still a liar. Guess that's her form of entertainment.

last edited at Jun 5, 2022 1:03PM

Is there a name for this? Like the person having two identities and their loved ones reminiscing about the other persona while they are with them. Like with Superman and Spiderman.

Loves My Alter Ego / Two Person Love Triangle

That went better than expected! There was no outright rejection or ongoing confusion that would reduce my respect for the characters. Ririka acts incredibly strong while Fuyu acts as a flighty animal.

The character roles are backwards and I love it. Ririka is proactive and at this point the clear protagonist of the romance plotline, the POV is just broken because Fuyu is a dolt and Ririka is too flawless to have much internal conflict. Even the fortuitous Tanabata bamboo slip face-slap is a product of Ririka's agency, previously established patterns, and intentions. It's still random but less so from her perspective than the reader POV. If Fuyu won't assert herself about love and fails to be a mob, then she can only be a heroine and Ririka takes the lead role.

Fuyu is all monologue and no action, she wishes so hard to not be a romance protagonist that I can't help but see her as a love interest in Ririka's story. From what Luna said before, Fuyu comes off as a suspicious small animal, so she failed to be an inconspicuous mob a long time ago because of being an opticamo wallflower, and sometimes romantic mediator and voyeur. She went so far as to attend a school perfect for projecting her ideals of girl's love onto others but is in denial she could be loved. Even her long hair used to be arranged in a less mob-ish fashion, an aesthetic confirmation of the massive damage that brought on her self-deception. (Cue the Mika chapter.) It makes sense for Sana to have apathy for this outwardly-shy avoidant girl but I hope that changes. What delectable contradictions. Fuyu turned out to be more of a wreck than I expected.

That was a lot of antiquated dialogue, it was fitting for the genre but the code-switch was a bit rough on my groggy brain. Is that antique versus modern style difference in the original? I feel like I've seen the trope and it's too much for just separating formal and informal speech in the English translation. If that's present at the school then I'd like a translation note.

last edited at Jun 5, 2022 7:44AM

Yoshioka has begun the boss fight against the pure illusions that Watanabe is so devoted to! Become yuri, Watanabe. It is your destiny.

It's also fun that Sana is the yuri spectator now, while Watanabe and her love for Yoshioka are the show. Just who is Sana apprenticing in the end?

That confession was a long time coming but it still felt abrupt to me. The series has a good mood going, it's just that U-temo's pacing confuses me. Like, why bring in this Mika-chan now? I'm here for it though, even a minor shakeup means the new drama will require more chapters, though it means we'll be waiting on a volume 3 for maybe another year.

Yuuko's jargon really did get more pronounced, as teased earlier in this collection. I'm not sure about the timeline though as she's still a temp here and if this was after her overseas posting she'd more likely be a permanent employee. Or not? I guess it depends on companies.

Considering the pacing of the original 2DK run and Yuuko's own arc, a fast happy ending wouldn't sit right with me. I'd have liked to see this pairing develop more though. Okada's awkward prickliness offsets Yuuko's bubbliness, especially if Okada is in pursuit and if Yuuko is still romantically oblivious like when she was younger.

Oosawa Yayoi's works continue to be delectable. Yum. What a collection.

To add more to my earlier comments, everything we've seen of Yuzu so far feels like she's very normal, to the point that if Minami hadn't had this realization of her own feelings now, we would have eventually arrived at basically that series instead.

Oh yes, I'm quite sure she's completely normal. :D

Indeed.

It's a scrumptious scenario.

Yuzu probably knows something is up. "I can tell right away. It's you we're talking about." If Yuzu is smart as we were told, and the two are this close, and Minami continues to be this expressive, then Yuzu might notice how much Minami is lying and blushing.

I really hope Yuzu isn't a planetary-sized airhead, we've seen that countless times.

"Momo-chan Fall To Darkness, pretty please" on the the windbringer staff hand fan is a nice touch.

Thanks for the upload! It's good to know this series is on Dynasty.

outer space dust? no. it is us, noctilucent bugs. Japanese fireflies are stealing wishes it seems.

I absolutely adored this manga and it's on my favorites list. These sweet adult one-shots are relaxing in a way school-theme stuff never quite reaches, in my opinion.

Notice

There's a (massive?) meteor shower on 30-31 May 2022 or so. This year's Tau Herculids might be a normal shower and may be the biggest in generations. This is because the comet that seeds this meteor shower partly broke up in 1995 and Earth is passing through that part of the trail! If you read this in the next week ... maybe learn from this chapter (♥?) and chill a bit outside during that evening. It seems most of the world can see part of the shower, less so in the East in Southern Hemisphere, with peak at 05:04 UTC on May 31, 2022. Maybe we'll know by then if the shower is indeed peaking into a storm by then. You won't see much in bright areas, so consider seeking darker skies like this couple have.

last edited at May 23, 2022 9:41PM

This is so healing. I forgot how romantic sharing one plate can be.

Workplace political maneuvering + secretly violent rivalry + sexual tension

This was great, sometimes just short of [what the fuck am I reading?]. It's almost surreal how the situation becomes violent or sexual while staying competition, like an parody or just two abusive people abusing hatefucking. It's somehow not disgusting and has convinced me leg kabedon can be physically threatening.

The downside is that Shirakawa and Kuroda share the same broad goal as careerists. They're not competing for clear and specific sub-goals and they don't have other priorities or complications in life. So they're slightly boring and underdeveloped characters, which the premise compensates for less and less each chapter. This can improve quickly though.

I think Ou-chan figured out, by the scent of the paper Shirakawa and Kuroda worked on, that they are... entangled. By the way, Ou also shares Tamaki's great design from I Want To Stare down to having the facial expressions of a lizard. I guess Sal Jiang is one of those authors who repeats their fave designs because it's probably not the same character.

last edited at May 20, 2022 1:59AM

Keep Japanese culture in mind, and you will extract more flavor from this chapter

In Japan, being direct is often considered rude, with some degree of "preserving face" for another party as in Chinese and other East-Asian culture. Being too direct might be seen as insulting, as a faux pas, or as aggressive. There's some leeway for not taking an obvious hint and for keeping pressure on, but the norm is figuratively and literally turning away from arguments. Women are often expected to be even more indirect and passive, which enables persistent men to push or cross boundaries. And women being less blunt also can give the impression their opinions are less solid. When a man in manga is badgering like Kenji and not being told off (such as in Hikizan Tautology), he's on one level supposed to take the hint and very rude for missing or ignoring it, and on another level he can be seen as sympathetic as he isn't conditioned to take hints as seriously from women. Kenji had years of soft rejections, and his traditionalist biases and sense of entitlement won out for years before he was willing to risk an uncomfortable direct answer.

Kaho isn't a total airhead. She didn't return interest in Kenji, or even reflect on what he wanted. She told him stuff like "you're going on about that again" and ignored blatant flirting. She gives constant soft rejections. She never indicated he had absolutely no chance, and she never said statements with finality. She was acting how a humble passive woman is expected to, especially in customer service. Being too gentle and conflict-averse further softens a person's soft rejections. Kaho couldn't even look at the guy's face when rejecting him! With all this in mind, turning him down was a huge moment because she's not only making a big decision but going against how she lives and is expected to live! Then Tamaki was much more direct, and Kaho immediately accepted her, that was great~

And all the other stuff in this story! Tamaki getting attached, and her expressions contrasting Kaho, Kaho just folding immediately at the end. The different body types and Kaho's appearance being only a bit relevant. I wonder what a manga with Tamaki and Kaho in bands would be like, music came up as a connection then didn't matter...

last edited at May 19, 2022 11:28PM

(smug Luoluo)

Song Li still hasn't compensated Luoluo after ruining her budget, precarious career, and ability to house herself and grandmother. Even when Song Li does pay up, it may be a while before I have much sympathy for her mindset. She's focused on her own issues, sure, but that typical bougie apathy to problems she causes others is grating.

Thanks for the release, much appreciated, please bring another few dozen as soon as possible ♥

This series and characters are remade from Chapter 4 onwards in Video Rental Shop: https://dynasty-scans.com/series/video_rental_shop

It's slightly different, and slightly less cute IMO, but it's nice that Ihara (Sahara) and Take are part of a high-quality series that's more likely to continue.

And it never was seen again... (?)

Takahashi's love of cute girls continues, and it's confirmed it includes lewd videos and manga ['cause the girls are cute]. And she can't define the relationship she has with Yamashita, who she likes being around. Auspicious stuff. She may not be into real women but I have hope for the airhead.

Yamashita is stern and rarely expressive and judging by how frustrated she was about unwritten expectations, she's often masking confusion and annoyance. Assuming she doesn't have many deficits the diagnosis isn't too important; she's far from neurotypical. I don't get her thought process but that's probably part of the intention with her character.... Also, Yamashita doesn't seem romantic despite hanging out with Takahashi unless we read into unreliable things, like the panel blocking her face when saying [putting that aside... I don't do dirty talk] in reply to Takahashi puzzling over the relationship.

The yuri tag is reassuring. Though I doubt we'll see an actual change in their relationship before the Christmas at age 27 from chapter 1 (which had plenty of yuri subtext).

last edited at May 17, 2022 11:01PM

So a trusted family friend molested a young girl. Which confused the girl but she "didn't hate it". It's passive POV and it halted at a kiss but hell no. Gross stuff.

So far, this is the most uncomfortable I've felt reading Mochi Au Lait.

I'm on board with this polycule action for now; the polyamorous quintet is sweet in theory, I like the ambiguous gender presentations... I just hope the story hides some new ideas or collapses interestingly. This is aimless, the angst is weak, and the scenario so far is more contrived than a toast-collision meet-cute. It feels much like an author-insert story or an early work that shows where a creator's focus is.

So far: Everyone comes from the same orphanage, four have been adopted, and it was somehow a mistake for the rich girl to be there in the first place. The five all love one-another deeply, as family, and maybe romantically. When Mokuba went berserk in a science experiment the other four arrived, and they were all allowed to get supernatural abilities too just to be similar. They feel uncomfortable when apart, and are more likely to become berserk when apart. They get a special classroom to stay together in school because money, so it seems the government isn't too involved. Mana went berserk just from being called out by someone outside the polycule so they're all probably sensitive.

last edited at May 16, 2022 3:48AM

I'd like to know why is Elsa so sad and unresponding in the last scenes. I can think of 2 possible motives.

Because she expected a date with Yvonne (look at her dressed up all pretty) but then Yvonne left and her hopes were crushed.
Or because she has realized that Yvonne is trying to hand her over to be cared for by another love interest; and it breaks her heart.

Which one is it?

Both. It's a low point. Elsa was ditched into a blind date by the person she loves, which must hurt. Elsa isn't oblivious to how Yvonne rejected her with a sense of finality by forcing her to go on a date with Garth, and Yvonne intends for the pair to date long-term. It shows that Yvonne doesn't plan to acknowledge Elsa's feelings, so Elsa may fall into her usual trap of feeling worthless.

Luckily Garth isn't blind to how the two are acting, and is a caring bro. Garth seems as caring as Yvonne but not limited to just one person, and he seems a bit uncoordinated, so I look forward to yuri strategy sessions and Yvonne getting jealous.

The book and play Yvonne loves were probably just thrown into the story for fun, but if Yvonne has a history of favoring books about quasi-romantic relationships between women then Garth would be a likely person to notice. Yvonne grew up with burdens of strict duties and compulsory heterosexuality, so in the off chance the story reveals how she suppressed herself, we'll probably learn about it from Garth before Ms Denial.

Yamashita definitely is written as if she is on the spectrum. Takahashi is just atypical.

After high school, nothing is forcing them to stick together. Now we're getting into gal pals territory. Christmas date platonic gal pals.

A second chapter today! Thank you Windyfall / Tosikai!

The premise is there, but we don't have much of a plot beyond finding new societal norms that the main characters can't meet up to. So at this rate the manga may be another comedy that is not quite 'introspective' and never qualifies as 'romance'. Even with the somewhat gay concept we may not get confirmed gay content. I like U-temo's work either way but I'm hoping this story actually creates something fresh out of its buildup to adulthood and its mild neurodivirgence schtick.

I'm enjoying it a lot so far.

Something no one mentioned: In chapter 1, Yamashita was looking at a Christmas Cake guide. And at 27, she is "christmas cake" in Japanese slang by being in her late twenties and unmarried and by implication unwanted. After the holiday, cakes go to the bin or on sale with a discount, so the words are outdated and demeaning.

last edited at May 8, 2022 11:56PM

I hate it when people speak for others without their knowledge. It’s such a self serving thing to do.

Yeah, the irony is that the sister is doing exactly what she's accusing Saki of doing - using her relationship with her sister to feel better about herself because she's "protecting" her, despite Kanon neither needing nor, likely, wanting that help. Especially when it involves harassing Kanon's closest friend. You get the feeling that the "heart reading" bit is just a self-serving lie, and she'd be like this no matter who Kanon was spending time with.

Why doesn't Kanon let her into her room? Or ever mention her? Probably because Kanon is avoiding her control-freak sister. The sister doesn't know Saki well enough to read her body language in a believable way, so it's just interrogation tactics and arrogance. I guess people are right that Kanon may be able to read a lot or be in denial about Saki's feelings.

I always hate this character archetype, because it exists to basically only serve as an obstacle and rarely tells us much about the main characters. [...]

The situation also came up out of nowhere with a character not hinted at, and because Kanon is direct and lays down the law the situation should reach a turning point immediately. So no lengthy Pride and Prejudice-era or A Silent Voice shenanigans. But the rush makes me wonder just how long this manga is intended to run. On the bright side we're seeing a version of "stay away from my family" that highlights both someone disabled being infantilized and another person being LGBT and afraid of being discovered. But it's more of a novelty here than intersectionality like fear of being misunderstood and rejected as a minority, from earlier. Reading into it, I guess it may be a crossroads of tropes.

If this situation leads to Saki feeling forced to reveal she likes women, in the first outright statement of the words in the story, it better be worth the sudden hackneyed setup. I'm sure Kanon will be MVP next chapter.

last edited at May 8, 2022 4:59PM

Let's see how this goes! This looks horrible. It has as many red flags as a slasher movie. But I like the art, mostly the clothing design. I'm in.

I expect the worst because, for me, this premise is a dumpster with a flammable sign. Few things crawl out of that dumpster and most catch fire.

last edited at May 5, 2022 11:48PM

This manga is called me out for not listening to full albums, just smatterings of songs. Echoes Silence Patience & Grace by Foo Fighters was my fave album for a while, so this feels a bit too familiar though. Their use of melody and sections isn't so alien from Asian Kung Foo Generation songs that FF reaching Japanese high-school students would be surprising. If you get into albums or genre radio, you quickly get exposed to nearby progenitor bands like Nirvana. Maybe it's a decade or more late but the taste in music isn't unreasonable.

Even if it wasn't bands I know of, I'd love this manga. Cheesy premise, impactful coloring, simple fun.

last edited at May 5, 2022 10:20PM

Wow, Sae could actually die. Sae's mom did not care about her suicidal ideation, she even was glad Sae attempted to die by train, and If Sae isn't removed from the situation, her mom will keep putting her in danger. From setup I think Satsuki will notice late-stage symptoms which can have long-term damage, and eventually need support from her own neglectful dad who was involved in the first suicide situation. But Sae could die to advance the plot. What a twist for this manga.

I figure that the deaths in normal circumstances are the hardest to prevent because the deaths take place away from school. Out of all the deaths, Sae, Akira's dad, and the child were the only deaths in normal circumstances, and the abusive parents involved in the first two deaths are unrepentant and can get someone killed later. This new one can't be blamed on (Komachi trying to be helpful to other?) StuCo members such as the yandere. The definitely-natural deaths are at most a bit more common due to Satsuki being a death magnet.

last edited at May 5, 2022 9:37PM