^uh. what? I can't tell if that's a joke or not. I've never heard someone say that before, but...okay. (Also I know that was just a typo but I hope her hand's not in her ass. That sounds uncomfortable as hell.)

last edited at May 1, 2022 1:22PM

It's kind of funny. Some people are saying that the lack of romance as a driving factor in the story was a problem that made it boring or bad. That it didn't work because the author was trying to tell a non-romantic story within the framework of a romantic one.

The way I see it, it's not the lack of romance that's the problem. It's the lack of people's ability to comprehend a story without it. This is what normativity is about. Heteronormativity takes away society's ability to see gay as normal. Allonormativity takes away the ability to see ace and aro as normal. Obviously the people on this site would mostly see gay relationships as normal, but that's not what this story is about.

The author isn't "using the wrong kind of storytelling". The reader is, to put it plainly, expecting the wrong story. This has, from the very beginning, been a story about ace-spec people. The text is quite clear on that. At no point has it been anything else. The idea that there wasn't any payoff is built upon a pre-conceived notion of what the payoff would have looked like.

I was happy with the ending. It could have been better, but it wasn't bad. The only complaint I have is something many others have touched on: Rio was completely unmentioned despite being a pretty significant character. She was at least as important as Matoi's sister, that's for sure.

Regardless, I enjoyed myself. The afterword was fascinating. I had no idea that the meaning of "asexual" in Japan was more equivalent to aro ace in the west. I was a bit surprised the author knew there was a difference, but they seem to have put a lot of work into getting things right, so it makes sense that they'd know. I wonder if the author is ace-spec? I assume so, but I'd have to look into it to be sure.

Oh, also, it's definitely yuri. I don't know for sure if it should be tagged romance or not, but I'd say yes.

We need asexual and aromantic tags on dynasty. demisexual too, probably. That said, finding any media with ace-spectrum characters is nigh impossible, so there'd probably only be like...one or two things with those tags.

why use QPQ instead of telling people you're dating/partners/married? It feels like an just extension of conflating romantic and sexual

People love inventing labels and terms even though it's redundant, sometimes they do so thinking it's special. Take pan and bi as an example. Pansexual is basically bisexual by definition but they reject the latter for some reason. Or demisexual and sapiosexual, which is not an orientation because both straight and LGB people can have this affinity. The former towards emotional connection while the latter, intellectual connection. Everybody has their own unique mix of preference towards people, relationship, and things. New labels aren't necessary for all of these.

First of all, you're literally wrong about the pan and bi thing. Also, you don't get to decide what labels are redundant and which aren't. If someone made a new term for themself bc all the other existing ones didn't feel quite right, then that's all the reason and justification they need to do so.
Maybe stop spouting nonsense if you don't know what you're talking about, you're embarrassing yourself.

No, EVERYONE gets to decide for themselves what labels are redundant and which aren't. Words mean slightly different things to different people, and each of us gets to decide for ourselves what those words mean to us. This is especially true when people start minting new words. You can't get angry if you mint a new term and other people are slow to pick it up or simply disregard it as something that isn't useful to them.

At the same time, people should try to respect others' feelings which includes not attacking those things that others personally hold dear. If somebody is all hung up on their sexual identity and they decide to describe themselves using terms you find odd or superfluous it's a dick move to attack those words in their presence since it is akin to attacking them personally. Also, in a lot of cases, some of the terminology that people take issue with has become widely adopted by the mainstream which means you will come off as ignorant if you go around claiming widely utilized terms are nonsense.

I understand where you're coming from here, but I don't think anyone is saying you're not allowed to decide on what matters to yourself. Only that you're not allowed to decide for others.

Claiming people are just making a word up to feel special is hateful bullshit that should never be tolerated, no matter what one's own thoughts on the matter are.

You know what, Matoi should really get together with the other girl and turn biker girl to a sugar mommy or something.

lol I was kind of thinking about how something like that would work. Matoi and Rio could have a mutually-reciprocated romance, while Matoi and Yuriko are also together in an almost poly-like arrangement. I don't think it's very likely, since Matoi doesn't really seem interested in Rio at all, but it would certainly be an amusing way to tie everything together with a neat little bow. :P

edit:

People love inventing labels and terms even though it's redundant, sometimes they do so thinking it's special. Take pan and bi as an example. Pansexual is basically bisexual by definition but they reject the latter for some reason. Or demisexual and sapiosexual, which is not an orientation because both straight and LGB people can have this affinity. The former towards emotional connection while the latter, intellectual connection. Everybody has their own unique mix of preference towards people, relationship, and things. New labels aren't necessary for all of these.

Wow, what a stunning display of ignorance and narrow-mindedness. Pray tell, what labels do you consider necessary, and what is it that justifies them so greatly?

last edited at Apr 28, 2022 6:37PM

(TL;DR for the below, it's a term that exists because it can be used to describe relationships that don't usually get given much of society's brain-space.)

This is basically the way I expect most people to react to the idea so don't worry about it too much if it just doesn't ever make sense. It might just be something that's impossible to grasp if it's not something you intuitively understand....

My sister is aro/ace and I myself am demi, and everything you said sounds spot on to how she's described having a QP relationship to me (she's the one who really helped introduce me to the ace spectrum), so I'd say you did a damn good job explaining it.

I'm relieved to hear this. I was worried I might end up stepping on someone's toes with that wall of text. Glad I didn't stay up til 3 AM writing it for nothing lmao.

I adore this latest chapter. Yuriko and Matoi "getting together" like this was my best case scenario for the manga. It's nice not to feel the sting of disappointment from a manga you're really invested in once in a while. :P

edit: I gotta say, this might be the most wholesome thread on the forums lol. So much support and eagerness to connect and learn, it feels great. <3

last edited at Apr 28, 2022 3:14PM

SushiKnight posted:

Yes s2 confirmed but don't expect a release anytime soon, they're going to prioritize quality

Any idea if it's going to pick up where S1 left off or is it like "well, we advertised those heroes, on to the next few"

Don't worry they will keep going in the same direction, in fact you can hear their voices in the official announcement of the part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu9HTOIUxLk (only voices btw, there's no trailer or pictures or anything out there yet so don't trust any clickbait sources).

That's a relief. It felt like there was a lot left unresolved, so I was worried I would need to go learn things about league now ...and as a dota fan, that would be a fate worse than death. :P

The pacing felt too quick at times, but I think that had more to do with how many characters they were jumping between compared to how many episodes they had in which to do everything. I hope they keep it a bit more focused in S2, though I'm not sure how they'd do that without just bumping some characters off.

Overall though? Very good show. The animation and voice acting were superb. I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't watched already.

Yes s2 confirmed but don't expect a release anytime soon, they're going to prioritize quality

Any idea if it's going to pick up where S1 left off or is it like "well, we advertised those heroes, on to the next few"

Okay well, I just finished watching Arcane and...

...was that the ending? It was only 9 episodes right? I'm not missing something? I mean, it's not a cliffhanger, per se, but... I don't know. Kind of an odd way to end it. Is there a season 2 in the works that will somehow pick up from here?

edit: Is the show just backstory leading to the video game's lore or something? Because I don't like league and have absolutely no interest in playing it, much less learning about the lore. I was kind of under the impression that the show was wholly self-contained until now.

last edited at Apr 26, 2022 9:03PM

@V-Oblivion
I think this is their D&D nights.

It took just under 7 years for everyone to agree that they're not just friends.

Asexuals and/or aromantic people sometimes get into whats called a queer platonic relationship, or qtp for short. It's somewhat between a friendship and a romantic relationship where sex or kissing doesn't neccisarliy have to happen, though It varies from individual to individual.

Pretty sure this is where the story is leaning towards.

That... Sounds like BF to me... Call me stubborn or something along the lines but im putting my brain to work to find the place where that qpr could exist while being different and a more than a BF relationship and less than a romantic relationship and i cant find it, else the deciding factor could be the sexual aspect but... I still dont understand how that works and im reaaaallly trying

(TL;DR for the below, it's a term that exists because it can be used to describe relationships that don't usually get given much of society's brain-space.)

This is basically the way I expect most people to react to the idea so don't worry about it too much if it just doesn't ever make sense. It might just be something that's impossible to grasp if it's not something you intuitively understand.

I can't guarantee I'll do a good job explaining, but I'll do my best. I'm kind of a baby ace, I was only able to put a name to the feeling in the last year or two, so I'm probably not qualified to speak for ace or aro people in general. But asexuality can be very different for different people anyways so you probably shouldn't take any one person's word as gospel regardless of who they are.

First, think of "queer-platonic relationship" as more of a catch-all term. It exists more or less because there's no easy word to describe the idea right now. So, you know, you just make one up, right?

At its core, it just refers to any relationship that defies societal norms for "friendship" and "romance". Often this means that it lies somewhere between the two.

In other words, "friendship" is often seen as shallower than a romantic relationship, right? And it's where the majority of your relationships hit their cap. And then romantic relationships are usually seen as a sort of "highest possible level", and also thought to be pretty much inseparable from the element of sexual attraction.
So, people start as friends, then you might find yourself having increasing affections, and then that builds towards a romantic relationship. That's the assumption.

Now, in a way a QPR actually is like "best friends". It refers to a deeper connection than what people normally expect of friends. Say you go out for a night on the town with your friends, then go your separate ways at the end. You might stick around after the other people leave to hang out with that friend you're closest to for a little bit longer, right?

And then, you go your separate ways with that friend.

But what about if you don't go your separate ways then? What if you walk them home to chat a bit more on the way, because their house isn't too far from yours, even though it's in the opposite direction? What does that make the two of you? Good friends? Best friends? Something more?

What if you walk them home, but not just to chat. What if it's because you want to make sure they get home safe? Not because you're head over heels in love with them, but because you care about them deeply, and you wouldn't want them to get hurt? Is that something deeper than walking them home because you wanted to chat a bit more? If so, what does that make you? Best friends? Best-est friends? The BEST of best friends?... Or is that a sign of romantic attraction?

What if you walk them home, then give them a hug before you go? Was that a friendly hug? A romantic embrace?

And what if you walk them home... because it's your home as well? What does living with them mean if you want to do it simply because you enjoy living with them? What does it mean if you kiss on the cheek? What does it mean if you hold hands while you walk?

You see what I'm doing here? Things get more personal, you become more emotionally-invested... but where is the line that determines when a friend that you love as a friend becomes a friend you want as your lover? There isn't really any way to refer to the space between "best friends" and "lovers". But what if your relationship, instead of maxing out at one or the other, maxes out somewhere in that space between?

Well, you can just call that a queer-platonic relationship if you want to. It's your choice.

That's the crux of it. It exists to describe something that had no real way to describe before, because it wasn't seen as either significant enough or common enough to be given a word of its own.

There was a manga linked earlier in the thread that was essentially just a depiction of a qpr. It was called Marriage as Friends. I thought it was pretty good, just don't take it as the only way a qpr can manifest itself.

So in summary:
- Catch-all term
- It's weird as hell to anyone who doesn't understand why anyone would want it.
- But that's fine. No big deal.
- Happy just living with someone and being around them? That means you're in love!... or does it?
- "And they were roommates!"
- "No, really, they're just roommates. They are very close though."
- Again, catch-all term. You use it to describe something that normally doesn't have a word to describe it. Which is probably why it's so difficult to understand, I guess.

I hope I didn't go on too long and that it made some sort of sense.

(also, AVEN wiki article for qpr's. I like the section on zucchini the most.)

I dont know, seens pretty normal to me.

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who thought of this.

Maya02 posted:

They're BFFs, what happens next?

A timeskip, what else?

And they were roommates!

Oh my god, they were roommates...

+6969
+420
+420

Hm, this position seems to recover a nice amount of HP. Lumine looks like she's high on life.

^^ I don't think the streams could exist without some amount of lunacy, so it's probably both.

Come to think of it, can't Ame play the ukelele? She should try playing the Gura. She's about the same size.

last edited at Apr 13, 2022 8:08PM

Anyone else amused by how the Dynasty readership is mostly "yeah we gay, keep scrolling" (of all genders) and then there's the occasional out of the closet straight guy who gets ignored hard

FWIW I don't think this applies as much to people who are regulars on the forums. I can think of a handful of openly cishet guys that are pretty active in conversations.

It's also worth noting that there's also a fairly significant discrepancy between the demographics of Dynasty's users and forumers. IIRC the last time someone did a poll cishet male respondents made up a bit over half the overall results but less than half of active forum users.

I don't know if that would still be true today, and it was, of course, completely optional to do, but it was announced on the home page so it's probably fairly accurate.

edit: I just heard a story about a statue in Lima with a llama on its head...

It's true.

last edited at Apr 15, 2022 6:08PM

If you're still looking for ace representation in medias, there's the j-drama Koisenu Futari.

Looks promising. I'll check it out, thanks!

What I’m expecting next chapter: Asumi lies to Nanao about having work that night so she can go to her reservation, Nanao gets suspicious and follows her, sees her heading into a hotel with another girl (if the girl’s butch enough she might assume it’s a man), but because Asumi said she had work Nao will assume that she’s the prostitute.

If she’s feeling really protective, she might even try to intervene then and there, though that would resolve the misunderstanding immediately so i doubt it.

If this isn't exactly what happens I'll be shocked. It just seems like the only possibility.

She's probably going to assume "that horrible boyfriend of hers is forcing her to do sex work", run home, then spend a handful of chapters agonizing over how to ask Asumi about it and/or feel jealous and oops, gay panic!

vore

Such overwhelming sex appeal!

The first panel just reminds me of the "And so... they were both bottoms." meme

Snek.

^Only for a Paimon to swoop in, alerting Ayaka's prey.

kowai

Trying to figure out how to take that. Do you mean the general premise is scary or something specific is scary, or did you mean "kawaii" instead? Because I could see any of those applying here.

Probably just a misspelling of "cow eye".

The premise is bizarre, the story is hard to follow, and the characters' motivations make absolutely no sense.

...but it's Akashi so I'm here for it anyways.

Knight Heron always picks up great series to scanlate. Thanks, folks!