As for the whole situation with Uta, unless Reiichi is caught dead to rights cheating or someone outright states it, there isn't any obvious future of the situation... But I would say the cheating angle is like the Chekov's gun of this manga, they've taken it off the mantlepiece and have been playing with it for long enough - sooner or later that gun is going to go off. As is, the plot seems arranged to the point that something has to happen there before any other parts of the plot move.

I think looking at Kuro as being non-romantic or whatever isn't exactly right. It seems to me like what she's seen or experienced as "romance" is the sort of stuff that comes and goes. People dating and breaking up, etc. Lust and disillusionment. That sorta thing is what she sees as "romance". She sees family as something more stable or constant, but family itself also can be fragile (Uta's case where family is a minefield). It seems to me like Miyabi is starting to get through a little but in this chapter.

Miyabi is very good at taking care of Kuro, I think that is a very romantic but from Kuro's point of view, I don't think it falls under "romance". I think that is exactly the advantage Miyabi has, but we'll see how Kuro reacts maybe next chapter? I half expect the author to leave us hanging for a while, and off screen the next part of the scene.

Maybe Kuro is just bad at love? I've known people who don't seem to know how to have lasting relationships. They get bored or whatever, don't ask me, I never understood it. But I think family can start from romance. The question is whether Kuro can see it that way.

The alien girl gives off Yashiro Hoshimiya vibes

They both claim to be aliens, right? I figure it's the same universe and all the Yashiros are lost aliens from the same place. Obviously nobody believes them but they're actually telling the truth.

I would complain about it being cliche, but it's so damn cute that I'll allow it. Itou Hachi can get away with almost anything...

I grow more fearful for Kana-chan each day.

Momose's inner voice leaked out pretty strongly in this chapter, I can't imagine that Kana is totally oblivious. Honestly I think she handles her pretty well... Momose is crazy but will literally do whatever Kana tells her, I think.

This series keeps mixing wholesomeness and degeneracy. It's a rather bizarre adventure so far.

That's its best quality, and in a bizarre way the truth of the manga. Love is venerated the world over, but what is the actual act of love? Mere f*cking, a 'degenerate' act, something a person should refrain from if they wish to be closer to god. Even more so of it isn't for strictly breeding purposes. Obviously this is a contradiction.

Only by rejecting this false dichotomy and the view of lewd as separate from love can we realize the true TRUTH of the gospel of love. The truth that is burning in Koguma's every firey blush! Truly this is the very pinnacle of art!

I like Mya's mom trying to hint to her that all the other moms gave her money because she's basically a free babysitter for their kids, and Mya completely not realizing this.

For a manga with such an unwholesome premise it sure has become pretty sappy. Not that this is in any way bad.

Honestly not my favorite comico comic (that would be "Sensei no Oningyo") but it's not bad. Classmaid is funnier and there are better romance comics, but actual yuri? There's pretty much this and a comic called "real wa game yori ki nari" which was not bad but not spectacular either. It was gayer, though.

Interestingly enough both Classmaid and Sensei no Oningyo have lesbian side characters.

There is some good original stuff on comico but not much yuri.

Maekawa is not a very honest person, even with herself really. This was established right at the start when she lied about the doujin event where she met Shimizu. I think when she kissed Shimizu she did it that way - with a pretence that it was possibly an act - as cover for what she wants to do anyway. Not sure whether she is self aware about it, though.

Looking back on it, if you follow her actions it seems like Maekawa has a serious thing for Shimizu, we just get Shimizu's internal monologue on the matter. Maekawa is the one that wormed her way into Shimizu's life first, and the "I really hate you" thing is like the most classic flag ever.

Maekawa is a really interesting character to me. She acts superior but is the weaker of the two overall, she pretends to not care but she's been following Shimizu, really it seems to me that this makes sense in hindsight. This development seems out of the blue only because we've been drawn into Shimizu's naive and closeted worldview.

Also finally the yuri switch has been turned on so I hope this keeps it up.

Quick question. Does Hino-san no Baka translate to "Hino-san's Idiot" OR "Hino-san you jerk"?

Both. Yes, really. Literally it's stupid/idiot, but if someone calls you X no baka they are saying you're a jerk. When Koguma exclaims it, it's like "you jerk".

Context is everything in language.

Wow, didn't expect this was Hattori Mitsuru. I thought the art seemed familiar but seeing the name threw me for a loop. I'm more used to his very digital style, like Concerto or Otogi no Machi no Rena. This has the look of pen on paper, whether or not it was done that way.

On the skin color thing, thatismyfetish.jpg, but also I think Japan is odd about this in many ways. Truth be told, Japan is not as monolithic as it seems, and there is a fairly wide range of "Japanese" skin tones. The various regions have strong identities to this day, more so even islands. The main is obviously tanned but I don't think the base assumption is that she's naturally pale either. On a more critical note, it's symbolic of country/city and adult/child (adults in Japan, especially women, usually avoid suntan like it is going to kill them - it's a social no-no). A natural tan with natural hair is as close as I can imagine to the epitome of uncool in Japan.

This is so new that I don't know what to expect, but I am looking forward to seeing where it goes with it in the end.

This manga is too real. The struggle to do art is too real.

I once wanted to be a professional musician. I went to college for it, actually, but burned out in my 4th semester. Went and did other things but I keep coming back to music, usually I'll get kinda serious for a bit and then circumstances or whatever will happen and I'll stop, then I'll pick it up again... I honestly think my life is a giant waste, that I should have been a musician, but I also know rationally that I would have struggled and probably been poor and probably still have washed out. Well, now I'm back in the cycle of playing, took up piano which I never got any good at in school (I only learned a little bit back in the day).

I struggle a lot with it. I greatly enjoy making music, but it's an obsession sometimes and not always fun. I WANT to be really good, I know how to get there to an extent. Rationally I know there are millions of better musicians, but sometimes I just kinda wish I could be a musician, even if it meant scraping by giving lessons and making less than I do now. I can't justify doing it as more than a hobby but it makes me very frustrated sometimes.

Shimizu has no clue. She draws purely for fun, but isn't trying to "git gud" as they say - she wants to be better, but doesn't want to be a pro. This means she can't make the "god level" drawings she loves, but it also means she isn't falling over on the floor after 48 hours of drawing. I kinda admire how she can just work at her job and have a hobby on the side without getting too obsessive. I can see a bit of where Maekawa is at, enough to know that it can just twist you up inside.

I know I defended this manga as "trash" before in this thread, but I have to downgrade it to "worse than trash" now. The past few chapters, plus the relationship chart, are just terrible. It's like every trope is trotted out in the worst way and everyone is terrible - but we're "inclusive" and they're all "friends"??? If I had friends that terrible, they wouldn't be my friends anymore.

If it's trying to show the obsessive aspect of love, or be disturbing, it needs to back off on the "friends" BS as though normal people blackmail their friends. If it's trying to be a "friends" manga, then these people need to be less trash. If it's trying to be a manga about a group of sexual minorities, it should probably not constantly treat them like the worst stereotypes of how fucked up people can be.

If it's going to be trash, it still has to aspire to a certain level. NTR is trash, but it's compelling trash.

I think this guy just wants to write rape porn.

Just when I was thinking, "isn't this just friendship?" it got super yuri. Nice.

Woah, hit me right in the feels there.

There is something to be said for a straightforward story with likeable characters. Maybe our leads are too nice for some but damn if I don't care because chapters like this...

And it seems like there is hope with soccer boy too. Whether or not he turns out to be a viable romantic interest, I hope he steps up for Akira.

You know, if this manga really wanted to explode a figurative bomb in the room, it would have Reiichi come home with divorce papers.

Honestly I would rather see Kaoru get some self-respect and serve them up, but it doesn't seem likely. I feel sorry for both Uta and Kaoru, as they are stuck between a rock and a hard place without a good way out. I don't know what Kaoru is making on Etsy but it seems like she would have a real hard time alone, Uta is still a kid and can't stay or leave without suffering.

Kaoru's idea of the life she was living has fallen apart - her estrangement from Reiichi is the unstated elephant in the room, and arrangement with Uta is also done. She's maybe the one with the hardest choices in that sense. I can see Uta living on her own as soon as she hits 18, she seems like the type who can do that. Kaoru has always seemed fragile.

Someone's gotta step up to the plate, or I guess they'll just twist in the wind. A manga where they all suffer for another 50 chapters, that's just the ticket!

Call it edgy if you want, but I certainly find the twisted voice of lust to be realistic to a degree. It's OTT but in reality when you get fantasies or desires that are hard to control, especially when you're young and full of hormones, it's pretty crazy.

Maybe people with lower sex drives or something don't get it.

I don't find Seiji unbelievable. He's crazy, but in ways that are, sadly, painfully common. I'm not reading this to find good representation or something, from the first this has been a trashy sort of manga about damaged people, and that's what I expect. That it delivers. If you want Morishima Akiko fluff you don't read NTR.

It would be an interesting turnover if the "plain girl" Karen somehow manages to snatch up Touma. I didn't notice if there was a note, but "karen" is "beautiful, pretty, neat in appearance" in Japanese, which is the ironic part.

I do like how this series is so... amoral, I guess? We get taught that love is a higher good, but love can be destructive or dangerous. At the same time, in my view Touma isn't any sort of villain, more of a force of nature. For some people it helps them, for some it hurts them, but Touma doesn't seem to be really at fault to me. It's not like they can't refuse her - she doesn't force anything.

I actually really feel for Karen, I kinda feel like a side character in life right now and feel like I don't have anything special... I think Touma was a trigger but these feelings were there before, just Touma gave her the ability to fight against that. As to whether fighting against that is good or bad, well, we're all characters of our own creation, that's what existential freedom is all about.

Nozomi comes off in this chapter as totally clueless about yuri, doesn't she?
It's kinda odd...
I mean, even Moe and Hikari understand the notion of a girl/girl affair. In chapter 1, they discussed lengthily whether Asama was a lesbian and whether Risa and Aya were dating. And yet Nozomi here in the final panel looks like her brain has crashed because she cannot process what she saw: "Two girls were dating. Does not compute. Cancel/abort/restart?"

Was Nozomi always supposed to be so utterly oblivious about homosexuality?

I wonder if it's more of a reaction to seeing it in person. It's one thing to see some woman on TV, another to see someone you know. This is one of the benefits of being out, is that it makes it normal and so people who are on the fence (both bi and gay) start seeing it as a legitimate option. Hard on the first people who have to tank society's bullshit, though.

Think about how it's viewed today in Japan, even now a lot of people think of high school same sex dating as a game that ends with graduation. That's among the people who don't just think all gay people are deviants... I don't think she's ignorant but it didn't have reality until she saw it in person, with someone she knows on a certain level.

Actually, the drawing style doesn't help here: it's pure moe and does a disservice to the seriousness of the theme. I can't take the characters seriously when they act all cute and >.< , say "nya" and go "kyaa" on frilly clothes.

No offense, but it's a bit odd coming from someone called "Nya-chan". I personally will say that if my manga about a bunch of sexual minorities can't be moe, then it can go pack it's bags and move to America or something. Part of the reason I like manga is because they draw the characters cutely, I used to read American comics but a lot of "serious" ones turn me off because, frankly, I find the art style ugly and the people seem to be drawn specifically to be UNattractive.

Tezuka drew cartoony characters in manga that are masterworks of world literature by any standard worth upholding. My two favorite manga probably, Koi Kaze and Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, both have very cute characters yet handle themes as serious as anything.

If my manga transgender/cross dressing/non-binary/queer characters can't be cute and squee over cute clothes, have teenage drama, love affairs, and be moe while they do it, all the while taking on serious issues, then there is no point to manga and beauty and cuteness. And I will defend the justice of cuteness till I die!

And just a bit ago it seemed like Neeko was starting to gain some confidence and make some money working from home (Mom's best success in the manga, really). Having all the bad shit come bubbling back up, plus (well meaning) pressure to get in a relationship... It's too real!

I think there is not one easy solution to this - I am not a NEET but I'm a total social recluse (my only point of contact with people outside work and home is my weekly piano lesson). I've been better and I've been worse, but I feel for Neeko a lot. Therapy is often a joke - I once tried to bring up my relationship issues with a therapist, after I had been dumped by the only real girlfriend I've ever had, and had him laugh it off. Another therapist I met earlier when I was more severely depressed decided attacking me for half an hour was the right thing to do. A few others just gave me drugs, with no meaningful therapy otherwise. I've met more worthless therapists than good ones, though the few good ones were very good (the old guy who managed to help me out of my longest, deepest pit, for example).

I would say that lots of athletes have masochistic streaks... Especially if the training is hardcore. I used to go to a boxing gym and swim on top of that.

Is it just me or do they look excessively.. voluptuous in quite a few panels - even the little sis?

Not that manga girls all have to be thin, but to have all of them, at their supposed young ages look like that - not sure if they are going for a more natural size but seems a bit odd to me.

Jin loves boobs. You will get booby monsters and you will like it!

"it's dark, no one will see us" -- "our relationship is a secret from everyone"
Jeeeesus... Thank god I don't live like that anymore.
Every chapter is emotionally "hard" to read, the feeling I get every time is that they are living in a prison. It's sad. Seriously, I can't enjoy this :( I really feel bad for them!

I kinda get the feeling this story is going to be driven (in the end) by the conflict of coming out rather than either the usual gay angst or traditional love story conflict like love triangles or just the dance of getting closer. Nanoha's sister knows but with their friends they are finding it harder and harder to conceal their relationship as it develops. Somewhere or somehow it will come out.

That's not to say I think their friends or family will be against it necessarily.

Have to say, Anima Yell is actually pretty good, and somehow manages to get gayer every episode, against all odds. It's very simple but does what it does very well. I haven't been watching much but this really has me hooked.