Hinata is ruining my mountain subtext T-T

Two weeks later, all the miscommunication was a bit irritating but the payoff was worth it! That's what I love about Hinata and Aoi–while they do bicker a lot, they also have genuine moments where they say how much they care about each other instead of being eternally tsundere about it.

Apparently Hanebado has one episode left and this adaptation straight up rewriting parts of the manga was a bold move... I'm not sure it worked, though. I get why they got rid of characters and entire subplots to cram that one arc into 13 episodes, but then why all the original material? What are they doing with the mom situation, and why did they turn Ayano into such a prick? I don't get the logic behind the staff's decisions and that (along with the ramped-up melodrama) makes it hard to enjoy the ride even though they're doing an outstanding job at animating it.
Although my biggest frustration with the series was actually carried over from the source material: so many girls and you have to squint to see anything yuri! It's all either fanservice or "we're just like family" (riiight). Huge waste if you ask me.

Big Sis Fujikawa isn't impressed that her younger sister flirts like a ten-year-old boy. If you want a girl to like you at least don't make her cry, you awkward gay mess!

I see Minaha is a shipping purist. Not limiting yourself to canon is so much more fun though!

Also, about the previous chapter: https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/magic_of_stella_ch39#5
Murakami finally got Seki to drink one of her weird creations! I love that they prank each other sometimes.

This chapter is a really interesting one to compare to its anime adaptation. One notable thing is that Eiko is wearing Kamu's ring in the manga but not the anime. That feels like a pretty significant change and I have no idea why the anime staff made that decision.

As an aside, I read this chapter before episode 7 aired and I was convinced they'd have Nishimura be voiced by a man for comedic effect or something. Glad that didn't happen.

I tried watching the new Souten no Ken because everyone was going on about the bad CGI, and they weren't kidding. I kept expecting QTE prompts to pop up.

The SAO spinoff seems like it could be a cool action show though!

Slow Start's last episode was business as usual. Overall, the anime felt like an abridged version of the manga, as if the staff knew or assumed they would only get one season and adapted chapters out of order, cut some scenes and moved or added others in an attempt to get some sort of narrative cohesion. I liked the result well enough, but it left me wanting more. I hope the manga's translation continues so people can experience the teacher/student subplot in all its almost canon, wildly inappropriate glory.

There's also 22/7 coming soon. Their last single was a "very gay song": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRKYPY1orHo

It's not my words, one of the seiyuu herself said it: https://twitter.com/wheeddiyeon/status/973957425949589504

I had no idea who 22/7 and that lady were until five minutes ago, but I'm suddenly very interested. Those PVs look nice.

Hinata from Sora Yori mo made me cry today, great episode... Thank you madhouse! best Tuesdays ever !

It was such a great episode! "Fuck you for hurting our friend" scenes are often satisfying and this one was no exception. I'm glad Hinata has such good friends.
Also: when Kanae referred to Shirase as Gin and Takako's daughter I had to replay that bit to make sure I hadn't read it wrong and check the audio. I was leaning towards the interpretation that Gin spent years/decades pining for Takako like your standard tragic lesbian, but episode 9 did make them look a bit like a nontraditional family unit. I hadn't thought of it that way, but then I tend to need things to be spelled out for me before I understand them.

^ I can't help you with that manga, but when I need to look for something on the forum I type site:dynasty-scans.com before the search terms into a regular search engine. So far it's worked every time.

I love Murakami's mom so much.

You weren't supposed to care about the guy with a crush on Gin. I mean, the characters sure didn't. I'm pretty certain that what you got out of it was intended

Yeah, I realized this probably wasn't going to go the way I thought it was when he explained the situation and everyone started making fun of the poor guy instead of encouraging him. I still wonder what the purpose of it was, though. It was kind of random, especially with only a few more episodes to go. I guess we'll find out more later?

Toji no Miko had a shaky start but it's become surprisingly enjoyable. I was expecting mostly monster of the week episodes with occasional plot, but it's been all plot so far. I think we might be getting a yuri subplot too! If it goes somewhere, this being a two-cour anime would let it build up more slowly. Of course, more episodes also means more time for the plot and production to fall apart, so I guess we'll see how it goes.

This week's Antarctica made me wonder why we were supposed to care about the guy with a crush on Gin all of a sudden, it was weird. It felt pointless even by obligatory romantic subplot standards. All it did was strengthen my belief that Gin had unrequited feelings for Shirase's mom (which would be depressing). The last scene was great though!

On Märchen Mädchen, the main character literally rewrote the ending of Cinderella so that Cinderella didn't end up with the prince. I had a good laugh about it but it was actually a great idea!

Slow Start: The mangaka was hyped for this week's episode and sure enough, it was because it focused on what I would argue is the manga's main appeal. It was good. Since most of the yuri we get is either subtext or more on the cute side I'm not used to seeing sexual tension in anime form. I'd actually recommend watching this episode even if you're not following the show.

Also I wanted to ask about how she lives with BOTH her Grandma's right?

How did that come about? I totally got the impression they were a couple - anyone else? At a guess one of them is not actuary a grandma but the others partner, who she just calls that.

They're both her grandmothers (from her mother's and her father's side), but that information is a small note in the margins of a manga page so I think we should all feel free to consider that Tama lives with her yuri grandmas.

p.s Kamu is voiced by the same actress who did Kanna (Kamu)i from Kobayashi's dragon maid right? They sound very similar.

Yup.

After this week episode, and rereading all the chapter, I am convinced that Rin is totally gay for Nadeshiko now

I'm having a similar reaction. I didn't really see any subtext when reading the manga but for some reason it feels obvious in the anime. I kind of want to think of the scene in the car where Rin compares the sisters as her looking at Nadeshiko's sister who is so nice and pretty, and then looking at the human-sized puppy she fell for and questioning her own taste.

A place further than the universe today we had character development for the only one left, Hinata! which is my favorite girl

Hinata is great and this episode was really good (okay, so far every episode has been good). I loved how the show handled two stubborn people getting into an argument. And it still ended on a lighthearted note!
I kind of want to ship Shirase and Hinata together now.

Mai Hime was relevant in the past. Nowadays you have a lot more to choose from.

That sums it up. But also, if you're into reading fanfic at all there's a TON of fantastic ShizNat stories, including some really creative AUs. Honestly I'd say that's the main reason to watch anything Hime/Otome today. The series itself hasn't aged that well from a yuri fan's standpoint, but the fandom was talented.

Oh, this is getting translated, great! I really want to see how a yuri doujin artist will insert that part of her work into a genre/format where it tends to stay harmless and innocent.

Canno (author of A Kiss and a White Lily) drew an illustration based on this chapter in the official anthology last year. Of course this would be the chapter she picked!

Also how did I go so long without knowing that something as wonderful as Hakumei & Mikochi existed?! I'll have to stop myself from reading all of the manga in one go now.

The words are familiar, but that last sentence makes no sense.

Yeah, I'm probably just kidding myself and I'll have caught up with the manga in a few days.

yuuri will eat chito and live few days longer

"^^ Dude.

This page rlly sums up that idea rlly well. Also, the past tense is intentional in the original Japanese as well.

Yeah, the use of the past tense hit me hard, especially coming from Yuu. The two-page spreads were gorgeous.

Also how did I go so long without knowing that something as wonderful as Hakumei & Mikochi existed?! I'll have to stop myself from reading all of the manga in one go now.

(Gudetamago's Girls' Last Tour manga spoilers)

Agreed. To add to this: The way I see it, at some point the girls realized that their journey to the highest level was a one-way trip. For them it might have been when their Kettenkrad broke down and it became obvious how much having a vehicle had helped them survive for so long, but looking back we could notice how pathways tended to collapse after them and how they were repeatedly told that few resources were left in the entire city. There was nothing to go back to even if they found a way to go back down. We were told indirectly that Kanazawa and Ishii hadn't survived, why would Chito and Yuuri fare any better? And with them progressively abandoning or using everything they were carrying, their trek to the top felt increasingly final with each chapter. By the time Chito started burning her books I don't think they were even expecting to find anything up there anymore.
I thought their last words about figuring out what to do next when they woke up were similar to when Chito burned her diary and Yuuri told her "You'll be fine, you have a great memory"—empty reassurances and not quite wanting to accept death yet even though they knew it was inevitable.

Short version: I think of it as a straightforward depressing ending with the silver lining of "Oh well, we made the most we could out of this life". Painful, but in a good way.

What's your interpretation of the ending? I don't see any other direction things could go from there.

Literally have food, water, and capable of getting heat to live. Might as well say that cavemen during the ice age should have just killed themselves to spare them from the torture of having to learn to survive the climate.

Okay, that's a way of seeing the ending. I mean, I don't agree, but I don't want to go in-depth right now because the chapter was just released and I'm sure I'm not the only one who tends to absentmindedly highlight spoilers while scrolling through Dynasty half-asleep. (Although technically they would've gotten spoiled already)

I'll explain my point of view later–if you care, that is! But either way, I loved this series. I'm glad I picked it up without knowing anything about it.

girls last tour manga ends.
rip chito and yuuri. it's inevitable but still so sad.
went to sleep forever.

What are you talking about? Nothing indicates that they died in their sleep.

no food and fuel/heat source, sleep outside in very cold climate, napoleon army style

You literally see them make and eat soup. They also sleep under a blanket right next to each other, the go to method to surviving freezing cold with no fire.

Technically we don't see them die, but without resources they wouldn't last more than a few days. Did you want to see them slowly freeze and/or starve to death? I'm glad we were spared that, even though we know that's where it was going.

Except there is absolutely no reason to believe that they are going to do either.

What's your interpretation of the ending? I don't see any other direction things could go from there.

Yuuki Yuuna really went all out with the cosmic horror this season. I would have liked more yuri, but it feels like nitpicking.

Slow Start looks like it will be a traditional slice of life show about girls hanging out and being cute. There are a few things of note about it: 1) there's a video where for some reason the seiyuu go rock climbing and bungee jumping to promote the anime; 2) the author has been drawing yuri doujinshi for decades; 3) the editor is using the yuri elements to promote the manga alongside a het romance manga by the author of Koufuku Graffiti and I dunno, I just think that's nice. The promotional campaign seems spoilery though, so I recommend staying away from Tokumi Yuiko's Twitter for now.

last edited at Jan 6, 2018 7:25PM

I think Yumine's suspicion towards Fujikawa is one of my favorite dynamics. Is she a pervert out to seduce her best friend, or a good source of fuel for her fantasies and doujinshi? What a dilemma.