I'm always thinking this story would be better as a proper queer drama, than some weird mishmash of rom-comedy with dramatic bits that don't seem to go anywhere.

Technically, this setup could be good.

Aya is a sexual abuse victim, who is working for her victimizer. She has also herself been gaslit to sexually abuse a middle schooler. Also, she manipulated and sexually took advantage of a girl in her class, because she was talking some homophobic BS, and is trying to hook up with her.

Her boss has set up a honey trap business so she can feed her sexual appetite, and she's more than happy to fuck kids too if they're in her strike zone, even making sure her bar can be entered by minors. Her regulars are the same, there's no way they don't know what's going on, so they're either consenting or directly participating.

That's already a really rich field to do pretty dark storylines on. It's even a place where a new face won't feel out of place, so you don't get the usual "transfer student" BS you often see in manga and LN.

But unfortunately, author isn't taking full advantage of the setup. Lot of things are "just a joke" or glossed over after couple sentences.

last edited at Jan 31, 2023 3:12AM

Looks like Onee-san needs to be even more careful from now on.

I had been hoping that a team would pick up this series! I don't know if it will actually go into yuri territory but it's always nice to have an older lead in manga.

The book esthetician hands over to the protagonist is a hint that this is a GL story of some sort.

Nobuko is like the original yuri novel author in Japan. She wrote the "Two Virgins in Attic", which is widely considered the first time a writer dared to step outside of Class S style conventions and suggest actual proper relationship between the two female main characters.

"Hana Monogatari" is a collection of Class S style stories from same author. First story of that collection is kind of like reflected here in this first chapter, because it's about middle aged women looking back at their lives, regrets and other such topics. Protagonist's life here is kind of like Class S afterstory, she wasn't exactly happily married towards the end, as can be seen from her memories. Perhaps she never was, I'm sure we'll find out eventually.

last edited at Jan 27, 2023 11:55PM

This story is hilarious, because it's doing both "yuri danshi" moves and making fun out of all the "big boobie onee-san and friends tease hapless [projectable] protagonist guy" stories that are like grains of sand on the beach, in terms on number of serializations.

It's ticking more boxes than a full warehouse.

Just casually tying that knot, I see.

Damn. Here's my take: MC saw tall girl's age on that form and realizes she's way younger than her, MC then says 'pervert' in reference to herself.

Edit: Ha guess we're all thinking the same thing lol. Makes sense that MC would judge herself harshly since she apparently fights the perverts in town but I don't think tall girl is a minor, so it ain't that.

Yes, kind of like that.

One main character is a really eccentric numbers head, who has a habit of going into sudden emotional panic and just saying what is running in her mind out loud, without context and no regard to whomever might be listening. She's a veritable misunderstanding generator.

Other one is a traumatized girl, who has faced hostility over her homosexuality by her family and probably in other instances too. So she is tuned to interpret anything unclear regarding herself negatively.

I think it's just really on the nose contextually that there are "bumps on the road", probably a lot of them.

Tomo's bi-awakening wa kita.

Saleswoman had a big brain moment.

Wait, are we gonna have a High School Yuri story that doesn't have a "But we're two girls!" Moment?! Both characters seem aware of their own sexuality right out the gates, which is kinda nice.

It's increasingly rare to find "but we're both girls" moments in modern yuri works (high school setting or otherwise), which is not necessarily a positive thing in my book. It's like trading the angst and drama for fluffy wish fulfillment. Ideally you want a little bit of both in the genre.

It's kind of been bit of a joke for 10 years already in Japan. Even Madoka Magika made fun of it. If you hear it in a manga or anime, it's used as an ineffective argument that some other character will immediately dismiss. Real problems for Japanese queer couples are just getting shunned or shamed, or having to fight against a system that was not build to accept such relationships as legitimate (marriage, adoption, assumptions that two parents of same sex are worse, etc).

But it's actually quite relevant in SK and Chinese yuri, such utterances being lived reality. There are many outsiders who have negative or dismissing attitude towards those who dare to break heteronormativity publicly, and you can get harassed and ostracized with little legal protection. SK also has lots of crazy Christians who are as bad as US evangelicals about this stuff, and bend their kids into pretzels rather than allow them to "live in sin".

last edited at Dec 28, 2022 1:08PM

Really not sure what to think of this, other than that I ddidn't dislike it.

For some reason, I was reminded a little bit of Milan Kundera's "Unbearable Lightness of Being". Decisiveness and self-understanding Kashiwai developed during this story kind of have a similar philosophical message about the world and how you only live once, so you might as well just do what you truly want to do.

They fell in love with each other, but conditions of fulfilling that love were impossible for them to abide by. Just like Kashiwai could not bear to live in her original relationship while being herself or share her lover with other people, neither could Tsuzuki abandon all of her other relationships for Kashiwai and claim she would surely stay dedicated to her only.

last edited at Dec 26, 2022 11:44PM

Why is it tagged Yuri Crush? Isn't subtext?

Kita is a lesbian, quite open about it and she has even managed to communicate her attraction to Ryo. It's as plain text crush as it can get.

She sure is the goddess of bedding but restful sleep? maybe not so much haha

More like a goddess of chestful bleep, apparently.

Oh damn, kiss was much sooner than expected. But besides that I’m amazed at how well this shows the chemistry between the two of them. Like it’s not just “girl, cute!” They genuinely get along really well and seem to have a similar sense of humour, I love it!

I don't think it was earlier than expected, I'm pretty sure it was almost perfectly paced and timed, if one wanted to make things feel natural.

It's just that maybe you're used to almost oppressively unnatural reluctance to do anything physical you see in a lot of other yuri comics, unless it's for drama or if it's more of a smutty story to begin with. Far beyond what is even dictated by the cultural norms in places like Japan or China.

I think the story poked a little fun at that even, with Xiaoen wondering why Xingyuan wanted to hug her. It's bit like she had accepted her own attraction (it's made clear in first few chapters), but not that she was being liked back even more and was being pursued.

last edited at Dec 19, 2022 9:36AM

I was surprised how cute DIY ended up being in this regard.

Tsundere engineer x airheaded designer.

Im seeing ppl say Ruriko is definitely sexual and i dont get why? She reads to me as in love but i dont see anything or remember anything like that.

That's because norm is to have sexual attraction.

So until otherwise proven, assumption has to be she's sexually attracted to women with the context we have been provided.

If that is not the case, it will become apparent at some point.

last edited at Dec 16, 2022 2:15PM

Kita the Yurimon tamer.

Torture-bully author making... a rom com?

Very sus. Gawd only knows where this will go.

Just finished watching the anime for the third time. Guess it's finally time to catch up on the manga lmao

Funny you say that, last month I watched the anime for a third time myself, and with a friend that watched it for a second time with me. Yet even on the rewatches, the heartwarming still got us every time! I'm looking forward to seeing the manga get updated, the world could use more Akebi sweetness!

Anime adaptation is exceptionally good. I wish they'd make the entire manga in that format.

Hinata just activated her "Jenny" protocol.

why they stop being friends? :(

So they can upgrade their relationship status to cousins, of course.

Minami is a girl whisperer. She just casually converted jealous girlfriend into a pet cat.

Enjoyable first chapter. I even liked their school buddies teasing them, because they're so eager to spend time together. "Ukeru!"

Also makes me even more annoyed over all of those CGDCT series that don't have a sweet bickering couple like this as part of the cast. It's almost always just someone maybe having a crush and not being able to ask anyone out, or unrequited love.

What is this from(A book called Flowers obviously) and where can I find it.

It's an excellent series of yuri visual novels, made by Innocent Grey.

There are four parts, named after seasons (printemps, ete, automne and hiver), and they are sequels to each other, even though the main pair regarding romance varies. Last novel was translated frequently, and you can buy all of them from Steam, for example.

Flowers goes about its thing by continuously depicting a whole school year in a rather isolated Catholic girls school, while also featuring separate romantic storyline for each season.

Out of all yuri novels that have ever been made, these are some of the highest quality ones, right up there with Kindred Spirits. Art is notably excellent. They're not particularly lewd, but they are passionate in terms of romance and the story is not shy to portray sexual attraction, when it fits. There is little bit of mystery, and lot of slice of life type situations.

Author is super-tripling down on sparkliness. Pepsodent-Chan is like a sun made flesh.

last edited at Nov 6, 2022 8:44PM

Can't tell if this is bad romance or not, but it sure is something.