In chapter 28 Uta is nowhere around and Kaoru keeps being sad about her unrequited crush on Reiichi. She appears in one shot (that was also a flashback) but that doesn't even count because it's normal to have a flashback involving Uta and Reichii at some point.

I don't think what you say is impossible, but so far there is no evidence for that, just speculation and I personally don't see it. I mean yes, she did see Uta regularly too, that doesn't mean she liked Reiichi because of her.
If she had these lingering feelings from back then, she wouldn't react the way she did when Uta confessed.
She just desperately needs an emotional crunch and Uta has been there for her. But that's different from being in love or liking someone this way. If she gets desperate enough and loses Reiichi, I wouldn't put it past her to accept Uta's feelings so she won't be alone.

To clarify I wasn't trying to argue that Kaoru had romantic/sexual feelings for Uta this whole time, there isn't much sign she was after Reiichi for his sex appeal either. More that her connection to Uta is deep and profound and has been there for most of her life (and almost all of Uta's). Marriage is to a degree about choosing a life, and creating a family - and I think it is fair to say Kaoru implicitly assumed in marrying Reiichi she was marrying his family and would "get" Uta as a sister (and as I mentioned Uta has just broken that assumption).

In ch28 when Kaoru was trying to explain why she loved Reiichi she talked about him comforting her, and being there when she was lonely - but everything we've seen suggests Uta was the champ there - most of the positives she associated with him were probably Uta. The significance of Uta in the flashback is that Kaoru was talking about the good times with Reiichi that made her fall in love and in the one memory we actually see Uta was there, and there is reason to assume that applied to the others as well. Uta is such a constant Kaoru doesn't even realise she's there - eg in past chapters she had forgotten when she was panicking about her bad marks and trying to hide them she always went to Uta (and that is more reason to believe they usually walked home together since that would have been after school).

As for the lack of Uta in ch28: the entirety of ch28 was set in the high school, the one place Uta couldn't be, even then Kaoru and Reiichi barely interacted. Together at school was not the "normal" state of affairs - Reiichi was two years ahead of Kaoru and her friends, Japanese middle and high schools are three year so for 2/3 years in each they were in different schools. Kaoru was trying to rush into confessing at graduation because it was the end of the only year they would be in high school together.

I doubt Kaoru's interest in Uta will immediately transform to romance, but at the very least I suspect her feelings for Uta will be addressed as one of the treads in the series, with closure and maybe a confession of some sort, whether or not they develop into romantic interest.

As for Kaoru/Uta endgame... the practicalities are very much against them even if we admit the possibility emotionally... not sure how Japanese students usually fund their university studies, but Uta probably can't afford to burn her bridges quite yet.

I have a feeling the message of these last few chapters has been that the thing Kaoru most loved about Reiichi was Uta.

You have a good analysis, but I don't see this particular point. In the flashback of the past chapters we saw her having a crush on Reichii without Uta being involved in any way.

Which chapters were you reading? In ch28 p9 she is there in the flashback within a flashback giving Karou a birthday present when Reiichi forgot (ie picking up his slack, as usual), and in ch29 she has a major role. 29 p9 Uta meets Kaoru on the way home from her first day of second year HS, neither act like it was unusual (Kaoru smiles as soon as she recognises her) - it probably happened regularly, and in the past too since they live in the same neighborhood and neither would have just changed schools. Uta comforts Kaoru who says just being around Uta makes her feel better, and Uta promises to be on her side forever. and on p22 showed Kaoru was running to Uta when upset by Risako flaunting her relationship with Reiichi, with the implication that it happened many times (yet she says she can't stand to be around Risako because she is reminded of Reiichi).

Kaoru does talk about how he cared for her when they were in elementary school, but we only have her recollection to to on there, and don't know the context or his motives - eg there is a good chance Reiichi was taking care of Uta at the time (he is much older and their mother worked = much babysitting) and was looking for help, or even nagged by Uta wanting to check on her oneechan. Their mothers are friends and they live in the same area, friends of the family - Kaoru was used to seeing them as a package deal.

I mean, he's the only constant in Kaoru's life after her mom dies, so he has that going for him.

And he’s got a cute, smart, and reliable little sister, which brings us full circle to the initial question, “Who or what is this series actually about?”

I have a feeling the message of these last few chapters has been that the thing Kaoru most loved about Reiichi was Uta.

Up until the recent Kaoru focus the series has been very tightly focused on Uta - other character's stories are only there because they are being seen by or recounted to Uta and are providing a context for forming her strategy for dealing with her feelings (and also helping the reader understand her actions). Without all the context Uta's decision to confess and to basically end her sisterly relationship with Kaoru would have seemed random or selfish.

Now the story has been giving more attention to Kaoru (which isn't really off target - Uta is the central character, but Uta's feelings for Kaoru are the central theme). You can see it in this comment section, up until now people didn't really understand Kaoru's motivations or her relationship to Reiichi (and Uta). Finally in the flashback chapters weren't actually Uta free: she is right there supporting Kaoru.

We've learned a lot
* Kaoru isn't as helpless as she might seem, she was quite self sufficient at home due to her mother working long hours
* Uta was supporting Kaoru long before she had a meaningful relationship with Reiichi, ironically Uta probably gave her the strength to keep pursuing him as long as she did.
* How one sided Kaoru's pursuit of Reiichi was - we've had other characters mention it, but "telling" didn't really do it justice. He barely noticed she was alive until her mother died.
* Kaoru's relationship with Risako is even more complex than we saw in the present (I will leave that for another post).

From a storytelling perspective all this info is likely to come into play, both giving us a better understanding of where characters are and their decisions in the coming chapters.

It is quite likely Kaoru is about to do something that might seem crazy or arbitary without the background. Her connection to Uta runs very deep. Kaoru clearly had very a lonely home life and Uta was basically her only emotional support. It is likely she pursued Reiichi because she associated him, through his family, with family and emotional security - except it turned out his parents are a train-wreck and Reiichi is a flake. (Not exactly selfish - it was clear from the start Kaoru wanted to "be there" for Uta in return)

Uta didn't do it deliberately, but when she made her confession, and refused to "go back" to being sisters she basically set up a situation where Kaoru may feel she has to choose. If Kaoru has just realised that the only thing she really wanted from her marriage was Uta, she is setup to make a choice no one is expecting. She will probably try to win Uta back, beg, confess or maybe even try to seduce her.

In summary I'm feeling pretty exited about what might happen post flashback.

At the beginning I had always thought Reiichi was a nickname Kaoru gave him rather than his actual name.

The kanji for his name are 怜一　怜 means wise - I can only assume it is ironic (一 (ichi/one) is fairly common for eldest sons).

Literal translation: "For a while, I don't want to be together" (in a sense of being in the same place)

Sounds good (the double negative translation did look really awkward, I would have assumed it was a typo except for the defense).

Did a bit of reading up, I wasn't previously familiar with tai transformation verbs for desire... いたくない is transform from いる for negative desire I think (いる becomes いたい for desire then いたくない for negation)... with so much of the meaning (and word length) coming from conjugation Japanese can feel very dictionary un-friendly sometimes.

Recently saw a review for the official English translation, and it turns out "Kuroe" is Chloe (French ancestry, in retrospect obvious). Checked Japanese version and her name is indeed written in katakana (ie implying it isn't Japanese). Nice to know I'm not the only one who has trouble recognizing words in katakana sometimes! All this time I'd been assuming her name was 黒江 or something like that (given her "black" outlook).

There seems to have been some uncertainty in the translation of p21
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/my_unrequited_love_ch29#22
In the version up on Dynasty the second sentence at the top is: "So, I want to stay away from you for a while"
But in the version ChaosTeam initially posted on Facebook it is: "So, I don't want to stay away from you for a while" (and one of the team defended that meaning when a comment asked if it was a typo).

The original text for the two speech bubbles was:
璃沙子といると怜一くんのこと思い出しちゃうから (about Risako making her remember Reiichi)
しばらく一緒にいたくない (the one that has changed, presumably hinging on the meaning of いたくない)

I don't feel my Japanese is anywhere near fluent enough to usefully comment on the correct meaning.

Have been trying to think of character comparisons for Izumi's behaviour... Finally figured it out, the character Izumi's selfish friendship reminds me of is Matsuri from Citrus (but Matsuri is turned up to 11, because Citrus). Matsuri plays a "cynical bitch" persona, while Izumi uses a "dashing prince" but the underlying game is quite similar - they don't want their loved one to change.

Izumi x Fujishiro: Interesting like the 1001 closeted lesbian pining after friend stories on the right, or interesting like the 1001 Yuri "Prince" and Princess stories on the left?

Interesting, like Izumi pushing down Nakai onto the bed, a la Kuzu no Honkai? I know it won't happen, but that's what I'd want.

If Izumi gets rejected, and that's it, than this was just a wasted storyline. Unlike in YagaKimi, where Sayaka's love had a purpose (It helped us know Touko better, she was kind of the "antagonist" in a few chapters to Yuu, and she had her own story arc and character progression), here Izumi's love didn't really mattered in the story so far, and her motivations were only just introduced, so there is zero time for any story arc or character progession. The only way this was not a total waste of her character is if her confesion moves her forward, and not back.

TL;DR: I like Izumi's character better, lets recast her as the heroine of the story

Nanaki (pre-reform) is a callous bitch with anger management issues, there is every chance she'd deck her... which granted, actually would be an interesting twist, finally some dubcon sleeze getting beaten to a pulp.

Izumi is a supporting character, she moves the main characters forward - in this case she has been a foil and a sounding board for Nanaki, and her confession provides a test for Nanaki in several ways. And it does move Izumi forward, even if she is rejected, maybe even moreso if she is rejected. It has progressed her character, she has finally admitted to her feelings.

That said Izumi doesn't actually have much of a character, we have seen her outward interactions, but we now know much of that was a lie - we know nothing beyond her interactions with Nanaki, and even then only that she likes her and prefers to avoid conflict (by manipulation if needed).

The character that you like is a character that you created from an almost blank slate. Probably a distillation of "yuri prince" characters since that is the theme of Izumi's public persona.

That's called selfish, not evil.

And, yes, Izumi is selfish, and there is nothing wrong with that. Everyone is. Nanaki is also selfish: she wanted to monopolize Kurokawa, and ended up getting her kicked out of her group, and she even admitted, that she knew they would kick Kurokawa out. Only difference is, Izumi knew she was in love, while Nanaki realized it just now.

Still, I ship Nanaki x Izumi. Would be less boring than the "default" option.

Grabbing someone's slice of pie when they are late is being selfish, telling them the wrong time so you can more easily take it is being an asshole.

Nanaki's presence had the side-effect of scaring off Kurokawa's friends, but she wasn't going out of her way to chase them off, and she felt guilty about it. Izumi's actions are deliberate, premeditated, and apparently guilt free, it is a whole different ballgame - still redeemable teenage misbehavior, but definitely not points for a "good friend" CV (and addressing another argument I would think meeting some people's definition of "mean").

Izumi x Fujishiro: Interesting like the 1001 closeted lesbian pining after friend stories on the right, or interesting like the 1001 Yuri "Prince" and Princess stories on the left?
edit: there is a reason why stereotypical genre hack Iroha is shown shipping them.

last edited at Jan 14, 2020 6:08AM

She could have, and side-crushes in manga frequently do, spent all her time trying to neg, sabotage, and undermine their relationship, but she didn't do that. You can also have an argument as to whether she was trying to undermine them by lying or whether she was skirting denial herself. but either way, she's never said or done anything -mean- to anybody.

Fear of losing a cherished relationship can make people do some stupid stuff, but just comes off to me like a Nice girl doing her best.

Phew, I was worried my previous post was a bit too negative, so this time I'll start with a qualification.

Izumi's actions are understandable, and probably forgivable... but they certainly shouldn't be earning her any points as a good/supportive friend. Her failures may be realistic, she may be doing her best, but she isn't doing the best she could. She is definitely an antagonist, albeit a "soft" one. Resisting the impulse to sabotage your friends is an "after school special" classic moral.

Even if her motives weren't entirely selfish, all her actions could all be framed that way. Even trying to get Nanaki's old friends to reconcile with her could be interpreted as trying to hide the fact she was chasing Nanaki. She isn't trying to isolate Nanaki completely because she is afraid it would be too obvious. Making some attempt to rationalise Nanaki's feelings towards Kurokawa as friendly could be seen as projection, but the way the scene was staged made it clear it was more deliberate than that, most blatantly that she probably staged the hug to be seen by Kurokawa. It was also clear that Nanaki suspected her motives at the time.

Being close to Nanaki's other friends is how she gets close to Nanaki (without suspicion), standing by her initially didn't cost her anything since she never cared about popularity. The moment Nanaki did something she didn't like (falling for Kurokawa), she stopped being good and started game-playing. Even the tear soaked confession, uttered only when she had confirmation that Nanaki liked Kurokawa, could be read as emotional blackmail.

The interesting "good friend" test that is going to happen seems to be for Nanaki - at the start we saw she could be quite callous, but she has been trying to be better since. Her reaction to Izumi's crisis will be quite revealing - will she just coldly dismiss her (and later get told off by Kurokawa), or will she try to be compassionate about it?

Izumi....isn't evil, though? Like not even a little? The most evil thing she's done is lose her cool and confess when she's afraid of losing the girl she loves. Other than that she's just stayed close, supported her, been nice to everyone, and hoped it wouldn't get to this point.

It's not "skin someone alive for a dollar" evil, but she deliberately gaslighted them to try and keep everyone in the closet where she was comfortable. We can't even argue she feared it was one-sided and was trying to save them the pain of rejection, she was working on both of them because she feared it was mutual. She only fell back on the truth as an absolute last resort when she realised there was no other option.

She may not be evil, but her actions lean in that direction. Her first instinct was to drag them down. Sure, she was afraid, but her shit still stinks. Sayaka in contrast was nothing but supportive throughout, even if she was unhappy to see the object of her affections fall for someone else.

Anyone else checking every hour to see if they've updated?

I just subscribed and wait for the email notices... can't say if there is a delay for that though.

Still trying to figure out the best way to monitor the forum.

I was almost as excited by being able to read all the kanji

Yeah I can read a few kanji but not enough to make a difference. I still struggle with katakana quite often even. Having memory issues is a real pain lol

In some ways my memory is good, but I'm not usually good with rote learning (I suck at dates, names and phone numbers), I found writing them out helped a lot with hiragana and katakana, doing the physical strokes seems to activate a different type of memory. Repetition as well, I went though a big pile of practice sheets. Both those help for kanji too.

It is surprising how often katakana leaves me scratching my head even when I have read it right, between unexpected pronunciation shifts, abbreviations and not always being an English loan word.

I was mostly joking at my expense since 早く口を開けなさい has only three very simple/common kanji, and the story context is a big hint, honestly the reading level needed for most yuri manga is pretty daunting. Third year running my resolution is to push really hard to get to the point I can actually read stuff I like as practice... maybe this year I'll actually do it instead of slacking off spending my free time repeatedly re-reading translations (though signs aren't good... I just spent much of my summer holiday re-reading translations including this one!).

You don't need japanese Amazon at all - all japanese volumes are available on amazon.com:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0753G1QLD?ref_=series_rw_dp_labf

Thanks, it did seem a bit weird when I couldn't find it, apparently I was using entirely the wrong search strings, in retrospect obvious since she mostly refers to it as 親子百合 or イチトニブンノイチ rather than 1 x ½

I got "Hurry and open your mouth, Asuka" more or less, and lots of smoochin' and doki doki from the one panel on her Twitter. lol

I was almost as excited by being able to read all the kanji as I was by the plot (not much dialog, lol).

I've been wondering for a while if Asuka's name is meant to be evocative (飛鳥 flying bird), it isn't a common reading for those kanji, though it is a place name.
Akira (晶 sparkle/crystal) also seems a good match for the character.

Why not subscribe to paid Fantia plan then? It's only 5$ per month and you will support Tayiaki too (who knows maybe she'll release more often if she'll have enough of money).

I've been meaning to ask, do you know if there is much difference between Taiyaki's fantia and pixiv fanbox (the plan descriptions look identical, so may be down to site UI convenience)?

Also is there a simple mechanism (even just address being optional) to opt out of the mail outs (I don't want to mess around setting up a forwarding service)?

Lastly (but probably not least), is the entire run available to supporters (nervous about investing too much in Amazon Japan kindle, since I had to lie about my address to make it work)?

will there be an update soon? it feels like ages

From twitter and pixiv it looks like Taiyaki hasn't released any more of ch15 yet. I don't think she has given any specific dates either (my Japanese is iffy, and tweets tend to defy Google Translate). I have a dim memory she tweeted something about 'next year' late in December.

That's when Asuka confessed to her and she realized her daughter's feelings, right?

I was actually referring to when Asuka wheedled her way into sharing her mother's bed the first time (at least, first time for high school). Ayako was worried that Asuka was being too clingy, though she did a 180 when given a scare about them growing apart as Asuka grows up.

As for the "delicious" bento incident - we know from having seen Asuka's pov that she was massively (and fairly obviously) "worked up" at the time, getting a sexual vibe off her in the circumstances could have been purely objective. It speaks volumes for Ayako's innocence that it never even occurred to her that Asuka was turned on, let alone that she was the cause.

After the confession - she first tried to convince herself it was a prank, then when Asuka confirmed it, she held together long enough to be supportive. But after Asuka was in bed with the fever we saw that she was actually pretty freaked out. They managed to avoid talking about it until they ended up in bed together again. Even the kissing "compromise" seemed like an attempt to bury it and normalise things - she was taken aback by Asuka's enthusiasm & intensity, and subtly punished her by not waking her up, then was flustered by the smooth "goodbye kiss" the next morning.

I'd point to the kissing as where Ayako's feelings started changing, since after that is where she seems to start surprising herself (eg spontaneously kissing Asuka for comfort after Akira leaves).

also seems like kase is a bit overbearing: dont wear lipstick, dont wear a yukata, dont wear a cute apron, etc.
...
kase's got girls all over her constantly, and shes jealous that someone might see yamada looking cute?

You're not the only one who has noticed, though many fans will go overboard defending it as "just" a cute dynamic.

It is pretty subtle, it isn't an absolute thing, more about the double standard. Kase and Yamada have very similar anxieties at the start (fair enough, high school, first relationship, etc), but the narrative (and to a certain degree Kase herself) constantly justifies and legitimizes Kase's concerns while belittling and dismissing Yamada's. Yamada has grown, she has pushed herself out of her comfort zone over and over again. She decided what she wanted, worked hard to get into the school she wanted, she is living by herself, and she has had a part time job. She has even (mostly) dealt with her issues about Kase spending day and night being chummy with fit, attractive women. Kase has barely grown at all; she still has massive anxiety attacks at even the possibility that a man might look at Yamada, with no proportionality to any real danger, or allowance for Yamada's growing maturity/independence. It is the paternalistic "dashing prince rescues helpless maiden" trope played to death.

Granted some men are pigs, but locking "your girl" away so no one can "steal" her is straight up objectifying.

Besides, if Kase really was worried about her little flower being irresistible, she would also be worried about other girls (like Yamada is)... but she isn't. at all. It reeks of internalised homophobia: she isn't afraid Yamada is irresistible to others, she is afraid Yamada will jump for the first hetero-normative opportunity that comes her way, because she is afraid no homosexual relationship could measure up.

That said, the reason this is so frustrating is that this isn't just another cute superficial "pure yuri" series. It has dealt with some interesting issues quite well in the past, eg Kase's anxiety about Yamada's reaction to seeing her body; Yamada researching that what girls can do beyond kissing (making it character growth instead of a running joke about her innocence). I love that the series/relationship is an ongoing thing, and wasn't declared "done" at first declaration of love/kiss/sex etc.

The latest chapter started on a promising note - it seemed that Kase might finally be the one who has gotten herself into a situation she can't really handle, pimped out by her senpai to bring in custom, and "caught" flirting with half the girls on the beach by Yamada. But then Kase "explains" that it didn't mean anything, and Yamda ends up apologising for being annoyed. If Yui had been in a similar situation with men, Kase would have kicked in heads, and literally carried her off. On the bright side it looks like Yamada is finally going to come out to Hana (assuming Kase doesn't find a way to "rescue" her from that).

What I want is for Taiyaki to support the thesis, “Given the right circumstances, mother/daughter incest can be a good thing,” by showing us those circumstances.

Agree, that is what makes this series special. She has done a good job so far - particularly managing to make Asuka a massive mothercon, but without making her helplessly dependent or immature (also she isn't entirely isolated/inexperienced, she chose Ayako over alternatives). Taiyaki has also avoided toxic clingy parent tropes for Ayako - as much as she likes having Asuka around, she doesn't sabotage or infantilise Asuka & her first impulse was concern early on when she thought Asuka might be regressing.

My take is that it is more about Ayako's history with strong emotion than about any past event in particular.

For Ayako, emotions and actions haven't generally gone together. In the past she has been overwhelmed with emotion she didn't understand, and couldn't act on, but this time she does understand what it is ("Asuka is mine"), and she could act on it, though she thinks that she shouldn't. Entirely unexplored territory.

Out of affection and desire (and more than a little possessiveness and jealousy) she can't stop thinking about what Miyuki might have done with Asuka, and when Asuka pushes past her attempt to avoid things, she is overcome with the desire to experience some of those things herself (even though it scares her), hence the tongue.
Ayako's previous "slips" have been subconscious, and about intimacy and comfort, not sexual desire. Asuka has had years to get used to the idea of "wanting" her mother sexually (and had the "safety net" of thinking it could never happen), for Ayako the reciprocal desire, or any powerful desire, is brand new and terrifyingly possible.

Her mother is lost and confused, it may be Asuka's turn to be the grown up.

You don't freaking imply a child abuse for NOTHING.

My point was rather that Taiyaki may not even have meant to imply abuse. I didn't see it as the most obvious interpretation (though I can see how it is a possible interpretation), and at least a couple of others have said they didn't either.

It is important to remember that Taiyaki is writing in Japan for a Japanese audience. As I have mentioned previously, implication is very culture/context dependent.

In the West in recent years child sexual abuse (CSA) has been almost constantly in the media in a long series of headline grabbing scandals, enquiries, highly publicised "pedo busts", and political rallying cries to "think of the children". In psychology there is something called the availability heuristic - when we are trying to make sense of something our minds jump first to scenarios/framing that comes most easily. In the west at the moment CSA is the "go to" idea for childhood emotional trauma.

I can't claim to be familiar with the current Japanese culture in any comprehensive way, but I've been watching NHK news bulletins regularly for a few years now, and I get the impression that it is much less in the public consciousness there. The most recent big child abuse scandal I can remember was about physical abuse, not sexual. It might not even have occurred to Taiyaki that people would take it that way (or at least that they would be so sure about it). Even thought the underlying human experience is the same, their cultural attitude to sex, sexual assault and emotional trauma differ from Western culture in complex ways. Oddly enough despite Japan's extremely low murder rate, their national news has more coverage of murders than my country does.

I'm not against stories exploring CSA, I think it is a serious issue that can and should be explored in art. My mother was sexually abused as a child, it is an issue I am very much aware of, I'm just not (yet?) sure it is what is being depicted here.

I'm still not sure why people are so convinced that the flashback(s) in the opening of ch 15 are about abuse. They might be, but afaics isn't clear at all.

The first two images of her ("joy, "loneliness") could be years apart (hard to be sure hand drawn with very different angles, but skirt length and hair length seem slightly different; we don't get a clear look at her clothes or body in the second one so no age/time cues there).
Face touching can be comforting instead of fondling.
The clothing being dropped in the last one could just as easily be a coat or jacket as a dress (she is only wearing a dress in the first image, but this is clearly a different location, maybe even a different time, all bets are off). The first "joy" image she seems to be in shoes and socks, the last "fear" image, boots.

We know for certain that at some point in her past Ayako has had moments where she was being informed of her parents' death and of her husband's, no reason that couldn't be what this is.
I'm sure Taiyaki could do something interesting with a history of abuse but as a first/only interpretation, piling even more trauma into Ayako's history seems a bit excessive.

I assumed that she was able to sense that something was off with how see was acting and her behavior as you can generally get a sense of when people start acting out of character, that and the fact she took the lead.

Asuka's recent character arc has been about her determination to be more mature and considerate of other people's situations, stopping to "check in" when her mother starts acting unusually fits with that.