Vampires are masters of the night, after all.

Futaba and Kaoruko always struck me as more codependent than purely toxic, in that they enable each other's worst tendencies (passivity and arrogance), but only around each other, because every other person in their lives has saddled them with impossible expectations and so they need some kind of validating outlet.

KareHika are childhood sweethearts, MayaKuro are rivals with benefits, JunNana are a newlywed couple with some dark secrets, but FutaKao is a ship that's in the late marital stage, simultaneously deeper and shallower than all the others. So it's only fitting how the resolution to their troubles is not sappy self-sacrifice, but a remembrance of what made them so twisted in the first place, and an agreement to not change something that's kept them happy and sane for so long.

Without Futaba, Kaoruko would've ended up like Maya, and without Kaoruko, Futaba would've had no purpose in life and no role in the show. Togetherness isn't the best ending- it's just a different kind of conflict for a different kind of plot, all within the greater scope of the disaster-lesbian-epic that is Starlight.

Rather long post, but this ship barely gets any discussion beyond the odd 'toxic' meme, so I wanted to share my perspective on it.

The first step was a confession, the second dating, and the third marriage. Okita then coughed up blood and continued to be a useless lesbian.

Koakuma is just one of Shamiko's many distant demon relatives.

Corded Neck Tendons should be a fetish, because those things are beautiful.

Going down in more ways than one.

Croix and Ursula honestly deserve a spin-off of their own, Roomba-ing and Ekusucariba-ing their way through society.

It's always wise to have an umbrella over your head.

Groom Maya is a scintillating gift to lesbians everywhere.

Inb4 they compromise and read MariaMite naked while freezing their asses off in the clubroom.

This is the equivalent of trying to reprimand a puppy for running all over the place, and then breaking into tears when it stares at you with big, dumb eyes full of boundless love, trust and affection.

Poprication delivering quality goods as always, mixing in that classic style with tidbits from canon. Marisa does worry about Reimu a lot, now that I think about it- as her childhood friend, one would imagine that she knows perfectly how strong Reimu is, but there's also probably a ton of times she's seen Reimu fly off to fight some unimaginable deity without knowing how it'll turn out. Underneath the impulsive façade, she cares a lot more than she lets on, just as Reimu's more detached than she seems underneath her initial fussiness. The best part of the ship is how deeply emotional these cool incident-solvers get when it comes to each other- Reimu wandering around morosely after Marisa disappears in CDS was pretty cute in a depressing kind of way (her ribbon actually starts to obey the laws of physics and droop), and I can't wait for them to be reunited.

Rin not being equally into Akira and Mayuki, but still jumping at the chance to get into a polyamorous relationship out of sheer euphoria might actually be a plot point if Canno's planning to cover the post-confession side. The next arc could be about them dealing with unequal feelings and different histories- I could see Rin clamming up about it because she doesn't want to ruin the relationship of her dreams, Akira being unsure of how to deal with Mayuki's overwhelming affections when Sex Kitten Kouhai wasn't her original goal, and Mayuki herself trying too hard to force the two of them together and causing further issues, resolved only by proper, three-way communication (heh). Canno's mentioned time and again that it's hard to keep three people together, and it'd be a shame if the manga ended after all of 'em got on the boat- we need to see stormy seas followed by sunny skies, along with various islands and fun with knots, masts and rigging (this metaphor might have gotten slightly out of hand).

Mirror, Mirror on the wall~
I'd like to place a booty call~

There's a beautiful irony to Shion and Nozomi striving to act stable and relaxed around each other, making each think that the other has moved on from their issues, which causes both of them to grow gloomier as they bottle up their grief for fear of reopening a can of worms, which in turn causes the other person to grow even more worried because they can tell that the tension's building up, which further in turn causes them to either clam up even more to avoid escalation, until the point where they actually communicate and give each other more anxiety because now they're blaming themselves for not having noticed and said something earlier, but they can't actually say this because it would amount to making the issue about themselves, even as the other reprimands them for not sharing while being too afraid to be honest, and then... well, you get the idea. It's like two dominoes falling in opposite directions to avoid hurting each other and causing a collapse anyway.

Also, I was surprised that Shion went right for Heidi's gender, which initially seemed kinda rude, but considering that it's better than making arbitrary insensitive guesses, she might've actually gotten the right idea. I suppose it's the closest equivalent to asking for someone's pronouns in a nation that's rather different from the West, both in terms of language and societal attitudes.

I wonder if there's an agency somewhere that specifically deploys guys to hit on girls who seem to have romantic subtext. The dudes get their jaws broken, the relationship progresses thanks to the intensity of the situation, and the agency presumably compensates the victims based on the damage incurred and the degree of progress they brought about.

We've got 3 chapters devoted to each segment of the triangle now, and judging from the current pace, 10 should be the part where everything (and everyone) coalesces. This series has been excellent so far, and I think the individual focus per chapter is the best possible evolution of Canno's style in A Kiss And A White Lily- rather than multiple chapters for side-couples, we get chapters to devoted to different sides of individuals, reflecting the many different faces of a relationship structure that is considerably more complex than monogamy+1.

Akira's dynamic with Rin differs completely from her dynamic with Mayuki, but the development of the latter pushes the former in new directions, creating ripples and realizations that have implications for the greater structure. It can be incredibly hard to keep track of all these changes and balance the themes of individuality and togetherness, especially since they're not based on a binary so much as a common body of thought, but Canno's elegant planning and design create the perfect flow while still never compromising on anyone's depth.

The end result is that even folks who know nothing about polyamory can understand it's unique appeal without being overwhelmed by differing perspectives and interests, because Canno gives her characters enough focus outside the relationship to cement our idea of them as people and not merely lovers. In that regard, this might be a foundational work as long as it sticks the landing, because it goes above and beyond the call of simple entertainment and actively expands our horizons, allowing us to understand and empathize with a vastly under-represented group. In short, Canno isn't just giving us a monthly dose of fluffy yuri- she might actually be doing polyamorous folks a service (at least in Japan, where this is presumably popular).

Excellently unsettling. Alice 'Little Girls in Dark Forests on Invisible Strings' Margatroid is a pretty good subject for horror.

Gotta love art that presents older youkai as all-knowing eldritch gays.

It's nice to see a mildly more mature side of Rei. She still looks hilariously out of place in the maid outfit, though. Those gremlin expressions really just scream 'kinky cosplay' instead of 'household help', which is very much in line with how video game characters look when you put them in costumes that aren't part of their regular character design.

It's nice that Nozomi has a buddy she can properly chat with now. As much as her communication with Shion's improved, there's nothing quite like the freedom of just chilling with someone your own age and ranting about how shitty life is. The whole debate on love and loss was rather unexpected, but it really drove in the fact that both parties involved have gone through a lot of pain. Heidi, despite their seeming cheerful abandon, seems driven more by a cynical desire to do something rather than a genuine sense of agency and purpose, and Nozomi, for all her matureness, has still lost the love of her life.

Neither of these folks are exactly 'regular' in any sense, but that makes it all the more important for them to be honest with each other. One of the things I love about this series is how it explores the importance of conversations- it's not enough to talk about things once or share your story with one individual. You need to reflect upon things, time and again, and decide how to frame your past with every new person you choose to share it with. It's not a story that gets easier to tell with time, but also not one that can be eternally obscured. Adults though they might be, everyone in this series is desperately trying to figure things out while avoiding getting too deep into an existential crisis. It's a fine line, and no less compelling 89 chapters in.

Kuro simultaneously runs all the Tendo Maya stan accounts, hate accounts, quote accounts and random pic accounts on the Internet.

As tired as the whole 'Patchouli and Alice are horny stalkers' gag is, Reimu taking cynical advantage of it is pretty fun to watch.

Winterwear and a kitten? Christmas must've come early to Gensokyo, despite the fact that nobody except for Seiga knows about it.

Youmu smacking a bitch with one half of her soul is the most hilariously cool thing I've seen, even if she failed miserably.