The visual approach to storytelling has a big effect on the characters' apparent emotional responses--basically in any given scene we get two to three times more setup and reaction shots than in an average manga. (I personally don't see much real "picking on" from Seungha, just fairly aggressive flirting and attempts to get a response from the incredibly buttoned-up Chaeyeon.).

my impression was that chaeyeon did recognise the flirting in some way (even yuri protagonists are usually only that dense for a gag), but interpreted it as a continuation of the (perceived) picking on from when they were young, rather than sincere. this is why she got quite so flustered, and also why seungha's revelation has a profound effect on her, it completely recontextualises a lot of her behaviour up to this point.

e: also, good points about the format/pacing of the story, it's certainly interesting - the characters become quite enigmatic, the expressive style is well-suited since it gives us just enough to go on, i think

last edited at May 28, 2022 4:27PM

i guess the "canonical" ships were still up in the air at that point? you can also see hints of kanata/shizuku and karin/kasumi, which were kinda a thing for a while there, rip

i'd kinda forgotten that their characters have changed somewhat, or at least toned down, since those days. ngl, kinda miss thirsty af karin and (even more) gremlin kasumi.

"For there to be so many people and still be lonely and stuff, isn't that a funny thing?"

damn...

yeah, wow, i felt that one for sure

this one weird trick will let you switch bodies with your ex!

cute and satisfying, a good oneshot!

lico-kun, brain expert :)

e: ^he has actually referred to himself as lico's 'owner' before, even

last edited at May 25, 2022 5:22AM

People still confusing "ntr" and "cheating".

This is tiring.

you're correct, i spoke loosely, i apologise.

can i suggest some cardio? ;)

Frankly, I think most straight people would have their minds blown by the existance of stone butch trans women.

to be fair i'm trans and also gay and this still kinda blew my mind at first

e: also, in terms of queer perspectives, well, it may be true that overall there is less transphobia in the lgbtq+ community than in the general population, there are absolutely pockets of intense transphobia there, especially in for example (where i'm from) the uk

last edited at May 23, 2022 6:09AM

Tricking someone pretending you're the gender you're not is uncool at best and downright nasty at worst. In a romantic fantasy where a happy end is the iron-set goal, the fooled one, after the reveal, will always decide they don't care about gender anymore because love is more important. But in any minimally realistic setting this treachery will hurt the victim horribly and bring only heartbreak and bitterness.

Yyyyyyyyeah this is an implicitly transphobic take. I doubt you intended it that way, but the transphobia is inherent to the argument, as becomes clear very quickly if you apply it to a closeted trans person (or look at the way transphobia frames trans people's genders as being "deceptive" in general). Please take a moment to reconsider it.

Yes, romance plotlines based on deception are dodgy, but messing around with your gender presentation is not deception or "tricking someone" or "treachery" (!), full stop. Even if you're cis. People do not actually have an inherent right to know your gender. Even if someone asks you point-blank what gender you are, you are under no obligation to give them an honest answer, that shit is private if you want it to be. Framing that as deception leads to attitudes that put trans people in real-world danger ("trans panic defense", etc.).

If someone falls in love with somebody assuming that they're one gender and then it turns out that they're not that gender and that's a dealbreaker and they get their heart broken, then that sucks for everyone involved, but at no point was anyone "tricked".

thank you, well put!

e: though i will say that to the extent that gender is in large part to do with how you present yourself outwardly, the much more transphobic thing is to accuse someone of hiding or being deceptive about their biological sex through their gender expression.

last edited at May 23, 2022 1:58AM

i'm not into ntr for its own sake, but this is still excellent so far. all the characters are seriously, but believably, flawed in different ways, whether it's selfishness, insecurity or obsession, that put them on this collision course for drama.

Just got a bit of confusion: the girl with the cut hair, is she “transgender” or “tomboy” because she identifies herself as “Boku” which in Japanese means “I” for males. Anyone noticed that, too?

It’s kinda nice to know the boundary or threshold between those two tags. I mean, “Kase-san and Yamada” manga has a tomboy character, but she hasn’t identified herself as a guy. If it’s just a small thing as being socially identified as whatever they pick rather than going through the arduous phenotype changes, I’d like to know.

as i understand it, personal pronouns are more fluid in japanese anyway, at least in anime and manga, so it's possible a tomboy might use boku without it meaning they are trans, it's a 'masculine' thing but not necessarily a gender identity thing. it's associated with brash young girls i guess? though (and again this is just my understanding) an ordinary, adult woman in real life would basically never do this.

in this case i think she is just playing into heteronormative ideas about lesbian relationships that one should be 'the man', so she's presenting as more masculine and using boku to try to fulfil that role on the assumption that it will make her more attractive to her friend.

interestingly, we saw a related thing recently in "The Guy She Was Interested In..." where one mc never actually claims outright to be a guy, but does use 'boku' (and comments on it internally) and allows the other mc to believe she is one.

ngl, i seem to have lost track of all the characters a bit. other than yukiko, fuu and konomi it's kind of a blur.

also, 'lewd crest' is such a ridiculous term, they keep saying it, and every time all i can imagine is like, a heraldic coat of arms that's all boobs and dicks and whatnot.

last edited at May 22, 2022 1:05AM

i agree most of the characters come off as pretty unlikable at this point...but i keep clicking anyway. doesn't hurt that i really like the art style, and i guess i am still kinda curious where the author is taking it?

what the fuck dude

e: use spoiler tags don't just write it

sorry mate, i'm still trying to figure out how to use tag here -_-

if you don't know how to use spoiler tags, did you at any point consider not posting spoilers at all?

-not your mate

what the fuck dude

e: use spoiler tags don't just write it

last edited at May 21, 2022 7:29AM

I'm just gonna flat out say, I think Kenji was a creep. Not, like, to unforgivable levels, but I feel like it was made pretty clear from the very start that Saho wasn't taking his approaches seriously, and yet he (and, honestly, everyone else, even Tamaki) basically saw it as guaranteed that Saho would eventually say yes to him. Even her gossipy coworkers just saw it as this cute love story, rather than paying attention to what Saho actually said or felt. It was very uncomfortable to me, in how it seemed to illustrate the "dogged nice guy" trope where a man is seen as entitled to a woman simply because A) she hasn't flatly said no, and B) because he's put a lot of time into pursuing her...and frequently the former will slide. He really stunk of cishet male privilege.

Like, Saho was nice to him - because she's nice to everyone. And the only one she showed any special interested or attention toward was Tamaki. Whether Saho is bi or a lesbian, I think the subtext is that she was attracted to Tamaki from the very start, even if she didn't realize it, while she never was interested in Kenji beyond him being a "friendly" regular customer. While it's easy to say, "Well, she should have clearly shut him down," it's also implied that she's got some self-image issues that would lead her to assume any flirting is non-serious or that she shouldn't assume he meant it.

He's not evil, but that's sort of the problem. His behavior is so normalized that nobody even bats an eye at it, despite it actually being kind of creepy and troubling. I'm glad Tamaki was there, not just because she had a chance to confess as well, but because I would worry that, absent her giving Saho motivation, Saho might have been pressured into doing something she clearly didn't want just to get out of that moment. Or Kenji might not have been even as "graceful" a loser as he was. Did he really seem like the type to take "no" for answer? I'd see him as the sort who just assumes that means he has to try harder.

very well expressed! also, and i think this should really be stressed - persistently hitting on service industry workers is not cool, since it can put them in a very uncomfortable position. the work is often precarious and not well paid, and depending on their relationship with their boss/manager they may not feel they are in a position to flatly reject you/call you out for being a creep in case they get in trouble themselves. so forcing them to put up with constant unwanted advances when they're just trying to do their job sucks.

on another note, score one for good representation of different body types in a yuri manga! another banger from sal jiang!

The resolution to this arc was a bit of a letdown. It felt like all the abuse was swept under the rug, like, "Now that i got what i wanted, I guess I don't have to literally work you to death anymore. For now.". Someone like the mom doesn't just change like that.
But I'm sure this will come up again and only escalate further.

yeah, i'm just trusting that the author doesn't consider this 'resolution' or whatever.

to remind anyone, in the first class prez arc the mother literally told her it was fine that she attempted suicide when she got a lower-than-expected grade.

stalking...well, it's for the greater good this one time. do your best, scum-chan!

cute. i liked their dialogue, it felt very naturalistic.

ouch, that's kind of a downer ending to that arc...baking a cake together isn't going to magically stop class rep's mother from being horribly abusive.

shiina lulling her to sleep was cute. also, satsuki ain't lying about sleep, make sure you get enough!

pff. takahashi, wait til you hit 30, that's the real kicker

aaaaaah ayano is such a mess i love it, what a sweetie

credits page knocked it out the park once again

11/10 uncle