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

Density is off the scales, and has far surpassed normal protagonistium. Instead, her brain is made out of strange matter.

This manga is sure making me scratch my head in confusion.

Tsuruse usually makes pretty comedic one-shots, so I was quite surprised about this.

But this is actually really good mood piece and has right mix of barely masked existential despair and love between parent and child. It's not cheap and almost abusive as some death-related stuff is in fiction. Tsuruse just left that part out, and focused on how this girl felt when her mother was still alive, and afterwards when she grew up.

Side note: Who tf names their daughter kafka

A Kaiju #8 fan

Misunderstanding, Step incest, a pervert/stalker... yup, the basic premise for a quick cheap laugh.

I really don't think a remarriage plot even qualifies as "incest" of any kind, unless the characters spend at least couple years as step-siblings first without romantic feelings. Equal to joining a school club and meeting a new crush, just this time it is forced by your parents.

It's just one plot device that can be used to put two strangers in same space, so they run into each other often and have to interact.

last edited at Oct 13, 2022 1:15AM

This is good so far. Looks like a relatively typical K drama setup, but the art is gorgeous and the translation is good.

K drama? This is manhua from China, unless I'm horribly mistaken.

Huh, my mistake. That's surprising. I've read tons of manhua and manhwa at this point, and I'm usually able to tell them apart. The initial premise is so stereotypically Korean ("hot new leader in my office work environment is secretly into me") I just assumed this had to be a manhwa. Though, I guess Straight Girl Trap is a manhua example of the premise (with multiple discussions on sexuality, a rarity in any Asian story).

On a second read, the art has way more of a manhua feel to it, especially the hair. Reminds me of Romance of the Stars or Goddess of Jealousy (but without the stylized comedic parts).

I haven't been able to see any big stylistic differences between Chinese and SK yuri art, but most common type of romance seems to be bit different.

Chinese are more soft-boiled, and SK stories are more edgy (more outright fights and screaming, and angry sex).

The art is really good, even if it's maybe your standard yuri romance without any problem it's going to be a fun read.

Funny thing is that those vanilla yuri romances are actually quite rare in long format. I've always felt the publishers haven't wanted to even try to publish these.

There's a reason why Girl Friends is well regarded, because it was a pretty honest look at young fumbling queer girls, with relatively appropriate amount of contextually suitable drama, and a full payoff. You even got a nice extra chapter years later from the author. That is actually almost shockingly rare.

Even more rare seems to be sort of soft vanilla yuri that doesn't have any overbearing dramatic or comedic elements.

last edited at Oct 2, 2022 6:07PM

What the fuck title am I reading? and Wholesome orc

last edited at Sep 26, 2022 11:33PM

Definitely getting more of an artsy romance movie vibe from this than any regular comic/manga, Which is nice change of pace.

The modern obsession with "avoiding spoilers" is not universal.

That's not even a thing. Misconception.

People love spoilers, for the most part. They won't admit it (fashionable contrarianism and all that), but research and focus group testing shows that to be the case. Movie trailers that have clear spoilers are more effective at getting people to come to cinema and talk about the movie before it is released. Romances often signal clearly who the true main couple is, no matter how insane the story itself turns out to be and how many twists there are. Isekai protagonists are usually practically invincible with plot armor, if nothing else, and are rarely put to a genuine risk and losing something of real value.

Only place where spoilers are considered bad are real mystery stories, where the whole point is to try to figure out whodunit or what is going on. If we're talking novels or manga, things like Re:Zero go to this pile, or romances that have a genuine love triangle with two fairly legitimate options, resulting from something like amnesia or deep-seated trauma that is incredibly hard to get past of. For yuri stuff, that's something like Letink's "Re-Blooming".

First some wining and dining and then... dessert?

This story is turning out quite well, so far at least.

I love Narcissu novels, so it's great to see a romance author tackling a dramatic subject that actually is a thing. Not some weird disaster or strange bad circumstances, but just having to face fragility of human life, head on.

Unlike in old Class S stuff, romantic feelings are real, acknowledged and accepted.

How do you have sex without love and connection, doesn’t it make you feel empty inside? But then again, this is a manga. I still don’t get hook-up culture to this day

In non-straight circles, hooking up happened whenever they could not even date openly, because of feeling ashamed or worse, there was a threat of ostracism/abuse/violence looming over those who tried to be open. Some pretended to be straight and got married, and had the relationship they really wanted in secret behind the curtains.

Second reason is that they just can't find a person who is romantically compatible and available, but they still crave for intimacy. Dating pool isn't usually that large. So shacking up with someone who at least accepts them physically is the next best thing.

It's actually initial sexual attraction and sex that often helps creating those loving connections. Not everyone gets crushes, but many do.

Diana, there's a manga called "Sword of Paros" that is kind of like that.

But it's also very dramatic and violent story, as it is something that happens alongside palace intrigue, power struggles and outright warfare.

Still, it ends on positive note. It's one of the first manga that aren't running with "if you go gay, you're gonna die" trope.

Very similar idea to "Romance of the Stars", of which about 25 chapters have been translated. That said, quite a nice preview.

Korean and Chinese writers do like their celeb rom-dramas with rivals falling in love.

last edited at Aug 8, 2022 4:50PM

"So she's a lesbian" Wtf why is she assuming bc she likes a girl that she's automatically a lesbian...... Author, if u wanna do your work, at least do it correctly...

Author is doing it correctly. The automatic assumption is that if someone this ignorant learns a guy hit on a guy, or girl on a girl, IS that they're gay/lesbian. Have you not talked to any old regular Joe or Jane about this sort of topic? Try it sometime, and you'll run into someone like this sooner rather than later.

That is all they know, and all they understand. Anything more complicated than that is just "a phase or confusion" or "someone being a pervert".

last edited at Jul 27, 2022 5:12AM

I think I heard somewhere in a pre release interview that the show isn't meant to be a yuri show, but there honestly isn't a heterosexual explanation for anything they've done so far.

I've seen similar comments used to mean that it's not yuri first and foremost. Like, there might be yuri elements, but they were primarily focused on other aspects when working on it

And, yeah, they seem to be going out of their way to portray Chisato as being into Takina

Kind of, but Chisato's personality is a convenient shield. She's super sweet and loyal. So almost anything she does outside of just either sexually making advances on Takina or directly confessing is "dismissable". That said, the way Chisato lifts Takina in episode 3 is literal romantic trope. So who knows where they'll go with this.

As for the yuri in anime that isn't just romance, I was positively surprised by another anime original, Birdie Wing: Golf Girls Story, that wasn't tagged as yuri but turned out to be quite "on screen textual", if you will. I'd really like more nice, unexpected turns like that in anime.

last edited at Jul 21, 2022 2:55AM

All the cuteness aside, Ami saying one does not need to be a "good girl" to be worthy of love was great.

Part 4 got official translation and release recently. That's probably why.

This just reads like the comment was made for entertainment. I don't know if there are ones that claiming otherwise and clinging to their headcanons. People could be offering these as a way to explain off their discomfort or because they feel the story will be more compelling this way who really knows.

EDIT: They could also be explaining out of disbelief? Like the story is too unrealistic so are trying to apply real world scenario they find more likely/believable than a 10 year old having the body of 22 year old lingerie model.

It's their own fault for just going with a gut feeling. Someone like Mai existing is more plausible than some weird alien space brain time travel dilation movie plot, it's just that this condition can cause health problems, if the excessive growth is not halted somehow. It happens when there is some kind of abnormality in pituitary gland, which handles production of growth hormone. Here's 11-year old boy with gigantism, next to his friends.

https://www.kktv.com/content/news/11-year-old-gentle-giant-battles-rare-tumor-causing-gigantism-482283821.html

last edited at Jul 19, 2022 5:42PM

In a healthy relationship, you should always remember to communicate...

Nyat like cat!

Why the lolicon tag? Did I miss the bit where she did or wanted anything with them as kids? I dont think them kissing her when shes half asleep and she not returning it counts.

If she was a lolicon she wouldnt have waited for them to grow up!

That's being a bit fussy I think. There's no "loli" tag in Dynasty, it's "lolicon", just semantics. It involves lolis. On MD, it's "loli".

I think you need a "jailbait" tag or something. Especially for "Be careful, onee-san!" :)

Lolicon officially means "someone who has pedophilic attraction to little girls", and shotacon is same for little boys. So this complaint will keep happening, when the MC is strictly not a pedophile and is generally terrified of morality and legal consequences of such things.

Ah, Sailor Cousins homage scene.

Mai knows all the classic pickup lines and maneuvers.

It's especially dumb, when this particular story breaks those conventions and presents a life that doesn't go in a straight line. Map is open and routes go all over the place, people move on it and sometimes they may even return where they came from, after having realized that is actually what they wanted all along.

Usual fare about kids and marriage in yuri is a story where some girl/woman laments how they lost their beloved, and now they're married and have a kid, and could never possibly ever come back to them ever, cue to absolute misery or Yuri Fairy dropping a new perfectly designed love interest right in their lap for a happy ending. Which is ridiculous nonsense, when it's presented as some sort of a fact rather than as a mood of despair that eventually passes.

Lot of marriages are effectively destroyed by arrival of that first child, especially if the relationship has lots of hidden wrinkles waiting to be exposed. It's one of those crucibles that show who the people in that relationship really are, and what they really want.

Also, people cheat. People want to cheat, and you might even say that in some cases they have a" right" to cheat if you look at full context of their lives. Certainly anyone queer who has been bludgeoned into submission by their family and society is likely to rebel, at least indirectly.

last edited at Jul 5, 2022 10:46PM

I'd read this. I'd read the hell out of it.

I don't mind engaging in a little wish-fulfillment escapism. Like, at all.

There are way too many hot CEO hetero stories, and not even close enough yuri ones, but "Straight Girl Trap" is rather enjoyable, if you haven't read it yet for some reason.