Another spam bot. Seriously, you're wasting your time here. The characters in these stories may be in high school, but I guarantee you none of them are ever going to require the use of your assignment-writing service.

Isn't there a pretty common trope with manga and anime characters getting ludicrously bad grades? Like grades so bad, it's suspicious that they even got into a high school in the first place?

Indeed. It's common enough to span genres, be it shonen or CGDCT. Considering how brutal Japanese exams and education are supposed to be, there's almost certainly an element of wish-fulfilment at work there. But unless that assignment-service comes in the form of a wise loli instructor who's actually 3000 years old and also Chiron, I'm guessing most anime characters wouldn't buy into it.

^ Apart from the tengu. The tengu lay eggs. Big eggs.

^ Yeah, I read up on what little I could find about it, and based on people translating the PVs and teasers, it seems to be a light sci-fi show about the lives of 'two very different teenage girls'. The text on the PV also apparently mentions something about 'cracking the egg', which is probably meant in an Utena sense, though I still expect many egg_irl jokes to be made if it gets any attention. Also, the character designs are top-tier, especially in contrast to all the bland idol stuff that's coming out in the same season.

Wow, just caught up on this one. Such an excellent game of high-speed lesbian billiards.

This entire piece is a blessing for the eyes.

Knowing Murasakino, I figured the twist would be that one of the girls was deliberately exposing the other to horror in order to foster dependency and exert control, but this ended up being surprisingly wholesome. The art is excellent as always, and Murasakino excels at conveying complex emotions through monosyllabic conversations and tiny gestures. Their work has a certain misty detachment to it, like the embodiment of shower thoughts or déja vu, and it combines with the art to make everything they create incredibly distinctive.

^ All this sounds quite fascinating. I've been planning to check out Chinese WNs for a while now, and this definitely maximized my interest. Thanks for putting in all the details. :)

last edited at Dec 15, 2020 8:44AM

Those were some exquisite hair designs. Waiting two months before another meeting seems a bit excessive, though I guess they were going for the whole 'romantic ambiguity' vibe. Let's hope one of them grabs the other's number the next time around.

This is super interesting. Seeing feminism as a movement mentioned in manga is pretty rare, and even more so in a period piece. The way this story integrates the political undercurrents with strong, mutual development is also quite impressive. I'd heard about Sayonara Rose Garden before, but never got around to reading it. Definitely gonna check it out now.

^ Makes sense for a place as massive as China to have it's own unique descriptors and archetypes. I wonder if the segregated nature of Chinese social media factors into this- in addition to the language barrier, they'd also presumably have lower access to or interest in Western or Japanese memes, which might be a motivation towards a separate type of memetic evolution and the creation of unique structures with greater roots in Chinese, rather than wholly global or even Asian social identities. There hasn't been much research on the topic, sadly, but this is an interesting article about how certain Chinese memes revolving around social change or activism have adapted themselves to dodge the rampant Internet censorship and surveillance in the country (not really related to the topic at hand, but I figured it's an interesting tangent).

The premise of this anthology is excellent.

And so, they were both bottoms who reached for the top together (cue Gunbuster theme)

OL: I want something nice and sweet that goes down real smooth.
Bartender: Okay, take your pants off.

How elegant. And the maid's characterization is surprisingly deep, which is nice, since stories of this sort tend to focus more on the mistresses.

The appeal of normally-sensible girls going wild when drunk is best balanced by that of normally-carefree girls who act responsibly in unexpected situations.

^^ Oh. I figured that the effects only kick in after you've done a certain level of damage to your body, so if you have been poisoned, the Elixir only revives you once the agent has spread sufficiently through your bloodstream/organs, in which case, it'd be possible to get drunk to a nonlethal degree. Afaik, it doesn't afford instant immunity, just resurrection after mortal injuries and improved healing. Then again, there's also no textual evidence- the Lunarians keep sake around and the Immortals seem to drink like everyone else, but we rarely see anyone in the series getting thoroughly sozzled (Lotus-Eaters aside), so there's no perfect way to tell.

last edited at Dec 15, 2020 12:36AM

There are 4koma that are comedies but know when its fine to be serious or have permenant real romantic developments and they are a lot less shallow for it- like dragon maid or choir. You will become a LOT more invested and attached to characters that way.

Hear, hear. I actually find that serious 4-komas about horror/tragedy/drama, when well done, can actually be more effective than a longer format, because they cut down on flab and melodrama and condense storytelling into a format of absolute brevity. If the author's competent enough to distil a plot structure or development into just four snapshots and execute it meaningfully, the impact is incredibly high, while still leaving space for subtlety. The best part is that the next 4-koma segment still gives you the freedom to change tracks and implement a new formation. Like most people, I had a low opinion of 4-komas when I started reading manga, but my respect for them has greatly increased in recent times as I've come to appreciate brevity in storytelling. The recent chapters of Machikado Mazoku in particular are great examples of just how far you can go and experiment with the format.

With all that being said, I think the original post was less about 4-komas in general and more about how this series in particular handles things. While it's not bad by any means, I do think the format hurts it a bit- a lot of times, I wanted more development on a plot beat, only to find the tension being dispersed by a joke or a shift to new gag. When I compare it to other age gap works like Haru to Midori, it definitely feels somewhat lacking and disconnected. There's very little thematic integration, per se. Oftentimes, it feels like it was planned as a standard, free-flowing manga and simply written into 4-koma format to comply with publication standards, so the medium never ends up being used to its full capacity. This is just my take on it, though.

About green tea bitches, and other variants of tea/coffee bitches, here's a very complete explanation:

https://www.whatsonweibo.com/dangerous-women-the-green-tea-bitch/

This was quite enlightening. When you tally up all the varieties, you realize that it's impossible for women to exhibit nearly any kinds of traits without getting trashed for them. It sorta parallels the whole slut/Karen binary in America as well, where any kind of freedom or individuality is stigmatized. It feels there's simultaneously a sense of cynicism towards women who act sensible, restrained and optimistic, as well as a marked hatred for those that adapt to ruthless workspaces and try to find success. In that sense, these stories about not-really GTBs hooking up with not-really plain honour students are a great way to add depth and variety to representation and break stereotypes. Although all the comments about cancellation make me wonder if this'll manage to stick around.

Every sixty seconds, an Adachi passes out in Japan.

Aijo Karen- Kawaiisa in the streets, Otokoyaku in the sheets.

It's nice that the Hourai Elixir allows you to get drunk. Dealing with the crushing weight of eternity without being able to knock a few pegs back and pass out would be unbearable.

Ah, the old adage- "Dogs are a bondage fan's best friend."

The character designs in this game are excellent.

Nue x Seija is one of those ships where you decide that there's no need for canon interaction or even the characters actively mentioning each other, because the only reason two characters with such brilliantly complementary aesthetics exist in the same franchise is because God and/or ZUN wants us to ship them and be happy.

^ Yes, they are. I think the lack of an independent tag is because there's virtually no fanart of girls from the game on this forum. I'm going to try to amend that by posting upload requests for some of the excellent art I've come across on Twitter, though, so maybe that'll change in the future. (Then again, Re Live and the anime take place in the same universe and it's more of a continuation than a spin-off, per se, so I'm not sure what the exact procedure for tagging might be).