But he clearly enjoys drawing it as well, or he wouldn't put so much care into it.

I'm not going to say you're wrong about Shou, because it's possible he does enjoy drawing loli. However, I do feel your logic's off.

Someone putting care and effort into something doesn't necessarily mean they enjoy it. Perhaps they're proud of their work and anything less than their very best in any artistic endeavor contradicts their self-integrity. Or perhaps they do it because they find a strong causal relationship between effort and reward. High quality work is a basic fundamental unique selling proposition.

These are artists we're talking about here.

Also, it's easy to apply this logic to something rudimentary and see its flaws: I do dishes carefully. Do I enjoy it? No, but there are obvious benefits in doing them carefully.

I understand there's cognitive dissonance at play here: people see Shou as a creep and that means he can't possibly do work people like us would enjoy. He's doing work we enjoy. There seems to be that paradox.

It shouldn't be that hard to resolve.

last edited at Mar 26, 2015 10:40PM

Shou is so odd to me; he's a plagiarist, and he's drawn pedo-stuff according to the profile thing. I really like his works on here, but I can't feel "right" recommending them to people I know.

He has both a strong grip on visual composition (knowing what to focus on precisely), and a strong understanding of the complexities in relationships. The ambiguities, the unstated intents, the need to connect meaningfully to other people that can never be fully understood.

Like, he's a good manga author, but I couldn't tell my sister that this how-to comic on stretching exercises has an excellent slow-burn plot. I mean, there's the ridiculousness of that first sentence, and then there's the stuff I mentioned about Shou's past body of work, about what it makes me feel.

The guy is a genius. A scary one at that, no doubt. I didn't know about his other works (other than Prism and Stretch) until people brought it up. I checked them out (being a curious individual that I am) and I gotta say, they're actually not as bad as most hentai mangas. I admired the art more than the plot. It's why I fell for this manga because it has both (although the storyline is not the greatest).

Shou is a bit like a sociopath. He slightly reminds me of Brian Moser (from Dexter), except the torturing and murdering part. Unless of course Shou was doing that secretly, then I wouldn't be surprised.

What makes you think he's a sociopath? xD

Is it me or does this get better as it goes? I like the way Shou is bulding up Ran and Keiko's relationship; it's been abundantly made clear it goes beyond simple friendship, still it's not exeactly a romantic one. I'd bee more than happy to see the author dig deeper and deeper, 'cause he's good at that.

I agree. I find that he's one of the few among manga artists who is very deliberate about what he shows in each panel/page. He seems to know how to get the right "shot" and dialogue to push the visual narrative, as a good storyteller should.

Romantic or not, the main focus is clearly the dynamic between Ran and Keiko. A series that can show how women relate to each other in a meaningful way has a huge plus in my book.

Agreed. Examples abound, but I've always liked the teacher's look and brief pause in speaking when she counts off the students on this page: http://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/prism_ch3_5#9

Here too: http://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/prism_ch02#3

Shou is so odd to me; he's a plagiarist, and he's drawn pedo-stuff according to the profile thing. I really like his works on here, but I can't feel "right" recommending them to people I know.

Sorta like recommending Woody Allen or Roman Polanski movies, but on a lesser scale of abhorrence. I wouldn't support an artist that is an unapologetic creep.

He has both a strong grip on visual composition (knowing what to focus on precisely), and a strong understanding of the complexities in relationships. The ambiguities, the unstated intents, the need to connect meaningfully to other people that can never be fully understood.

Like, he's a good manga author, but I couldn't tell my sister that this how-to comic on stretching exercises has an excellent slow-burn plot. I mean, there's the ridiculousness of that first sentence, and then there's the stuff I mentioned about Shou's past body of work, about what it makes me feel.

edited for a bit more clarity

I would have no problems with telling someone that a how-to comic on stretching exercises has an excellent slow-burn plot. There have been weirder things that have gone mainstream.

As for his past body of work, you could just say you do not recommend anything else from the author. Or strongly discourage reading his past works due to what you just mentioned. Not open-minded enough to give Stretch a try? Oh well.

last edited at Feb 20, 2015 7:46PM

2000+ comments!

last edited at Feb 19, 2015 1:53PM

Awesome chapter! Love page 17!

This is no Yuri so I'll stop thinking it will ever be one. However I like to see Ran. I like to think she does indeed has feelings for keiko. Thought Keiko is straight so there's the Yuri flying out the window. I like the story nonetheless because of Ran she has to have a reason to be an alcoholic I do to. I like to drink because I feel lonely at times. I happen to be a lesbian so there's that. I like her I also admit I dislike keiko. Hope ran finds someone who isn't keiko. It's evil to say but. I see no future in this relationship exept a great friendship.

I see one of us has misplaced their yuri goggles, lol.

There's too much honesty in this post. xD But I think Shou knows his audience is anticipating Ran+Keiko at one point and he's dropping wayyy too many hints to let it all be for nothing. I mean c'monnnnn!

Kaguya and No. 1. <3

Do we still consider Ran's feelings as subtext or have we broken that barrier?

As for when she broke the barrier I think it was broken with the Valentine's chapter,

I agree. It was a confession of sorts, it's odd nothing happened after, except holding hands in chapter 30.

I was thinking that with the nature of this series, it is very possible certain conversations took place that we haven't seen, and that we would have to imply that they took place after more and more hints.

The fact that the soba Ran cooked in chapter 26 was for her 'special someone' and that she popped Keiko's new year soba cherry gives me feels. And she gave Valentine's day chocolate to Keiko which was the kind of her 'special someone' too.... Yep, feels galore.

Do we still consider Ran's feelings as subtext or have we broken that barrier?

Dem noodles reminded me of this.

This made me laugh way harder than it should have.

I wish the chapters were longer! I can't get enough.

Deliciousmell.

And it's less than a day before the new chapter! Sha-ba-da-doo!

Your quirkiness is awesome.

Saki is not even close to Ran but she knows Ran's smell, that'll be weird, I dont smell my friend! Well, almost time for chap 32

You may not proactively smell your friends, but if they're passing by you while you're breathing air through the nose, chances are you'll catch their scent - especially if they're wearing anything strong.

The anoying part is the manga building a lot the Yuri aspect for Yurika who was decently serious to turn her a real love interested intead of Oguri who was a cardboad box and comic relief without the same deep as Yurika
Also, gender matter to love, lesbian girls fall for girls because they are girls, that's is a real message

Yea, the Oguri route felt awkward and forced. I think it was a popular ship, though. When the series was ongoing, I think there were forum threads elsewhere on the internet not wanting her to change back into a boy and get with Oguri.

For a second i thought it was the one with the teenage guys with a water fetish

So did I, LOL.
Really wouldn't have expected that from Dynasty.

Stretch.

The entire manga so far was a setup for the cat, the title character.

That's a weird cat name. I'm gonna name my cat Ran, Ran, Ran you naughty.

It could be Keiko, if it's old enough xD I can imagine the next chapter opening to a black panel and a speech bubble saying "Ugh, Keiko you're heavy. Get off." and showing the white kitty slumbering on her. Somehow I can imagine Shou doing something like that xD

No way, Shou would take at least four pages before showing it was about the cat.

Wow he would... What a troll. xD

Also no guesses about the name of the kitty?

Stretch.

The entire manga so far was a setup for the cat, the title character.

Also now that I re-read that particular chapter (27.5) she mentions a relapse. Which most of the people here attributed to alcoholism, but it could be that she was sleeping around with men/women because of said alcoholism, which would be maybe around the time her father had died.

It's hard to imagine Ran sleeping around. xD Wonder what types of sexual experiences she has had.

I don't get what was this chapter for

Feels like a setup for a Ran side story.

You can't think all Shou has up in his mind is lolicon.

Why not?

Simply because the human brain is more developed than that. Human societies are more developed than that. The notion that Shou, or any hentai writer, has 4+ works on lolicon, therefore they can only conceive of lolicon is just dehumanizing.

It makes it seem as though these writers are one-dimensional and that they can only see the world through one sort of lens and have not experienced a wide range of emotions.

last edited at Jan 14, 2015 8:30PM

She's in her home... so did she forgive her mom?

Thats Keiko..

Yeah, Keiko's the one with the mother problems, not Ran.

Phew, false alarm everyone!

seems like Keiko's ex has taken a liking to Ran

I wanna cry.

shou is busy making loli h duh.

Where do I find -- ... I mean... uggh! that pig! -.-
Where do I find it?

Calm down my comrades! even if the chapter is released today, the estimated time for translation is unknown.

It's usually translated fairly quickly.

believe it or not, but it's just 24 more hours of wait!

Expecting a long chapter, or short?

Citrus was too overpowered n December.

I've always wondered how he ended up writing something like Prism given the content of pretty much everything else he's ever written ever.

Unlike some manga/anime characters, human beings are complex and multi-dimensional! It's a little dehumanizing to think if someone predominantly wrote hentai for a large amount of their lives, they can't conceive of anything different.

Have you read his hentai?

I've skimmed through one of his out of curiosity, lol. Definitely not my thing and it was a real shocker when I heard about it.

But I still think my point stands. You can't think all Shou has up in his mind is lolicon. Maybe he was targeting a niche market to pay the bills. Who knows?