Sendai pleaseeee. What do you mean the mood is gone. Just say it ffs. I'm on the edge of my seat over here.

As usual we get what could be called great progress but progress that is deeply unsatisfying regardless. I really hope we don't have to wait another 100 weeks or so to get anything more exciting...

I am curious if there is some kind of relevance to the moon and the clover maybe being related to their names? Like sharing a kanji or something maybe? It seemed to read that way. Hopefully someone with some Japanese knowledge can fill us in on that.

In the former Japanese calender, 葉月 Hazuki was just the Japanese name for August, it was later changed to 8月 (which just mean the 8th month of the year) but it's a popular name for girls, especially born in August.

As for the significance of the necklaces, Hazuki is written with the kanji for leaf (ha 葉) and moon (tsuki 月).

I don't know is there is a particular significance for the clover as a leaf though.

Thanks for that insight!

Just read the latest chapter. Feeling the same way as other commenters here pretty much. I am curious if there is some kind of relevance to the moon and the clover maybe being related to their names? Like sharing a kanji or something maybe? It seemed to read that way. Hopefully someone with some Japanese knowledge can fill us in on that.

Just read the latest chapter. They are very adorable. Not really much to say though. Miyagi is scheming and indirect as always, and Sendai is horny as always XD

It was in another thread, so I don't remember it exactly but someone was saying that Sendai was a coward for not expressing verbally her love to Miyagi. But I would argue that Miyagi is even more of a coward as she is not even able to admit to herself that she is in love. And I don't buy the "she hasn't sort out her feelings". In my view, she is actively trying not to sort her feelings, she is putting energy into NOT doing that. In that way she is a coward. And while Sendai could have confessed by now, I also want to insist on the fact that not only Miyagi has run away once, but more than than, she never trusts Sendai's word when she makes a promise or is showing her affection. Tbh, it must be hard to confess to that kind of girl...

I'm pretty sure that was me, lol. I do stand by what I said. Not saying I don't understand sympathizing with Sendai. I do, and I really was rooting for her for a long time, and I still am rooting for the both of them to be happy together. I think I might be channeling my sympathy for Miyagi and my desire to have other readers sympathize with her a little hard into the territory of Sendai-bashing, which isn't really all that fair to her I'll admit. I hope that if more readers would maybe actually think about how Sendai's actions make Miyagi feel and just why she puts up the walls that she does, then they wouldn't be hating on her so much.

Like, Miyagi is mean in a very overt way and it's easy to think that if she just turned dere all of a sudden then everything would be sunshine and rainbows, but Sendai is mean in a much more subtle way that might be hard for the reader to pick up on if you're not thinking about it that hard. I mean, I actually do agree that I want Miyagi to confess and turn dere as soon as possible, and I am anticipating something big soon as I mentioned before, but she has good reasons for trying to set boundaries and wanting a clearly defined relationship, and it can't feel great that Sendai constantly pushes her boundaries without giving her any sense of security in their relationship.

Also, damn, Miyagi really can't live down the running away accusations, huh? Can those who are caught up to the MTL not agree that she has grown past that, and very much demonstrated to Sendai that she has grown past that as well? Guess that one really stuck a nerve with y'all.

Yeah, that's pretty fair and I'm certainly showing my bias. I didn't necessarily mean to "slander" Sendai although it probably came across that way. Maybe I should have said she is stuck with Sendai "as she is now" or she is stuck with "Sendai's bullshit" instead. I also love this story and I like both girls and I love them together, but I have become increasingly frustrated with Sendai especially because she is the only one who we the readers know has sorted out her feelings but still has not really done anything about it, and actively continues to make Miyagi uncomfortable and shoot herself in the foot.

Honestly, your assessment rings pretty true even in the current WN chapters. I really think you're on to something with the point about Miyagi not being able to trust Sendai's intentions. For all Miyagi knows, Sendai is just using her for comfort and physical pleasure until someone better comes along. I think the most "frustrated" I've been with Miyagi is in a recent-ish chapter, when she tries to go back to their old relationship by paying Sendai 5,000 yen to give orders. Sendai refuses, which I guess does in some way show that their relationship has progressed, but that's really the least she could have done. I honestly wasn't even really frustrated with Miyagi but more so sad that Sendai is so cruel to her with her ambiguity that Miyagi feels desperate enough to set boundaries that she wants to go back to the way things were.

This is honestly why in my previous comments I said that we might see a confession or something like it from Miyagi. She is getting somewhat fed up and maybe even desperate. Of course I would like if it was a proper confession and that they will start dating, but it might be more likely that it will be an agreement to be "exclusive". Maybe something like an agreement that they will not date or be intimate with anyone else while they are still living together for college, although now that I am thinking of this, I don't remember if that was already one of the rules that they came up with for living together, but I'm pretty sure it was just "don't have anyone over" and not "don't date anyone".

Miyagi is just so precious to me. She is definitely of my favorite characters in a story. She deserves someone who will tell her that she is loved and cherished, and she deserves someone to tell her that they want to be with her forever, but unfortunately she is stuck with Sendai.

Wow I thought there was something wrong with my account or web browser when my comments weren't showing up. Thanks for making this thread. I really haven't made a habit of commenting my thoughts on stuff that I read until until relatively recently.

Glad to see the Amawashi translator here. I also very much appreciate your work. I saw the commenter saying that they got into reading WNs/LNs from ShuuKura, and while I don't remember if SuuKura was my first WN/LN read, it was certainly among the first. The Amawashi translation really helped me get into it, so thanks so much for your work.

I've posted much of my current thoughts on the story in the other thread about comparing ShuuKura and AriOto. I will reiterate that I do have much more sympathy for Miyagi than maybe other MTL readers. Unfortunately, I think that reading the MTL requires a lot more "reading between the lines" beyond just getting used to the translation errors such as misattribution and the incorrect pronouns. But to be fair it may also be that as the story progresses, readers simply have less and less patience for the slow progress of the romance, and seem to want to dump all the blame for this on Miyagi for some reason. Please do read my comment on the other thread if you care what I think about that, lol.

There are open endings and there is this. I have to give it to the author for not even attempting to resolve any of the plot threads.

So much this. I don't think any manga has filled me with as much disappointment and hate as this manga has. I was absolutely loving the characters and the art, but the author just had no ideas for bringing the story to a satisfying conclusion. At least I can get some validation from reading the hate comments here and on MD. sigh

I'm pretty sure we have gotten some yuri/GL official manga releases with sex scenes, but I'm pretty sure no official LNs.

Which seems weird because it's usually easier to get away with things in print. AIUI, US YA (young adult) novels have included fairly explicit stuff for a while, while a sex comic with teens feels like it would call down the Moral Police.

Yeah, my point was that explicit sex scenes are just another barrier to publication. When light novels are probably not super popular to begin with, publishing one overseas that is so niche and also has explicit content is probably a tall hurdle. In terms of LNs with a similar theme, modern-day yuri romance with no other reader-catching themes like adventure/fantasy/isekai, I can only think of three that we've gotten official English LN releases. Those would be AdaShima, the Bloom Into You novels, and Watanare. And you could even argue that AdaShima doesn't fit because it has some fantasy elements if you want to be pedantic. (I've only read four volumes so I'm just guessing that there's no explanation for the alien girl later on.) Bloom Into You and AdaShima both have big name recognition from their anime/manga. I don't know about Watanare. It would be really cool if the manga adaptation of ShuuKura blows up somewhat and we get some demand for an official English release.

If any publishers are reading this, I'll buy five copies! Promise!

Very good points! I do think my comment about getting spicier LNs published in English was a bit off base. I think it more likely just puts the series in a bit of a corner, making it more niche. I'm pretty sure we have gotten some yuri/GL official manga releases with sex scenes, but I'm pretty sure no official LNs.

I think the relationships with the side characters really just show even more how secretive Miyagi and Sendai both are. I think that opening up to their friends will be a big part of them finally coming out of their shells, but I doubt that will happen prior to any relationship progress unless they are confronted in a way that makes them give it up.

It's still up in the air for me who will confess, but I'm actually leaning toward Miyagi with the way things are going now. Or we might see a kind of scene where Miyagi confronts Sendai with the question, straight up asking "Do you want us to be lovers?" and then Sendai will have to answer honestly. I could definitely see a scene where Miyagi asks this, and Sendai returns the question with a "What do you want, Miyagi?" and that causing a big fight.

I just don't see the current Sendai being the one to confess. Even if she did, I don't think Miyagi would run away. I know she did that in the past, but there was a lot of story emphasis on her growing past that and not running away when facing uncomfortable situations afterward. I think that was a big part of her character development.

Also, I did not notice that all the character names are region, prefecture or cities in Japan, and I love that I now know this. Thanks!

Wow, I'm so glad to see so many people talking about and taking interest in ShuuKura. Literally made an account just to post in this thread, since I'm usually just posting comments on MangaDex.

I agree with a lot of the posts here. It's definitely a frustrating read based on how much of a slow burn it can be, but I think it isn't so bad until the later chapters (mid-200s) where things just seem to stagnate completely and sometimes it seems like the author is more interested in writing little vignettes than progressing the story. Reading week to week is just difficult given how little happens in each chapter. I think we're picking up in terms of pacing now with the second date at the aquarium kind of showing us to what level their relationship has progressed at this point, and with the side characters seeming to get an idea of what is going on.

I think comparisons to AdaShima make more sense than comparisons to AriOto. While, on the surface, the relationship seems to be Pay For Gay, it really isn't in the same way that AriOto explicitly was, and the pay goes away as we start ramping up the gay. The pacing is definitely AdaShima-esque. I actually stopped reading the AdaShima light novels after volume 4 because I just had a hard time with the dense prose and the fact that pretty much nothing actually happens. I'd really like to go back to it at some point but damn does it hurt my brain. I'm a little into vol 2 of AriOto and meaning to read it more.

All in all, ShuuKura is probably my favorite yuri story right now. And that's saying something because 95% of what I read is yuri/GL. There may be a point in which I have to step back from reading the weekly releases and wait a while for more chapters to drop to pick it back up, but I think for now I'm in for the weekly ride. I'm really hoping the manga pulls more readers in. I'm also hoping in vain for more multimedia and an official English LN, although I know that probably won't happen. I hate that we can't seem to get any yuri LN with sexual content licensed for English release, but I guess the industry still sees otaku media as geared toward young audiences. How unfortunate.

Also, I find the point about pitying Sendai in the previous post interesting. Honestly, I go through times of frustration with both characters as I read. At this point, though, I think I pity Miyagi far more than Sendai. Sendai has been much too scared about actually defining what she wants their relationship to be to Miyagi, leaving things all on Miyagi, who doesn't know and/or is in denial about how serious she wants the relationship to be. (And even if she did know, she has her self-esteem and abandonment issues to reckon with.) Sendai justifies being cowardly by making assumptions about how Miyagi is going to react, which is just kind of shitty (and maybe even a little manipulative) in my opinion. It warms my heart to see Miyagi building some self-confidence in the most recent chapters, and I think we might be in for something big from Miyagi when she buys the necklace for Sendai. Maybe even a confession? A girl can only dream.

last edited at Jul 2, 2024 7:12PM