Mayday, the eyebrows have been trimmed, I repeat, the eyebrows have been trimmed. We lost a good one today, guys, a moment of silence to mourn them...

I appreciate that Fujishiro is just as willing to change her own looks without much thought as long as it means getting to hang out with Kurokawa. That's always leagues better than where I was afraid this would go.

Fujishiro willing to throw everything out the window and even reinvent herself to get along with Kurokawa. I actually love how this is going.

Edit: I know Fujishiro's friend group was going to have a problem, but I didn't predict Kurokawa's own friend group ditching her because of Fujishiro though ;_;

Yeah, I hadn't even considered that Kuro was the one who'd be kicked out of her friend group. Talk about fickle.

It got a sequel! Unexpected, but very cute anyway! I adore these two.

I like how this addressed that it is an issue to string someone along and just hope that it never changes. Not as selfish as forcing a kiss on someone and giving them an ultimatum, but still selfish.

But all's well that ends well.

I'm actually glad that the pushiness and selfish ultimatum without thinking about what the object of her affections wants is implied to be a bad thing that works against her. (not that I read part two yet but just from this it's already clear that she's not happy about it). It kind of gets tiring how many stories have the exact setup that Chiaki took and frame it as romantic and sweet instead.

Team Youko!

Yui really went straight for that crowbar. Wow.

Hey, the Suu-Satou ship has survived 20 chapter with Suu not showing up or even being mentioned. We can overcome any obstacle.

As for chapter 38, I thought he was going to kill her. I'm really glad he didn't. I was looking forward to this meeting, and it definitely didn't disappoint in terms of how creepy and bizarre it was. He's just no match for her. I'm actually wondering if she can "purify" him, like she claims she will.... The story so far has suggested that the only thing that can beat crazy is even crazier, and the Aunt is definitely crazier than the manager. So given the logic of this world, it's possible he'll somehow come out of the experience of her raping him better off.

Maybe the big showdown will happen with Sato vs Asahi, and Suu rushes in to "save the day" for Sato somehow.

If it's a competition, even in this world, the Aunt wins there. Things could get better. Or they could spiral even worse. I'm excited to see which, but either way, the aunt's probably not going to point him in Sato's direction like she did Shouko. I wonder what effect this will have on Sato's doomed plan.

Yeah, I really like the swirling red of Sato's eyes, that's a nice visual cue. And Suu would visit Sato every day in jail. They could even have their wedding there. Sato/Shouko has sunk, I must be adaptable!

Raws for ch 38

Everybody press f for Mitsuboshi

...Being serious, I expected the meeting to happen and there was no pleasant way for it for go, but is still hits like a truck. One of the worst pairs of people to meet have met. Looks like we have one more ship for "most destructive, dysfunctional pair" and this is giving the others a run for their money already. I have no idea how he'll get out of this unless he outright kills the aunty. This was the only place Mitsuboshi's downward spiral was guaranteed to lead him to, but still...

Shio's cute as ever though.

last edited at Aug 5, 2018 9:18PM

My one disappointment with the anime (besides the flash-forward at the beginning) is that they haven't really captured the eyes. The way that characters' pupils sometimes look like they were scribbled on with a thick pen, with those gaps and lumpy edges, is one of my favorite parts of the art.

Yeah, this and a lot of the visual things in the manga can't translate as well to the anime, and there are a lot of visual things the manga does frequent as a framing device to communicate "this is not a good thing" or an impending sense of horror, like the broken glass surrounding the vows in the latest chapter.

But as of episode 4, the anime direction is doing a lot of interesting things to cover the same material, mostly to make the characters clearer I guess? The manga cut off when Sato pulled out her weapons on the delinquents, but the anime cuts off as she's mutilating them and shows a shot of their dead bodies. We see Sato putting the padlock in place instead of simply seeing the lock. The voice acting sets up good contrasts and really uncomfortable moments that help build that sense of dread too. I wonder how it would communicate that Sato isn't delusional, she just outright lies to herself about things she knows are bad enough that she has to keeps them from Shio because she's willing to go that far for the facade and the codependency, and I'd say it's doing a good job getting that across. The cutesy, sugary effects like Taiyou's stars come across as over the top and fake, so that helps too. Is it just me, or is the teacher getting more focus in the anime?

I mostly can't wait to see the Sato/Suu kiss. I can still hope that they end up together in a happily codependent unhealthy relationship, right? Suu's alive, it could happen.

last edited at Aug 3, 2018 5:37PM

You can see all of that with two mirrors. Or just a photo. But I guess there's something different about seeing it from a third person perspective...?

But yeah, too fanservicey.

Nooooooooo its going down the exact route I hope it wouldnt

• Otaku girl falling for popular girls "beauty" CHECK
• Makeover time by trimming eyebrows CHECK
• Popular girl making a scene in front of her over-the-top-mean-friends CHECK

I'm still clinging onto the hope that the makeover doesnt happen next chapter

That was everything I was hoping we wouldn't go down the route of either. I'm still not at all a fan of Fujishiro and her sudden pushiness after everything she did, but I'll hold onto hope that her making a scene in front of her friends isn't treated as the only amends she has to make.

It's just an extension of a canon scene from the manga, but it's still so heart-wrenchingly sweet. I really hope that they can bring Tsuyu back somehow!

People forgetting that this already has a sequel.
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/mari_san_and_aoi_chan

I wouldn't have realized these were the same people if you didn't point it out.
I'm glad we got an origin story for them though!

The inherent function of sexual attraction is reproduction of the proverbial "selfish genes" as it were, and by extension the species. Since attraction to the same sex isn't the most conductive thing for reproductive success it is, alongside the lack of desire to have offspring at all, effectively a "glitch" and an inherently rather self-limiting one.
Which is why, looking at assorted surveys listed on teh Wiki, homosexuals make up something like under 10% of the population.

Necessary reminder that it's not a "stupid ass idea" but the norm already out of brute biological calculus.

Now, whether an author handles the matter well is another question entirely...

This is very silly and pseudo-scientific. But I'm gonna stay on topic. This is just a moe comedy gag story in a high school, I don't think that The Life After Retirement of Magical Girls is going to address biological essentialism.

I hope we get a magical girl closer to the main character's age at some point. I wonder if the full focus will be on the ex-magical girls. I mostly just want to see someone with their powers still intact.

The art looked cute in that Sweet Magic Syndrome way, but I'm not very into this story so far. I hope the sheep is a very minor character...

-- the stupid ass idea that girls are just inherently attracted to men.

That's... something of an integral and necessary part of sexual reproduction actually...

I think the point is that lesbians exist. And just in general, girls who aren't very attracted to men exist. So it's not as inherent as the vast majority of stories imply it is. Especially the weird way that gender bender stories do it. It's pretty alienating at best.

last edited at Jul 22, 2018 10:57PM

I love it when college yuri is this cute. That last panel is the best.

MegaWallflower posted:

I hope Kanade's issues aren't resolved with a makeover or something like that. In Girlfriends that sort of plot came off as really cute, but with how the "Princess" acts here and looks down on her, it would leave a bad taste in my mouth in this case... Guess I'll have to wait and see. I still can't say I like the princess, but I do like that Kanade only likes how she looks and hates who she is.

I'd argue it's a completely different, and largely uncomparable, situation. Akko never looked down on Mari for not being fashionable and for Mari it was just a matter of never having really had a chance to be interested in it. Akko befriending her just gave her the chance to experience something she'd never had experience with and she found she liked it.

Ah, that really helps put it into perspective. Now I get why I'd absolutely hate for that to happen here. Thanks!

I hope Kanade's issues aren't resolved with a makeover or something like that. In Girlfriends that sort of plot came off as really cute, but with how the "Princess" acts here and looks down on her, it would leave a bad taste in my mouth in this case... Guess I'll have to wait and see. I still can't say I like the princess, but I do like that Kanade only likes how she looks and hates who she is.

Now that I think about it, Yuru Yuri's been running for a bout 10 years, huh? It's an episodic comedy though, so its indefinite hiatus is less heartbreaking than something heavily plot based that would be stopping in the middle of an arc.

I know nothing about Release the Spice, but if Namori's cute, round designs are in it, I'll have to at least check it out.

Now I'm really curious about what made Kay go down the path of a hitwoman. The way she spoke to that voice make me wonder what she had before. Good thing the power of ferrets gives her hope now. And good thing those assassins brought a rookie along or else Kay would have failed another mission.

I'm also going to try to forget the guy on the leash literally being fed scraps and calling the glasses dude master.

I can't believe Akari is fucking dead

Akari has so little presence that explosions and shrapnel just pass through her physical form.

In fact, Akari may well be immortal. . .

Yay! Long live Akari~n!

So, in thinking about the moral/ethical hierarchy of (mostly bad) actions in this story, I got to wondering:

What’s the healthiest relationship in the series?

Shouko/Asahi, right? There's nothing internally wrong with that one, relatively speaking.

I mean, aside from one of them being dead, I imagine that would makes things a little more complicated.

I take the point, though—in moral/ethical terms it’s probably as benign as it gets here. But there’s no doubt that the relationship ultimately was deleterious to Shouko’s physical health.

At least we know that the relationship is unlikely to take a darker turn, although in this series I’d never say it’s impossible for anything to get worse.

...You make a good point.

But looking at all the "possible" relationships, using that term very, very loosely, we have:

Sato/Shio (codependence, manipulation, harm to outside parties)
Shouko/Asahi (Asahi's not in a position to love someone, Shouko is currently indisposed)
Shouko/Sato (Apparently the "I love you" might have been platonic :c ...Also Sato murdered her)
Sato/Mitsuboshi (manipulation, neither party is in a good place to love someone, the confession hasn't been brought up again)
Mitsuboshi/Shio (no)
Sato/Suu (Suu is being played like a fiddle, stalking, nonmutual)
Daichi(the teacher)/Sato (stalking, cheating, manipulation, attempted statutory, nonmutual)
Daichi/his wife (he's been cheating on her for ages with minors)
Manager/Mitsuboshi (actual sexual assault, statutory, ptsd, nonmutual, kidnapping, torture)
Yuuna/her husband (the worst thing on this list somehow)

But come next chapter, maybe Mitsuboshi will meat Sato's aunt, her love of broken people will meet his fear of adult women, and we will get an even more unhealthy interaction.

Either way, out of this list, if one being dead is a disqualifier, we would have to say that the teacher and his wife have the healthiest relationship. At least she's blissfully happy.

So, in thinking about the moral/ethical hierarchy of (mostly bad) actions in this story, I got to wondering:

What’s the healthiest relationship in the series?

Shouko/Asahi, right? There's nothing internally wrong with that one, relatively speaking.

Shio's mother's story was very hard to read. She didn't deserve any of that and her life just spiraled into the worst possible thing through no fault of her own. And it made it worse that we knew it would end with her being alone.

"I killed someone."
"...Okay."

Shio's great.

But wow, Shio's backstory. Her mom's backstory. It feels like good, kind people just can't survive in this world :c

And Suu, Suu is alive! There's hope!

The happy, "sweet" moments in Satou's and Shio's life are making me feel bad for Asahi, we are slowly inching towards the boiling point there.

AKARI NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Their interactions with their teachers are so cute besides that, though. I love the little bits we get to see of the other teachers.