I just conceptualize it as a Nico x Nozomi relationship and I can understand it.

Kodama Naoko did a number on the MC, I see.

Also, is Hisa already done playing? I can't imagine Kiyosumi winning without her - she's the 2nd best, isn't she? Saki alone can't beat Teru and a strong team, right? Maybe that's the set-up. Shiraitodai wins, but Saki has fun and reconciles or something, so she wins a Rocky-like moral victory.

on edit i guess the sergeants match WAS Hisa's last match. haha. the finals are going to last until their grandchildren graduate I think.

last edited at May 5, 2025 6:54AM

Good point about Hisa. Agreed, playing mahjong for a year straight before you go to the hospital to have your arm re-broken and straightened is a sign of proper dedication to the sport.

I was excited to learn the dark secrets of the Miyanaga family, but will Ritz live long enough to tell us? I feel like if Twin Peaks had waited a couple of decades to tell us who killed Laura Palmer at this point.

"Most Hikawa Shou lesbians live lives of quiet desperation" - Psychic Thoreau

From reading the webnovel (not farther than the manga) I am rooting for Yui, actually. I think she loves heroinu protagonisto as much as the genki pixie dream girl does.I would be shocked if this wasn't a triangle.

This is going way back, but I saw comments that Hirose was relieved Takamine left volleyball because she didn't have to deal with her feelings of jealousy (which she had gone through in the past). But I think she was partly relieved - and partly disappointed - on behalf of the girl, who wasn't Hirose, the president, who was crushed at losing her position. Both Hirose and Takamine overheard her complaining to her friend about it. Hirose was relieved that that girl got her position back. As was Takamine.

Literally the OTP of Love Live

literally

to use a metric I discussed a long while back, when it was closer, there's about 15% more Maki x Nico chapters and 15% more Maki x Nico images on Dynasty Reader than there are Eli x Nozomi. And on the fanfiction.net site there's about 5% more Maki x Nico than Eli x Nozomi. Because earlier stories didn't use the pairing flag often, just stories with Eli & Nozomi vs those with Maki x Nico, there's about 10% more Maki x Nico stories. The situation is similar on archiveofourown.org with Nico x Maki stories being about 12% more common than Eli x Nozomi. And no other ship besides Eli x Nozomi comes close. Ironically, one of the rivals, though, is Nico x Nozomi, which must make Nico feel special. Google results using Youtube have about only 2% more Maki x Nico videos than Nozmi x Eli/Eri videos. So they are the leading pair but does that make them the OTP???

Also I really like the title. At first glance it appears to refer to Momo, who is the one getting married in a week. But when we see the marriage registration form, the one indicated in the "wife-to-be" column is Kou.

Great catch. Just grinds the pain in more, doesn't it.

I wonder what the angel did to get kicked out of heaven to hell

I think a jealous fellow angel did it.

This is very true to the PV/Drama CDs of NicoMaki that began it all before the series aired.

Assuming for the purposes of this question that series which are yuri or subtext that loop are waiting for one couple to get together, and assuming that stories that don't loop had the one chosen couple get together, which series and which couples spring to mind?

My choices so far:

YuruYuri is waiting on Himawari x Sakurako. Almost without a doubt.
(#2 Ayano x Kyoko #3 Yui x Kyoko)

Virgins Empire is waiting on Ayano x Miyoshi

Love Live! School Idol Project didn't loop
Probably Eli x Nozomi or Hanayo x Rin allowed it to escape
If it ran 2 seasons because it was waiting for the non-loop pair, Maki x Nico

Is Saki looping or simply in a time-slowing bubble of deep gravity? Does it loop individual days instead of years?
If Saki is looping, it probably awaits Nodoka x Saki
#2 is Hisa x Mihoko

K-On! didn't loop (famously)
My guess is that Azusa tried to make it loop waiting for the Azusa x Yui pairing, based on what she said.
But the Mio x Ritsu pairing was simply too powerful for that to work.

Tsundere yuri ? I can't help but think of nicomaki

In the original PVs and drama CDs they were both narcissistic and arrogant, though Maki had more reasons to be. They competed for attention but also looked out for each other. then they started being tsunderes but it was in mock situations specific to the PVs. They kind of agreed to go along with each other's ego stuff. Nico was a chatterbox and Maki was always preening.

Next should be yuri tsundere/yandere.

Suicide girl's expression shows she could go that way, too.

last edited at Jan 6, 2025 3:48PM

What makes this great is that neither of them are scheming. In the LNs, it's classic that one of them is more experienced or more sure of themselves so they put the other through the wringer until they admit they are attracted, or even attraction is partly manufactured. Neither the gyaru nor the yūtōsei are doing that, they're both just getting swept away. Which makes it romantic.

Also, she's gone the opposite way from Naoko Kodama - who started with things like Renai Manga - the fluffiest yuri manga in history - got more angsty with Cocytus - got more angsty yet and more gritty about characters in NTR, etc.

This mangaka started out with a lot of red-flag romances and then arrived at this fluffy series that is nonetheless interesting.

Ugh, I'm scared my poor little gyaru baby is gonna have her heart broken.

It's the yūtōsei that's wide awake shocked at how much she likes your little gyaru baby! She is just as much at risk.

last edited at Jan 6, 2025 4:15PM

Huh, just noticed, and looking back, both of the teachers wear rings on their right hand ring finger, but only when they're not at work.

Women wear engagement rings on left ring finger just like in Western countries. They also wear wedding rings on left ring finger AFTER the wedding ceremony is OVER,

HOWEVER

There is also the custom of wearing the wedding ring on the right ring finger - as they are doing - before the ceremony.

Make of that what you will.

My favourite! Aiba is her tiny knight!

BUT THEY KISSED IN #285 and it didn't even get the Hibixi x Midori tag!! Just for that this should be called the "Justice" pairing. It got tagged Hibiki x Nao instead but it seems Nao refused.

last edited at Jan 13, 2025 2:22PM

The above comment on how do they pay for it all is germane because the answer is they both have jobs.

If any of you are familiar with the PVs or Drama CDs, which are very early (pre-manga, pre-anime) this is what their personalities were like. Maki was as grandiose as Nico, though with a bit more to be grandiose about.

Worst who-it-is? 1. Umi 2, Nozomi* 3. Cocoro or Cocoa? *Nozomi will tease Nico.

Diary June 16: if I keep Onee-chan supplied with opium, we can play dress up all day until she falls over.

Creepily cute.

I used to think, if only Shizuku had heard her muttering how she'd love to steal her from her boyfriend to have sex with her, she'd run away. Now I think she wouldn't run away.

Watamote is almost like "I don't know which one is love:" She's most "in to" Asuka. She lusts most after Shizuku. Yuri is practically her soul mate. Hina shares her nerdy fangirl stuff and is equally secretive about it. Yuu is her most comfortable friends-to-lovers first experience candidate. Megumi-sempai is the one she had the biggest, most innocent crush on. Ucchi is the most "in to" Tomoko. I can see why many prefer her to have a harem.

last edited at Dec 25, 2024 8:29PM

It definitely is left up in the air whether it will be Kujou or Sui-sempai. My take would be that Kujou makes Yaya jealous and she gets more girlfriend-y. Hinamori-san needs to get over whatever useless thing is hanging her up though. She seems to like Yaya better, but Kujou has her s__t together and her head together much moreso than the other 2 girls.

This tendency for manga and light novels nowadays to have titles like this that are basically the first part of the story and super specific? Where did I see this before? My conclusion was the AO3 fan fiction site and its use of tags. If it didn't have tags, like the other site fanfiction.net doesn't, most AO3 writers would instead have titles like this.