Is the visual novel any good? I watched some gameplay footage on YouTube, up to around the part where Victoria is first introduced, but wasn't exactly impressed with the writing quality. There's a fair amount of telling, rather than showing (e.g. the protagonist saying "I feel this way" rather than illustrating that feeling through her actions), the game stops to include explanations about Chinese terms like "jiejie" inside the dialogue boxes, and the characters don't seem all that deep (the game's Steam page specifically advertises that the love interests aren't perfect as though it's a special thing, rather than something any halfway competent writer should be doing).

I know it's fairly early on in the game, but I'd like to know if it gets better as you go along before I commit to buying it

I watched the first season, and one of many things that disappointed me was the part in the last episode in which Mami asked Chizuru if she got any female clients and Chizuru said no. It seemed as though the "rent-a-girlfriend" service would likely have at least a few closeted lesbians hiring a girlfriend if they wanted to experiment.

^^ I'll second that. I definitely liked Marcille's dynamic with Falin, but the last few volumes of the manga seemed to place more emphasis on Marcille's relationships with her friends as a collective(particularly her desire to not outlive them as an elf) rather than her relationship with Falin in specific. Still, I definitely recommend the series.

I'm not sure. I guess "Gender Bender" refers to non-canon genderswapping, but Female Ranma is part of the actual series.

Minor correction, but Elise simply calls Hinoka by name in Warriors, using -san on her in the original Japanese, rather than "princess."

Chapter 132 came out yesterday. I think, given the amount of chapters in each volume, 133 will be the last one.

I'd say it's ending on a good note. I might have liked to see a bit more about Saeko and Miwa's second relationship, but it seems to be ending on a relatively hopeful note, implying that while not everything will be perfect (e.g. they touched on how apartments discriminate against same-sex couples), Saeko and Miwa have learned from their past mistakes and their relationships with Yuria and Tamaki.

Is the "scene near the ending" Eirika handing Demon King-possessed Lyon the Sacred Stone of Renais, by any chance? That seems to be the most controversial part of the game.

I like Eirika and L'Arachel's chemistry, but it's a pain that supports take so long to build in this game. I'm grateful for Lyn and Florina's expedited growths in FE7, which allowed me to get them up to C Support in the chapter they joined, B in the next chapter and A by Chapter 18 or so.

Cute, but i definitely want a sequel exploring their deeper relationship!

I feel the same way about a lot of the oneshots that end just as the leads get together.

I'm personally fond of the pairing, especially since they're already in a relationship and they're navigating the challenges associated with being in one, such as their parents potentially not approving.

This is an interesting choice of a pairing. I've seen quite a few people pair Uraraka and Tsuku, as well as Jiro and Momo, but I haven't seen as many with the other two girls of 1-A.

I also agree that it's rather strange that Hagakure didn't get a costume that works with her Quirk when Mirio was able to get one (made out of his hair, as I recall) that stayed on him whenever he used his intangibility Quirk.

last edited at Jan 12, 2025 10:24PM

Volume 13 just came out today, and it covers Chapter 62-66. Considering that there are only three other chapters left, it'll be the last one until when and if Miman returns to work on the manga. It'll be a shame if it never continues, since we've seen some significant developments in the last few chapters.

I also reread the previous 12 volumes in preparation for Volume 13. The first volume gets off to a slow start until the reveal of who Mitsuki is, which is probably the main thing holding the series back, but it was still fun to reread the series with the knowledge of what happens later on.

The characters are definitely flawed, but I find that their flaws are wel-based in their personalities and backstories, so they're generally complex and well-written. Additionally, the manga's switching POVs help readers understand that when Character A does something that seems incomprehensible from Character B's perspective, it makes perfect sense from Character A's perspective (e.g. Hime suddenly quitting the piano recital in elementary school).

I had my suspicions about where this was going when the senpai wasn't responding by the second page, but couldn't tell whether she'd been abducted or murdered.

I could be wrong about this(since it might be different in Japan), but I'm fairly sure missing one rent payment isn't grounds for eviction, and landlords might accept late payments with a fee. The fact that Ichika's acting as her mother's proxy comes off as suspicious, so I wonder if a later chapter will reveal that Ichika lied to Runa to get her to go along with her requests.

Something's odd with these pages. They go 1, 10-19, 2, 20-29, 3, 30, 4-9, as if they're in "alphabetical" order, rather than in the proper sequence.

Volume 3 is out in English, and I notice two significant changes.

First, there's Sayaka talking about her and Takumi's argument in Chapter 17.
Fan translation: "He said we'll figure something out, but he also told me I'm being irresponsible."
Localization: "He tried to tell me that it'd be okay, but I snapped and called him irresponsible."
The localization seems to make more sense, since the fan translation makes Takumi come off as an insensitive jerk, and Sayaka's extreme emotional reaction can be due to realizing that she was out of line, and thus being overwhelmed with remorse, not just fear for their marriage.

In Chapter 21, when Kurumi brings up Ruriko's using "-san" on Kurumi while not using honorifics on Rio, Kurumi also mentions how Ruriko uses "-san" on Kuroda(whom Ruriko has known for as long as she's known Kurumi). Technically, so does Kurumi, but to her, "Da-san" is a nickname for Kuroda.

I read through all four volumes while traveling, and enjoyed it. It's probably my favorite of the Shio Usui stories.

Out of the main couples, Hinako and Asahi are my favorite thus far, since their inability to feel love in a way that's expected of them is a challenge to overcome, particularly in Hinako's case, since you can see how much pain her desperate need to be 'normal" is causing her. It was also nicely touched upon in Asahi's interactions with Fuuka, although one could assume that Asahi never thought much about romance because she was too busy with work and taking care of Subaru.

The secondary characters were also better than in "I Married My Female Friend," since they actually felt relevant to the story rather than just showing up for a chapter or two like many in the latter series did. I also liked how Mikoto and Ayano went from people Hinako just hung out with to having a more genuine friendship with her. I also liked Hinako's complicated relationship with her mother, and how the two ultimately love each other despite their occasional conflicts.

I'm personally fine with the nature of Hinako and Asahi's relationship, but it felt a bit anticlimactic for Hinako to basically just explain herself to Asahi and for Asahi to immediately just accept, even if it's been established that the two are the same in many ways. It might have been nice to have a few extra chapters chronicling how their relationship changes(or doesn't change) after becoming a couple.

Still, I liked it overall, and would recommend it to others.

I can't fathom folks showing up to a new work from one of vanishingly few mangaka (or published authors in general) repping committed aro/ace relationships to say "gosh, I hope this one is more like everything else I read!"

I think pigeonholing Shio as an "aro/ace author" is kind of reductive in and of itself. For starters, in my opinion Crescent Moon and Doughnuts is her only real aro/ace story. Trying Out Marriage is most certainly a slow burn, but I did not get the impression the heroines didn't want a physical relationship by the end. It just took a very long time for them to work out their feelings. It's true this story story is a bit more "traditional" (school setting, the characters have a much more standard view on physical contact etc), but it still has the kind of writing that makes Shio unique.

In any case, I really liked this chapter. Probably my favorite so far.

I agree. The protagonists in each series are fundamentally different from each other in many ways- their age, their personalities, their life experience and their relationships with each other- so it thus isn't necessarily to assume that just because Hinako and Asahi are asexual that Kurumi and Ruriko or Asako and Nagi are. For example, Hinako desperately wanted to be "normal" at first, including feeling attracted to her partner, while Kurumi wasn't uninterested in romance per se, but didn't think anyone would put up with her.

It's interesting to see more about Asako's feelings about her sister. She sounds rather bitter when recalling her sister apparently choosing her lover over Asako and the other people close to her, but at the same time, she still seems to want to understand why her sister did what she did. I hope we can eventually see Asako's sister's perspective, since it's likely that Asako is missing some key information.

Incidentally, I notice that Usui is using the black borders to denote flashbacks in this series(which is typical of manga), rather than scenes at night like in her other series. I was a bit confused when I saw the black backgrounds in the other two series, and thought the night scenes were flashbacks at first.

Volume 5 is out in English. Volume 6 will come out on January 26, 2025.

Speaking of Volume 6, there's an epilogue chapter in that volume. Shizuku visits Kaori's grave five years after her death. She's at college and has published some novels, although she's uncertain whether she'll write for a living. She has made friends and sees Ruri, Seri and Shiori four times a year, but hasn't fallen in love with anyone else besides Kaori yet. She also makes good on her promise to buy rings for herself and Kaori. It's fairly good as an epilogue, and while it would've been nice to see Shizuku find someone else, it'd take a sequel or spinoff to properly set that up.

This isn't a pair I see much. I like it, especially considering how their C support reveals they're close enough for Etie to simply call Celine by name without her "Princess" title in private.

I get the impression the last page isn't literally happening, but is instead how she feels.

...If that is indeed literally happening, then those kids need a practical lesson on the definition of defenestration.

I also think it isn't really happening, since it's in black and white(as opposed to the partial color of the rest of the manga) and the classmates are shown as sinister-looking shadows, which are often shown when someone imagines their tormentors.

It's interesting to hear about Asako's sister eloping, but it seems a bit too simple of an explanation. I personally think there will be a flashback of some sort to elaborate on this.

The 18th birthday deadline seems to be rather early on in the series, not to mention the school year- I assume that it's April/May given the winter uniforms(long sleeves and blazers) and that Asako hasn't retired from student council to focus on exams. As such, while I'm tempted to predict that Asako's grandfather will set her up with an arranged marriage(which may be why her sister eloped at such a young age), I doubt that anything that drastic will happen this early on. It's possible that they may cover a day at most for each chapter, but 12 days doesn't seem to be enough in-universe time to develop Asako and Nagi's relationship.

I'm personally interested in finding out more about Asako's sister, since that hairpin seems to be a keepsake from her (the panel focuses on the hairpin when she thinks about her sister).

I'd also like to know a bit more about Yachiyo, since Asako's relaxed enough to be on a first-name basis with her (albeit with "-chan" rather than yobisute like with Asako and Nagi), but at the same time, Yachiyo doesn't know about Asako's reading manga, since she assumed Asako went to the office to work.

missing like 20 morr pages pls fix ty

I think it's a decent concept, but comes off as a bit rushed and too often tells rather than shows.

Did they age up Futari(who's canonically 5 years old) here? If they did, does that have a tag?

I need an anime of this... the story is incredible, the character design is gorgeous... the clothes they wear, especially Kaori, are just beautiful. Her moles are also so iconic and cute.

In 2022 they made a voiced manga PV and it only makes me want an anime even more, with Ueda Reina as Shizuku and Waki Azumi as Kaori.

(Heavy spoilers): I couldn't believe that she died, I wished that they had at least kissed or confessed face-to-face prior to her death, that hand kiss is all that we get... which is great but also, you know. The page that showed the deathbed made me cry. The whole manga feels SO bitter sweet... I wish we had something else that shows Shizuku's life a little more. Or well, not have Kaori die.

At first I thought Shizuku was in a dream, since it was all about "waking up and hearing the news", because I was really hoping for her to stay alive...

When Kaori messaged Shizuku about "Me too", ugh... this manga is so good.

I have a lot more thoughts about it, something for every chapter... I only finished it now after having read it in 2022 (up to Vol.3 during that time). It would have been better to post my thoughts as each chapter came out, so I'll keep this short.

I thought it would be a longer manga, specifically, I think it was in Chapter 25 where Shizuku is writing her novel, then Kaori collapses "already", so to speak... I thought it was too fast there. Same goes for the end of Chapter 30, but I guess it needs to come at some point, right? Do I dislike it because it's sad...

sigh, I just feel empty now that I finished it. Have I said that I wanted Kaori to not die yet? Yep. Well... I just feel like repeating that over and over...

I look forward to re-reading this later down the road and crying again.

I definitely hope this will get an anime.

As for the length, from my understanding, Chapter 25 begins on August 18, so if you assume that it only lasts for summer vacation, it's already getting close to the end.

One small detail I noticed after rereading is that Seri has one of Ruri's photos(which Ruri showed to Kaori on Page 3 of Chapter 24) as her profile picture. All of the characters have what's precious to them as a profile photo- Kaori has a picture of her and Shiori(as Shizuku points out, she never changed it), while Shizuku has one of her dog.

I also watched Your Lie in April recently. It was good, but there were certain things this series did better. It has a more consistent tone, better pacing and fewer side plots, and I found Kaori Asaka to be significantly more likable than Kaori Miyazono, due to being nicer and more honest with Shizuku than the other Kaori is with Kousei.