Forum › Posts by Person

joined Oct 17, 2015

Also a reminder that in Japan, same-sex attraction is still often thought of as a fetish on par with scat and other stuff like that, and therefore something one grows out of after getting married. In fact, in Japan, marriage is seen as being for one thing only, and that's to have children. Love doesn't enter the picture.

Because of that, what you'd think of as the "wrong decision" would actually seem like the correct decision over there, which is to "get over" all same-sex attractions, get married, and then help with Japan's declining and aging population, THE END.

joined Oct 17, 2015

I'm mad af with every single person who wrote in this thread to insult Yukako.

Yes yes every lesbian in the world who ever caved in to heteronormative patriarchal social coercion is an evil rotten bitch and deserves lots bad things to happen to her. /s

Wanna me to tell you where you all can shove your victim-blaming?

She is a bitch though. Victim of societal pressure or not she is making all the wrong decisions. She doesn't want to tell them she didn't want to get married (it's a pain having to repeat yourself so often but it's not going to be the end of the world to do so), so she gets married to someone she has never once loved and effectively involves others in her lie. Divorce is a pretty big black mark over there, too. Then she finds the person she snubbed earlier in life that she actually liked, and tries to rekindle things with her, effectively cheating on the husband, not realizing the bed she's getting in is not as nice and clean as she was hoping for.

I do NOT want this yuri couple to get together, but I do want her to get divorced and live her own damn life. Live the way you want, but don't drag people down with you because you're afraid to tell your parents "no"

Speaking ill of those who don't tell their parents "no" is definitely a symptom of privilege. If you don't know what it is to have parents like those, then it's easy enough to say "just say no" but it's a whole different matter when one's parents are of the personality where that doesn't even matter. If they're narcissists or BPD for example. Try to be idealistic about "just tell others" all you want, but it doesn't change the fact that it's futile to reason with some and lying is indeed sometimes the only option that makes sense.

joined Oct 17, 2015

Yo! yo! yo! What NicoMaki event we talkin about?

Also my first time hearing there's such things in Korea.

Person
Bread Gag discussion 08 Dec 13:32
joined Oct 17, 2015

All these comments about Japan when the author is Chinese, moderately amusing.

Person
joined Oct 17, 2015

Unfortunately commercial media and artists being dependent on their readers and publishers for income often has a big negative effect on anything that gets published. If artists were all financially independent, they could write their stories as long or short as they want, and would have far less need to reach some conclusions in their narratives, just so they have a chance to get some contracts in the future. You could have more surprises that aren't just edgy twists as well. But that won't happen unless we get a global artist sponsorship going on at some point.

Money is not the sole issue. The other issue is attention and popularity. For any artist that is fully committed to their craft, it's painful not get noticed, so it's only natural that many get carried along by trends of whatever seems popular. This effect is especially pronounced on twitter, which is where every Japanese artist has been moving to recently.

joined Oct 17, 2015

It's also quite revealing when someone comments on how marriage works that reveals Western-centralism and especially the wealthy, white view on marriage.

That aside, the main barrier to same-sex marriage in Japan is, surprise surprise, the old people's control of laws. Opinion on same-sex marriage is extremely large between older and younger generations, but that's not something that'll likely change things for a while. The only plausible avenues for near future changes are either pressure from foreign businesses, and it's questionable how desirable that is, and an ongoing lawsuit.

last edited at Mar 7, 2021 10:16AM

joined Oct 17, 2015

Lol, it's hilarious how smart you think you are.

Lol. Here's a dumbed-down version: living with friends is OK.

Edit: but also one should be careful of toxic individuals.

last edited at Mar 1, 2021 1:07PM

joined Oct 17, 2015

I find it amusing how many people here and everywhere think of "feelings" as something akin to God's voice and command that occupies a highest position. Instead of what it actually is, a signal that things are fine or not fine.

The concept of living with friends and finding it more fulfilling than being with some kind of mythical chosen one is an ancient idea going back to the examples of, for example, Epicurus and the monasteries that succeeded. Granted, this is not the same thing, but it's interesting how modern society makes all this seem unusual.

Edit: though I do think perhaps this manga could do better if it touched on real issues like the flaws of the Romanticism ideology that forms the modern imagination of relationships and marriages. We'll have to see if it ever gets there.

last edited at Mar 1, 2021 12:24PM

joined Oct 17, 2015

Loveless sham marriages are common among all people in East Asian cultures, not just gay and lesbian people. This is because while marriage is never exactly forced on anyone, who marries who is not considered a personal affair but the interests of the family and race to continue a lineage, which makes marriage almost an obligation. This also makes divorce a kind of failure so it often happens that families break down and the marriage continues only by formality even when the two should have separated a long time ago. Younger generations are changing things, but only gradually.

Well, an obligation except to those who are already in such a marriage. They'd probably say "don't you ever marry" or something.

last edited at Feb 26, 2021 6:17PM

Person
joined Oct 17, 2015

It seems like many in the West might be ignorant of how things are in other countries, but just as a reminder, same-sex marriage is not yet legal in Japan in 2021 and marriage, in addition to being a standard status symbol and rite of passage, also brings many financial benefits not afforded to unmarried people. You can say a sham marriage is cheating the system, but until it is corrected, you can argue the system itself is broken in the first place.

A common viewpoint in Japan is "strangers doing the gay, whatever, but please not my own family members" which is not at all easy to dismiss when people around continually emphasize the importance of respecting family.

The younger generation may see things differently and slowly changing things, but another important point is that loveless marriages are common in East Asia. Its purpose to bring forth offspring, no happiness with a partner or anything like that. Many enter marriages understanding this to be the case. While divorce does happen, the fact that marriage is a status symbol and not simply a personal matter means it brings a risk to one's reputation unless there are extraordinary circumstances.

The commenters who say "rotten cheater" are the ones with the privilege of not being under such discrimination, and perhaps this shows that it is easy to take privileges for granted. The other works in this anthology does bring some doubt on these characters, but overall they don't seem as crazy as the other ones.

It is true that this short of a manga doesn't allow the cultural context to be explained very well, but it is important to keep in mind that even as things change rapidly in the modern world, that things still vary wildly between countries.

last edited at Feb 26, 2021 3:50PM

Person
joined Oct 17, 2015

Ooshima Tomo's former name is Nikaidou Mitsuki and has went by several other names before, but has settled on Ooshima Tomo as she's been assisting Ooshima Towa as her partner.

joined Oct 17, 2015

You can blame this short length on twitter. Twitter allows only allows batches of 4 pictures max.

Person
joined Oct 17, 2015

Page 49
Uh oh. Law suit.

Almost all the things translated on this site actually have it written in Japanese (転載禁止, or "reproduction forbidden"). For anyone to willingly release doujinshi for free on the internet is still a rarity in Japan. That's why you wouldn't see a lot of Japanese willing to associate themselves with a site that has "illegal content" like this: it's not something people put on the internet, and copyright infringement is seen as one of the most heinous things in the world, in Japan.

last edited at Oct 18, 2018 8:58PM

Person
joined Oct 17, 2015

Wanting Reiichi to be an okay dude might make sense if we had known him better already at this point in the story and he played a more active role, but so far we've seen him do almost nothing, and don't know much about his personality, so there's no reason to feel any sort of attachment to Reiichi at this point in time. If you wanted a story involving an unrequited love and an okay guy involved in the story, I can only say, this wasn't even such a story from the start since the guy has not been involved in the story other than to just stand in as a figure. Reiichi has not nearly been fleshed out enough as a character for it to make sense to want him to turn out one way or the other.

joined Oct 17, 2015

Author's afterward:

"Thank you for obtaining this book. I don't know how it'd turn out handling one of these heavy matters, but I think everyone has thought about the scariness of death, outer space, and other things. There aren't that many books that talk about the scariness of death, so I wrote this despite understanding that it might feel a little imprudent. Sometimes when I get in the futon and can't sleep, my mind ends up wandering onto the topic and get scared. But, despite feeling 'scared, scared' one moment, the next moment I'd think of yuri and baseball. Living is a mysterious thing isn't it. I'd be happy if you, by reading this, might feel the same way about that."

That's the first half, the second half is just talking past and future works.

Person
Sachikano discussion 28 May 03:28
joined Oct 17, 2015

Maki is a voiceroid, not a vocaloid. Voiceroids are typically used to make stuff that only gets popular locally, not internationally.

joined Oct 17, 2015

Maybe this could be titled "Sakusakutei's section of MilkCocoa"?

joined Oct 17, 2015

I think that generally by "not normal," it is more like "something nobody has ever thought about." It is not so much that it because it is a minority as so much that it is a novelty, as families by same-sex couples have never even been thought still by most people. Currently in Japan homosexuality is usually thought of as another kind of sexual fetish like scat or whatever (especially when thinking of gay men, the stereotype being that gay men are always just seeking out sex with more people instead of wanting long-term partners), so the thought of same-sex couples actually starting families has not even been thought of by most in Japan.

last edited at Apr 5, 2017 3:52AM

joined Oct 17, 2015

Tengu are sometimes considered gods, as is common for yokai

joined Oct 17, 2015

LGBT activism or any kind of activism for that matter has never been a big part of the Japanese psyche. However, there are no religious objections as you might find in America. The only objections boils down to: "two men? yuck!" rather than any "moral" arguments. The younger generation wouldn't mind such rights, but the older ones are more stubborn.

The idea of same-sex couples raising children boils down to the same prejudices as you might find anywhere: that it's bad for kids, unless of course it's two pretty (and not ugly) lesbians in which case they'd say it's okay. In the law, it is not established, so the only sources of adoption for them as of now are from overseas, and in vitro fertilization options for non-married women are accessible only overseas as well, although there are "unofficial" sperm donation services, although there are risks due to the fact that none of those are backed by medical organizations.

last edited at Feb 27, 2017 8:17AM

Person
joined Oct 17, 2015

The mistake is not including by the yuri, but not following through with it. Shuuichi isn't exactly all that popular with the fans by any stretch of the imagination, so involving him at the end will most definitely result in a disappointment, though it remains to be seen if this will actually be done or not. Taki, of course, is on a whole different level of unpopularity, since nobody even pays attention to him. What we do know as of now is that the mistake with Shuuichi hasn't been done yet though, only that it will likely to be committed, so it remains to be seen what will happen in the end.

Person
joined Oct 17, 2015

I was about to say that for 黒歴史 to have no negative connotation is really odd since I've always heard it being talked about in reference to one's past works (videos, writings, drawings, etc.) that one regards as "not so great" due to one's natural improvement over time, but now that I've read the Wikipedia page, it turns out that I was probably simply misunderstanding things.

Okay, the Wikipedia page does say that in internet slang, 黒歴史 could possibly mean "things that I wish are gone" (note the present tense), but it could also possibly mean "things that are now gone" (this would refer to the past), and that nowadays, the meaning has broadened to include the idea of "things that, not due to anyone's intentions but 'just somehow,' have ended up being forgotten or weathered away."

So perhaps it meant something more like "though it's now part of a long-gone past" rather than "dark/regretful past."

last edited at Dec 26, 2016 10:38AM

Person
joined Oct 17, 2015

"Read the LN and accepted how the story was going to end"? Supposing the anime does do that, a relationship with Shuuichi would come out of nowhere unless it was actually developed in the last parts. And even then it would still come out of nowhere.

You'd think that if the anime was going to ① follow that ending and also ② attempt to be successful at it, that it would not cut out all the Shuuichi moments out, so one of those two must be false. So if you assume ① (they're going to follow the novel ending) to be true, then ② (they want to be successful at it) must be false. Which makes for an interesting thought: Could KyoAni be intentionally trying to half-ass a Shuuichi ending to make it as lame as possible? Perhaps they want to make a half-assed ending because they don't want to be completely unfaithful to the novel but still don't want to draw focus on those final developments.

last edited at Dec 26, 2016 6:57AM

Person
joined Oct 17, 2015

The translation "It'd be great when those two get married to men and become old women for there to be a sudden instant when they can think something like 'those times were the funnest. Though part of the dark past now'" does seem to make more sense, at least considering the kinds of things Tama 2 wrote in the past. It's pretty much identical to the current translation with only tiny differences, but considering the response of people here, it seems like those tiny differences make a big difference, possibly anyways.

joined Oct 17, 2015

There's a "download chapter" button above it