Man this sucks. Part of me hopes that "first and last summer" thing from the start is just one big ruse and they're the opening lines from the final novel (definitely titled "The Summer You Were There"). It would be great if Kaori herself got the happy ending she deserves, since she's convinced she won't be around anymore within a year too. But I know the end is definitely set in stone, I can already see the "I want to eat your pancreas" ending coming. Ruri might never make an appearance besides being someone Shizuku can grow from, but if Kaori dies I can see an ending where she and Shizuku become friends. There has to be more to both of them being sick.

If it has to end in tragedy the one thing I want is Shizuku to write her heart out and let Kaori read their romance novel before she passes.

last edited at Jun 20, 2021 11:12PM

Wow, that was... a chapter. I can't even really call it an ending since we just kind of returned to square one. Kaoru accepts that Uta still (?) loves her, and at some point in the future they start living together again since it's something they both wanted but for some reason didn't until after Uta graduated, maybe. It just feels pointless after Uta goes on that monologue about not wanting anything to change and how her love was a mistake from the start.

Honestly the most off-putting this about this is the entire story surrounding Uta's parents and their dissolving family was completely kicked to the curb. It was supposed to be such a big deal that she was moving back with their problematic parents and maybe we'd get to see why she was such a depressed and distant kid but we never did. Instead months passed with no issues, her mom literally disappeared, and Uta never really left except when it was plot relevant so what was the point? We know more about Kaoru than we do Uta, other than her being a diligent person and stubborn about not wanting to move on.

I do think she's wearing the necklace Kaoru gave her in the beginning though, but as with a lot of things in this series the art just isn't as good as it was back then. Maybe as a sign that she'll never really let go of those feelings.

Overall I feel incredibly whatever about it. It ended terribly, but at least Konatsu came out happy. I would have preferred if she and Uta got together and they could both move on from their pasts and be happy together. Oh well.

Gosh. I was getting so frustrated, but it definitely was worth it. Then again, I just found this series and didn't have to wait 6 months for the resolution haha.

I absolutely love Ookuma, she's so open-minded despite being so sheltered. She has her air headed moments, but this page really emphasizes how its not her entire character. She's got a quick wit, with the whole "the tree will disappear" and taking off her clothes so Kanda will make a move. I wish we got to see these other sides of her more often, but I guess it wouldn't make them special.

I think one of my favorite things about this manga are the outfits. Ookuma's many earrings are my favorite part of her design.

One thing I want to see is them trying to call each other by their first names. It'll probably end with "kanda-kun is kanda-kun" but it would be cute to see them at least attempt it. So many possibilities now that the weight of pretending to be a guy is lifted.

last edited at Aug 23, 2020 2:56AM

Oh wow I totally forgot about this, but glad to see more. The art has improved so much since last time, it's beautiful. Such a shame this only gets worked on whenever the author has time though, but I guess if a year passed without me noticing the next one should be just around the corner.

Akari is super cute, I love how doting she is.

I put off on reading this a while ago (I think the hot springs chapter) and came back to what feels like an even bigger mess, but I can't say I hate it. The chapter where their mom showed up out of nowhere was very interesting - revealing she was involved in Kaoru's mom passing, why she's never around and a little about their father. Considering Uta says "he is the way he is because of you" I wonder if we'll be seeing him any time soon. He is apparently on board with taking Uta in as long as he and their mom get an official divorce, so I'm really curious about what kind of person he is.

I really wish we had seen how the confession went or what Kaoru's actual reaction was. Uta says she just smiled, but considering how she hesitated and looked really unnerved when Uta asked her if she really was okay with letting Uta stay despite knowing her feelings and then emphasizing that she considers her important family, there has to have been more to it. Knowing Reiichi is probably cheating and now his little sister loves her, did she feel like her ideal life was falling apart? Other than those two I don't think she has anyone else to go to if things truly go south, so maybe she's trying to keep things from getting to that point by letting things like cheating and even a confession slip by.

There are still a lot of interesting things going on, but one thing I can say I really dislike is how often we go back and waste so much time on Kuro and Miyabi's drama. On her own, Kuro is a pretty cool character and I like how she's blunt when it comes to giving Uta advice or asking what's on her mind. But when it comes to scenes with her and Miyabi or Konatsu I just can't enjoy it, and I wish we'd stop going back to give their dating-but-it's-complicated-so-not-really situation focus when it doesn't really contribute anything to the main story.

Can people please stop saying that the ending was rushed please? Inform before you say something. Citrus will continue in a new manga called Citrus + in which you will have the ending expanded and adventures of their lives after marriege. The ending was rushed on purpose to open a path for Citrus +, so stop it already

Majority of the final chapter was dedicated to Mei still continuing to push Yuzu away and reject her, and everything we've discussed at length here and thought was going to be important (gramps, Shou, Mei taking over the school, Harumin's feelings) were only acknowledged in a collage of silent panels spanning two pages. If that's not rushed I don't know what is. And if it was purposeful as you say, that makes it an even worse ending.

Citrus+ has always been more focused on the supporting cast while Yuzu and Mei got smaller, 4-koma style comedy skits. I'd personally like to see it stay that way, and get more HaruMatsu content (which is what I mainly kept up with the main story for, but alas). Those two were easily the biggest wastes of potential this manga had; seeing them get more focus would be more than welcome.

While I definitely hate these last two volumes, I can't say I hate the whole series. There were lots of high points and fun moments that I can read over and over again, and most of the cast brought the series to life with their interesting personalities. It's a shame that Mei constantly dragged it down though, and that she didn't develop at all just really annoys me.

I really liked this, though yeah I do agree it kind of went too hentai for my tastes lol.

That said, I really hope this at least opens up the possibility of more yuri LNs being posted here. I love light novels, but it's insanely frustrating trying to find yuri ones anywhere. Having them on here would be a lifesaver.

The biggest revelation of this series is that Matsuri was right all along about everything.

(...)

^ It really is crazy how much development a side character like Matsuri has gotten yet Mei simply hasn't changed at all. Sure we know how she feels about Yuzu, but she still continues making really dumb decisions. After everything that's happened and everyone she's met you would think she would understand that doing what she wants for once is okay, yet she continues to inflict pain on herself for... her pride? I just don't understand what she's resisting for anymore - and I'm not sure I really care anymore. At this point, Mei just really frustrates me more than I expected.

It would be nice if the announcement meant that Yuzu and Mei's story is coming to an end, but maybe we'll get a spin-off. I would really like to see more focus on Harumin and Matsuri. There's so much potential there, and I find myself enjoying chapters more when they get more screentime.

I'm glad someone else pointed out her outburst about forgetting the cleanup part of the play, that's definitely something the old Touko would never let people see in fear of breaking that perfect illusion she had going on. Yuu seems to have already given up on her being anything special to Touko now that she's going to be open about herself, like Touko is going to just toss her to the wayside now that she "doesn't need her" anymore, or that she'll just go ahead and start something with Sayaka and forget her.

If anyone else is worried about the anime, Nakatani and Kusunoki (her editor) posted on Twitter that they're going to attend all the production meetings for the anime. I'm going to guess it's to help guide them on directing or animating certain things that make the manga unique. Either way I'm really excited, especially with the scriptwriter they have on board. All of the stuff he's worked on were excellent.

The way Reiichi has drastically changed in design is kind of off-putting to me. Like in the beginning he was well drawn and felt really involved with the story, and over time he becomes a background character looking amorphous blob. I guess the drama doesn't really bother or excite me because he looks so... unimportant now. I'm not sure if it's intentional since we're becoming aware of what he's doing or not, since the others have consistently looked great while he's degrading in quality.

I'm really hoping Uta commits to confessing now that we're here, or at least strongly implies to Kaoru that she's in love with her to get some of that weight off her chest. At the same time, Uta doesn't know about Reiichi cheating on her, so not only would a confession really inconvenience her, it'd be really awkward if they happened across him and Risako while on their trip, based on his reaction to the phone ringing it wasn't a simple "family trip" like he said it was.

Oh wow, I totally forgot about this series! Catching up on all the chapters felt so nice, it's such a sweet manga. I love the small bits of progress here and there, especially in the chapter with Hara giving Mari advice and seeing them finally kiss! I hope they continue to make friends with grannies, they're my favorite parts of reading this.

I wonder if Arisa is soon going to be the "girlfriend with the voice" instead of the other way around lol

Oof that was hard to read, seeing everyone act normal around Yuzu but knowing she's still devastated. I'm surprised Yuzu saw the letter and didn't attempt a way to get Mei out of the situation. Or maybe she did and we just won't get to see it for a while.

I have a feeling Matsuri is going to be a major player in getting things back to normal. Although it'd be kind of cheesy, I wonder if she, Harumin and the others are going to step up and help Yuzu out this time instead of it being the other way around for once. Since this chapter focused on them secretly hurting from watching Yuzu pretend things were okay rather than Yuzu herself.

But I wonder why the Tachibana sisters weren't shown at all? I know they're in a different city altogether but maybe just sending Yuzu a text message in worry would have been enough.

It was never shown how or when Momokino found out. I guess the only one now who is still in the dark about it is Harumin.

Harumi is definitely a special case. Sometimes she gives the vibe to know, sometimes not. I think she doesn't know but maybe she has her suspicions.

Honestly I think Harumin has known since the beginning. Yuzu has always gone to her for advice on Mei and it doesn't help that she was always around when Yuzu bought her incest manga and tried using it as a guide lol. And with the way she was able to see right through Matsuri's act the moment she saw her Harumin is pretty perceptive, so for her to be totally in the dark would be a little weird. Especially since lately, she's spending a lot of time with Matsuri who's always pushing their secret to the limit so she's at least bound to try and let it slip around her the most. Maybe Harumin is waiting for Yuzu to come out and tell her but she's definitely a pretty big mystery, since she hasn't been given very many scenes since this new arc started - she's mainly in the background.

As for why Himeko knows... she's been aware of Yuzu's feelings for Mei this whole time, hasn't she? IIRC she assumed Yuzu was in love with Mei before she even knew they were step-sisters, so maybe she's just kept quiet since she knew Mei was engaged to a new person after Amamiya was scratched off the list and thought anything involving Yuzu wasn't going to last anyway? We should have gotten at least a hint that she found out or had known instead of not reacting to Matsuri's outburst lol (like idk maybe opening one eye when Mei and Yuzu left the room to make out or something).

I went back and read all the chapters up to this point again and it really makes a difference when there's no month gap in between chapters. At first I was really annoyed seeing Mei getting dragged off into another love triangle-like arc but the way this chapter played out really got me to change my mind, especially after seeing Mei break down for the first time. This time Mei isn't just letting whoever drag her around anymore -- or at least, she wants to stop it from happening but can't bring herself to do it which is very different from the way things have gone in the past.

I don't think Mei has ever been a completely cold-hearted person on the inside, and I'm glad Yuzu has managed to get that part of her to nearly disappear. Otherwise Mei wouldn't have continually let Yuzu come to school in her getup, hang out after school every day, and I'm sure if it hadn't been for Harumin's sister showing up Mei would have let Nene run around with her blonde hair.

I wonder if she's just doing what grandpa wants because he's getting worse and she just wants to repay him for pretty much raising her before he passes away. The old Mei would have just gone with the plan but now that she's fallen in love with Yuzu it's a fight between choosing her pride or her heart and she doesn't really have anyone who isn't Yuzu to ask for advice.

As for the anime I think it's done such an amazing job at adapting the manga, I'm almost blown away I really thought it was gonna be all sorts of screwed up. But because it's doing such a perfect adaptation I'm a little worried the later episodes will be rushed.

Maybe it was the pace that I read it but everything felt super rushed, not sure if I liked it all that much. The art is really cute though.

Huh, well that was a thing. The first page really threw me off. Damn you ear cleaning scenes!

I'm only hoping Ichika didn't start dating Shun to make Ritsu jealous. That'd be even worse for the poor guy lol

Why is it that the people who hate ChikaRiko always have to be so obnoxious in the comments? Ignore the doujin and move on, nobody cares.

That said, I'm stoked to see more stuff from Kougi. Can never get enough ChikaRiko doujins

Man the last chapter made me really hungry. I may just get that portable grill myself.

And wow, chapter 9 was so fluffy. It's nice to see them both being overly cautious but still constantly thinking about each other, it makes the scenes when they do finally talk really, really cute. And Rin's smile in chapter 9 just made the whole thing so romantic, but then again nothing can beat them rushing to take a photo for each other in chapter 8.

Not much happened but at least Mei tried to tell Yuzu about what was going on. Of course she got interrupted because drama, but I can appreciate the effort. At least it shows she's not completely willing to leave Yuzu in the dark anymore, but maybe Mei thinks it'll overwhelm and hurt her too much to know their relationship is coming to an end.

I wish Matsuri would just confide in Harumin. She's the only one at this point who doesn't know about the relationship, and I can't see her rejecting Yuzu for it. Maybe she and her sister can help come up with a plan to get Mei out of this situation.

But then again, like Shiraho said, it's really up to Yuzu and Mei to help themselves. And one thing they don't have is proper communication.

last edited at Nov 18, 2017 12:20PM

Let's focus on something more important:

We need a shorter name for Matsuri and Harumin.

Maybe Harumat. Or Matmin. Or Maharu. Hmmmm

How about Matsumin? That sounds kinda cute.

Some good discussions going on here, although I pretty much agree with everything UranusAndNeptuneAreJ said. I like citrus, I like the characters (especially Matsuri) but the way things are set up now is just a little too out of left field. I mean hell, something like making the teacher fiance guy show up at some point to the cafe Yuzu was working at would have worked, like he lost a potential candidate or he's being set up again with another student and doesn't want to this time. Idk it doesn't make sense, but it could have given us some more details on how all this marriage stuff works before dropping the bomb and leaving us with no evidence to really base theories on.

That said, does anyone else think Mei being targeted yet again is just plain old boring at this point? Would it have killed Saburouta to make Yuzu the target this time and maybe get Mei to kick herself in gear and confess or take charge to get her back/fight the school? Honestly I think this would have worked a lot better to develop Mei's character and get her to be more open with Yuzu about what's going on in her head. Sure it doesn't really make sense since Yuzu is an Aihara by marriage, but damn, if you're gonna throw curve balls might as well go all the way.

Or who knows.... maybe Yuzu IS the target and Mei's hesitation is from seeing Yuzu try so hard for their relationship but she knows Yuzu is already set up with someone... guess we'll have to wait and see.

Woof, that was a tough pill to swallow. I can let the fiance thing slip by since we're made aware that it happens in the beginning... But things probably would have rolled a lot smoother if we had seen arranged marriages happen throughout the manga for this moment, whether through background characters or even dialogue like "oh did you hear xxxx is getting married". That way if it was going to be important we wouldn't have forgotten it was a thing.

A shame the art is as rough as it gets. Looks like someone's been really busy with the anime and all the events going on. Hope to see it fixed for volume 9.

I'm a little worried that it doesn't say "TV anime", rather just "new animation". But since it says details will come soon it gives me hope that we'll see a full series. Kase-san really deserves it out of any current yuri manga tbh.

God damn now we have to wait a whole month.

Yuzu is finally being the top that she is and not letting Mei get away like always. But from Mei's facial expression I'm thinking she's going to stop Yuzu... unless they get interrupted. Personally I'd like to see her admit she's in love with Yuzu before they go any further.

I'm sure whatever it was Himeko and Suzuran were talking about will get revealed next chapter, but I can't really think of anything that would make Matsuri (who already knows the two are dating) pause like that. Maybe Himeko secretly likes Harumin lol

I wonder if Saburouta realized "oh shit look at all these sister pairs I've created" and decided to roll with some siscon comedy? Either way I'm liking it, Micchan getting totally floored by what Harumin said gives me joy.

Matsuri is definitely my favorite character. I love how she's not shy at all about wanting to be around Harumin. I remember reading in a volume I have that said something like "having to wait for the Yuzu/Mei and Harumin/Matsuri end will be difficult". So I'm looking forward to seeing more HaruMatsuri content.