Surely the emergence of the suicidal yuri microgenre -at least one new series every year- is just the result of the continued proliferation of the genre, and is not a portent of things to come

Yet another banger from Amazaki Suika. Yuri was not part of the assignment but this story still contrasts the main pair's unlikely friendship against the het brainrot and misogyny of their normie coworkers. And uh, whatever that tension was all about in the makeup scene.

Himari ships Aki and Shiho so hard that beyond the goofy shenanigans and the "she's just like us" vibe I find it not just sweet but also a little fascinating. I'm not totally sure why.

Oh no, I went back to compare the scenes, and you're right! I guess Terra is the older of the two and Diode does not have a legendary ex-wife that Terra could feel a pressure to live up to, but on the other hand Sivi had years to work up her courage...

Terra is quite bold in this scene nonetheless, surprising even herself. Unlike the marriage candidates, the girl she's only known for a few days gave her a taste of success, made her feel proud of her own decompa skills, so she feels comfortable enough to let herself 'decompress' emotionally as well. It is lovely indeed.

The Endeavour clan seems culturally analogous to the US, not just because of the names and the gun culture. Before the fishing duel, Xeon professed a reverence for personal freedoms within reason, and 'their women' do technically get a much wider choice in their profession compared to the other clans. (We're told Gendo basically exports their girls to the other clans after a mandatory decompa training, and in the novel version Diode tells Terra about how she was treated by two other clans she visited before she found Terra.) This still ends up working as a more gentle flavor of the same repression of women's autonomy, as kinseijoshi explained above.

The conversation in the W.E.B. in chapter 4 was so good! Here, Terra gets almost completely looped into Diode's misadventures before they met, so I wonder when that will happen in the manga version. Knowing more about what Diode has been through makes the argument and fishing duel with Xeon feel even more important.

And wow, Terra hugging Diode when she was crying, and later before their second trip noting that even climbing into the boat with Diode feels so much better than it has with anyone else? I suspect Diode fancies Terra too and is aware of it, but if only she knew how Terra sees her...

last edited at Jan 18, 2025 7:58PM

I just finished chapter 2, and I regret putting it off until now. This is a remarkably different experience from the manga (more so than what I'd call typical between a light novel and its manga adaptation), and visualizing the quirkier elements like the clouds, fish schools and net shapes was a challenge, but it's getting easier.

The translation of certain terms being different from Suimasen's version took some getting used to; otherwise the quality is very impressive! Thank you so much for taking on this project!

Some random impressions up to this point:

• Mora (Terra's aunt) groping Terra that one time is made a little less bizarre (though not less weird) by the fact that she is really drunk. Maybe that's also why she is less resistant to Diode's proposal than she is in the manga version?

• Not having any visual reference point from the manga was especially challenging when reading the prologue. The ending where Magiri dives into the abyss based on the theory that the gloomfish are shaped like fish because of Eda's influence, caught me totally off-guard. It's a very different mood from the bulk of the story, almost like a dip into sci-fi horror akin to the video game Soma.

• Terra is implied to be gay from the start in the manga version too, but it's more 'high definition' here, if that makes sense. It's not just the switch to prose which necessarily has her linger on Diode's appearance more, but things like the incandescent blushing ear to ear at Diode's proposal, and the yelp she lets out when Diode grabs her hand, seem to be exclusive to this version. I hope to see more of this.

last edited at Jan 18, 2025 3:51PM

Alternative interpretation: Wakaba follows the philosophy of Michelle Obama: "When they go low, we go high." She doesn't want to pick a battle she could win by default because she is proud and prefers to win 'fair and square', even if Komaki doesn't care about being fair to her. Wakaba is a liberal </3

The only thing worse than a situationship is a one-sided situationship

Alice has been skulking around on her own since the last chapter, so I kept expecting her to get in trouble, and then during the walk to be possessed by the miasma, and then... Nah, she just dislikes the main character lol

Was it really a love song? or was the bully guy just saying that? To be honest I think we should have had some sort of internal monologue about sexuality or them wondering if the feelings are romantic. Even Aya doesn't seem to have given it that much thought she was like "oh my crush is a girl, well okay" but hasn't made a move and neither has she exactly been in denial either. But at least with Aya it seems to read as though she doesn't want to ruin the friendship, as for Mitsuki... I'm not sure what she's thinking at all. I mean are teenagers in Japan already so comfortable in their sexuality that they kinda take it for granted that something is romantic without talking about it? lol not even a "do you like girls?"

So, Japanese culture is by a wide margin the most intrinsically passive aggressive culture I have ever interacted with. The typical way you say something is "bad" is to say "That's a little..." and just literally trail off without saying it. As a general rule, they do not confront issues head on. So a lot of yuri manga doesn't confront the idea of homosexuality head on. The women just love each other, and their preferences aren't usually explicitly addressed because Japan in general isn't very hot on explicitly doing anything. I don't know if this also permeates into LGBT social circles in japan, or if it's just an anime/manga thing. It could just be that it's about anime authors not wanting to alienate potential readers by being too direct about their subject matter, or it could be that many people in japan just don't voice their preferences in a direct way very often. (If anybody knows more on this I'd be interested to hear it.)

This observation seems kind of limited to the yuri manga of the 2010s and 20s; after all the ol' reliable "but we're both girls" trope that everyone loves complaining about (and isn't nearly as common today as its opposite: "we're both girls so it's fine") is a confrontation with homosexuality. The Class S literature from the Taisho era (the predecessor of the yuri genre) had to 'balance out' depiction of attraction/romance between girls with tragic endings, which I'd also call pretty direct.

But even in the yuri manga of these days, the topic of lesbianism and queerness is not actually a taboo across the board; the level of openness runs a wide gamut. There is a branch of yuri where the same-sex nature of the relationship is so trivial as to be dodged completely - this especially applies to "404: men not found" and a lot of laid-back slife-of-life works. And the kind of works where concepts like 'LGBT' and specific identity labels are discussed at length (like they are in TsukuTabe) are rare. But there's a lot that lies somewhere between. For example, by filtering for lead or key supporting characters who are noted to be lesbian or attracted only to girls, there are quite a few series that have been adapted to anime: Sweet Blue Flowers, Whispered Words, Kase-san, Bloom into You (Sayaka), Otherside Picnic, Yuri Is My Job (Nene), MagiRevo, WataOshi, The Moon on a Rainy Night (upcoming). And these are just the tip of the iceberg. A more direct approach to the subject is especially common in series with adult leads or a historical setting.

The teddy bear might just be a reference to the Care Bears but the way the claw machine grabs it when Sumie is controlling it, two claws under the heart... Well, maybe it doesn't mean anything.

Maybe there's a way to make this boy less obnoxious by separating him from the other two mini losers? Though I don't know if that kind of thing would fit into the plot structure of this series. Or Chiyo could ask Koharu to find the girl a better match but then the time spent introducing curry boy would go to waste.

When you make your bestie smile #bestfeelingintheworld

Maybe I've missed something but this didn't feel like a yuri story. There was no indication she loved her friend in a romantic way. She just said she feels safe with her around all the toxic men in her life. Maybe it could've become yuri but what we were given doesn't suggest it ends with them together.

I have the same feeling, and I feel the same way about calling her Bi. I don't see much there. It's a sweet story, though and I can assume the author must have meant it as yuri but it's not there on the page, while her het stuff is certainly all over the place..

Exactly. It gives more of a "when you're down and in trouble it's good to depend on those who care for you" kind of vibe. Suggesting she should date her friend just because she was the only one she had a good relationship, despite not having any feelings for her prior, wouldn't be something I suggest someone should do.

I would have normally said maybe we're assuming their sexualities based on the author's history but this author has written a lot of Het and that also goes for their currently running series. So, it's mixed. I think at best the author is using an old-school version of yuri (girls interacting, not necessarily romantic, subtlety, ambiguity, etc.). Anything else is not really in the story itself. Interesting read anyway.

I think this work passes a broader, descriptive/additive definition of yuri, in that the F/F relationship is at its center, said relationship is emotionally charged, and while a rival F/M relationship exists it ultimately "loses". I would normally not try to argue against tagging it as subtext, but in this case the creator did tag it as yuri in the release post, and since I see no indication they did so in bad faith I'm inclined to take it at face value.

When categorizing works, I think it's more helpful to think of yuri as a process, instead of a certain relationship milestone being cleared, proof of a certain sexual orientation, or a seal of approval of the relationship as healthy and sustainable. Did Madoka and Homura fail to 'become' yuri -in the eyes of fans- just because Homura is allegedly abusive and they are not officially dating (at the time of this writing)? Should book stores not categorize A Monster Wants to Eat Me as yuri just because the central relationship is based on not explicit romantic feelings but hunger and death wish? There are many great stories that are generally accepted as yuri, where the relationship is not explicitly romantic but still stretches beyond the limits of "friendship between girls/women" as it is usually depicted in hetero media.

Just for fun, I also want to look at the ways this oneshot is consistent with the usual workings of yuri manga. The two girls are introduced as a pair of opposites. They interact on more than half the total pages (I counted about 17), but to call it mere interaction sells it short. Time seems to slow down when Kurihara is with Suwada; the scenes where she's with other people are more brief and to the point. And their shared scenes form an arc where the distance between the two is gradually closed both physically and emotionally.

In the first act, they speak somewhat formally, always standing at least a foot apart, and Kurihara looks away when Suwada notices her staring. In the second act, when Suwada confronts Kurihara full of concern, she now catches her hand, and Kurihara tries to get Suwada to back off by invading her personal space. In the third act, Suwada distracts Kurihara's attacker and leads her away by her hand. They keep running together bathed in the lights of the city as Suwada desperately tries to get through to Kurihara, and they only let go of each other's hand when they stop to catch their breath. For a moment the two look each other in the eye, faces red and still out of breath, and their hearts are still beating fast when they finally embrace. (That entire third act sounds like a checklist of yuri -and generally romance- tropes.) Through the whole story some kind of tension keeps brewing between the pair, bubbling to the surface in the third act, and it's only resolved somewhat when they share that hug. The exact the nature of each girl's feelings may be left unclear, but the framing of their interactions is romantic to the max.

And during this time they are not quite friends but just classmates. Suwada was so worried for a classmate who -as far as she knows- hates her that she went looking for her downtown at night. Her feelings seem to go beyond concern, and are kind of contradictory. She is frustrated, but she can't hate this girl who always blows her off and won't look her in the eye, and she doesn't know why she can't hate her. (Kurihara's feelings are similarly messy, as she finally lets Suwada comfort her despite still being conscious of them being "opposites".) That kind of 'irrationality' has a romantic charge in fiction (and often in real life).

Honestly I can totally see them as an adorable couple in the future, when Kurihara's situation is more stable and she has at least a few friends to lean on. With Suwada's backing she's bound to find some friends at school. Suwada being Kurihara's savior of sorts is not a reason for them to be together, but if they're still drawn to each other long after the storm has passed and they stand on equal grounds, I don't see a problem.

last edited at Jan 5, 2025 8:32PM

Maybe not. They could try ending it at Chapter 14, right before the training camp.

That would mean the anime would only adapt three volumes in one season. Most TV anime adapted from manga usually cover 4-5 volumes of the source material. So the adaptation 'could' end at chapter 14 but the pacing would be downright soporific considering the already leisurely pace of the manga.

I'm more than a little concerned about how [ending the anime on the reveal that the titular monster does not want to eat the protagonist] will be received by first timers

Why? o_O

Because without everything that follows up this twist in the manga it seems like an unsatisfying end to a story. Most anime adapted from a yuri manga suffer from the no-second-season-curse, and in this case the source story reaches it's central twist right where the first season of the anime is likely to end.

I actually wanted to know if this series has released a new chapter?

The series currently has a total of 6 chapters and 1 volume listed by its magazine Hero's. It has been on hiatus since March 2024.

See the announcement here: https://twitter.com/heros_1101/status/1766030097583325621

It's crazy that the anime adaptation will probably end on the reveal that the titular monster does not want to eat the protagonist. I'm more than a little concerned about how that will be received by first timers

last edited at Jan 1, 2025 4:09PM

Close enough, welcome back Warrior Nun (2020 streaming series)

Anon will keep scratching the door until Soyo lets her in

but this was a good chapter in terms of Erika. We see her being careful to try to have a good impact on everyone, including drunk Koto. This is despite snarking at people and questioning herself. The fact that she's not sure if she "has a right" to confess suggests to me that getting with Koto is in fact not her primary goal, despite it clearly being something she wants a lot.

I agree, this chapter was good in terms of Erika. It made me even more curious about Erika's intentions and the purpose of her character in the story. For me, this chapter highlighted that when Aya isn’t around, Erika is the one taking care of Koto, and vice versa. I have a feeling the story is going to get really intense. For some reason, I can’t shake the thought that Erika might leave the picture toward the end of the series, realizing her feelings for Koto won’t reach her.
Chapter 8 kind of hinted at this through Erika’s internal thoughts.
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/how_to_break_a_triangle_ch08#26

Also I don’t mean to sound rude by saying this, but after reading the discussion about Erika in this forum, I feel more confused than informed. The discussion about whether she is or isn’t manipulative or selfish etc are slightly distorting my perception of her. At this point, instead of speculating about what might happen, I’m more curious to see how the story unfolds with each update and being surprised along the way. :D

I totally forgot that Koto already asked Erika out on a whim when they were in high school... I'm not sure I'd count the fact that she declined back then as foreshadowing, as it seems she didn't want to just be a replacement for Aya. Though Erika does feel like the designated third wheel independently from that.

I don't think that's a rude think to say at all. I kind of feel like I need a drink after just skimming the latest "debate" because sweet Jesus that did not need to take up more than a hundred posts again. I only don't completely regret it because i found an actually interesting explanation of how the characters' names reference Tanabata lore buried in there.

The girl who wants to seduce the black knight is now getting propositioned by a shady businesswoman. I appreciate the variety.

Also Frost is somehow still being confused for a guy despite not wearing the exoskeleton? ...Actually she kind of looks like the titular handsome girl Kanda from Handsome Girl and Sheltered Girl. I guess the main difference is Kanda was not as tall and didn't have a perpetual scowl on her face.

last edited at Dec 27, 2024 2:47PM

Woah. This ship works too, huh. Love the bickering lol

It's always made sense to me. Subaru's role in the show felt a bit like Nina's second love interest, as if by the end she wished she could have captured Nina's interest the way Momoka did, though it might not have been intentional

I would be wary of a female "pick up artist" on the street most of the time, but I find this scenario very sweet. For one, this girl is cute and the fact that she checks on the other girl sitting on the bench is a humanizing element.

And two, street harassment is a public nuisance caused mostly by men. A woman looking for company on the street does not read as a threat on the same level, in fact she risks her own safety way more than a man doing the same would. It makes her odd, but her guts and the novelty of the situation make her interesting.

In general, I tend to find the "'if this was a man you'd hate it"/"it's not better just because it's gay" genre of criticism (both from outside and inside the yuri fandom!) tiresome. It implies that yuri and similar media pulls a trick on its audience by subverting heterosexuality, and thus unfairly 'gets away with' improprieties. For some reason it's accepted as a fact that straight people don't measure straight stories by queer standards (imagine someone commenting under hetslop that the depicted scenario isn't less gross just because it's straight), but yuri fans who like yuri for its own sake, and maybe even treat F/F as the default relationship type, are considered hypocritical or lacking in self awareness.

It's normal to react to yuri scenarios with "I would not like this if that was a guy" (happen to me all the time), but when the conclusion drawn from that is "therefore this is gross and bad too", to me it suggests a defensive posture, and one that consumers of straight media don't tend to assume with it. Why should yuri fans hold themselves to a standard of impartiality, of being unbiased? What do we really get in exchange for disavowing a female character just because she would be unappealing to us if she was a man?

What's the deal with censoring kisses nowadays? I don't get it, and it's getting on my nerves.

They are afraid that seeing same-sex kisses will encourage the audience to engage in such activities