If China likes it that explains the censorship. Either way, Citrus is a masterpiece and I'm happy for Sabroota's success. Citrus+, has not been something the west has liked, but maybe that's down to China? Or not.

The author has not been able to write good characters mostly in this portion. I guess it's too bad she couldn't start a new story. I really wanted a spinoff for Harumin and Matsuri.

I wish she could be allowed to drop Citrus now and make a new work of her own design, in the vein of original Citrus.

Damn, this was the only good one currently going, doesn't look like we got another one.

I really was hungry for many chapters of this. Oh well, enjoy all your favorite fluff instead.

Yuri has really "bottomed" out since COVID. So many classics in the last decade, I guess everything has been done.

People might've said this was a gross title but it was the only series with true sexy angst. Now this site is full of asexual stuff and it's gotten really weird.

The forums are even full of complainy translators. That's not the way it's supposed to be, you catch more bees with honey.

Shrugs, yuri had its time and place. The classic era seems to have ended. Does make me wonder if there's a governmental reason.....

I miss horny Mei and intimacy. This became gay girls in name only at a certain point like it was censored by the Chinese Communist Party's Board of Ethics Association. Why did the author have to completely neuter this series to where it was devoid of everything that made the original great? Is it because of the new tax laws perhaps eventually revealing her identity and she's scared? I can only speculate.

Mei used to be alive and horny and brilliant and crying and real. And now she's just an archetype. Yuzu barely puts a hand on her. You're not going to tell me Mei would've asked for a celibacy vow until she got into the right college...isn't that complete and utter manipulation? She wouldn't accept Yuzu how she is at dumb school, perhaps beauty school?

These other plots points don't matter, they took my horny girls away with chap 36 and it was truly the death of this series. I've never seen another series do this. Is author-chan dead inside? Does she feel guilty for how Mei treated Yuzu? All the spice is gone. ;_;

Let my Mei party again! Where is the real Mei, the pre-36 Mei? Will the real Mei Aihara please stand up?

Best yuri manga going. Much praise. The master is back. Can't wait for next chapter. Time for jealous feelings, my fave!//

Annnd it looks like my favorite onging yuri manga will end. FML. Why do they do this? Like with Adachi to Shimamura....

The yuri reader's life is such pain. So many shounen chapters, no serious yuri mangas allowed in Japan before the editor wraps them up or like Citrus they go into playful Teen+ zombie mode.

Japan does sure hate the gay. But they're so good at the gay! Guess I'll have to learn how to read Japanese for light novels. /:

The only yuri mangas that are allowed to exist are baiters. Shoujo Ai and bait. The rest dies a painless death in a glass coffin like Sleeping Beauty. No touchy.

Not like Korean or Thai stuff that has real mature stories. Just once I want a crazy sexual yuri manga to have an actual completed story from Japane.

OK Bloom Into You but that ended quickly and it was too formal.

At least we had Age 15, that was crazy as sh#$.

last edited at Sep 9, 2022 12:53AM

If this chapter had any kind of physical relationship, it would be less of a deal that the character interactions are limited to whispers and smiles. WHY did the author/editor decide to turn this series into nicey-nice for Citrus Plus? That was the OPPOSITE of what hardcore fans wanted.

Meanwhile, Mei looks like she's going downtown and Yuzu looks like she's going to a baseball game, and neither of them is interested in the other.

I know that the author thinks they're funny and totally got her claws wrapped around us by showing all the curves and bodies and giving us none of the payoff, but she must realize this is just drying up the story.

And if you wanted credit for three lines from Mei, well, sorry. Mei has no personality and Yuzu is never horny ever. C+ has been the opposite of what made Citrus a classic. Recognizable by the fact that this chapter didn't make it to the website most-read (far as I could tell) even though it's a big name.

It's so pathetic. MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN, WRITE A PLOT.

Shame about the ending. I really liked this one. It needed way more chapters. I don't honestly understand how it's already over.

Typical yuri, always with the bait.

Yeah, if I were to write a fanfiction at this point, it would be about how Yuzu and Mei break up, that's pretty much where the story is. Mei doesn't really seem comfortable with any of this, like she's sure she made a mistake and isn't comfortable with having ruined her arranged marriage. To her, being a lesbian was just a fashionable fad that broke off from her taunting of Yuzu. Mei isn't gay, y'all, but Yuzu is.

I can see Mei finally getting the bravery to confront Yuzu and explain that she's actually straight and not into this but she's sorry about leaving their relationship so suddenly and then letting her down easy.

That's honestly the canonical headspace of this manga right now. I'd like to see Harumin admit she's a lesbian though. And then the confusion that Yuzu being single and out-gay causes for Matsuri. That would be spicy.

Then we could get a love triangle and Mei's straight adventures as a typical Japanese arranged housewife while Yuzu goes through the new gay lifestyle and gets torn between Matsuri and Harumin (who both have heavy sexual/emotional yearning for Yuzu).

I think that would be a lot healthier than what transpired at the end of OG Citrus and make new Citrus a lot more exciting. Mei was always the author's 'crush from afar'. The way the author is writing her makes me think she's guilty having projected her as gay. So make her straight, break them up at last, and let's get a love triangle going.

Harumin is by far the most interesting character left, but her and Matsuri and Yuzu could make a really nice gay burrito. Mei's not into any of this, it turns out.

Maybe Yuzu's mom could get a date as well?

Without interviews I don't know what the author is thinking, but Mei's regression isn't natural at all.

Reminds a lot of WDTFS? But WDTFS? is great so a kind of different take is just as good.

Hope there's more! Senpai needs courage!

Kitty... cake. Kitty... cake. Kitty... cake.

How do these things fit together? Hmmm I wonder.

The author doesn't have any stories to tell, it's a shame she does everything else well like romantic mystery. But it's clear they're unwilling to actually let this story ever go anywhere ever again. I dropped months ago.

It's clear the author is teasing us about HaruminxMatsuri. Matsuri is too immature for her but Harumin had a ridiculous crush on Yuzu and she's watching these noobs (YuzuxMei) pretend to be married.

"I have a lot to learn, I guess." This is reference to the fact that she can't let go of Yuzu even though she's an idiot and has a kouhai begging her to use that body every hour of the day. And Harumin is tempted a lot...but she keeps telling Matsuri she's too much of a mess to give a chance.

Whenever Harumin moves on, probably to her arranged marriage, it's going to hit Matsuri hard. She'll have JUST not aged up at the right time for Harumin to give her the kitty cake. It's a shame.

I would be interested in seeing Mei become a person...but I think the author is stuck in this Japanese introversion thing, kind of like Komi Can't Communicate, which is a hilarious manga with actual growth unlike Citrus. Kind of makes you feel like social anxiety is unfixable, which is a sad state of affairs to write into your story.

I appreciate the tantalizing romance between the other pair in the series though, it has as much or more potential than the other. If Mat/Haru get together can we see actual development between the main characters again? It's almost like Haru/Matsu is happening in its own dimension while the flow of time in Yuzu's relationship has slowed to a crawl.

I mean...Harumin is letting Matsuri into her house again after she kissed her. There's probably an understated connection at this point. If you weren't into a possible romantic interest who stole a kiss from you, y'all probably wouldn't let them into your house. Just saying.

But it seems more and more like Harumin has given up on her current situation and is waiting for a way out, which is depressing. She'll be married to a guy in not too many years. But I think she'll regret it a lot (if Matsuri ever becomes more than a troll).

Classic. Nothing else on-going with this same feeling. Darn COVIDs.

A couple epilogues and every time it hurts. I should almost reread.

So it was basically medieval yuri-classic with angry crying angsty faces. For me, a lot of that is my catnip. Angry depression is a common mode for some people so this author was my spirit animal.

I agree though that there's so much crystal castle "we can be yuri but only in dreams" going on with Japanese manga. A bunch of crying, pure girls only admit to their gay feelings at the last minute of the story after which there is no more story because...well, that 'because' has a LOT of implications. A lot of them are societal attitudes. It just seems like so many authors or editors feel it's taboo to portray an actual gay relationship as normal. It does feel a bit gross.

I'm getting serious vibes from that series that ended recently where she's in love with her brother's wife and they only show their gay accepted life in an apartment doorway. Like come the fuck on.

Overall this series was okay but feels like it never launched beyond the common norms of the medium. Japan loves its crystal castles in the sky, a sweet girl dreaming in summer with her book open on her lap, her lace dress falling askew in the green grass, her pale hand on her forehead, dreaming of a reality that cannot be, and then her husband wakes her on horseback and she has three children already. It just gets a bit tiresome.

But this is the most we can expect out of Japanese yuri manga, outside of the more mature series like Bloom Into You or How do we relationship?

Plus, I get the shivers from current Citrus that is basically completely locked into cyrstal castle mode right now with Yuzu constantly deflecting long term structural issues with Mei because she's hApPy. And Mei in sleep-walking mode, locked in the tower of her mind, always wondering: "What are these lesbians they keep whispering about? I need to think about college and grandfather."

So yeah, this was as rudimentary as classic school-girl yuri gets. It gave us the chills and thrills, but nothing original except the visceralness of emotions. So I can feel your disappointment somewhat. I wanted this series to really go in a direction I wasn't used to. I'm a bit sad it didn't actually take off. I feel like it set the runway for that and then did a roundabout in a cul-de-sac. Oh well, bit of a waste, and then the classic epilogue that shows us all the kinds of things the series should've focused on long before.

The epilogue of stories like this are always an apology: sorry, we can't admit that gayness is normal. Deal with it. Here's what would've happened in an adult story. But we don't care about that, because you wet yourselves for these high school stories where feelings are precious and girls are made of glass. Don't smash the figurine!

last edited at Aug 22, 2021 5:03PM

I keep thinking of this, where's more? Was it cancelled? I need more of this right now!

I want more but I don't deserve it.

Ucchi-Moko fans so desperate. I'm so desperate and thirsty.

I think Mei and Yuzu just need to fuck it all out and they won't have anymore relationship drama. Don't you agree? Nod your head, YOU AGREE!

You guys ruined it, but: Mei is such a normie. She just gets the basics wrong and doesn't pay enough attention to her lover. In which case, why have a lover? If you're not emphatically into your lover above all else...but then she's had this work load since she was placed in her grandfather's shell.

This manga is actually about seniors raising kids and what that looks like. Looks bad, but I think in this case Mei is the casualty of conservative traditional old-school thinking. And in ways that's a comment on Japanese society since it's politically run through the above-50 set. They have all the power and basically are Japan, it's why they only got rid of bureaucratic seals recently during COVID.

Sly Saburouta politics? Mei's also in the ultra-wealthy class as well so she's a comment on the top .1% as well. It's funny how it's a poor vs rich relationship. And it's funny how they're quibbling about birthdays when all we wanted was some more of that summer H E A T S T E A M from before chap 36.

My advice is to not keep your pants on or wait and prove your love once and for all.

I read people complaining and I honestly don't know why they're complaining. People up in here with some semi-charmed kind of lives talking about how Kurokawa is unrelatable right now. I'm super jealous, no really.

No. LI-TER-ALL-Y. I'm jealous of you guys, must be nice being the one on the pedestal, looking down on all the commoners from your royal throne. Would you like some tea, mademoiselle? Want to use my hand as your tissue? Go ahead, us commoners can just clean it up later. ;)

Nah but really, some of us have had cursed lives. Kurokawa is completely relatable for me right now. I know it's kind of coming out of nowhere but you knew where this was leading. She's been bullied for having 'intellectual interests' this entire time. Even in childhood she was demeaned as worthless for being a nerdy glasses girl, or ugly--the author threw that in specifically and it's what started out this story. Did y'all forget?

You're surprised because the author saved it as a 'whammy' until this part specifically. This is honestly what the story was written for, you could say this is why this manga was produced, because of this idea; it's the crux of the story. A popular girl falls for a nerd who she berates earlier, and is clapped back with the emotional trauma of what deeds she, and others like her, have committed. These chapters are about mental subjugation and what societally excused social torture does to people. They are very important subjects and were always meant to be here.

I can imagined you're shocked by it, and that's the point. That's why we're here, you're the audience the author was considering. And in Japan it's awful, people have gone to considerable lengths to point out that bullying is a massive problem there.

But it's also a fairytale. Except it's inverted, rather than Cinderella falling for her prince, Cinderella is mortified by the prince's pursuit of her. Honestly this is the more realistic version of events. Cinderella was bullied by her three step-sisters and step-mother all her life. This is kind of like a postmodernist excision of a blunder-y fairy tale where life is lived happily ever after. All the dreams of childhood are replaced by the blunt psychological reality: this character was mentally damaged and you'll have to go to great lengths to repair her. In a way this is the final bridge Nanaki has to traverse. She has to pay the toll of her sins and the sins others have committed against this girl. Love is such a heavy item that it should be paid totally. That's the way it should always go: it's about feeling secure with the person you're with, being willing to loose one's cobwebs and come completely to their side without a thought of guilt in the world.

Nanaki may be shocked right now but either her or somebody will have to right the wrongs. That's the way I see it. And she's done so much to right those wrongs, however we're at the final point where the wrongs were so heavy they've left permanent damage. Somebody will have to do surgery at this point. The sins have been so internalized on Kurokawa's side that it's going to be difficult. Believe!

And I don't care who shows Kurokawa the logic of letting go, but hopefully someone else can at least jumpstart the healing/grieving process to let this girl get back to what she lost when she kept getting put into the 'useless/ugly' column.

last edited at May 21, 2021 5:21PM

So sad to think of what this manga could've been. The opening chapters had the making of an utter classic, and then it just utterly derailed. I could feel the bitter, painful unenjoyableness in finishing this series. These last pages felt soulless.

We all know they were supposed to have feelings for each other, but that wasn't explored at all. The story unnaturally twisted itself into pretzels to avoid the obvious truth. It was truly weird, like the really old stories of the before-LGBT times that know they're stories about sexuality but try to normalize it in a heteronormative world. It was so cloistered.

This felt like a couple steps back. I'm saddened because I knew this chapter was coming--where they meet in Tokyo again, but even still they can't express how important they are to each other. Like something beautiful snuffed out in the womb.

This awkward fish-salamander talk is excruciating, I want to cry at how closeted this series got.

Real talk though, this has been broken since before the midpoint, and I suspect the editor didn't like the yuri under/overtones so that's when the depression arc started. Ever since the manga weirdly split off from their fun on the island, it's been incredibly weird. This is blessedly going to end now. The depression arc threw me for such a huge loop. It still doesn't make any sense to me and one would likely have to go back to read and reread it to get it.

These were such good characters but I don't understand what the central conflict of this entire story was? One girl was lonely? While the other stopped talking to her all of a sudden because?

It's cool that people want to read in this ambiguous masterclass in undertone drama, guess I missed it. I don't really care for most of the replies on here, I just had to vent about how poorly this turned out after starting out so amazing. I hate that they pulled out the yuri roots and left nothing but two girls who kind of know/talk to each other sometimes when they're not busy.

But then Japan isn't very far along the LGBT stuff and they're probably worried about this selling in China. This manga got popular after all. So it was a story about loneliness and depression, so it's cool to write that story, but I feel sort of teased. I don't like being sold something that wasn't there.

I'm sure it'll make money for the editor's company and will only have the slightest of microscopic yuri undertones y'all can read into it. But it'll make that money I guess.

It's a crying shame to think of how this story got ripped to shreds though. I've spoken my truth for now. Hope last chapter somehow is not just, "Hey, let's get a coffee," and then they go their separate ways, which is basically how this was destined to end after the first quarter of the story.

So the original author drew a new ending? Huh....well then continue it. We want our happiness.

So Mei is either a stoic or a mean lady. Guess we'll never know. I still want Yuzu to express herself and her lamentations against Mei. I still want Mei to state in plain terms what she wants. But whatever.

Mei is either uncommunicable, dumb, or a witch. LOL. Yuzu is a doormat, lazy or a fraud. I guess I look for that one honest moment where they connect and truly understand each other, that's what drives me crazy, the deception going back to that summer where Yuzu was kissing Mei in the halls during summer school and they were full-on in love.

I just wish their souls would find each other and understand each other, that's what I want. If for no other reason than my man brain wants logical, common sense.

This constant 'missing each other's meaning' drives me completely nuts.

last edited at Dec 28, 2020 3:14PM

Citrus Plus will be about how they can restart intimacy from a 60-floor luxury condo apartment building fire (metaphor for her burning down their relationship and lying to her and running away).

To your “one-dimensional Yuzu” point (not that I hold it against her—at least one of the MCs is consistently written), is there any indication that Yuzu holds even the slightest resentment (or any other kind of negative feeling) against Mei for that sudden breakup (let alone for Mei not saying anything about the eventual arranged marriage while they were together)?

Yuzu just seems relieved and happy to have Mei back after her successful rescue mission. (I’m starting to see Yuzu’s role as basically the same as the protagonist in hero-dog stories.) So if in fact Mei’s current character is a function of her guilt about hurting Yuzu, it’s yet another example of her carrying everything inside without communicating with her supposed life-partner.

Yeah, that blows a pretty big hole in the story. I think Mei and Yuzu are supposed to be awkwardly dancing around the subjects that matter at this point. Why don't they communicate their thoughts and feelings and why isn't that shown? The "I love you" conversation was a mere glance at their relationship resuming. Clearly you would eventually have to answer for the loss of security, trust and intimacy in your resumed relationship. Otherwise why try to restart something you 'esplodid'.

Clearly Mei is the silent, introverted kind of Japanese person but this level of miscommunication is pretty severe. Maybe I'm reading too deep into it.

At least we know we'll get what, fireworks and lovey dovey soon? So that seems to be the point where we'll finally get Mei to say...something? She really is the crypt-keeper. She keeps all her secrets hidden deep down below.

If they are going to resume physical intimacy, I feel like Yuzu would have to be vouchesafed in a pretty serious manner as to whether Mei is endgame on all of this. I feel like Mei needs to prove she's into this. Otherwise she doesn't deserve Yuzu at all. Yuzu is far too kind and stupid to keep getting used. I think what I want to see is a couple's fight. They need to have out on everything. Mei needs to turn it around dramatically or she's just a spectator. No more secrets and closed doors.

What have we settled? Mei won't date her grandfather symbolically anymore, he's now just an old dude. Mei actually cares for Yuzu. Mei has moved back in...but the whole thing is severely tense and Mei knows it. Yuzu was crying FOR-E-VER. Her mom watched her daughter go through depression FOR-E-VER. So Mei casually walks back in? Stand up for yourself, Yuzu! I get that you love her but don't just let her walk all over you. She left you for dead in the middle of the night. Mei must answer for her sins, a relationship that glances at the graveyard of their troubles and keeps walking past mindlessly is destined for trouble and breakup.

Mei has to atone with more than 'I love you'. Mei has to change more than simply being a wealthy Japanese introvert who now WON'T have a symbolic het baby-making relationship with her arranged partner. Mei has to prove her individuality more than she has. Maybe that comes with time, and maybe that's what Citrus Plus is all about, but who IS Mei?

That's what we haven't ever determined. Who IS this person? Goddamnit Saburu, that's all we ever wanted.

last edited at Dec 23, 2020 5:09PM

Knowing Sabu, she'll pretend to let Haru and Matsu get together and then end the manga. Obviously I WANT this to happen very badly (between Haru and Matsu) but knowing Sabu is the ultimate troll, I can't believe I will ever be so fortunate.

I'm shocked right now that the author is letting this happen even as a joke. I thought her original story was holy ground?

Why do I find HaruMatsu so interesting?

Tall vs short aspect.
Harumin is obviously hiding things/Matsu is obviously hiding things
Purple vs pink
Luscious vs Akihabara gamer girl
Genius vs a bit of a dimwit
Mature vs immature

They're opposites in every way. And like they say, opposites attract.

I know Sabu was playfully putting them together but I thought it was a joke. This manga would really restart if it wasn't a joke though. Like fire.

On the other hand I agree that Mei has been written into a corner, but we all know why her character conceit is the way it is. Mei broke up with Yuzu so Mei is afraid of restarting intimacy. Wouldn't you in all likelihood feel terrible if you ripped the heart out of the person you love and made them save you AGAIN? Where is Mei's agency? That's the big question, plus Sabu is leaving her on the backburner. Citrus Plus will be about how they can restart intimacy from a 60-floor luxury condo apartment building fire (metaphor for her burning down their relationship and lying to her and running away).

If I'm Sabu I've looked for interesting things to write about. As far as Mei being a ninny, yes she is, it's her conceit and it will build her character, I believe. Or at least that's what I would look for.

Harumin and Matsuri will redeem each other and Yuzu/Mei will have to redeem each other. The big reveal is what Yuzu has to do with all of this? How will she grow? That will be the hardest part to write.

Yuzu has been such a one-dimensional character as the literal representation of the author--much like Sailor Moon represented her author. I wonder if there's a way to make her grow in these arcs? She can't be happy-go-lucky medicine girl forever, eventually she has to change. What is the conceited side of Yuzu? Where is dark Yuzu? I'd like to see a role reversal, happy sun Mei and dark devil Yuzu--that would be worth paying tickets for.

Anyways, this chapter was absolute fire. Can't wait for the next and I'm so glad they continued the series if only for this chapter.

This manga is so goofy, I never know what to expect. At least the two main leads can hang out like normal 'friends' now without being bashful about their needs.

Chesty. C'mon Matsuri, go get 'em!