presumably Rena is prioritizing her move to become independent while trying to at least still have sex anyway, but what's bothering me about it is that the whole scene here is quite dubious and the whole thing with not being able to be fully honest makes their whole relationship and the sex in particular even more dubious and yet it's still not really explored or fully acknowledged. It feels like there's this sudden shift of focus to sleep issues right where a lot of other feelings have been bubbling up for a while, in a way that feels like an attempt to stretch things out and escalate further than they otherwise would. And then Rena forces herself on Yuna, and it's not really presented in the best way almost as if it wasn't that far from their usual time, and it just kind of ends up with this implication that Rena is getting impatient instead and wants to be independent already, but is suddenly not getting as much from Yuna as she used to. It feels like a situation that could've been resolved earlier without having to be escalated so far, and the inclusion of sleeping problems feels a bit too, for lack of a better word, out of convenience, like a really easy way to trigger more feelings. It's not really unique to Morinaga, most drama is escalated further than it has to be and tends to be one of the only things some authors rely on to introduce change, but still even if it's realistic it doesn't mean it's the best way to follow things up. It's not really clear what tone this manga is supposed to have anymore and how much Rena's forcefulness is going to be relevant in future chapters, but it could potentially get really ugly

Honestly, this is such a huge letdown. "Just keep putting up with things" is the absolutely worst thing you could tell people.

Lots of people have repeated this sentiment but I really don’t think that this story has a message, at least I did not interpret it that way. This story, overall, is intended to depict failure — it’s a story about failure. There’s no moral communicated, it’s just two people who made decisions that seemed reasonable at the time but turned out to have bad consequences. But that’s fine, since it’s made quite clear by the story that they had no way of knowing.

Another way of putting it, it’s art without hope. I will acknowledge that this genre is controversial in and of itself, but personally I think that it can be very enjoyable and empowering to read in its own way.

The sense of betrayal is justified. I do think it’s funny though.

Well the author might not have intended to leave a message, but there's nothing in the story that challenges the "you can't just do what you love" line and the ending is still supposed to be positive, since after their return to Tokyo all the problems just stop being problems for no reason whatsoever, like the agony is mysteriously gone and all that's left is a decision to keep grinding and passively accept the current state of things. They're portrayed as being happier at the end of the story and no longer struggling, just regularly getting tired at most. This story focuses on interpersonal drama, while ignoring larger factors as if the hardship they had to go through in an attempt to survive was just a fact of life that magically happened itself into existence for no reason and couldn't be challenged. And besides, the real issue is unrelated to their character flaws or any decision they made, since they were forced to respond to an environment they did not create and then implicitly blamed for consequences that were to some degree imposed on them by the economical and political reality of the world they live in, so it's quite shitty that the author just destroys their life and then we're supposed to think that it was their fault or mistake somehow when they did no wrong and were never given a proper chance to build their life how they wanted it to be. "Do something else 90% of the time so that you can maybe spend the rest on what you love" is absolutely a statement that is made and followed by the two of them, which then leads to the aforementioned positive outcome where the anxiety and stress is basically over and the two are somehow no longer affected by the same issues that prompted them to leave Tokyo. Even the "it's a story about failure" point is invalid, because Magia Record is also a story about failure and it absolutely does have a solid message in it. So I don't know how this can be called anything but a politically and morally compromised failure to write a story worth engaging with. I know the author has experiences and reasons and so on, but there are better things to do with writing than bringing people down with you and drowning them in the exact same thing they likely already had to suffer since forever

Honestly, this is such a huge letdown. "Just keep putting up with things" is the absolutely worst thing you could tell people. Especially since we all keep getting forced to put up with so many things already, and yet all we ever get is Joker types like this asshole mangaka casually passing on the abuse to the next generation , making sure that all they ever know is fucking suffering through life like a mindless drone. I don't care about them still being together anymore, I disagree with this whole story so much it's hard to describe. I did not put trust in this only to be slapped in the face

Dont like this new girl just seems annoying.

she plays an important role in the overall process of getting Kasumi to think about her relationship with Sakurako, but yeah I get it. She doesn't appear that often though, as far as I remember anyway

Tsukushi's mind is stuck in a pretty bad loop, Hinoka might have to do something intense to break through all that fear lol. I wonder if the wingwomen tell her about it or keep quiet

pretty nice chapter, although I can't help but hate how that dictator pos gets away with everything just because she's a mother

Everything seems to be hitting the fan I wonder if this series is almost over. Huge shame if it is love the art and I've very much enjoyed the story.

This entire thing is odd because the reason the monsters attacked her at the start of the series was because she smelled so good and they wanted to eat her. Or was that all a lie that our cute fishwomen told us. Because if their blood is mixed and disgusting why would all of those things attack Hinako really then?

There are six more untranslated chapters, honestly don't think this is ending yet, but either way the monsters couldn't smell the blood, because it's only a bit that she gave her a long time ago, so unless Hinako gets hurt it's really hard, or even near impossible to actually smell that bit of mermaid blood in her

What the heck is going on? Has that whole discussion in the train completely been forgotten or what?

Kasumi needs some time to think about it, her answer will eventually come, don't worry. Right now the manga is focusing on giving her the perspective she needs to figure things out, using all sorts of characters and situations, while still leaving some space for the SoL stuff. She doesn't seem to understand romance that much, despite clearly having plenty of feelings of her own, so no wonder she hasn't responded yet given that she never had to think about it before and also doesn't have quite the same brain wiring as most people do

Why isn't that the dream she mistook for reality and got hung up on?

I was about to say, any other manga would get away with this as a silly bonus, but in this one it undermines the premise a little :P

it doesn't, because happy dreams like that are totally just horny self-serving fantasies, while anything painful obviously has to be 1000% true, precisely because it hurts so much it can't not be true, or so the logic goes

this is depressing and dark in a lot of moments, but at the same time that one panel with Shiki feeding Koto is just so cute

If all Mariya wants is Koto to be happy, then she needs to take a better look at her. Because Koto doesn't look happy at all.

Even so, it says quite a lot about Mariya and Koto's relationship if even just Mariya's presence is a trigger for Koto.

I have a strong feeling that Mariya is in fact a bit yandere for Koto, but I also believe she truly wants Koto to be better and live better. However, she might unknowingly be gaslighting Koto and herself with that belief for her own possibly subconscious selfishness, which is why such a low key toxic relationship developed in the first place. Either way, I'm excited to see how this develops.

This sums up how I've felt about this pretty accurately. Their relationship is clearly toxic, but not destructively so as of yet. I feel like it's gonna come to a head at some point and the others will have to get involved.

Shiki v Mariya gonna be a brawl though.

If I were to add something, I guess it looks like they're both stuck in their bad relationship, because Mariya just doesn't look like someone that can be reasoned with, so the only way forward/trigger for change might be Koto's eventual breakdown. I just hope she gets together with Shiki

I swear you make a slightly negative comment (and I say slightly negative but I don't even think it is negative to complain about how short the chapter is) on this page and there goes some random person with their "oh why you spread hate, I get mad, mangakas are human beings too unf unf (ಠ⁠益⁠ಠ⁠)"

there's a whole flood of comments ignoring the content of the chapter just because the page count was short, going so far as to completely devalue the work and treat it like a pointless filler. If you act like nothing has value unless it's exactly what you wanted I'm gonna get mad

the mangaka is a real person with her own circumstances and other stuff to do(like the other serialisation) so can you please stop complaining about the page count like some kind of an addict

Whaddya mean "like" some kind of an addict?

nothing in particular, I got mad because I expected comments about the chapter, but got page count complaints instead

the mangaka is a real person with her own circumstances and other stuff to do(like the other serialisation) so can you please stop complaining about the page count like some kind of an addict

I hate casual coercion like that, you can't just say something once and expect people to respect that

Then again how is this seemingly one-sided attraction by Shou any different from not-very-serious and without much substance? Sadly, in my opinion, but I know many here balk at even a slight sign of het so I will leave it at that.

If it's yuri, then in the context of society and the way lesbianhood is and was historically viewed/treated the connotation is that of something fleeting and fundamentally not as valid or serious as a straight relationship. In het though, the thing is that since any two people of opposite sex will be paired up together by default just by the virtue of being of the opposite sex, the purpose here is more to show that it is not meant to be or at least fairly unlikely. Shou's just "being a boy" here by crushing on an adult woman, so the attraction itself isn't less serious or valid or temporary, it's just that she doesn't reciprocate.

I don’t think the laws of physics will solve the mystery here:

• We are intentionally being prevented from seeing what’s happening (obvious, I know, but just stating the premises).

• There’s no guarantee that the panel shows the precise Crucial Moment of this particular encounter—either or both characters could adjust positions by the next time we see them, so touching noses, solo or mutual kiss, forehead thermometer, and more are all still on the table.

• There’s nothing this series can’t walk back. We know this. It sometimes hurts our hearts to know this. But we all know it’s true.

There's a limit to how many times a series can avoid development like this before it becomes detrimental. It does spoil the fun and over time the jokes will lose their ability to make up for it. The current status quo can't last forever, so I think they have to start dating at some point. We might be in the middle of the transition, or it might happen some time later. I think it's probably already going on. We know the author tricks people like this and the author knows that we know, so if we're talking about playing with expectations, waiting for a miraculous phone call or whatever is just asking for it. Going for it is an inevitable twist when the audience is so well trained to assume nothing will ever happen

What if Koguma had a dream about kissing Hino and then woke up from being kissed by her

I somehow managed to read the raws online, but it's good to see a new chapter on here. I guess some people enjoy validating their dissatisfaction so much they'd rather die than find anything good in this whole manga. Admit it, you want to be unhappy, you want to be angry about not getting what you want. It's much more comfortable than facing the fact that YOU refused to accept the good things for no reason. But don't you worry, there's far more to translate than you realize and I'm talking about actual story progression too. You'll probably still refuse to be happy and find some reason to keep yelling and barking. Stopping at this point would trigger some unwanted self-reflection after all

I'm glad that all tension is gone now and it became very clear the kid is just an awkward trans girl. I hope the misunderstanding clears up in the next chapter. A nice surprise, although it could be done better. I guess this also confirms her ex-girlfriend is straight, which would be a problem if she were to continue dating her. Still, the way it went from baiting people into thinking some creepy guy is stalking her to revealing that the kid is actually a trans girl, awkwardly trying to ask a stranger for advice because of a misunderstanding, can come off as bigoted even though it really isn't. I can see how the "actually girl = no danger" thing may not be the first that comes to mind when reading this. I'd love it if she kept appearing from time to time after this whole arc ends

last edited at Jul 30, 2021 9:59AM

hold up; possible explanation, kid is transbian.

I guess there are two possible ways of interpreting what the unspoken half of "It's not a matter of whether I see you as a woman or not" actually is. I personally think what the kid wanted to say is:" It's because you see me as a man" but couldn't, so all we have is a half of a sentence. At least a trans kid is personally something preferable to me over the other option

Perfect. Just what I needed

Miyako should just date Hana's mom instead

An accidental boob grab that got resolved peacefully is just what I needed. Also, Hino's dedication is cool and all but who will eat all of that bread, hm ?

This is gold.
Also, this is definitely going for the poly rout

Not gonna lie, I'm kinda starving for more manga like this. Both poly and sex work deserve a lot of good material that it still lacks in comparison with other kinds of yuri. I love how wholesome and positive it is and I hope it stays like that.

last edited at Jul 22, 2020 5:24AM