When your dealer makes you sit and chill with him for a few minutes when you buy so people dont get suspicious...

I love this series, it’s funny, embraces the ridiculousness of this concept, the “drama” is always handled well and never feels like a sudden tonal shift, and it just does it’s own thing. Even from the start having the protagonist be out of a relationship and just being a openly (albeit tired) lesbian wanting a break from trying to find partnership is really relatable, and so her warming up to just living with someone who doesn’t suck and (at least from her perspective) doesn’t need to be looked at in a way where they have to end up together. It’s obvious our leads are good for each other, but the progression feels natural even with the fact that them meeting was so sudden and outlandish, and so what I could see as beating around the bush and just being filler chapters in other series, here I’m just glad to see more of it (which my favorite series, Otherside Picnic does wonderfully, perfect mix of an adorable main couple and engaging story, mostly cause the plot is so cool, but then when I forget all about the romance side it comes back swinging). Instead of focusing on the same tropes I see everywhere, it makes the characters and the writing the focus, so that even when it uses things that at a first glance seem so typical, you don’t care. Hell, first hint of jealousy was over a plant lol, subversion at its finest. Another trope, grandma comes over to put a stop to this, and instead of me thinking “oh get it over with we know they won’t have to split” I’m just loving the way they react even if I know the resolution. The former idols not being complete jerks about stuff and not being a way to add drama is a really nice refresher, so many stories take that and just over complicate things. It’s also nice to have some genuine commentary on how some people who enter the industry aren’t cut out for the culture while still not getting too serious about it, and tying that into the group being there for each other outside of the industry was really sweet. And to top it all off they threw in some hilarious reactions to the adorable little interaction between the two idiots, if I didn’t already love this series enough, this chapter cemented that.

Sorry for the essay I’m just loving this series and wanted to express why in words real bad. :)
Also, possible side couple appears!

While it isn’t communicated enough to have a definitive answer as to whether they might fall apart later, I feel based on the last panel at least that the author might’ve intended it to seem like Saya was trying to make some sort of effort given the opportunity. She blushes for the first time in the story and while she still says “I’m hungry” and probably would’ve done nothing had Kaya not happened to stop by then (which is why I prefaced this by saying things could stay the same), her saying something that seems as if she still wants to leech off of Kaya while pretty clearly showing that she is embarrassed that she has to show she cares seems like a shallow attempt to backtrack. After already having done something that gives Kaya ground to be pushy from now on, showing that her actions aren’t actually what she feels, then maybe their dynamic will improve. Maybe she’ll still be a pushover maybe she won’t. That’s why I wish the author did a bit more to show progress rather than cutting it where it’s left to be ambiguous if either of them even changed. Even still, the ending is sweet if you think about it in a positive way.

Winning

best couple

I was gonna say something but you already said it verbatim so I guess I’ll just say kudos

Nononon x yumimi is my favorite couple by a country mile and I literally triumphantly held my fists in the air when I got to the color pages, good god. Even though there was no kiss, I'm putting this one down as an Overwhelming Victory.

Couldn’t agree more

I haven't actually seen this show, but doesn't this ship sorta kinda count as incest, what with Akane being Rikka's creator and all? That'd explain why Taiyaki likes this ship so much, at least.

The show keeps it pretty ambiguous, but the two main theories are that:-

a) Rikka was someone Akane knew and had a crush on in the real world, but she couldn't bring herself to confess to her for fear of revealing her otaku tendencies, which is why she creates a world where she's perfect and popular. Rikka still exists as a character in this world and Akane still pines for her, but can't close the distance. Rikka's character arc is about how she comes to terms with her existence and learns to accept Akane, reassuring her that it's okay to go to the real world and openly express her interests, prompting Akane to leave the artificial, wish-fulfillment world behind; and-

b) Rikka is a part of Akane, representing the 'normal' persona she wore in order to hide her otaku tendencies. The stress of this performance was so great that Akane dissociated from herself, turning the two into separate people. Akane and Rikka's reconciliation in the show represents self-acceptance, as Akane realizes that she can let Rikka be her own person in the artificial world while she tries to live more genuinely in the real world.

All in all, the ship occupies a weird space between incest (at least if you consider a god dating her creation as such), selfcest, and just a standard-ass lesbian schoolgirl relationship, depending on what you choose to perceive Rikka as. Personally, I like to see her as a real person who Akane drew inspiration from to create Artificial!Rikka, because Akane's character arc is complicated enough without multiple-personality shennanigans, and also because the entire point of Rikka's arc is that she's a 'normie' who gradually comes to understand and appreciate the world of tokusatsu by engaging with the people within it. My headcanon is that after Akane goes back to the real world, she confesses her feelings to Rikka and then they begin a genuine, honest relationship as equals.

This post encapsulates my thoughts exactly, and I’m glad you addressed the other interpretations while still telling your own, cause when I first watched the show I was pretty confused as to what conclusion people had come to about their relationship (by that I mean no conclusion at all seeing as there’s still debates over this). I personally think option A fits best with Akane’s fear and desperation towards the end with how hard she tries to stop herself from having to face whatever lies in the real world and losing Rikka. Her last interactions with Rikka seem like encouraging Akane to act on what she’s learned from the Rikka she created. It feels personal enough to mean that Rikka is talking about her real self in specific rather than just general encouragement.

Y’know what would be awesome? A dating sim or a visual novel where you’re, like, a matchmaker or wingman.

The prophecy has been fulfilled

I feel like Hinako will learn to love Shiori and begin to want to live so they can be together. Of course the irony in finding what you want to live for and it turning out to be the one thing that prevents you from doing that is not lost on me. I both hate and love that at the same time, because on the one hand that’s really good writing but it also makes me sad because if the circumstances were different they could both be happy. Pain.

The spanish is kinda...off.
Still, a fantastic love story.

Me gusta

Looking through this whole comments section and rereading the story so far, I can gather that, for the moment, Liz’s actions are her own, but to a certain extent are directed by Sumire. Sumire knows her, her weaknesses, her vulnerability, and is willing to exploit it to get what she wants, whether there is real love behind it or not. And if it’s still to prove a point, she understands that if Liz said no to her advances, her point that relationships between girls won’t work is wrong. But at that point, when the choice is presented to her, it’s years of sadness and pain building up to one choice, and even people who have a strong sense of morality and rational decision making would have a hard time under the pressure, from Liz’s fans, Sumire, and society. It’s obvious Liz has a hard time moving on from the past, with even small physical memories like her ear and something as simple as a pair of earrings throwing her emotions into overdrive. With the different personalities she switches through in her career, it’s difficult to tell how much of how she acts is really her or what she’s made herself out to be. She’s had no real support to tell her what’s rational and irrational until now, and thus she takes this new relationship for granted. In the end, her cheating still ends up being wrong, but in this context, as long as she IS OPEN ABOUT EVERYTHING, she may be forgiven. For relationships to work, both people have to be willing to put in the effort, and if after this point she doesn’t realize that Maki deserves so much more than this fully, after seeing what a one sided relationship can do to someone firsthand being on the receiving end of a false love that cast her off as part of some experiment, then she doesn’t deserve redemption. I have a feeling based on her regret and sorrow on the last page she will try to do better, but I don’t know how long it will be before the truth comes out, especially because she still wasn’t being honest with Maki a chapter ago. Guilt either makes someone want to come clean, or, combined with the fear of losing everything they’ve worked for, makes someone want to lie and hope nothing ever comes of it. And there seems to be a lot of the latter going around.

Now listen, I know these two are absolutely amazing and all, but what about Hanna and her secretary Poppy, huh? I know it’s probably not as blatant as these two with their relationship but it seems like something’s there...wishful thinking? She’s always there when she needs something, which is her job, yeah, but in the art after the episodes she’s shown doing things just because she can and stays to help on late nights. Might be reading into this way more than needs be. I just want fanfics and art of em tbh.