I'M SO HAPPY FOR THEM. CONGRATULATIONS TO THE LOVELY COUPLE!

I'm happy for them too. But I'm also bitter and lonely and part of me says "fuck them, why do THEY get to be happy?" lol.....

heh...yeah

The story likewise spent zero time on Kaoru considering her sexual orientation, and (arguably) just slightly more in recalibrating her attitude toward Uta. (We got exponentially more explicit development of Uta’s wacky friends than we did about the nature of Kaoru’s feelings toward Uta,)
...
I suppose the big kiss is such a relief for the shippers assembled that we haven’t had any complaints that the longed-for yuri ending is only achieved by the MCs getting shitfaced drunk.

Yeah, so much for Kaoru's "growth" - she is essentially the same person at the end of the series as she was THIRTY EIGHT chapters / 7 volumes earlier. As for Uta getting drunk, well, who could blame her?

.... I hope we get some sort of epilogue after though. I want to see if neighbor gets her happy ending with the delivery girl as well.

I expect a H.E.A. for Ritsuka and Kozuka, given the way their relationship has developed, and the expressions on their faces, but an epilogue would be fine. Reuniting Setouchi and the delivery girl, however, is essential. If not the next chapter, maybe the next manga?

leaving yuri for yaoi
hmm that reminds me some authors

het, actually, but I think it would be interesting with this pair of creators.

Naru is an interesting character.

I hope they pursue it.

Blastaar wrote:

Or they simply are bad at storytelling and couldn't handle continuing the narrative over longer period.

I'm pretty much on record for this position. I agree that the beginning had a lot of potential, but even early on in the story the signs of dropped threads, poorly structured beats, and more questions than answers were pretty evident.

That "confession cliffhanger" business was a red flag if ever there were one.

I'm going to force myself to limit my "I told you so" posts to a few hundred a day.

I checked the comments solely to read your "I told you so."

last edited at Oct 19, 2020 7:27PM

It's a fiction, so the goal is that in the end we don't stay on status quo...
The purpose of the story centred on kaoru and uta is to see their development, all the more reason why they are separated by distance and can no longer help each other (especially kaoru).
For me kaoru is finally making a personality change and I hope that the author will demonstrate it later.
The manga will not end like uta and kaoru will stay away from each other and everything and finished....

I agree with all of your points, especially the point that Uta buffered Kaoru from emotional growth. Now that Kaoru no longer has Uta's direct emotional support, she will be unable to ignore her messy life and will be forced to confront her absent husband and her manipulative "friend." I think Uta needed to leave for Kaoru to recognize that Uta was not just a little sister but her defender and protector and her soulmate.

Anyone else disturbed by how many readers find Risako gaslighting Kaoru to be romantic?

Her friend was looking to her for reassurance, and she lied to her, waited until she was vulnerable, then implied she was paranoid and guilted her into apologizing.

I mean, it's obviously not romantic if she is actually having sex with Kaoru's husband. But we don't know that's why she was with him and why she lied. That scene was so deliberately odd, with Risako bringing up the issue, then getting bizarrely flirty, then looking surprised when Kaoru dropped it, it's hard to know what's going on until Risako gets her own chapter.

I am certain that Risako routinely flirts with both men and women to control them. Ayako's comment in response to Risako's claim that she has nothing to do with the attention of men is intended to signal that other (more observant) women in Kaoru's circle recognize this.

I think she overplayed her hand in this scene, however, and made Kaoru more suspicious. Maybe this was intentional.

Risako is characterized as the brightest of the adult characters, and has clearly demonstrated manipulative tendencies, so it is difficult to know what she was thinking when she first suggested that Kaoru have a baby, which resulted in the confrontation between Reiichi and Kaoru. Did she want to have Kaoru preoccupied with a baby so that she could continue an affair with Reiichi without strings attached, and misread how Reiichi would respond to the suggestion, and how Kaoru would respond to his reaction? Is she trying drive Reiichi and Kaoru apart, so that she can have Reiichi? She claims not to want a husband, but she also claimed not to be attracted to Reiichi, and then dated him. She is an inveterate liar. What does she want, exactly? One thing we know is that Risako always puts Risako first.

Her later behavior is just as confounding. She is supposed to be very smart, but elling someone that you aren't cheating with their husband, I swear, when they haven't even made the accusation is really the worst possible way to assuage a suspicious mind. If she is smart, what could she accomplish by telling Kaoru this? Does Risako intend to break up the marriage so she and Reiichi can be together?

She wasn't serious. Having feelings for someone and thinking that she could act on it, but when the reality comes she goes "lol I was just messing with you" is different.

You've got the order of events backwards. She had feelings for her, got scared and ran away, and then steeled her will and came back with a serious attempt. There is nothing in the text or subtext that suggests she was anything other than resolved and serious from Valentine's on.

I didn't understand Igarashi until this latest chapter but, based on "her side of the story," I agree with your characterization of the events and Igarashi's feelings. All along, Kovachi-senpai has been telling a story about two girls learning what it means to love someone who must do so IN SECRET, because of the unknown and feared "corrective" responses from friends and family of the social norm that two girls should not love each other. Igarashi's behavior is just another manifestation of the effect of fear of severe enforcement of social norms. I feel bad for Chidori for the pain she experienced, but also feel bad that Igarashi could not overcome her fear of social stigma before she hurt Chidori and herself.

Chidori can be delicate, but she has the strength to be true to herself despite social norms and had the courage to confess to Igarashi on the basis of Igarashi's sincere expressions of affection for her. Igarashi had not processed her own feelings or anticipated Chidori's response, and was not ready to reciprocate. While Igarashi's parroting of the usual social rule did not prevent Chidori from beginning a relationship with Nanoha, it made it harder for Chidori to fully express her love to Nanoha. I love how Kovachi-senpai used the tiptoe kiss from the curb to show how Nanoha freed Chidori from her doubts by coming to her rescue and stating plainly that she and Chidori were together.

One thing I really like about Hana Ni Arashi is that the characters are not wise beyond their years, but are just awkward kids trying to figure things out. Despite her cool exterior, Igarashi remains an awkward kid, trying to understand herself and the people around her. She hurt Chidori, but it wasn't her intention cause pain. She is not a villain, just an imperfect person who messed up and (thankfully) moved on so that Chidori could meet her perfect match.

and also I still curious about Nikaido's family, maybe somekind of yakuza or mafia

She could be the kind exception in a family of toughs, but then, why would she be overjoyed to be drawn "hard-boiled"?

I think they'll be superheroes (like The Incredibles) or aliens (the interplanetary kind) eh heh heh heh

not really, but maybe?

please don't let them be capitalist royalty, though

(not sayin' I didn't like it in Secret of the Princess and Notes from the Garden of Lilies, and Citrus, ad infinitum, but...)

last edited at Sep 4, 2019 3:17PM