Whoa! Surprise holiday gift here. Yay wholesome! :D

When I was little, I never liked Haruka and Michiru. I felt like they stole Ami and Makoto's thunder, taking the archetypes of my two favorite characters and cranking them up to 11. Makoto was the tough one, but Haruka was even tougher. Ami was the gentle one, but Michiru was even gentler (and was better at swimming too! Sounds really petty when I say it, but I was a teenager back then.) I was too young to really understand it all, but I kinda felt like they took Ami and Makoto's chance at a ship too. Long story short, in my heart Ami and Makoto are still the OTP.

I see it a lot that manga authors tend to romanticize jealousy and possessiveness. IRL though, you gotta let your partner have friends. Cutting someone off from social interaction and forcing them to rely on only a single person for all their emotional needs is a recipe for stress and a troubled relationship.

Glad they at least sidestepped it here.

I'm tempted to make a character in an MMO named Minami, get a friend to make a character named Yuzu, then start a guild together called "Useless Lesbians."

(And only people with character names like Tsukushi and Hinoka, Kei and Yokoe, or Nanaki and Kanade can join...)

And this year's "Putting It Gently," award goes to... Xiao-chen! Crowd noises

You never forget your first OTP.

Looks like she's starting to put two and two together, but she's not quite there yet. She doesn't seem to realize that she already can't just find someone else.

That's rough, but there's not much point in being immortal if you can't remember stuff. You'd get Ship of Theseus'd into a different person before you know it.

You're not allowed to take photos of people in public without their permission in Japan, I wonder if going through someone's personal information and publicizing it is also legally frowned upon.

"A little loopy from the fever" she's Gaying Out

She's got an acute case of Roommate-oid Authoritis.

Re: Chap 77

Giving vague answers and letting people interpret it the way they want is half-assed? More like delightfully diabolical. :D

I know it's a popular trope, but it turns out that communication and trust are really important to a relationship, and playing mind games like this is a great way to end a relationship. Negging is a scum bag move.

Re: Chapter 20

I'm a little frustrated at the writing here. Individually, each of the character's actions could be justified. But looking at them together, the writer has missed at least two big opportunities to develop the characters.

There has been three times now where three different characters stop talking to their friend and run away. Including characters that got upset when it happened to them. Makes it feel more like a plot device than a character trait. But even giving the author the benefit of the doubt, by the time Kiki runs off, the gesture has lost its dramatic effect.

Well, I'm still on board to see what happens, but this last chapter feels like it didn't stick the landing.

last edited at Feb 21, 2024 2:38PM

Welp, I'm out for now. I'll come back and see when there's an [END] tag on it.

Something tells me this got axed before its time. At least there's an ending, even if some rather big things get left unresolved, it's still way better than just never updating again.

I'm starting to think that "other people's expectations of you based on appearance," is a major theme in this manga.

It's an interesting take. I've got some mixed feelings, but I feel like the author is probably intending to address my concerns eventually.
I generally dislike the kinds of stories where one of the characters gets into an abusive relationship, and we're supposed to accept it because their partner has a sad backstory or something. But here, the mysterious past is front and center, and the author doesn't frame Xiao Yu's behavior as justified from the start. (Rather than being some kind of absolute authority, she gets chewed out by her superiors.) I'm glad the author highlights that Obsidian doesn't entirely dislike Xiao Yu's attention, since that makes the tsundere act easier to stomach.
Feels weird to say that a supernatural story like this feels more natural, but at least they haven't reached a point where I feel like "they should separate and never interact again rather than reconcile."

My only thought is this: "Damn, the goddess of love is really evil." I suppose they're probably a Greek Gods style goddess.

See, this is why I don't like love triangles, and usually avoid romances that prominently feature them. (that leaves me with about five remaining stories to choose from, I know, I know) Because even though Kukami was pretty unreasonable this whole time, I still end up feeling bad for her now. :(

I love how the donut scene makes sense when you only look at the panels presented, but when you think about how it must have gone down from their perspective... They're sitting right across from each other, like, how did she miss someone taking a bite out of the donut before asking for it? XD

Glad to see that people, including Shion herself, can understand that they're doing a bad. I came into this chapter worried that Shion and Kiki getting along like nothing had happened would mean the story was going to ignore what happened and leave the conflict unresolved. So in a narrative sense, at least, it's a good thing that Shion is keeping up the pressure.

Kase only has herself to blame for dropping the ball on the original perfect apartment. That in itself was so outrageous, but it's nice to see the author starting to hang the lampshade on that.

What are you talking about? In Chapter 20 all that Shiho wanted was for Aki to admit that she was a better singer/performer than Yori. And in Chapter 21 she grabs Aki by the collar after hearing her say that she "loves Yori's singing and that that opinion will never change".

Huh? Do we live in a world where it is okay to grab someone else by the collar and yell at them for expressing their opinion? No, that's not okay in any way. Shiho was emotionally and physically abusive to Aki, and never apologizes for it.

It's honestly kind of shocking that a story about same-sex romance will push the theme that someone else is allowed to judge you for falling in love with one person rather than another, and be correct in the end.

I'm not sure that her actions could be described as "fomenting hostility."

Go back and read Chapter 20 again, before the battle of the bands proposal was even made. Shiho approaches Aki and makes demands that Aki renounce her own band and friends. Chapter 21, again before the bet is made, Shiho is insulting Aki and her friends. Aki tries to be polite, and Shiho literally grabs her by the collar and yells in her face.

I realize that it happened, like, years ago at this point, but I can go back and pick a random chapter from the beginning of this arc and read pages where Shiho insults, gaslights, and belittles Aki; trying to make her feel regret and damage her friendships with others in the band.

This is hilarious, insofar as reversing responsibility and blaming the wrong person can be hilarious.

The more I think about it, it does seem that Shiho has something like an incel mindset. She had feelings for Aki. Aki was treating her normally, and Shiho felt that she was entitled to more. It seems that in the author's mind, Aki was in the wrong for not giving Shiho what she thought she deserved.