Forum › Posts by asteriskybusiness

asteriskybusiness
Furude
joined Jan 8, 2023

With regards to Volume 4, despite the yuri theme this is fundamentally a gag manga, and you're lucky if those stay on the rails even half the time.

Compare with something like Stop! Hibari-Kun! which had a really great core premise and cast and instead spent most of its time goofing off and making jokes about commercials that happened to be on television at the time (with a heavy helping of racist caricature on the side).

I like the temporary genre break, it was a great opportunity to celebrate the characters and the fun of the series before going back to the usual shenanigans.

asteriskybusiness
Furude
joined Jan 8, 2023

So many precious faces from Kaede this issue! Also holy shit.

asteriskybusiness
Furude
joined Jan 8, 2023

For the people who are looking for an explanation of what happens in Vol 4, the basic plot is Yomotsuka recruits Itsumi to help bring an absentee yakuza princess back to class, shenanigans ensue.

As opposed to the rest of the series, which has been largely one shots beginning with Itsumi trying to drug someone and getting her comeuppance, the entirety of Vol 4 is one complete story and Itsumi doesn't get to use her delicious dogbane tea until the very end. The "problem" is that it's not a problem centered around girls kissing girls, it's more of one big action set piece

It's kind of like the "movie" part of "seven seasons and a movie," it serves as a kind of greatest hits by bringing back a bunch of recurring characters from earlier in the series working together towards a shared goal. The fun is less about getting more of what you usually get and more about celebrating your favourite characters. It's a good once-off kind of thing, the previews for Vol. 5 make it look like things are going straight back to the way they've been.

asteriskybusiness
Furude
joined Jan 8, 2023

This is my favourite series, I'm so glad the translation is continuing. Ruruka is such a great foil for Itsumi, they're both terrible but Itsumi generally just wants to have friends and get into shenanigans while Ruruka is actually an out-and-out creep.

The next chapter is my absolute favourite, looking forward to seeing Hanei Rin again

asteriskybusiness
Furude
joined Jan 8, 2023

God this is such a brilliant twist, throwing a third character in there really highlights just how dangerous the game these two are playing is. That she's just in there waiting as well is such a betrayal, it goes to show just how screwed Yui was the second she didn't bat Katsuragi's hand away on the train. She's just going to keep digging herself deeper and deeper and I for one can't wait to watch.

Furude
joined Jan 8, 2023

I've gotta ask, what's the LN/web novel like past this point? Is there much more drama, do either Aya or Marika ever have sex with some one else, or is it mostly just smut of the two of them?

I don't mind a full spoiler reply I need to know if I am going to hate reading this or not.

Alright spoilers incoming. I'll use spoiler brackets for actual events but themes are just going to be out in the open.
Keep in mind that the manga is a somewhat streamlined story, the events are pretty much just the first and half the second books but thematically Marika's whole journey is in just that small chunk, the books spread it out more.

Vol 1 is about Marika realising that she likes Aya. Its chief antagonist is Asta, who is Marika's foil as someone who has already embraced her sexuality and doesn't see a problem with standing out.

Vol 2 is about Marika embracing Aya as her girlfriend and getting to know more about her. Its chief antagonist is Sae the girl who tried to stab Aya in middle school, she is Aya's foil in that she used her trauma as an excuse to stop moving forward rather than rebuilding herself.

Vol 3 is about Marika struggling with her internalised shame about dating someone of the same gender, she's still not there folks. Its chief antagonist is Reina who discovers Marika and Aya are going out, she functions as a kind of nega!Marika, someone who uses her popularity for evil and has not grown out of her homophobic beliefs.

Vol 4 is about Marika bonding with other queer girls and finding community outside of weird sex stuff with Aya. Its chief antagonist (not really) is Natsumi who gets rejected at the end, exposing Marika to a different way to be queer. Vol 4 is really special because of how much it grounds Marika's sense of queerness. A lot of stuff happens in this one despite it feeling like a filler episode.

Vol 5 is about Marika placing herself within the queer community and thinking about the future of her relationship. Its chief antagonist is Karen whose backstory we finally get as she leaves town for a week to chase the woman she fell in love with fresh out of high school. Marika has to grapple with her relationship to Aya not being uniquely special and therefore subject to all the regular struggles a relationship goes through. Nevertheless she comes out publicly at the end. I cried.

Vol 6 I haven't read yet but I'm looking forward to it! These crazy kids are still in love and still not quite done stepping on each other, I love reading about them.

asteriskybusiness
Furude
joined Jan 8, 2023

Thank you for the food!

Furude
joined Jan 8, 2023

I'm so glad you didn't drop this series, no one else could do it justice.

Karen is kind of the secret villain of the whole thing, she's the reason Aya's perspective is as warped as it is yet she still gets to play guidance counselor once a volume in the light novels. It's really interesting, especially when Vol 5 touches on her backstory and you can see the similarities with Aya's own situation. Obviously in real life she'd need to go to jail forever but this is fiction and who among us didn't fantasize about an older woman teaching us the ways of the world when we were sixteen.

asteriskybusiness
Furude
joined Jan 8, 2023

One of us! One of us! So excited that such an amazing scanlator has gotten into Umineko

Furude
joined Jan 8, 2023

This scanlation got me into the light novels and they're some of my favourite books now, I was sad to see the manga end but I'm going to savour each one of these translated chapters as they come out. The work here by the scanlation team is god tier, as befits a series as good as Arioto!

asteriskybusiness
Furude
joined Jan 8, 2023

One of my favourite stories, there's so much love in it and it's great to see a story that truly feels adult, all these emotions about not being the person you used to be, worrying about the future, wanting to be someone's family, it's fantastic.

asteriskybusiness
Furude
joined Jan 8, 2023

Kurumi's such a little pervert, I love her

Furude
joined Jan 8, 2023

Volume three comes out in February, scanlators might get back into it when that happens. Mira remains a master of erotic storytelling, I love the way Sarasa is so focused on safety and rules while still being a kid stumbling through relationships herself.

asteriskybusiness
Furude
joined Jan 8, 2023

I'll admit volume three is probably the weakest of the series, but the issue after this two parter is my absolute fave and volume four was magical all the way through, I'm looking forward to seeing it all translated!

This is seriously my favourite series, Itsumi is just such a dirtbag you love to see her lose even as you love seeing her get away with it and then you somehow fall in love with her too. Must be something in this tea because I'm very into this yuri.