So are we just going to ignore the subtext that just became text, with the "Why are you with that horrible old bag who's just deceiving you, WHEN YOU COULD HAVE ME" speech?

Aaand the plot takes a turn for the even sillier.
Just to be clear, I'm not criticizing, or disappointed, or surprised, just stating facts.

I'm not big on these media-people series on average. But the art is certainly pretty.

You know, re-reading this, I realize that Hinako is up for really raunchy handholding but is really hesitant about kissing. Is she just using Asahi for handholding? I hope she isn't treating Asahi as just a handholding object! :D

Just because it's not explicitly said doesnt make it a headcanon. Or else everything would be headcanon.

Um, except I'm pretty sure that many things are explicitly said in manga? So, like, those things WOULDN'T be headcanon?
And I mean, headcannons are dangerous. The recoil is just . . .

Me: I don't care about schoolgirl lesbians anymore, there's too many.
Also me: This is great and I love these idiots.

Look, they're already in a relationship from the first page, that's way too rare! I'm blameless, here!

Heck, I'm getting close to that on schoolgirl lesbian vampires alone.

Kinda stupid on brat's part. Just how exactly does she imagine this is going to work out well for her? If it doesn't work, she looks like an obnoxious brat. If it partly works but just causes trouble, it's worse. And even if somehow it goes perfectly the way she wants, she clearly doesn't have the self-possession to keep it secret that she was responsible, at which point she is never forgiven.

There's a funny error in the description of this manga:
"The 16-year old Nagisa is her sister's stepson, suddenly sent to live with Ai when his parents left for an overseas job. Wary like cats, these two loners 10 years apart in age will have to make a new life together."

On literally the written line of the first panel of the first page, it says that it is Ai's 30th birthday. That means that they are 14 years apart, not 10 years apart!

That's a good catch. Then again, it's not quite as bad as Funimation's description of the Otherside Picnic anime saying that Sorawo and Toriko are high school students, not college students.

It's good that the story is addressing the taboo nature of a potential relationship between Ai and Nagisa, as well as how Ai, as the adult, would take the brunt of the backlash if their relationship came to light. Most age gap romances that I know of have the younger person take the initiative to confess first, but the idea that confessing could cause problems for Ai will strongly discourage Nagisa from saying anything about his feelings.

It's nice to see the story proceed at a slow burn, but I hope they don't drag things out for too long. I'd like to see Nagisa confess within the next few chapters.

I can think of one way, but you're not going to like it.
Next chapter: He decides to wait until he's an adult to confess.
(Timeskip!)
Following chapter: Now an adult, he confesses, they get together, the end.

The whole jealous younger sibling thing, which I've seen in manga after manga . . . I'm an only, so maybe I just don't get it . . . but does that ever really happen? It seems like one of these notions that superficially looks like it could make some sense but is pretty much nonexistent. Like, in real life does anyone ever give a damn about their older sibling dating unless they're with a total douchebag?

Man, I don't care about the ships any more. Just keep dishing out the cute.

Sweet tears? Get that girl checked for diabetes. She could have been reading too much fluffy yuri.

I'm sure everyone knows, but I just have to go pedantic on the credits description of Boke/Tsukkomi. The Tsukkomi is not a Western comedy "straight man". In Western comedy, the "straight man" is the butt of the joke. The Western funny man/straight man contrast sees the "funny" win out; the straight man gets bamboozled by the nonsense of the funny man. A Tsukkomi is the opposite--the "Boke" is more like the stupid man than the funny man. In Boke/Tsukkomi, the nonsense Boke comes first and gets corrected, straightened out, by the Tsukkomi; the forces of order win.

There is actually Western comedy that's like that--you can see exchanges with a certain Boke/Tsukkomi style in many sit-coms. But you don't call that stuff straight man/funny man.

Ummm... The only "happy ending" I see here is Aizawa being one of these ghost of someone who is in coma. I don't see that's the case here since they said she was dead already, unless her family and/or company decided to spread the rumor because reasons... Worst scenario, MC kills herself to be with her. I really hope is not that-

I mean, if she can see and talk with her, is there really any reason they can’t be together, even if Aizawa is dead? It’s true that they can’t touch, but that doesn’t have to be a dealbreaker. There’s really no reason she can’t just date a ghost.

She being a ghost for sure means she has a regret that once cleared will make her ascend and rest in peace

So don't clear it.

last edited at Jul 26, 2022 2:58PM

Ummm... The only "happy ending" I see here is Aizawa being one of these ghost of someone who is in coma. I don't see that's the case here since they said she was dead already, unless her family and/or company decided to spread the rumor because reasons... Worst scenario, MC kills herself to be with her. I really hope is not that-

I mean, if she can see and talk with her, is there really any reason they can’t be together, even if Aizawa is dead? It’s true that they can’t touch, but that doesn’t have to be a dealbreaker. There’s really no reason she can’t just date a ghost.

Even there, it's only probably true that they can't touch. Maybe if she concentrates she can get a bit more solid. At least, she could be capable of poltergeist stuff, which gives them, um, one-way touch . . .

Swo!on indeed! Miss Sunflower also chose well the words, one could easily said "it would not bother me" or "dont be silly", but to thank and say that you loved it will become a powerfull memory.

All the more so given that Japanese + manga tendency not to include the referent. I mean, no actual misunderstanding here, but if she just said "Suki!" it's sure some powerful dream fuel for Matsuri.

So, what have we here? "Even Slower Start"?

. . . The great wizard Oz. Really. He sounds Wonderful. Someone should go off to see him.

I wonder why, in the manga, in the episode where Elsa is possessed by a mare and almost jumps off a roof, they changed the orders of the Villainess system.

This is because the beginning chapters of the manhua used an old version of the WN, where there were two villainess system options, but most importantly not a third zero-point option. In the updated, most current version of the WN, it was changed to what it is now.

Oh I get it now. So in the new version the VS has basically stopped working right and tried to force the death of Elsa with no way out... Interesting. I wonder if it's going to be a plot point later.

I'm wondering if there's an extra wrinkle here. Consider: In point of fact, Elsa was about to jump off the roof all by herself. Yvonne wouldn't have been there to save her if the Villainess system hadn't practically dragged her up there by the nose. So in a bizarre way, in appearing to endanger Elsa, the Villainess system actually saved her.

But if someone or something is actually manipulating the Villainess system to get them together, they must be operating under major constraints.

I find myself thinking about Morishima Akiko's "The conditions for paradise" little group of associated one-shots, which also featured an OL and a traveling girl, and had some of the most beautiful moments I've seen in any manga ever.

guys won't chat us up

It's a gay bar though, doubt straight or bi men would go there to hook up with women

They might. In my city it's a known thing that women go to gay bars to have a good time without being chatted up . . . there might actually be guys who would think hey, that means they can find women there--and who would not think past that to "You dough-head, they're there specifically to avoid jerks like you" because that kind of person does not think that way.

"Why can't I find my house keys?"--my wife is like that. She's always going to get the thing she needs from her backpack or purse, only to stress that it's not there . . . but it always turns out to be there, in the end, just needs a bit more rummaging.
May everything you all need turn up after a bit of rummaging.

For a non-LGBT example, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) uses the term 'disorder'. This term means 'contrary to the order of things'. From a purely denotational perspective, not only is this accurate, but it is probably also an accurate description of the entire LGBTQ+ spectrum. It is fairly easy to argue from a purely statistical perspective that being a lesbian is a 'disorder' and 'abnormal'.

I disagree with your version of the meaning of "disorder". What you're saying there is more like a derivation than a denotation--where it comes from, not what it means. Mind you, "disorder" has several meanings; if you haven't tidied your bedroom in a few weeks, it could be in "disorder". But when you're talking about autism spectrum or deafness or something, it means an ailment. The OED says "A disturbance of the bodily (or mental) functions; an ailment, disease."

And that does NOT apply to being LGBTQ+. But frankly, it DOES apply to anything very far along the autism spectrum; stuff isn't working the way a person would prefer to have it work, and that causes them problems; there's things they can't do well that other people not on the autism spectrum can easily do. There's a failure of function happening. So it's a disorder.

So there's a distinction between calling something (say being asexual) "weird" and calling it a "disorder". Being called "weird" can be hurtful because our society is too damn conformist, but is not inherently bad. As a person who is generally at the top of our society's dysfunctional little inherent status ladder (white, male, straight, not poor, moderately educated) I have leeway to actually take pride in being weird.
If what you are is called a "disorder" though, that's specifically saying that being what you are is functionally bad, an illness--that's going to be inherently hurtful, to the point where even people who actually do have a disorder for real, like deaf people, often would really prefer it not be looked at that way.

last edited at Jun 21, 2022 1:33PM

Two points about that intro question:

1) Miss Sunflower fully accepts that Matsuri loves her--not that she says she loves her, or she thinks she loves her, etc.

2) This is the bog-standard "early relationship" question--"What is it that you like about me?" It's a key to understanding the other person's feelings, and can be an ego-boost (you get to hear a list of your own admirable qualities) or a reality check (you find out whether that person's idea of you is grounded in a version of you that you even vaguely recognize).

Put another way, it's almost like a marriage-interview question. And at the end Miss Sunflower has no problem with Matsuri saying she loves her, just "not so loud."

Agreed. I was thinking along those lines--you don't deliberately ask about someone's love for you if you don't have some level of acceptance of that love, even some interest in starting to explore it.

It would actually be nice to see a doll get to get human or human-ish and fall in love with their person in an at least somewhat more wholesome way.

Yuu is able to be honest with herself now and yet the previous Miss Sunflower was not able to be completely honest in the end...

Every so often we are reminded that everyone involved is, or was at the time, really quite young. They're so smart, so literary, some have naturally surface-calm temperaments . . . but there are flustered kid parts underneath.