It really irks me when people insist that any AMAB character that presents feminine can only be a trans girl as if forgetting nonbinary or other as such are a thing. Unless the character is explicitly a girl (like Bridget, for example) it's not unreasonable to interpert them differently. I've seen so many posts of "if you think Y character is anything but X you're evil!!"

Is Kitano trans? Nonbinary? A femboy? We simply don't know yet.

Did someone prescribe transness in this thread?

I agree with the principle of your post, but I haven't seen the prescriptive trans reader in here. Glancing back through the last three pages, I saw a few hopefuls, who were likely relating their own experiences to the character's story, but I didn't see anyone calling someone "evil" for anything.

A couple people were like, "Did you forget GNC men?" but the question is a little silly. If you're trans and participate in fandom spaces, you can't forget them. Someone will remind you like clockwork, essentially every time you publicly relate your own experiences to a GNC character of any stripe.

last edited at Jun 1, 2026 7:30PM

The confusion is mostly due to the fact that in manga, the authors rarely address the topic of transness, unless it's a work dedicated to the topic.

Kitano, on our side, can only be interpreted as trans. On the Japanese side, the topic is irrelevant. It's about boys crossdressing, being cute and maybe falling in love with boys(?). It's like Prunus girl. Whether the character is trans or not isn't the point. It's a romance between a boy and another gender-ambiguous character.

Well, to me, Kitano is trans, there's not much debate to have.

I think a lot of people also have a very shallow view of what being transgender actually is. Unless the character looks at the audience and says "i am transgender" there will always be people who deny it.

It's a weird double standard because as yuri fans we already know what it's like to have people dismiss a character or relationship that isn't "explicitly" gay, when if that same couple was straight there would be zero ambiguity about their relationship status.

Many of the same people who would roll their eyes if you said that the main couple in CPK or lycorico are "just friends" will turn around and argue that any gender ambiguous character is "just crossdressing" without realizing that they're doing the same thing in a different jacket.

I came here to argue a point, but I can simply quote when it was already well said.

Well said!

This felt like a good, solid ending. If this was the axe, at least the story was piloted well enough to fit inside that space. I'm happy. :3

I love how much Nagi loves Airi. It warms my heart. I'm drinking deep.

The change from Subtext to Yuri made me hope for something from this chapter lol. It's nice as always, still, the tag change maybe was unnecessary

The subtext tag was kinda not enough starting from at least the confession moment if not earlier, so this change seems more like the result of a long process rather than some big difference in the new chapter.

The fact that the tags change is the same as people arguing over the tags in the comments, it's just the arguing is done by people with the power to change the tags.

I still personally would categorize this series as Subtext or Subtext + Yuri Crush but I'm not invested enough in tagging to argue about it.

Just trying to say: don't read too much into what tags are or are not present.

Good to keep expectations in mind, yeah. Regardless, this was an excellent pick to work on. Thank you. :3

Glad to see this featured. It is still so good. <3

Ah yes the subtext of wanting to taste another girl's saliva.

SO GOOD

friend? FRIEND?

is this what the subtext tag means?

the most homosexual moment of two girls' lives (to this point) ends with "and that's why we're closer friends now."

That's exactly what the subtext tag means.

yea lol, im exaggerating for effect because that was quite a bit gayer than expected, and I wish it wasn't just subtext.

friend? FRIEND?

is this what the subtext tag means?

the most homosexual moment of two girls' lives (to this point) ends with "and that's why we're closer friends now."

Yea doesn't look AI to me, art or script. It just looks horny about a beautiful girl forcing a "straight" protagonist into homosexuality. Realism is secondary to nonstop gay pressure.

i really enjoy these chappies so much. so gay.

I love this precisely because it takes Class S elements and moves them beyond the strictures that bounded the historical genre. it starts with a exploration of a particular, culturally defined pair of roles and relates them back to contemporary queerness. This is so, so, so good. <3

The latest chapter in particular really sealed my confidence that we will examine the sexuality of the characters, divorced from the genre's tropes. Roleplaying Class S is a path to self-expression, but there is a joy in trying to move beyond it, to express the sexual or romantic element that the original roleplay would explicitly ignore or downplay for comphet purposes.

In short, I'm hoping--and beginning to believe--that this will also be about figuring out the feelings of two young girls in love, with all the human messiness and complications that implies.

This was actually great. God damn.

^ Sorry, I thought I was in another series' forum facepalm
No, as far as I can tell, this is probably manga original.

Thanks. I love idiot couples when they're both incredibly gay and incredibly stupid together. I can't wait for more. :3

This is wonderful. Is this adapted from a webnovel, or is this original manga material?

This one is so dang cute oh yes ohhh yes

This is really fun lmao. Like genuinely what a fucked up couple and I can't wait for them to figure things out.

Just discovered this. It was so good, and it felt so incredibly trans without quite being trans. It really does feel like an older, alternate way of culturally considering and accepting a trans character, and it's so, so, so sweet. <3

I loved the ending of this. God damn, watching the actual best love interest get the guy was amazing. Botan was a sweetie and a darling and had earned his love on top of everything else, and it made so much more sense that she got with him.

Suddenly everyone hates this manga and decides to write a thesis on why it is bad

Ignore the haters. This rocked and was as gay as the day is long.

This chapter ruled fuck yea I'm so happy :D gay girlfriensddssssss

hinoka might really start to look into someone who values her and themself more.

they're great for each other except in this one incredibly strange and confusing moment that will require at least one chapter more to even explain. it'll certainly turn out okay, it'll just take a bit to work through the twist for a cute ending.

WTF was that? Like genuinely, my suspension of disbelief comes to a hard stop here because I have no reason to ever believe this makes any sense for Tsu to react the way she did? No normal human would behave like this

If you have a crush, a MASSIVE one on someone you knew your entire life and want nothing more than to be with them, psych yourself up for a confession for WEEKS, and the time comes and you receive probably the most unambiguous answer said crush could give by KISSING you, and your response is to…back off, send mixed messages, don’t talk about it, act sad/unsure/disappointed/basically give your crush every reason possible to take it the wrong way???

What were they thinking with this direction? It’s just a very forced artificial way to drag this dilemma out

This summarizes my feelings. I still love the manga, and I'm sure I'll enjoy it after this is resolved, but what a janky way to maintain tension. It needs Tsukishi to actually like, sit down and talk through her thinking, or it'll just be weird.

This version of Yuzu is about 100x better to read and I don't care for consistency if we get actual feelings from both characters instead of one lesbian pining at a brick wall. Gimme that gayyyyy fluff.