See I agree with the idea that hierarchical or passive/active dynamics could be heterosexual, but I don't really view having sex as proving intimacy. Proving to who?

I think it's both to a person in a relationship, and as proof to other people. I think the "queerbait" thing is important here:

Are you saying that queerbaiting doesn't exist in yuri? I would argue that if one or all of the participants aren't ace, then it would be pretty rare for a romantic relationship to not explore physical intimacy. There are of course other deeply intimate relationships, like platonic ones, that do not have to have a physical intimacy component, but I'm not sure I really get your argument here.

I would argue that "queerbait" as it's generally used doesn't exist (or is at least) extremely rare from people who label themselves yuri writers. First, "bait" implies bad faith on the writer's part, that they're trying to somehow trick you with the existence of a relationship. Second, it usually gets applied to works where a relationship doesn't end up looking like what readers expect it to look like. Which is a reflection of those invisible assumptions of what a relationship should look like, and how it should be expressed.

I agree with some of your points, but I don't really see what the patriarchy has to do with women kissing each other or having sex. Kissing has biological effects on the participants. It would exist even had patriarchy never existed.

I think I should make it clear that I'm trying to distinguish between "sex is one of the things that might be important in a relationship" and "sex is the most important part of a relationship". The emphasis on sex as the most important part reflects a patriarchal expectation: it emphasizes social power as expressed through reproductive and child care expectations placed on women. Yes, physical intimacy exists independent of patriarchy, but how it is expressed and the importance it is given reflect patriarchal values, especially when lesbian relationships are mapped onto a heterosexual dynamic. To be clear, I don't think sex is bad or that physical intimacy shouldn't be depicted, it's just that there's a weird focus on it as a form of validating a serious relationship.

Again, I sort of agree with you and I think you have a good point about capitulating to those structures being a capitulation to patriarchal authority, but I also think Class S has always felt temporary. The younger student/older student dynamic itself feels like something that should end after they've graduated high school, regardless of what their relationship is. And I'm surprised you don't see the patriarchal structure in the older student/younger student dynamic.

Sure, but I think Class S being temporary is also just an artifact of its time and place in life. Relationships often don't survive past high school in general. But when people in authority underline that, there's a sort of resignation to it. Again, though, some of the Taishō-era Class S this all draws inspiration from does have some relationships surviving high school. And here, we also have the box-cutter senpais taking their relationship past school, and Yamabe and Mie rekindling their relationship after time apart. I think there is some patriarchal reflection in the older student/younger student dynamic, but given the improv (and how Kasumi and Haruyo reverse the dynamic), I'm not sure the patriarchal factors are particularly emphasized.

At the very least, I think this is an interesting argument. I'm holding off what I think of Yurika since I think the next chapter will expand our view of her, but I'll keep this interpretation in mind. Thanks for sharing.

No problem, I love talking about this kind of thing! I hope I've at least clarified my point of view, but I'll stop here so I don't keep turning this thread into walls of text.

last edited at Jun 10, 2026 5:22PM

I feel part of the thesis of this series is the function of class s as both important legacy and a kind of generational trauma for adolescent sapphics

I think an alternative reading is that she's a criticism of yuri, which as a genre, often casts aside the improvisation of negotiating a relationship dynamic in favor of reproducing more static heterosexual relationship dynamics.

I gotta say, I've been seeing this idea presented a lot lately, and I have no idea what this means.

Loosely, it's the idea that there is a clear, unspoken set of ideas that govern what a relationship should look like—a hierarchical dominant/submissive or passive/active dynamic, with several forms of proof symbolizing that bond to outsiders. For example, you "prove" intimacy physically, through public displays of affection, or by having sex.

That's not a bad thing! Libido isn't exclusively masculine; women are horny too! But using it as a measure of true intimacy excludes other forms of deeply intimate (and often permanent) relationships from what is considered a "valid" relationship—you just have to look at people calling a yuri romance that doesn't end in sex or kissing "queerbait".

So the gist here is that a lot of yuri stories often pose relationships that imitate the form of heterosexual relationships as an ideal, and in doing so unintentionally transplant in patriarchal norms that limit what a relationship can look like.

To bring it around to this:

I don't think I agree in the slightest with the idea that more defined yuri relationships "reproduces more static heterosexual dynamics", especially when we're talking about the context of Class S here, something originally intended to be discarded once the girls left school for the sake of marrying men in a patriarchal society and tossing away any love they might have once had.

It's worth remembering that the writer of Hanamonogatari, Yoshiya Nobuka, was lesbian, and wrote Class S stories that didn't have tragic endings (such as Two Virgins in the Attic). Yes, to the watchful eyes of patriarchical authorites, these relationships were "justified" in being practice for a heterosexual marriage, and supposedly discarded upon leaving school. But looking at the individual relationships in detail, you see young women figuring out what intimacy means to them, with the outcome that each relationship covered has a very different personality to it.

In effect, Class S sort of represents an alternative to patriarchal relationship structures, building something distinctly lesbian in the authorities' blind spots. The tragedy was not that these relationships existed, it was that they were broken up. I think that's the important point: viewing Class S as something inherently temporary is taking patriarchal authority at its word as it violently snuffs out alternatives to its set of norms and expectations.

Stewing on this chapter more, Yurika's the embodiment of patriarchal violence inflicted on Class S relationships, and this chapter kinda beats the readers over the head with it. Yurika explicitly connects herself to yuri. She preys on youth/naivety by painting her predations as "true love". She teaches Aoyama that love=sex. She hides behind tradition when it suits her. She reminds Aoyama of the obligations of their relative social positions. Every one of these is drawing a sharp boundary about what their relationship can be, in contrast to the other girls adapting the Class S structure to what they need from a relationship.

I feel part of the thesis of this series is the function of class s as both important legacy and a kind of generational trauma for adolescent sapphics

Yeah, this story really seems to be about the duality of Class S relationships. There's a layer of "tradition" which provides relationships a veneer of heteronormative legitimacy to outside observers, but the relationship itself is defined so loosely that it there's an improvisational, even liberatory aspect to it.

Yurika's interesting. It's easy enough to read her as a criticism of Class S with her "tradition" line, but she's sort of using that as a cop-out. After all, she explicitly broke tradition with how she got into a relationship with Aoyama. I think an alternative reading is that she's a criticism of yuri, which as a genre, often casts aside the improvisation of negotiating a relationship dynamic in favor of reproducing more static heterosexual relationship dynamics. I'd even point out that while Aoyama is performing oral on the "female" part of the flower, it is a very phallic depiction. It's not hard to see Yurika being cast in the role of a classic patriarchal villain—a fixation on youth, chasing pleasure, emphasizing difference in social position when the wife/mistress speaks up. In that light, "It's tradition." works more as a direct call-out on the abuse enabled by "traditional" relationships.

last edited at Jun 10, 2026 1:10AM

And that's volume two finished! Off to bigger adventures in the Galactive Interactive. Kudos to girlswhokiss for getting this over the finish line!

We'll have TL notes added to this chapter soonish, but a quick one to bring up here: this volume attracted some controversy after release and I am pretty sure this chapter is why. If the allusions to Japan's government in WWII weren't clear in the previous chapter, the relationship between Nurude and the Ungaku family here mirrors the working relationship between the imperial family, the military government, and war crimes, especially with the rewriting of historical documents and coordination with the Occupation forces to exonerate the imperial family to maintain political stability. Just some interesting context about how this chapter plays out.

last edited at Jun 8, 2026 5:57PM

woah it's the galtaku ntr couple in a decade

the ghosts being brought in / exacerbated by kagari was just the text, no?

Indirectly, yes, though I don't think Kagari is doing it intentionally. The running theme in J-horror is that repeatedly making contact with the supernatural draws you deeper into its world and makes the next contact easier. (Both Monogatari and Otherside Picnic explicitly state this concept, and it definitely shows up in a lot of the online horror that Otherside Picnic draws from). So I think someone cued into that context would have the takeaway that Ageha's reliance on Kagari to handle her fears is the reason she sees more ghosts. She doesn't want to be rid of Kagari, so she blurs the veil more and more.

I like me a transactional relationship. especially one where everyone gets hurt. If reading this story through a queer lens, with kagari as the "Invisible girl" then ageha's line "Thinking of her as something human was wrong the whole time" becomes a lot bleaker, don't you think?

The line's closer to "I shouldn't think about her 'like' in the context of human logic". In a ghost story that makes a lot of sense, because after all, the paranormal operates on its own set of logic. And within the context of a queer reading, it's like her trying to figure out a rational explanation for why Kagari is a lesbian that likes her. Attraction is just kind of a fact of life that inherently defies explanation.

Hi yes we're back! I believe we're currently three chapters behind (ch 21 was just published in this month's Yuri Hime a couple of days ago). Sorry for letting this fall so behind, I just had a run of bad health and couldn't find the energy to get caught up again. Fortunately we've got some great new volunteers working on this, and they're eager to get through the backlog.

So this is the first manga I've translated myself, so hoping I did right by the story in my translation.

Okay, be honest, how long did it everybody take to figure out that Kagari was a ghost? I caught on before the big reveal, but I feel like I should have known right from the start.

I think the paneling sets up something being off about her from the very beginning (the pure black eyes, the menacing hands reaching out on the third page), but there's sort of a build-up to what exactly she is.

Probably the biggest thing before the "you're not human" reveal is the "people kiss their favorites, don't they?". Kagari uses 人間 when she says that, so it could also be translated as "human", but I thought going that way would end up spoiling the twist.

I don't know why this feels so sad. . .
Maybe because they're so nakedly using each other? Picking each other for convenience / because there are no other options?
This has to be the most foreshadowing bad-ending couples of all time T-T

It didn't read that way to me... Horror yuri usually relates back to some aspect of lesbian/queer experiences in some way, and I think one way to read this story is an allegory for Ageha refusing to abandon a gay friend who is being ostracized (an invisible monster) while denying her own sexuality so people will think she's "normal". Reading it this way, the heterochromatic eyes she has at the end would symbolizes her acceptance and reciprocation or Kagari's sexuality, but on her own terms. One eye is black because she's accepted the worldview Kagari works inside of, but she still has an independent eye of her own.

The reason I don't think this is a bad end couple is that Kagari's whole thing is "run away and be in lesbians with me regardless of the consequences". Ageha refusing to do that even after she accepts her relationship with Kagari makes it clear that she's actively rejecting a codependent relationship dynamic. Yes, they might have picked each other because of fate/convenience/lack of options, but she's focused on building a constructive relationship from that.

New girl is annoying I guess they have to have the "You should have never changed from the loser loner you were before" trope huh. God forbid someone wants to change something about themselves right? Most of her new friends are Otaku anyway so hopefully they all band together to uh I guess force this new girl to be friends with them all by the end of this contest lol?

Of course they have to do the trope. As otaku, Airi and Fumi both know that a challenge to settle disputes is sarcosanct. Can't fight the plot structure, you know

Well this should go great

Special thanks to Nanashisan for basically doing this chapter single-handedly! My interest in this was piqued by the afterwards in the first volume of A Face You Shouldn't Show, where Flowerchild mentioned she submitted five story drafts for potential serials following the end of It's a Detached Relationship. Although DameKao was the story that went forward from those drafts, she did polish this one up as a submission to the YH Yuribute 2 anthology. Neat to think of an alternate universe where Flowerchild has a reputation for mellowing out with what she writes about.

Ahhh, this story was a nice burst of sunshine after the box cutter couple. A lil bit of thematic chiaroscuro to go with the art style...

Thanks for the typo reports, everyone! I spent some time this afternoon incorporating a little bit of translation feedback we've gotten for parts 2-4, as well as spent some time polishing some of the wording in those sections. These shouldn't be too noticeable on reread, other than a handful of sentences being a little less convoluted. I hope it's a more enjoyable read!

We're definitely hitting the climax of the novel now, as we've only got two chapters and an epilogue left for this adventure. Really loved all the little pieces we've been getting to nishikigoi fishing puzzle coming together in this chapter. Speculative biology is a lot more fun when two women are having an argument over how it works...

It's that a lot of them want to leave but only a handful are actually allowed to, and the Circs have no idea what the criteria for emigration are. There is some sort of screening process they have to go for, and to make a guess from this chapter, the GI might be basing it on their standardized decomping test scores. If FBB is the GI's internment camp for decompers, then someone who can't decomp doesn't need to be there. There's a good chance Diode could've simply walked away from FBB if she'd managed to get to the emigration boat during the Bow Awow.

The jumpcut from Meguru saying "I'm the most disgusting one of all" to Niji blissfully writing RPF about her and the girl she's blackmailing into dating her was low-key hilarious.

I feel like the difference between Niji and the rest of the cast is that on some level, they're aware of how everyone else thinks about them. Even though they feel compelled towards certain expressions of sexuality, that awareness at least makes them pause and reflect on what they're doing. Meguru got a really big dose of that in this chapter. While this is probably only going to make her turn her hatred of sexual expression inwards (at least for now), she's at least aware of how she's hurting other people. Niji, on the other hand, is blissfullly detached from everything. Any time she has reality pointed out to her, she rejects it and substitutes her own. Heck, she's even disregarded the one thing Remu asked her not to do, just for the sake of shipping two people she barely knows. It's kind of hard to see how she grows from here—she's already had her foundations shaken to the core and managed to rationalize them away. It really fits the abusive parent analogy brought up earlier, and if that's any guide, maybe she won't change at all.

Terra and Diode found a pretty big landmine in this chapter. It's starting to make sense why the Circs have rewritten and obscured so much of their early history now. The reason they're at FBB now is a pretty bitter pill to swallow. Adds another sense to their attempt to escape the Circs, which doesn't bode well for life in the Galactive Interactive...

So if I dress up in an outlandish costume and start acting like a cringey edgelord, I get canceled in person, and banned or blocked on social media. But if I write a web novel that persuades other people to do the same thing, I get a publishing contract and throngs of fans mobbing me? Gosh, capitalism is weird.

Well, they do say in a gold rush, the one who comes out ahead is the one who sells the shovels. Same thing for chuunis digging the hole they'll eventually wanna bury themselves in.

I think it's interesting how this chapter really drives in how one-sided Io and Misa's relationship is. Misa is constantly trying to do things to make Io feel better and it was nice to see Misa openly vulnerable about her inability to meet Io's expectations at the end. It's adding a lot more depth to their relationship and I'm really excited to see how it'll continue to develop. Hopefully we can see Io taking care of Misa's emotional needs too.

Yeah, this chapter was really nice at peeling back a layer of their relationship dynamic. Really get the sense that Misa's such an aggressive womanizer / top to keep herself at an emotional distance, and it seems like the slow march of the story has been Io progressively getting underneath all of her defense mechanisms to the point that Misa is starting to think of them as being in a serious relationship. As emotionally needy as Io has been through this story, it's nice to see her acknowledge Misa's emotional needs at the end and give her at least some support.

Can't wait to see how they handle the press release Hase's about to send out. I can imagine they might both appreciate a return to normalcy, but it's probably end up dumping fuel on the fire given the direction their relationship is headed.

actually, you can tell it's the divorce arc by the fact that they're listening to oasis

I think this is the direction Igarashi always intended to take it. While this scene was definitely a dramatic escalation, it's not entirely out of nowhere. The art's always had this slightly unsettling atmosphere to it, and looking back this chapter is making a lot of callbacks Kasumi and Haruyo interactions. Kasumi exploding with rage when Haruyo ghosts her parallels Mizuki's reaction to Sayori telling her she's not moving in; and Kasumi telling Haruyo she wanted to punch her afterwards and says that she wanted her verbal abuse to hurt is sort of analogous to the cutting; the panel where Mizuki says she'll call the police and won't see Sayori anymore is 1:1 with the panel of Haruyo saying she won't touch Kasumi anymore; Sayori and Mizuki's expressions when Sayori says "then I can forgive you" is the exact same pair of expressions Haruyo and Kasumi have when Haruyo touches Kasumi's lips.

Not to mention there seems to be a recurring motif with Kasumi and hanging. (Bottom panel of ch3p21 where the window framing evokes Kasumi hanging; the light fixture shape and placement at top center panel of ch7p13, which are absent in the reverse shot; bottom panel of ch8p22 where she looks like she's hanging from the light fixture).

There's been some pretty ample foreshadowing that this story was going to go some pretty dark places from the start. This chapter doesn't feel so much like a tonal change as much as it does shifting gears.

So I know noighd had a note at the end of the last chapter about the flower on the title page being a chrysanthemum, but we have more of the plant from the flowers spilling out of the cut on Sayori's back on page 11. That's definitely clover. Some of the hanakotoba meanings are "Think of me", "good fortune", "promises", and "revenge"

Hey all, sorry this took forever, the redraws were a tall mountain to climb with not as much free time to climb them... Chapter 17 released on Thursday and it looks comparatively benign, so hopefully we'll have that up soon.

Just for the record, the narration on page 10/11 appears to be from Io's POV, so I'm pretty sure the choking is just another one of those "no contextually means yes" scenes. Do be dearies and actually have boundaries, safewords, and the like negotiated and understood before trying out CNCplay like this IRL tho!

Well, that marks the end of Koi Fishing! I thought we were making pretty good progress, but girlswhokiss has informed me that we're only about halfway through the novel.

The good news is that Terra and Diode's long separation is over, and there's lots to look forward to as they discover the joys of American beer on the flight over to Table of Johor.

last edited at Sep 18, 2025 8:17AM

Hats off to girlswhokiss for translating intro to planetary plasma physics 101. Not often you get a lesbian story that has that and traditional work chanting in the span of a chapter...

Why? Meika is a fun villain.

I really can't wait to learn what angle Pri is working in all this. She's out there doing masterful work in collecting info while giving away nothing about herself.