Yuzu’s inaction i think is her just trying to respect Mei’ decision, she knows that Mei chose the path of inheriting the academy, and Yuzu supported that
But even after 7 months, it’s still killing her

It’s also possible she literally hasn’t had any contact with Mei since the letter

last edited at Mar 25, 2018 4:50PM

Yeah, so Yuzu respecting Mei's decisions rather than acting out of her own desires has been her mistake from the beginning of the series. She hasn't clued in yet that what Mei says she wants and what Mei actually wants are very different things.

That should be the mission for everyone going forward; showing Mei that she can follow her heart over her head.

I can't understand why some readers are thinking that Yuzu and Mei won't end up together. All the drama will probably be easily solved. Since this is probably the climax, Saburouta just want to make some impact. In the end, everything will be fine.

I just want to know how she will develop this arc. Some readers are expecting Shou to come back soon, but everything can happen.

Maybe this was discussed already, but, ch.36 pg184 we see Mimeko with two student Council members.
Are there more than 3 members of the council or does this mean Mei has stepped down as pres/may not even be at the academy ?

Maybe this was discussed already, but, ch.36 pg184 we see Mimeko with two student Council members.
Are there more than 3 members of the council or does this mean Mei has stepped down as pres/may not even be at the academy ?

I can't understand why some readers are thinking that Yuzu and Mei won't end up together.

I don't want to speak for anyone else; this is just my take on how people respond to stories in general. But my impression is that some people are basically "character readers"--their focus is on the psychology and personal interactions of the characters.

Others (and I'm one of them) tend to be "story readers"--with a focus on the narrative trajectory and genre signals that a story is putting out.

(And, of course, readers often combine or switch back and forth between those modes at various times.)

I think that difference may be why some people get so deeply invested in ships that, going by the cues within a particular story, are clearly never going to happen--given the (imaginary) people involved, character A may very well be a better match for the protagonist than the text-stipulated one, but to make that pairing happen, the story would need to abandon an outcome it had been setting up all along (and sometimes that does seem to happen, as in K-dramas where the producers seem to be responding to viewers' responses or to real-world circumstances with the actors).

I actually don't think Citrus has been especially consistent in developing its main characters--both Mei and Yuzu seem to push toward or pull back from each other in ways that at times don't necessarily seem (to me) to grow organically from the events of the story. It's certainly possible to go back and construct a narrative where they each are consistent, but it doesn't (again, to me) always feel that way as the events unfold.

last edited at Mar 25, 2018 10:11PM

The explanation above is good!

I think when people say they won't end up together, it's more "if the story was real, they might not end up together". But of course they will end up together, just like the hero of the story never dies etc (even though it would be great if they did lol).

In any case at least for me, if my sole reason for believing that something will happen in a story is because it's fiction and "that's the way it will happen or fans will riot" then the story is crap. Because that's not a reason that emerges from the story itself. It's not my job to have faith in the genre or on the "story metaphysics" so to speak, it's the author's job to immerse me in the story :P I actually dislike most yuri manga precisely because things seem to happen for no reason other than because the genre says so. Characters rarely feel multi-dimensional, it's like they are tropes only.

Citrus is kinda mixed on this, the author of Netsuzou Trap should be writing the plot. Saburouta can draw but not necessarily write (my opinion).

I can't understand why some readers are thinking that Yuzu and Mei won't end up together. All the drama will probably be easily solved. Since this is probably the climax, Saburouta just want to make some impact. In the end, everything will be fine.

I just want to know how she will develop this arc. Some readers are expecting Shou to come back soon, but everything can happen.

Two reasons. The drama actually had a hefty impact this time and because yuri stories have a long past of tragic outcomes back when Class S was a big thing. So at first sign of trouble some people start going NOPE! and either run away or go into a shock.

In fact, chapter 36 is LITERALLY how many yuri stories used to end. I see it as a both a nice throwback and a good way to deliver a non-dialogue chapter with a drama bomb where the reader will use their own brain to fill in some details by themselves. There were a lot of people whose initial reaction to 36 was that the story had actually ended in a tragedy. :p

last edited at Mar 27, 2018 9:36AM

In fact, chapter 36 is LITERALLY how many yuri stories used to end. I see it as a both a nice throwback and a good way to deliver a non-dialogue chapter with a drama bomb where the reader will use their own brain to fill in some details by themselves. There were a lot of people whose initial reaction to 36 was that the story had actually ended in a tragedy. :p

This definitely makes sense. After all, the story theoretically could still end this way, and the only reasons to be confident that it won’t (as I am, along with lots of other people) are either exterior to the story, like the knowledge that there are a non-negligible number of chapters still to come or the author’s suggestions that things will end happily OR the assumption that a tragic/unhappy ending would amount to a sudden swerve in the course of the story that the author has shown no previous signs of making.

So if the latest chapter were to be an ending rather than simply a (big) plot complication, it becomes, “The story of Citrus is how a number of blocks and hindrances to Yuzu and Mei’s love appear and are overcome, and then the first one (the arranged marriage) reappears and they can’t overcome it.”

As I said, theoretically possible, but, paraphrasing the Magic 8-Ball: “The signs point to No.”

last edited at Mar 27, 2018 10:44AM

Apart from this aspect, to what extent is the general Citrus narrative different from the myriad preceding yuri works--specifically, the successful, similar ones? Or is Ch 36's intentional drama bomb the most noteworthy feature in 9 volumes/~5 years of typical Slice of Life/School Angst/Yuri Romance?

Citrus reads more like a shoujo manga to me. Change Mei to be a male and you have every brooding, distant and handsome love interest in shoujo ever. With Yuzu being the usual klutz protagonist. Doesn't mean it's not fun though!

But with this major tonal shift, i.e., emphasizing harsh reality, any random details that crop up in the aftermath will need to have far more critical weight because this is now past the point of no return; if the essential, incremental development is still underwhelming by the end, that will be the biggest reveal about the author and her intent.

I think the "ZOMG WHAT JUST HAPPENED" reactions were both due to: (1) the sudden timeskip and people empathizing with Yuzu and Mei's pain and (2) to the skeptical readers, the fear that Saburouta and her past lame plot writing is strong indication that she will f*ck up the story, indeed, to the point of no return. Because she amped the drama and seemingly changed the tone yes, but I suspect she won't know how to deliver a conclusion convincingly. When I read ch. 36 I was literally like "oh man, RIP Citrus".

But hey maybe this will turn out to be the School Days of yuri, if Matsuri's sociopathic tendencies are finally put to good use. Kill Bill-style wedding rampage scene in the end, maybe that's what her shooting game skills were hinting at :P

last edited at Mar 27, 2018 7:54PM

Who cares about Citrus right now ?

Who cares about Citrus right now ?

Right now I care about planning tonight’s dinner. But thanks for checking—I'll keep you posted.

I am not aware of other yuri manga that has drama + comedy like Citrus to be honest. I guess they are usually either heavy drama (NTR, Octave maybe), low-key drama (Sasameki Koto, Girlfriends) or slice of life kinda thing (Kase-san comes to mind). I haven't read a lot of yuri though so I'm probably wrong.

Saburouta is actually very smart; she dropped the ch. 36 bomb while people were watching the anime, knowing full well if this isn't going to make people buy the next chapters nothing will. I would have nothing to add to your analysis.

And talking about the anime: it's made me like the Matsuri/Tachibana sisters arc much more. Also the "world-building" aspect was pretty good, I was surprised how they even show us the part of Tokyo they live in etc and show real locations (it's Toyosu in Koto-ku for those who didn't catch it). And the dub is surprisingly better than the sub in my opinion, maybe because the sub makes what they say seem too formal while in the dub they talk like actual teenagers.

I don't get what's with all the commotion and negative comments? But, seriously, try to read Gunjo and then try to compare it to this manga. Maybe it will clear your head guys. I wonder about how old the majority of readers of this manga, for them to react this way.

None other than Maidoll did a Citrus Pinup for Toroana

https://twitter.com/maidoll/status/979243297246871558

She even included the rings!

Holy shit I have just lost my will to live

Holy shit I have just lost my will to live

Yet another casualty.

One of my favorite, earlier "collaborative re-envisionings" is the whole Ep 6 journey that starts by snatching up Mei at school (Harumin is the Greatest), the extended, gloriously dynamic and rousing bike scene--with better dialogue!, and a brief moment where it looks like Mei freaks out (read: bonus character dev), and then the satisfying rework of the whole Farewell-to-InaneFather-with-Tacky-Shoes; great choreography; streamlined and beautiful use of space. (That and a few others sorta made up for the ball-dropping rush-passes they did on the quieter, pivotal scenes that I was highly anticipating, but here's hoping for improvements in S2.) Also, good consistent use of less generic establishing shots; making those character-centric parts of the Metropolis and outskirts more memorable over time. e.g., The season finale's shot of Yuzu's, non-descript, home town intersection (also the very first shot in the premiere/series) = fast cut to Matsuri's playground scene for more bonus character dev; so quick, easy, and no need for extraneous words or audio. The CG does distract me a lot though, mostly for the animation of the ultraconformist, uniformed, robotic hordes, i.e., "How long did the artists take to churn out those tedious minute variations and setup each scenario, how versatile are the base models, and how often are the assets expected to be reused per season?" There are scenes where the model usage for long shots are pretty yuck, so, more questions about production crunching and outsourcing, too...

Another point you don't mention about the anime and that surprised me, was that the realistic world-building, despite the inconsistent storywriting (which the anime producers couldn't get around since they must be faithful to the source material), might have decisively contributed to the overall feeling I got from the anime series (but not from the manga) which is of "this is a romance story about 2 girls falling in love, happening in real life; variations of it are happening on these same places right now as you watch this". Maybe only because of that or perhaps due to other factors as well, although of course the manga is yuri, oddly enough I would not classify the anime as "yuri" because it doesn't have yuri vibes to me. I would classify it as simply a romance anime where the main couple happens to be 2 girls.

Holy shit I have just lost my will to live

Yet another casualty.

They’re dropping like flies, I tell you. If we don’t get a happy chapter soon, we may well have a pandemic on our hands.

Well what I was trying to say is that I actually like the anime better, precisely because it lacks this extremely intense scene-by-scene emotional moments that you describe, and instead presents the story as more integrated with the real world and more like a normal love story (thanks to the "world-building" efforts I suspect).

The manga, for me, focuses so much on Yuzu's emotions about Mei's crazy-making behaviour that it feels less like you are reading a story about these 2 people and more like a virtual reality simulation of "let's experience falling in love with Mei as though we are Yuzu". Which of course is probably why people went bonkers with ch. 36. In a sense they are meant to feel Yuzu's feelings. And don't get me wrong, this is actually pretty cool and it's not every story that can do that, but the anime felt refreshing since it followed a different approach. And I think the fact that it showed the story as a normal love story instead has its own phenomenal importance, because it's awesome for LGBT representation in anime and that being normalized.

In other words: I see the fact that they made such efforts in the anime into making these characters like normal relatable teens by adding a lot of context around their lives as very positive, and perhaps a legitimate sign of change. And I suspect in a few years the anime will be remembered as one of the first (definitely the first I've seen) to show 2 girls in love in such a normal way, rather than in some way fetichized. Fetishizing lesbian relationships is what a lot of yuri works do in my opinion, as the ones I've watched are all about objectifying the relationship, where what's important is not the story and how the characters feel about each other, but rather producing either saccharine or lewd-like feelings in the viewer.

last edited at Mar 30, 2018 9:27PM

One thing the anime shows that I did not know is that the Aihara academy is the the size of a mega-mall with what appears to be roughly 10,000 students—no wonder Mei is so concerned about keeping it in the family.

The manga, for me, focuses so much on Yuzu's emotions about Mei's crazy-making behaviour

Is this what you mean by the inconsistent writing? If so, I think it is something that can be managed with the minor reworks they've demonstrated so far. They have their own in-line aspects of crazy to inject, e.g., Himeko and Yuzu's frantic simultaneous praying at the Yasaka (Relationship) Shrine.

No, so actually that part of the manga is totally fine by me and the only thing that makes it so interesting, the characterization and character development. Being in Yuzu's mind/heart as an observer of Mei. But the plot itself is not good I find. The author's choice to introduce all these girls who are romantic rivals in one way or another is way too repetitive, especially if you consider other stuff could be done instead. For example, exploration of Mei's past, more focus on the Aihara family and how it operates, Yuzu's past, the fact that they are essentially from different social classes and how they adapt to that, etc etc. There are so many options and yet she chooses instead to add all these people to the story who don't have their own lives and whose sole purpose is to cause more interactions between Yuzu and Mei.

In fact, the reason why I guess Harumin is so loved is because she is the only one in the story who seems to have a life.

In fact, the reason why I guess Harumin is so loved is because she is the only one in the story who seems to have a life.

And a loving charismatic friendly tone to her, someone who genuinely seems to care about the ones dear to her, regardless of her own inner troubles. Many people who have kept up with this only did so for Yuzu and Harumin.

Surprisingly, to me, the twins appeared to be more likable on the anime than the manga.

Citrus Anime 3+/10. Only the first episode was good. Low budged advertisement for manga and nothing more.