I don't get why a lot of readers hate Mei. If you'd been reading Citrus, you'd expect that Mei is gonna be forced into an arranged marriage and she'll likely obliged because of how Saburo Uta built her up for this scenario.

People rage on Mei like it was easy to choose between your family and your lover LOL

Looking at it as if Mei were a real person rather than a puppet being manipulated by the author, the problem with Mei’s behavior is that she never talked to Yuzu about it, a failure of trust and of communication which can be characterized in many ways. Perhaps the least harsh way is to call it incredibly disrespectful to their relationship both as lovers and as family members.

So readers who stay “in the story,” as it were, can look back at all the various moves and developments in the Yuzu-Mei relationship and see them as indications that Mei is essentially unstable, untrustworthy, withholding, selfish, and many more negative adjectives—take your pick.

I think it makes more sense to step outside the story and look at its construction, where it seems to me that the “Mei character” implied by the first part of the story was last seen at the end of Volume 6, in the library scene where the two of them seemed to commit to making their way forward together, and where Mei’s rationality and greater experience with the public world was a source of strength for Yuzu.

But the author doesn’t actually seem to have had any real idea of the way forward from that point, so we got the introduction of a new character in Shirapon, the interminable festival scene, and both Mei and Yuzu pushing toward and away from each other seemingly randomly. Mei in particular appeared to be more inscrutable and obscurely motivated than ever, and it’s very difficult to reconcile the Mei who reminded Yuzu of her own words that “There is no right answer. All we can do is what we are doing,” with the erratic and tortured entity who dumped Yuzu in a letter and then left.

tl:dr—Mei’s decision itself can be rationalized; her failure to communicate with Yuzu before making it makes a mockery of the entire previous story. I don’t blame Mei—I blame the author.

It would've been probably better if once Yuzu gave the rings to Mei after that wonderful scene in which Mei is super supportive, they went straight to the summer holidays (no Shirapon), had sex there without being interrupted by Matsuri screaming (Matsuri could just also get busy with Harumin instead lol) and then The End, possibly with timeskip to "they are in college and still together". Seriously. Woulda been a classic.

The only redeeming factor of Mei is that she makes Yuzu happy. Otherwise, she's a total doormat and pretty uninteresting

Word up!

Re: Endless, Cyclical Confusion (and again, why there's never been any point in personal speculation about the superfluous/typical soap-aspects everyone here loves so much):

A) Stated earlier {366645} (with later, added emphasis): "...in the case of Mei, you have the war of extremist personal service/duty (a fundamental aspect of Mei's type) versus acknowledged, charged, life-upheaving, mixed-bag rationalizations for "love"; this sort of situation produces hardcore emotional skeptics, hence the reader frustration and author confusion with Mei: how does one get a young skeptic to believe in the truth of young love? Without more insight, i.e., development, you "hammer" on them until they change/break." There is only so much that can be ascribed to Tropes when you're only given crumbs within a culturally clichéd context.

B) This tunnel-vision MO/impetus on top of extended, narrative presentation where "...so much (is) being seen through a rose-tinted/biased-as-hell lens" {362586} ... that's "...all coming from a highly neurotic, adult-creator POV that most identifies with Yuzu." {365218}

C) There really shouldn't be such outrage over messages regarding abuse because 1) this is uberniche (and Japanese niches have a huge tolerance/allowance for all flavors of violence and perversion). And 2) this is the fault of someone choosing a cross-genre where the deeper comprehension of Drama lags far behind skill with Comedy; without much any comedy, Saburouta wasted a lot of energy flailing about in what just might be a polluted, shallow/kiddie pool instead of actual dark waters. (The wasted sex-blackmail sitch is now an annoying setup; an idea cherry-picked for its intrinsic, high-Drama/adult-like? value, not because she had any real comprehension of the emotional mess that it would have entailed; cheaply used and discarded.) In comparison to other yuri publications that I've come across, Citrus has been hilarious for a good part of the run, which (again) undercuts a lot of what might be deemed serious, dramatic material. I was willing to overlook at lot as long as it continued to be funny, but alas, what may had started off seeming like she wouldn't squander potential {361909} has become just that... and it's due (IMO) to point E (below).

D) There is zero historical, commercially published proof that Saburouta is even "capable of writing a better ending than this", and also no evidence of the author truly "phoning it in", as a few would like to believe with recouched ideas. Saburouta has already announced that she's been exhausted {370179}: the delayed releases have been proof.

E) She's had enormous creative problems handling the feedback for Ch 36: the WTF chapters post-36 have been in direct response to this, i.e., lots of emo-dithering (and true to her sense and use of emo-logic {362063}), with reliance on surrounding family/friends to bounce around feckless or overly redundant ideas that give no real insight into much anything since it follows Yuzu around, i.e., all that Saburouta truly comprehends in full. When emo-logic really only applies to Yuzu, you can't have friends/others taking on the burden that would destroy the "purity" and drive of Yuzu's emotions. Mei's true (painfully predictable) reasoning for the letter/break-off took forever and a day for a quiet reveal, but via a third party, and was still executed indirectly since it had be described/paired with Yuzu's face in the frame. The very tedium of this MO (see also pts A and B) while trying to keep things "light", for the hybrid genre-- why do folks keep forgetting this?, is near impossible without venturing into more mature, darker territory. This is nothing but blatant examples of intellectual floundering in an exploratory work that's covered (skillfully) with the high degree of visual art, i.e., if Saburouta's unsure, there's intentional, uber-precise use of ambiguous character expressions and layouts in hopes of covering her ass; it's the only way of saving some face in a losing battle.

F) Now, with this penultimate release in the aftermath of YET another announcement--but one of complete and utter Exhaustion, i.e., only enough steam left for one more chapter, it's nothing BUT in-your-face Proof that the creative well has run dry (for this particular IP).

Work long enough with different types of artists, and these trends crop up ad nauseam...

Saburouta is valiantly, sincerely persevering to the series' end--partly as a cultural thing, partly due to the media-based attention--without completely shitting over the rest, so I'm guessing there's going to be continuation of "meh" comedy for the finale. (It's where she used to shine, and really, what else can be expected for a forced Happy Ending even if there's a high probability the skill level of featured "funny" will be Basic/Easy/Default? If you've ever witnessed out-of-shape, casual joggers, and seen the part of their run where they look like they're about to faceplant, but "persevere" anyway--in exceptionally bad or questionable athletic form--for the sake of finishing the workout... that's where Saburouta appears to be, on multiple levels, from a creator-perspective.)

If for whatever reason there's a dramatically-skewed conclusion with next to no comedy, so be it--the work's finality speaks for itself and the true mangaka mindset, so I definitely won't be interested in her later endeavors, but it's clear for the time being that she's forgone trying to explain the hell out of Mei. It seems beyond her to consider much beyond her status as a cultural trope.

I have no clue what you just said but I agree because it's 800+ words

I don`t understand anything as well that person say.

Nope, Mei decided it all herself. She decided to stay with her grandpa over her father. She wasnt abandoned.

Mei had always lived with her father and continued to live in his apartment after he left while her grandfather financially supported her. When her father left, Mei was only ten years old. And at such a young age, she decided to work for her family not because she felt she had a choice in the matter, but because she thought it was the only way to get her dad back. When we do see Mei's father, he openly admits that he left Mei knowing that she needed him, but he left anyway believing Mei, at only 10 years old, was able to take care of herself within a severly strict and demanding family.

Straight up lies being told here. Mei was blatantly given a choice. Either go with her father or stay at home. She chose to stay. It wasnt about getting her father back, she refused to even read the letters he sent her, it was aboit creating a place for him to come back to. And when he did return and made it clear he was never returning to the school she chose to inherit it herself.

You are obviously missing the "ten years old" part there. A ten-year-old was given a life-changing choice, by a parent who up until that point behaved no differently than the universally hated grandfather, and she was given this choice without any preparatory period whatsoever, Shou just sprang it on her. Her father, who was a strict, traditional parent all her life and raised her as such, suddenly comes to her one day and offers to abandon everything with him for reasons that are beyond her grasp, and you think she "decided it all herself". Have you ever seen a ten-year-old??

I would also like to point out, yet again (because it never ceases to amaze me how people gloss over this, or even blatantly try to wrap it in completely disingenuous constructs, such as "choosing a less mainstream way of life" and similar nonsense), that Shou abandoned his daughter at such a young age, even more, as someone here pointed out, he left her in the very same family and atmosphere which caused him to break. He prioritised his own escape over his daughter, because he is a fucking horrible parent. His leaving was what probably made Mei so unbelievably stubborn about the academy, he not only abandoned her, he also mentally scarred her in the process.
And speaking of Shou, horrible parenting, and ten-year-olds, may I also point out that only in the realm of fiction could a ten-year-old be given such a "choice". Beside the option to stay for the sake of his child, Shou also had the option to take her with him, you know, as her parent and legal guardian.

I do agree with the creating a place for him to get back to aspect, though, just as I agree she then chose to inherit the school for herself. To be honest, it is kind of funny seeing so many people invalidating her choice on the grounds of her upbringing. If she chose to run away, everyone and their mother would be celebrating it as a great feat (and you only need to look at how the audience reacts to Shou to know this to be true), but if her choice is to uphold her duty instead, then nope, she has been brainwashed by the grandfather, the poor soul.

The simple fact is, no one makes decisions in a vacuum, we are all products of our respective classes, upbringings, schooling, environment, which influence us to a greater or lesser measure, depending on the individual, but we are all influenced by it one way or another. If Mei's free choice to embrace her duty is considered invalid because of her upbringing, then pray tell, who on earth is even capable of making free choices? You can dismiss literally any choice, made by any person, on those grounds. "Oh, they are opting for that only because of X they were exposed to in their life."

Did the grandfather, Shou before his great "revelation", and her class in general influence Mei's decision? Absolutely. It was still her decision.

Before, you could make an argument about Mei being forced into her role, but not after the letter chapter. It is probably my favourite chapter, because it actually shows Mei has grown as a character, just not in the direction the (western) audience wanted to (I will come back to the remark in the brackets). Her wish to inherit the academy went from something she did more or less on autopilot in her father's stead to being a sincere desire of her own.

Theoretically, that anti-Mei attitude could be a function of cultural differences, and Japanese audiences might have considerably more tolerance and sympathy for Mei’s self-sacrifice and commitment to duty than Western audiences do.

It is not theoretical in the slightest, the letter chapter is the perfect example. The western audience hated it with a passion, while the Japanese audience mostly praised it on social platforms. What made the western fans condemn Mei, caused the Japanese ones to sympathise with her. I do not think it filters to most westerners just how much the Japanese value self-sacrifice, be it for the sake of duty, family, business company, country... Individualism is not highly regarded there, and it never was.

So rather than seeing Mei as a bad person who will end up with Yuzu despite being unworthy of her, I see a fictional character who was thrown under the bus by an author who was uninterested in developing the themes, plot points, and ideas raised by the rest of the series.

Agree on this completely, what hurt Mei in the eyes of the audience far more than her decisions is the fact we are not actually shown that much of her making those decisions, her thought process and conflicting interests.

tl:dr—Mei’s decision itself can be rationalized; her failure to communicate with Yuzu before making it makes a mockery of the entire previous story. I don’t blame Mei—I blame the author.

Well, on this I actually do not agree (referring to the mockery part). You have a person who has lived constrained by her duties all her life, suddenly, she is pursued by a relentless young maiden who is the exact opposite of her, and who finally batters down her defences and makes her actually experience youth and romance. Mei got swept into a torrent of new experiences, for which she was not prepared. Later, her previous life caught up to her, and the fact Yuzu's influence only strengthened her resolve to inherit the academy (as the letter chapter shows), by making her reevaluate her priorities and realise she legitimately wants the position, certainly complicated things even more for her.

Honestly, it would have been an amazing feat for most people to communicate all this to their partner (because despite the "communicate like normal human beings" term being used in discussions about fiction, most of my life experiences led me to believe actual, open communication on life's problems is more of an exception), but when you factor in that Mei is by her nature a highly reserved, closed person, keeping important things to herself and letting them fester is absolutely in-character for her. Mind you, I am not defending her actions, keeping Yuzu out of the loop and then breaking up via a letter was underhanded and certainly a cowardly way to settle things (which Mei openly admits in said letter), but I do not think it "makes a mockery of the entire previous story", I am actually of the opinion it fits rather well, with both the story and Mei's character.
That being said, the author should have shown us more of her agonising over it, even if it would not make her sympathetic to (western) audiences, it would at least make her position more understandable.

Jesus I cant Harumi's sis is so hot.

Quoted for truth! Like, holy fuck YES!!!

^ The “mockery” is that Mei appeared to be growing and deepening her relationship with Yuzu. Rather than continue to develop as a person and in her relationship, she has gone back to square one—in the exact same position she was when she met Yuzu, only with a nicer fiancé and feeling much worse about it.

Again, I don’t see this as anything organic to the character, I see it as crappy writing.

EDIT: Again, had the process of Mei's thinking and decision-making that you describe actually been shown in the story, that would be an entirely different matter.

But while readers can generate a sympathetic interpretation from clues in the story, I think that gives far too much credit to an author who has never shown much inclination toward nor aptitude for indirect storytelling and long-term planning.

last edited at Jul 21, 2018 10:27AM

^ As someone who experienced first hand something highly similar to Mei's situation, I disagree. I developed feelings for this girl despite my better judgement and internal resistance (there are loads of people in IRC and Mordor laughing their asses off right about now, yes, I have enough humanity in me to develop feelings for someone, plus, I was young back then, sue me), she got me to open up, then at one point, I had a shocking revelation of just how much I changed my world views, seemingly without my conscious notice. My immediate reaction was to revert back to my previous positions with a vengeance, it was a pure defence mechanism. While my motivations for reverting were markedly different than Mei's, I can absolutely see the reserved-character-is-infatuated ----> goes-through-a-wide-array-of-new-experiences ----> reverts-back-in-defence chain as not only plausible, but even likely and not outside of Mei's personality. Mei has the added motivation of wanting the academy, and I genuinely think her decision is a part of her character growth, just not in the direction most people hoped for.

I do find the writing to be lacking, we just differ on how it is lacking. I think it fails to flesh out Mei's side in sufficient detail, while you think Mei's choices themselves are bad writing. We shall agree to disagree on this.

Edit: I posted before seeing your edit. So we are not that much in disagreement, lol. But yeah, this needed a few more chapters dedicated to Mei's side, that much is painfully obvious.

last edited at Jul 21, 2018 10:47AM

Mei's motivations not being fleshed out is what keeps readers discussing since it's all so ambiguous, so might be on purpose.

But regardless, I don't think Mei's choices are bad writing as much as just bad choice on the part of Sabu, because she comes off as Bitch-san till the end (as Matsuri would say). Even if Japanese readers are more sympathetic to her situation due to valuing duty more, still the way Mei is shown to handle Yuzu's feelings is bound to burn bridges even with those readers I bet.

It was fine to have her doing all sorts of confusing things during the story, but to have her provoke negative feelings in readers till the very last chapter is a bold move indeed. What are the chances that in ch 41, she will show something about Mei that will cause readers to settle on "she was a lovable person after all"? I can't think of anything. I bet readers will be 50/50 on "I'm so happy they got back together" and "Someone save Yuzu from her".

last edited at Jul 21, 2018 11:29AM

I do find the writing to be lacking, we just differ on how it is lacking. I think it fails to flesh out Mei's side in sufficient detail, while you think Mei's choices themselves are bad writing.

I’d put it a slightly different way. We have known for some time that the series was slated to have a “happy ending.” That presupposes that Yuzu and Mei will end up together, or if not together, both relatively OK with where their relationship ends up.

But the writing since Volume 6 has NOT been setting up a substantive happy ending—quite the contrary—but if there has been a change in the author’s plan (a perfectly legitimate thing for any creator to do, btw), the story hasn’t really been setting up a tragic or bittersweet ending in any methodical way either. At the very least, the story has been changed from being about Yuzu and Mei and their relationship to being about Yuzu alone * and her suffering for love.

I feel like Willard in Apocalypse Now when Kurtz asks him if he thinks Kurtz’s methods are “unsound.” He says, “I don’t see any method at all.”

matsuri_wins: I mean “bad authorial choices” = “bad writing”

• Edit: Not literally “Yuzu alone,” but Yuzu along with her Scooby-gang, half of whom were once threatening, sinister figures in the plot and are now cuddly BFFs.

last edited at Jul 21, 2018 1:24PM

Mei's motivations not being fleshed out is what keeps readers discussing since it's all so ambiguous, so might be on purpose.

But regardless, I don't think Mei's choices are bad writing as much as just bad choice on the part of Sabu, because she comes off as Bitch-san till the end (as Matsuri would say). Even if Japanese readers are more sympathetic to her situation due to valuing duty more, still the way Mei is shown to handle Yuzu's feelings is bound to burn bridges even with those readers I bet.

It was fine to have her doing all sorts of confusing things during the story, but to have her provoke negative feelings in readers till the very last chapter is a bold move indeed. What are the chances that in ch 41, she will show something about Mei that will cause readers to settle on "she was a lovable person after all"? I can't think of anything. I bet readers will be 50/50 on "I'm so happy they got back together" and "Someone save Yuzu from her".

Thing is, Mei was never portrayed as a classical lovable character. She is an emotionally scarred individual with some serious character flaws as a result of her experiences and upbringing. I find her absolutely adorable, but that is because I am into such characters.

Yuzu has a hero complex a mile wide (which people seem to forget often), and with Mei she is doubly motivated because she is in love with her. Honestly, you could not get a more perfect match than these two, I was always baffled by people going "blah, Yuzu deserves better blabla, Mei is the worst girl for her blabla". Mei is basically tailor-made for her. If Mei was just another lovable character with no major issues (in context of this work, think Harumin), I doubt Yuzu would ever get interested in her romantically. In fact, I am almost certain she would not. Do not forget, Yuzu is bi, at the very beginning of the story she was not even that, she was (or thought herself) straight, did everyone forget how much she anguished over getting into an all-girls school with no potential boyfriends around? That she would fall for a girl for the first time ever, without previously even entertaining the thought, that girl must have appealed to her on some deep level, and Mei hit exactly that sweet spot. Yuzu's overarching urge to help everyone and anyone found a perfect match in a character with so many personal issues, it was practically inevitable she would fall in love.

I think trying to somehow mould Mei into a lovable person (at least in the conventional sense) would not only be contrary to her character, but I also do not think Saburouta even attempted to go for something like that, this is more of an element that part of the audience read into the story of their own accord.

One day they’re role-playing a wedding fantasy and the next Mei tells Yuzu (in a letter) that they will never speak again.

Which chapter is the wedding fantasy? I always see people talking about it but never read that in the chapter. There was even a fanvid which had them wearing wedding dresses taken from manga but I never read it in any chapters. Thanks!

End of Chapter 35. It’s some sort of wedding shop free dress fitting and photo event.

Mei breaks down at the end of the scene because—oh, crap, it’s too tedious to even write it out. Short version: Mei has a sad because oblivious Yuzu is happy.

Omg thanks for this! I don't know how I'd missed that part! Now I'm sad and heartbroken all over again seeing Mei breaking down at the end of the chapter.

I think trying to somehow mould Mei into a lovable person (at least in the conventional sense) would not only be contrary to her character, but I also do not think Saburouta even attempted to go for something like that, this is more of an element that part of the audience read into the story of their own accord.

But Mei has to end up being “lovable” in the sense that half the audience isn’t horrified to see the OTP actually get together—the character having “issues” is fine, desirable even, but we have to see (and more importantly feel) enough of what Yuzu sees in Mei to make the genre plot work.

Manga and anime are both full of very flawed, pain-in-the-ass characters that audiences nevertheless find fascinating and compelling—that’s the whole basis of the tsundere archetype, for instance. I’m not sure Mei is joining that pantheon any time soon.

Let me put things yet another way: I think you do a very good job of making the case for Mei and her motivations as a hypothetical human being mostly abstracted from the concrete ways the story has actually been told.

But if you’re an author one chapter away from the end of your romance, and a big chunk of your audience intensely dislikes one-half of your OTP and hopes they DIAF, and another substantial chunk feels the need to defend that character by reading between the lines, I’d say that the execution of your romance has gone badly off the rails somewhere.

last edited at Jul 21, 2018 1:36PM

@Blastaar: You will hear no arguments from me on that score, I basically agree with everything you have written in your response. One thing all of us can agree on is that the writing has certainly been lacking in some areas, Mei's side of the story being the foremost issue, in my opinion.

last edited at Jul 21, 2018 1:47PM

But if you’re an author one chapter away from the end of your romance, and a big chunk of your audience intensely dislikes one-half of your OTP and hopes they DIAF, and another substantial chunk feels the need to defend that character by reading between the lines, I’d say that the execution of your romance has gone badly off the rails somewhere.

That or the mangaka is a genius and the story was delivered exactly as intended, i.e. she wants to portray Mei as someone who the readers have mixed feelings about from start to end.

Think how Kodama Naoko wrote Hotaru in NTR for example. She was meant to provoke mixed feelings because of her methods to attract Yuma, and even to the end, she was not at all changed from an obsessive person completely absorbed only with Yuma, which many might argue doesn't make her a lovable character.

The difference though is that in NTR, both characters behaved hot and cold and in the end showed very strong feelings for each other, and didn't have to be "convinced" to be together. It was clear they were the most important thing for each other despite all their mistakes. So it truly came off as an intense love story even if a twisted one (and no matter if the reader likes the way it was executed or not, etc).

In comparison to that, what gives me a bitter taste about Citrus (lol pun intended) is that Yuzu is 100% about being with Mei but Mei is not 100% about being with Yuzu, she still prefers duty over Yuzu for most of the story even if ultimately she has a change of heart in ch 41. That's a real turn-off for a love story.

last edited at Jul 21, 2018 1:51PM

Do not forget, Yuzu is bi, at the very beginning of the story she was not even that, she was (or thought herself) straight, did everyone forget how much she anguished over getting into an all-girls school with no potential boyfriends around?

I'm pretty sure she only wanted a boyfriend because she was trying to be the stereotypical gyaru, she thought that having a cute boyfriend was 'cool' and would impress her friends and make them jealous, and it was expected of her to have a boyfriend by her social circle, I mean do you remember how her "friends" reacted when they saw a lesbian couple? And how Yuzu ended up crying because of the way they reacted? The whole "I want a boyfriend" thing was just peer pressure at its finest IMO. And I don't remember Yuzu mentioning that she ever had a boyfriend (well, she did say something about breaking up with her boyfriend at the beginning but right after she says that she was never honest about that, so I guess it was just a lie) or that she was ever romantically attracted to a specific man (but I don't remember every single chapter of Citrus so maybe I'm wrong). She might be bi, but the beginning of the manga isn't really a proof of that... IMO, she thought she was straight 'by default', like many other homosexuals, because she was never really attracted to someone before.

Do not forget, Yuzu is bi, at the very beginning of the story she was not even that, she was (or thought herself) straight, did everyone forget how much she anguished over getting into an all-girls school with no potential boyfriends around?

I'm pretty sure she only wanted a boyfriend because she was trying to be the stereotypical gyaru, she thought that having a cute boyfriend was 'cool' and would impress her friends and make them jealous, and it was expected of her to have a boyfriend by her social circle, I mean do you remember how her "friends" reacted when they saw a lesbian couple? And how Yuzu ended up crying because of the way they reacted? The whole "I want a boyfriend" thing was just peer pressure at its finest IMO. And I don't remember Yuzu mentioning that she ever had a boyfriend (well, she did say something about breaking up with her boyfriend at the beginning but right after she says that she was never honest about that, so I guess it was just a lie) or that she was ever romantically attracted to a specific man (but I don't remember every single chapter of Citrus so maybe I'm wrong). She might be bi, but the beginning of the manga isn't really a proof of that... IMO, she thought she was straight 'by default', like many other homosexuals, because she was never really attracted to someone before.

Very first chapter, notice her thoughts.. Not something spoken, not something she forced herself to think, and added to that, it is not even a thought that could lead anywhere in practical terms, since I can not imagine Yuzu actually having an affair with a teacher. She just found him hot.

Edit: Scratch that second-to-last sentence, she actually might have considered making a move on him. In any case, she seems far too enthusiastic to not be attracted to him, at least on a superficial level (his looks). Sure, you could write it off as her "forcing" herself, but that is not even alternate interpretation of evidence, that is just blatantly reading your own ideas into what we are presented with. She did not, at any point, go over this herself, she did not state her sexuality openly, she did not say anything about her previous desire to have a boyfriend, and we are not even given any visual clues that she was forcing herself back then. Therefore, what we are presented with is that she finds both sides attractive. Until I see her saying something on the issue herself, Saburouta making a statement on that, or someone digs up panels which convey visually that her previous ideas were a result of her forcing herself, I will write her down as being bi.

last edited at Jul 21, 2018 7:55PM

^ Nothing there suggests anything beyond a default assumption of heterosexuality by Yuzu. She’s a fashionista, so of course she knows what “hot guys” are supposed to look like—from magazines. Her whole first-day shtick is an attempt to adopt a new, more sophisticated high-school persona to match what she’s previously been faking.

What she really thinks is here:

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/citrus_ch01#4

Never been in love, and has no idea what it is.

Edit: Having seen your edit, I’ll grant the point—she may in fact be sexually attracted to the teacher. Or she may not. But it’s still the case that in the opening chapter she’s more-or-less playacting what she imagines to be the role of gyaru high-schooler hoping to flirt with the teacher.

I suppose I just don’t see the stakes involved in putting a fixed label on Yuzu’s sexuality given such scant evidence. As in many yuri manga, her first romantic and sexual experience is fixated on a single person who is female; there’s no indication within the story that she’s been attracted to anyone else of any gender.

last edited at Jul 21, 2018 8:37PM

^ Love is one thing, sexual attraction is another. Why people insist on using the two as synonyms has always been beyond me, to be honest.

are we really going now for the "is yuzu really a lesbian" argument after all these chapters? these "is she a lesbian or a bi" arguments have become really tedious and annoying. please stop.

last edited at Jul 21, 2018 8:00PM

^ Love is one thing, sexual attraction is another. Why people insist on using the two as synonyms has always been beyond me, to be honest.

I’m just saying that there’s no evidence for anything about Yuzu’s sexual orientation or romantic inclinations beyond her acting the way she thinks a girl of her age and style should act—she explicitly says she’s been putting on an act.

I really don’t care if she’s called lesbian or bi or whatever, but calling that teacher a “hottie” tells us nothing about Yuzu’s sexuality.

I didn't mean to say that she was voluntarily forcing herself though, more like she was heavily influenced by her social circle and the whole gyaru subculture to believe that having a cute boyfriend was a 'vital' necessity. And you can find someone extremely attractive without wanting to date/fuck the person, happened to me plenty of times.
Lastly, I don't deny that she MIGHT be bi, but stating that she IS bi without a doubt is clearly exaggerating considering the lack of actual evidence.

Yuzu is classic baby dyke through and through, what are you guys even going on about? Lol

I don't think she could be any gayer. Almost every lesbian I know thought they liked guys but it was more like a "they are good-looking, I should probably be dating them" until they stumbled upon a girl who inexplicably "smelled good".
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/citrus_ch01#11

Uh, no they didnt. Not at least according to 2chan. They had a very similar reaction as western fans to the author pulling a wild arranged marriage out of nowhere. Probably why the manga is getting cut short shortly after introducing it.

Wrong. The author announced the climax in December. The manga was entering its ultimate arc. So no, the manga wasn't cut short after introducing it. The author made clear 2018 would be the end of the Citrus, there were just some delusional people who bickered about the word she used because they rejected the "climax" translation and wanted to see the "most important part".

The adaptation was already a warning, like for previous series of the magazine, the anime adaptation's purpose was to promote the last volumes. And the volumes are a top seller for the editor. Citrus, after Yuru Yuri is their series that sells the best in tankobon format. They earned new readers after the anime attracted by the series, so very unlikely that it is ending cause of the wedding being a drama not appreciated.

Just the author's choice, after that we can agree on the bad writting here but her wish to end her manga on this last drama was clearly a personal choice.

I may add that 2chan isn't representative of the magazine's readers target, it is a Japanese shit posting area and they never liked Citrus when they cherishe Maria Sama. Citrus never has a regular thread here. So don't use this site as the alpha and omega of Japanese readers view on the manga.

last edited at Jul 22, 2018 5:26PM

Is Mei pregnant?

Is Mei pregnant?

I know I should resist, but:

what would make you think that Mei is pregnant?