But I’m getting more than a little sick of this water-torture drip-drip of tiny hints about the backstory with their families and the past that has resulted in the present-day situation. I don’t mind when authors use hints about the past to ramp up the tension in a domestic drama, but this just seems like an author coyly implying important things that we need to know about but never clarifying what they are.

It's foreshadowing. If you actually think through the alternatives, this is the right way to handle something that will eventually be revealed and become relevant from the history of the characters.

I’m well aware of what “foreshadowing” is and I’m also well-acquainted with a whole variety of oblique storytelling devices in lots of media and in different cultures; I just don’t think this author is doing a good job of using it here.

In fact, I don’t see how the story needs a mysterious backstory at all. As I said, if the foreshadowing were being used to make the story more complex and intriguing, that would be great.

In previous posts I’ve reviewed the various hints, and, at least as I understand them, they don’t really add up to much (that is, whatever happened in the past may have been very important to the characters, but we don’t have much more understanding of those events or their importance now than we did the first time we heard about them).

Reiichi’s about-face in regard to Kaoru is a mystery, why Uta was depressed is a mystery, why Kaoru feels guilty about what happened is a mystery, but the story has yet to really connect the potential answers to those questions (whether readers know those answers or not) to the main narrative thread.

Reejun posted:

But I’m getting more than a little sick of this water-torture drip-drip of tiny hints about the backstory with their families and the past that has resulted in the present-day situation. I don’t mind when authors use hints about the past to ramp up the tension in a domestic drama, but this just seems like an author coyly implying important things that we need to know about but never clarifying what they are.

It's foreshadowing. If you actually think through the alternatives, this is the right way to handle something that will eventually be revealed and become relevant from the history of the characters.

The problem is that it is already relevant. From chapter 1 in fact. In fact it is so relevant we need it to even understand the motivation and reasons for characters to act the way they act. Like why Reiichi who has been said to reject Kaoru for years, suddenly married her and why he could want or need to hid some things from her. Why Kaoru thinks she ruined Uta's life and feels responsible and why she now suddenly is afraid of putting herself in other people's lives.

Pft haha loving the English grammar discussion, nice change of pace.

Like why Reiichi who has been said to reject Kaoru for years, suddenly married her and why he could want or need to hid some things from her.

It's beneficial to make the audience aware that there's potential for explanations (the purpose of the foreshadowing), but I think it's right that the audience perspective regarding Reiichi's behavior is kept fairly close to Kaoru's understanding.

Why Kaoru thinks she ruined Uta's life and feels responsible

I don't think she does. Presumably you're basing that on ch 2 but I think you've read more into that than was meant.

Anyway, the important thing for understanding current events was the stance that Kaoru expressed, whereas currently you don't need to understand the circumstances behind it. Again, being made aware that there were circumstances is beneficial though. The foreshadowing is used appropriately.

why she now suddenly is afraid of putting herself in other people's lives.

That's more like a flaw Kaoru sees in herself that she was confronted with because of things with Reiichi. I don't feel like it's been flagging by the story as something that needs an explanation.

Reejun posted:

Why Kaoru thinks she ruined Uta's life and feels responsible

I don't think she does. Presumably you're basing that on ch 2 but I think you've read more into that than was meant.

Well, she does say, she hurt her in some way, but yea, it was so long ago I don't really remember details and if there was anything more. I only remember there was something about Kaoru doing something to Uta and maybe her family, that she felt guilty about. At least people kept mentioning it in comments and basing different theories on it.

why she now suddenly is afraid of putting herself in other people's lives.

That's more like a flaw Kaoru sees in herself that she was confronted with because of things with Reiichi. I don't feel like it's been flagging by the story as something that needs an explanation.

Well I made entire rant about it before, which people said will be explained once we learn about what happened:

Nevri posted:

As a side note, it is so funny she says "Because I'm so scared of being rejected and dislike if I insist on forcing my way into their life" as a person who did this ;v I'm sorry but it feels like split personality or weird change of character. So she was perfectly fine chasing someone to date them until they accepted and even married her, as in, she become constant part of their life, but she is unable to actually be part of their life and is afraid of trying to connect with them deeper than just being a couple/officially married? I'm sorry but I just don't buy it. And if she really feels that way, then she is incredibly shallow person if she chased some without any intention of actually supporting or learning about them

last edited at May 29, 2018 7:07PM

As of now it seems was really a poor idea dodging Uta's confession, I mean the whole plot was meant to lead in one day Uta would be confessing and then author decide to leave as vague as possible, he/she will detail in future chapters for sure, but we readers, all of us, were expecting for Uta's confession since chapter 1 lol and then he/she is like "she confessed, and Kaoru still wants to play as family, but you know, you're still not allowed to see, please get excited"

Well damn it finally took her long enough to realize that. Maybe, by chapter 30, she'll do something about it.

As of now it seems was really a poor idea dodging Uta's confession, I mean the whole plot was meant to lead in one day Uta would be confessing and then author decide to leave as vague as possible, he/she will detail in future chapters for sure, but we readers, all of us, were expecting for Uta's confession since chapter 1 lol and then he/she is like "she confessed, and Kaoru still wants to play as family, but you know, you're still not allowed to see, please get excited"

glad i'm not the only one who feels they got cheated. that was a really important scene and the author cut it off for dramatics, just so she could put them all back at status quo. made the next chapter really confusing.

Oh great..now she's aware..

last edited at May 29, 2018 9:13PM

glad i'm not the only one who feels they got cheated. that was a really important scene and the author cut it off for dramatics, just so she could put them all back at status quo. made the next chapter really confusing.

Right? And to me doesn't matter if will be touched in the future now just lost the momentum, and as flashbacks, it will cut down impact even more
yes we're well aware she will get dumped at first, then again we wanted to see the confession and even an initial rejection

...did-did she figure it out...YES!!!

I also had a hard time understanding the last sentences... It's not criticism but a fact, I think we are just asking for help because we can't get the whole point of what happened... And I think it would be better if they changed it after all 'cause it would help future readers not to have the same confusion. It's constructive criticism, we just want to improve not to undervalue the work of the translation.

Both cases are obviously different. The posts you link to are about how MrCatt took liberties with the expressions and idioms, not with the grammar. I don't recall having been confused about what happened in that chapter. And MrCatt is a single person, not a team. Much can be forgiven, especially since it's a manga that had been dropped.

In this case, it was not only sounding awkward, the whole meaning of the sequence became ambiguous and it's a pretty important moment in the manga. I had trouble understanding why she spoke about Uta's love interested as if it was someone else she didn't know, just before saying it was her.

And by the way, it was not a criticism, but a demand for clarification and later an explanation of why I was confused.

I don't know why you pounce on me lately. Maybe I irritate you for some reason and I'm sorry.

For the record, I agree and found the translation confusing and wanted to have a look at the raw, because what she was saying didn't really make sense.

I owe this manga an apology. I thought for sure Uta wouldn't confess at the end of the previous chapter, but I was wrong.

Symphogeah posted:

It's constructive criticism, we just want to improve not to undervalue the work of the translation.

The point wasn't that Nya-chan was wrong for saying translation was awkward in this case. The point was that before she actually told people, who were pointing out that translation had a legit issues and rewrite/mistranslations, to shut up and be happy that someone even translated it and if they want better version, they should translate it themselves. Even even when translator himself said, he doesn't care that he rewrote things, because that is just how he does things and in fact he knew people will complain, but he did it anyway, she still was supporting him and criticizing people who had legit issues with translation as old farts just bitching about things. And yet now she complains about translation herself and give half-assed excuses why in this case it is fine for her to do so, ignoring the irony of what she said before. So even if she is right in this case, she lost her right to give any constructive criticism and stuff like that forever.

I got to the 2nd to last page and I was bouta be like "I hate this manga" but then I got to the last page and was like "OMG I don't hate this manga. This manga hates meeeeeeeeeeee"

Ok so did Uta confess in chapter 14 and we just didnt see it?

Or was Kauro actually awake enough to remember when Uta kissed her way back in chapter 5 ( https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/my_unrequited_love_ch05#21 ) and she is now putting 2 and 2 together ?

Hmm.

SHE FUCKING KNOWS I'M SCREAMING XD

I legit don't understand what happened in the last few pages but after skimming the discussion here I'm kind of afraid to ask about it.

Hah!! About time Uta's love is put on the table and treated seriously... I was still pissed that the newest chapter did not pick up where it left us hanging but chose to skip time instead. Damn it.

Also for the last page, I have this strong urge to tell Kaoru: and don't forget about the husband who is never there and is potentially cheating on you

last edited at May 30, 2018 1:38AM

Here's some precisions, since we know some people are confused about what happened.
The thing is that the chapter is pretty much ambiguous on purpose. While we were preparing everything for translation, we were also pretty confused about what happened because the first sentence about the person from work made us thinking that Kaoru didn't have a clue about Uta's feeling, and then the very last page was also confusing with what we understood before.

So, once we got translation from our translator, we asked precision about the meaning and all, and she said that the whole page with Kaoru thinking was in fact her wishful thinking. She is basically wishing she could have imagined who Uta lover was, like "what if it's someone for her work?" because that place is nice, or also it could have been a teacher (which is a possibility, for a student, falling in love with their married teacher).
And then she is basically thinking that if Uta's lover was someone ordinary, like in her thought, they could have stayed as a normal family (which isn't the case, because Uta is in love with her).

So yeah, the chapter was going through Uta's daily life like Nothing happened, being ambiguous (because in the end, we have no idea about was happened at the end of the trip). But Uta wants to leave, and Kaoru is touching her lips…
My thoughts are that Something might have happened between them, but Uta got probably rejected and she doesn't want to be a burden for them.
And Kaoru doesn't want Uta to leave because she really cherishes her (probably more than she believes), but at same time can't really ask her to stay in this complicated situation.

last edited at May 30, 2018 1:49AM

Here's some precisions, since we know some people are confused about what happened.
The thing is that the chapter is pretty much ambiguous on purpose. While we were preparing everything for translation, we were also pretty confused about what happened because the first sentence about the person from work made us thinking that Kaoru didn't have a clue about Uta's feeling, and then the very last page was also confusing with what we understood before.

So, once we got translation from our translator, we asked precision about the meaning and all, and she said that the whole page with Kaoru thinking was in fact her wishful thinking. She is basically wishing she could have imagined who Uta lover was, like "what if it's someone for her work?" because that place is nice, or also it could have been a teacher (which is a possibility, for a student, falling in love with their married teacher).
And then she is basically thinking that if Uta's lover was someone ordinary, like in her thought, they could have stayed as a normal family (which isn't the case, because Uta is in love with her).

So yeah, the chapter was going through Uta's daily life like Nothing happened, being ambiguous (because in the end, we have no idea about was happened at the end of the trip). But Uta wants to leave, and Kaoru is touching her lips…
My thoughts are that Something might have happened between them, but Uta got probably rejected and she doesn't want to be a burden for them.
And Kaoru doesn't want Uta to leave because she really cherishes her (probably more than she believes), but at same time can't really ask her to stay in this complicated situation.

So its only kinda fucked?

Oh fuck she knows! We're getting progress lads!
Bittersweet ending coming!

WHAT THE FUCK IS WITH THE FAST FORWARD?! FUCK!!!!!!!!

We gotta wait at minimum until July 18th and then they gotta translate it. I'm dying.

last edited at May 30, 2018 4:24AM

Even after Angrboda94's message I had to read the chapter twice over again to understand the end in the sense the translator meant...