I just don't have any patience left for these time-skip endings. A time-skip epilogue? Sure, but I'm so tired of these borderline form letter endings where one person leaves for X period of time and then the last chapter is their reunion.

Literally started reading once the final chapter was out. Still, it was very good!

Ok, fine schuyguy. I need to admit you were spot on. Still what a pointless and stupid bait and switch, just for the last cliffhanger and drama.

Blastaar posted:

I don’t know why manga and Kdrama writers are so addicted to next-to-last-chapter “we finally got together for good so now I’m leaving for some random reason and then I’ll come back after a time skip” endings—I can think of half a dozen such manga and a dozen Kdramas off the top of my head.

Yea. It's so incredibly common to the point it's one of my most hated endings. After entire series of drama, misunderstandings, barely missing each other out, when they finally confess their feelings to each other, what is better way to add some more last minute drama than splitting them apart? Even when reason for other person going away is justified, it happens so freaking much, I'm simply sick of this.

last edited at Sep 26, 2020 8:45AM

I was more interested for a happy end for Kyou than the main couple tbh, now I'm not even sure shes moved on from her feelings.

How boring

I feel sorry for Kyou ...

Ah- the ending was still pretty boring but I can't be mad at it because 1) I was rooting for the main couple from the start [despite kinda rooting for Kyou too] and 2) It was cute. Nice boring fluffy ending.

That was rushed, all that overshadow from the last episode was pointless, i mean i though something really bad happened and we will get to see what lead to that but it was nothing serious, anyway a happy ending is a happy ending but im tired of the over used time skip settings.

Why the time skip? Because people can't stand all these yuri endings where they're together in high school and you have no idea if they stay together. We've come a long way, fam

Blastaar

First last impression—kind of a meaningless time-skip just for a half-chapter breakup angst fakeout.

I don’t know why manga and Kdrama writers are so addicted to next-to-last-chapter “we finally got together for good so now I’m leaving for some random reason and then I’ll come back after a time skip” endings—I can think of half a dozen such manga and a dozen Kdramas off the top of my head.

This is such an incredibly common ending to romance series. I wonder if it has to do with the mechanics of a serialized medium: you don't know exactly how long the story is going to go on, so it's handy to have a kind of pre-packaged, self-contained ending that still manages to essentially fulfill the dramatic requirements of ratcheting up the tension a bit before the conclusion. It's something that can be set up early on fairly easily (like having the Nika mention that her dad wanted her to come live with him) and can then be slotted in with very little build-up after that.

Nevri

Ok, fine schuyguy. I need to admit you were spot on. Still what a pointless and stupid bait and switch, just for the last cliffhanger and drama.

I had the benefit of reading and rereading each chapter a half dozen times in the process of translating them and checking them for release. I'm sure that gives an advantage in piecing things together. Weirdly, the resolution here is very literal. The continuation of the dire sounding final lines of the previous chapter goes like this: "I thought we'd be okay as long as I held onto her hand. But I was wrong... I let go of her hand, and we were still okay." Kind of funny if you think about it like that.

Overall, I really liked this series. I think it was best in the beginning, and there were a few moments I found genuinely surprising and unique. When Nika confesses to Kurumi that there's someone else she likes, I was shocked when Kurumi responded that she already knew, and that actually ended up strengthening their relationship. That really drew me into the story. Nothing after that really affected me the same way, but it still managed to be a cute and fun story even if I thought the drama didn't work as well after that.

Well, this was cute.

schuyguy posted:

Weirdly, the resolution here is very literal. The continuation of the dire sounding final lines of the previous chapter goes like this: "I thought we'd be okay as long as I held onto her hand. But I was wrong... I let go of her hand, and we were still okay." Kind of funny if you think about it like that.

Yea. It's actually pretty fresh and unique take, you rarely see. Just not when used as out of blue cliffhanger to imply break up, only to get resolved next chapter anyway.

Overall, I really liked this series. I think it was best in the beginning, and there were a few moments I found genuinely surprising and unique. When Nika confesses to Kurumi that there's someone else she likes, I was shocked when Kurumi responded that she already knew, and that actually ended up strengthening their relationship. That really drew me into the story.

Yea. I really liked the first half of the story. It was surprisingly pretty unique romance and Nika being pretty gay friendly and open to even considering relationship with Kurumi was really nice. In general I liked how it handled her sexuality.

Why the time skip? Because people can't stand all these yuri endings where they're together in high school and you have no idea if they stay together. We've come a long way, fam

Thinking back to some of the older stuff, many of the popular stories ended with a time skip to show that all the angst nevertheless paid off. Even Morinaga Milk's Girl Friends has a bit of that, but the story that really stuck with me was Yohuko Suzuki's Candy (https://dynasty-scans.com/series/candy).

Actually feel this gives a more satisfying happy end, rather than the cliche high school setup. In particular as Japan still very much follows the "you can play date while you're in high school, but as an adult you will marry 'properly'"-formula.

Why the time skip? Because people can't stand all these yuri endings where they're together in high school and you have no idea if they stay together. We've come a long way, fam

Thinking back to some of the older stuff, many of the popular stories ended with a time skip to show that all the angst nevertheless paid off. Even Morinaga Milk's Girl Friends has a bit of that, but the story that really stuck with me was Yohuko Suzuki's Candy (https://dynasty-scans.com/series/candy).

Actually feel this gives a more satisfying happy end, rather than the cliche high school setup. In particular as Japan still very much follows the "you can play date while you're in high school, but as an adult you will marry 'properly'"-formula.

There’s two parts to this particular kind of ending, though—it’s not simply a time skip, but (as mentioned in schuyguy’s post above) also a sudden removal of one of the MCs (usually right after the couple finally definitively gets together and often for a “reason” that comes out of nowhere), followed by a time-skip reunion.

In certain kinds of stories, especially age-gap romances, a time skip is almost required to allow one of the characters to age out of squick territory, and in other cases time skips alone can be a satisfying way (as you suggest) of showing that a relationship has staying power.

But the “I have to study abroad/I can’t be with you because reasons/there’s a sudden parental demand/now I’ll totally disappear without saying goodbye”+ happy reunion ending is like topping an ice cream sundae with whipped cream, then a dollop of turkey gravy, then a maraschino cherry.

last edited at Sep 26, 2020 8:17PM

I feel like this last chapter started off with the completely wrong tone. Time skip endings can be good, like some people have said; they show that the relationship is the kind that will stand the test of time (and distance, in many cases). This chapter pretty much was exactly that...except for the fact that at the beginning it seemed like they had broken up for some random reason and moved on with their lives. I guess the author was trying to fake us out, but it fell flat? The first part of the chapter sets it up to be a bittersweet ending about...I don't even know, learning to love and let go? But then it's all like, sike, she's back now, and they all lived happily ever after! Like, just fucking start the chapter at "Nika-chan comes back home today" and you've got yourself a great ending. This just had me going "Oh, uh, okay, I guess everything's fine?"

But anyway, after I got past the unnecessary fakeout stuff it was a nice ending. Also, maybe I just had the wrong impression of what the author was trying to do with that first part. I am glad they get to live happily ever after, and the time skip itself didn't really bother me. All in all, this series was pretty good.

Everyone: why timeskip?
Me: long hair suit her better, why cut it ;-;

Everyone: why timeskip?
Me: long hair suit her better, why cut it ;-;

Because there's no better way to signal a time skip than giving an MC a new hairdo.

We'll be together forever and ever ))) so nice to be young

Wonderful

another day, another series with a timeskip ending sigh

Wish there was more..

Well that was kinda weird and unnecessary?

Just reread this again, and had these thoughts:

1. I deeply appreciated that Kyou stayed a cast-iron bitch towards Nikaidou basically right up until the end. It won't get her what she wants, but it was a realistic and therefore refreshing bit of characterization.
2. This story is full of characters who prioritize other people's happiness at the expense of their own. It's a common trope in romance stories to show the nobility and decency of the characters, but in reality it's no way to live and generally results in misunderstandings, pain, and heavy therapy bills down the road. Speaking of which, all three of Kurumi, Kyou, and Nikaidou could really use therapy.
3. All three main characters look super stylish at the end. This mangaka is good at styling her characters.
4. The scene where Kurumi and Nikaidou wake up together and Nikaidou feels something made me feel a lot of things, many of them sad. It's a very pure moment.
5. "PANDERLAND" will never not be funny to me. Especially given the kinda cheap way the story uses cliffhangers.

On the whole, this is a tropey as hell schoolgirl romance story, and I'd be interested to see what a longer, less overtly written for serialization, version of this particular story would look like, but it's still one of my favorites. Kurumi and Nikaidou are very strong, both as people and as characters. (Kyou's a giant coward, but I've been there many times, so I can and will judge, but I will not condemn.)

I just don't have any patience left for these time-skip endings. A time-skip epilogue? Sure, but I'm so tired of these borderline form letter endings where one person leaves for X period of time and then the last chapter is their reunion.

Well it wasn;t really like that. Everything was resolved in chapter 14 without any timeskip. It was just kind of extra to show their future and Kyou changing as well.

I'm a fan of this and how it ended. Though Kyou deserves the best gf ever.