Was she pretedning the entire time? Does she really not have an interest in romance? It almost seems like the reason is something typical like "We are both girls, so this is just playing around and has no future", but then why would she go out with Kou? Then would that mean she truly only used Kou for this nonsense?

I don't think she was pretending in her relationship with Amane because Kou doesn't think so. Kou sees through her picture that there is a bond between Nene and Amane which is alive even to this day, and Kou is the protagonist so her point of view carries some weight.

I do think Nene is just using Kou to feel special and cuter than Amane. I don't think she loves her. What she loves is that she gets attention from Kou.

I do agree that there was a breaking point, probably right before graduation, when Nene had a huge change of heart. Before that point, she could deal with Amane being cuter, even be happy about it. After that point, she couldn't deal with it anymore. If you ask me, Senpai did something, or told something to Nene and that was the trigger for this change of heart.

last edited at Jun 26, 2019 12:51PM

I'm not too sure about her either after the last two panels here and how well she gets along with Hayama.

Sensei was the mastermind all along.

Mmm... nah... if there even is a mastermind (which I'm now sceptical if there is any), then that'd still probs be the senpai.
Yeah, if there's a Macedonia in this series, then she'd be the one in that role.

I need to brush up my sense of irony it seem

This entire thing is just really strange when put into juxtaposition with this page:
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/luminousblue_ch05#7

I can back you up on that one https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/luminousblue_ch04#17 , here we have present Nene who seem to be serious and tell Kou to use an only Amane picture because she thought she(Nene) is not cute but here she doesn't seem to want to trick Kou by making her saying she was more cuter than Amane.

If you ask me, Senpai did something, or told something to Nene and that was the trigger for this change of heart.

But Nene was not aware that Amane talk about their relation to Senpai, she only know Senpai was Amane's childhood friend.

last edited at Jun 26, 2019 12:53PM

I can back you up on that one https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/luminousblue_ch04#17 , here we have present Nene who seem to be serious and tell Kou to use an only Amane picture because she thought she(Nene) is not cute but here she doesn't seem to want to trick Kou by making her saying she was more cuter than her.

That still contradicts the page BugDevil posted. In the page he posted Nene was happy about Amane being cute. In the page you posted she's clearly bothered that Amane is cuter than her.

But Nene was not aware that Amane talk about their relation to Senpai, she only know Senpai was Amane's childhood friend.

Nene didn't have to be aware that Senpai knew about their relationship for this to make sense though. Senpai could pretend she didn't know and still do or say something that somehow made Nene have a change of heart.

last edited at Jun 26, 2019 12:58PM

I said some time back that we’d soon need more explicit insight into Nene’s full motivations in order to make sense of the story going forward, and it seems we’ve reached a point where it’s not entirely clear if the author actually intends for things to be quite so ambiguous or not. i.e., the My Unrequited Love Syndrome.

It’s obvious that Nene isn’t being completely forthright about herself and her feelings, but in regard to exactly what and to what degree is very hard to say with the limited information we’ve been given.

So pretty much every interpretation and ethical/moral evaluation of the main characters put forth so far is at best tentative because we lack basic information about the fundamental situation.

Pretty sure senpai just being a shitty person, though.

That still contradicts the page BugDevil posted. In the page he posted Nene was happy about Amane being cute. In the page you posted she's clearly bothered that Amane is cuter than her.

Then she would have ask to Kou to enter with a picture of her alone not of Amane alone if she was really bothered

Nene didn't have to be aware that Senpai knew about their relationship for this to make sense though.

At least a little bit because i think she will have been troubled that the childhood friend of her GF told her to break up if the childhood wasn't aware of their relation.

Pretty sure senpai just being a shitty person, though.

When you want to take pictures of someone only when she is crying because she is beautiful when she cry then yes you're pretty shitty.

last edited at Jun 26, 2019 1:03PM

I don't think she was pretending in her relationship with Amane because Kou doesn't think so. Kou sees through her picture that there is a bond between Nene and Amane which is alive even to this day, and Kou is the protagonist so her point of view carries some weight.

I'm absolutely aware that narratively its implied and desired that Kou solves this issue and that they are actually compatible and were both in love.

I'm just wondering how this contradictory evidence fits the narrative direction. If we take what we've seen at face value, Nene's intentions can be questioned from dozens of angles. I'm not saying she didn't love Amane, I believe she truly did. It's more that she might have told herself that it was all make-believe. Most likely after the breaking point.

Then she would have ask to Kou to enter with a picture of her alone not of Amane alone if she was really bothered

At that point Nene was trying to deny what she really feels, so she wouldn't impose on Kou like that. She even tells Kou she's not bothered that she's not seen as cute, which is obviously not true. It bothers her a great deal.

At least a little bit because i think she will have been troubled that the childhood friend of her GF told her to break up if the childhood wasn't aware of their relation.

I don't think she told her to break up. Senpai is a schemer. She wouldn't do something that direct. I think she played it subtly and told her something that indirectly made her have a change of heart.

last edited at Jun 26, 2019 1:16PM

At that point Nene was trying to deny what she really feels so she wouldn't impose on Kou.

Pretty ironic considering last chapter.

Also i've still something on my mind. They're second years right ?So they only have 1 year less than Senpai. I ask that because if it's the case, that mean the start of 3rd yeah middle school is when Senpai goes to high school and probably influence Nene one way or the other.

And here I still find more things to be confused about!
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/luminousblue_ch07#29

Everyone had a similar surface gut reaction to this page, but there is just so much off about it. First of all was Nene jealous or just annoyed?
If she was jealous... of whom and what? No seriously, hear me out.

1. She could be jealous of Kou "flirting" with another girl and not paying attention to her after this big power play (especially bad because its Amane)
2. But maybe... she is actually irritated that Kou would pay more attention to Amane for the opposite reason. What if she can't stand the thought that Amane and Kou get along better than she and Amane do? This could be the tiniest flash of jealousy for her ex.
3. The word "cute" has literally been cut off. Nene might have been jealous of the fact that Kou would call Amane cute on their date. That she would dare to look at anyone else. Not because they're going out, but because of her complex.

In a way, it almost felt like her attempt to hurt Amane here backfired.

Pretty ironic considering last chapter.

It's not ironic. As she and Kou got closer, she got more imposing and pushy, and her real feelings (like being jealous of Amane's cuteness) started to become more clear.

Also i've still something on my mind. They're second years right ?So they only have 1 year less than Senpai. I ask that because if it's the case, that mean the start of 3rd yeah middle school is when Senpai goes to high school and probably influence Nene one way or the other.

According to Amame, Nene started acting cold when they started their third year, which is about the same time Senpai graduated. If we take this as face value, we can assume before Senpai graduated she said something to Nene which made Nene start acting cold.

In any case, the same day Nene broke up with Amane, Amane went to Senpai's place and cried all day, and Senpai took the "sad Amane" picture that won her the contest.

So it all fits together, and I'm pretty sure that Senpai was the culprit, since she was the one who profited off all this.

last edited at Jun 26, 2019 1:45PM

According to Amame, Nene was happy and in love with her right until graduation.

Pretty sure Amane said Nene suddendly acting cold when they start 3rd year and break the day of the graduation.

Can someone explain which us Nene mean here https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/luminousblue_ch07#9 and why did she witch to me 3 pages after https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/luminousblue_ch07#12 ?

1. The word "cute" has literally been cut off. Nene might have been jealous of the fact that Kou would call Amane cute on their date. That she would dare to look at anyone else. Not because they're going out, but because of her complex.

Nene got together with Kou to feel cuter than Amane in the first place, so Kou calling Amane cute defeats the purpose.

In a way, it almost felt like her attempt to hurt Amane here backfired.

Indeed.

Pretty sure Amane said Nene suddendly acting cold when they start 3rd year and break the day of the graduation.

You're right. So whatever Senpai did or say, she did so when she graduated which is when Nene and Amane started their third year.

Can someone explain which us Nene mean here https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/luminousblue_ch07#9

Nene wants to say just "me" but she cuts herself short and says "us" (as in Nene and Amane) instead. She's not being honest though. She really wants to say just "me."

and why did she witch to me 3 pages after https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/luminousblue_ch07#12 ?

Because here she finally dropped the facade.

last edited at Jun 26, 2019 1:42PM

Because here she finally dropped the facade.
That's a huge shift in like 10s because at first i thought she said Us like Kou and her not Amane and her.

That's a huge shift in like 10s because at first i thought she said Us like Kou and her not Amane and her.

Nene said:

So you're done taking pictures of m- of us?

At first she's about to say, "so you're done taking pictures of me" but then she changed to "us" (Nene and Amane) because she's no ready yet to reveal she wants Kou to only takes pictures of her.

Then she musters her determination and drops the facade all together. Yes, it's a huge shift, but you see it coming all the same.

last edited at Jun 26, 2019 1:50PM

But why did Nene act like that for the photos in chapter 1 then ? She seem to be happy and lovey with Amane back then, That's strange she act like that when rest of the time she try her hardest to make Amane hate her.

But why did Nene act like that for the photos in chapter 1 then ? She seem to be happy and lovey with Amane back then, That's strange she act like that when rest of the time she try her hardest to make Amane hate her.

Because very deep down she probably still loves Amane. She doesn't hate her, she's just jealous of her cuteness.

last edited at Jun 26, 2019 2:02PM

BTW, I guess another option for Nene's change of heart could be that Nene maybe got her modelling gig at the start of her third year, and her manager constantly saying she's not cute eventually got to her over the year. On top of that maybe someone commented at some point "Amane looks so cute" or some shit like that and Nene started to compare herself to Amane and it snowballed into a full-blown inferiority complex until Nene couldn't deal with it anymore.

That's possible too I guess. It's not as fun as Senpai having a hand on it, but the result is the same. Nene ended up almost pathologically jealous of Amane's cuteness.

last edited at Jun 26, 2019 2:05PM

I would say at this point that the harder emphasis we put on any one aspect of Nene’s behavior or her motivations, the more other elements don’t quite fit in.

(Kou and Amane I take more or less at face value; Senpai, Sensei, and Ice Queen Manager remain to be fully seen.)*

There can be hypothetical ways to reconcile the apparent contradictions and tensions in the story up to this point, but insofar as the hypotheses are based in evidence from the text, one guess is nearly as good as another.

*The lizard remains as ever the wild card.

The fact Nene is jealous / envious of Amane's cuteness is pretty well confirmed at this point, I think. What needs explanation is "why" she ended up feeling that way. Generally you want your romantic partner to be as cute and attractive as possible; it's not exactly normal to grow jealous of their attributes. So why and how Amane ended up feeling that way definitely calls for some explanation.

We'll have to wait and see.

last edited at Jun 26, 2019 2:33PM

The fact Nene is jealous / envious of Amane's cuteness is pretty well confirmed at this point, I think. What needs explanation is "why" she ended up feeling that way. Generally you want your romantic partner to be as cute and attractive as possible; it's not exactly normal to grow jealous of their attributes. So why and how Amane ended up feeling that way definitely calls for some explanation.

We'll have to wait and see.

I guess I’d put it that the more personal and emotionally intense Nene’s reason for the breakup (whatever it might be), the less her agreement to “stay friends” with Amane makes sense.

If, on the other hand, the breakup is motivated by romantic indifference (as she claims) or by some external factor (one of the lurking villains), then the cruelty of her responses to Amane seems disproportionate.

And, as has been pointed out, that cruelty is at odds with her apparent pleasure with and what looks very much like affection for Amane in the early photo-shoot and beach scenes. Etc.

Again, there are potential explanations for all this, but (assuming it’s not just erratic storytelling, which at this point I do not think it is) the longer it takes for us to get that understanding the more unstable and inconsistent Nene looks as a character.

the longer it takes for us to get that understanding the more unstable and inconsistent Nene looks as a character.

Nene is the most incosistent character of the bunch, she want to get Amane to let her go but still go as the same high school and agreed to stay friends. Meanwhile Kou is just a highschool girl who love photography and is clueless about love, Amane is a broken heart who can't let go of her ex but try to be strong and Senpai is a manipulative bitch who just want Amane to herself.

Honestly, I don't think Nene's behavior is that inconsistent. Conflicted, sure, but not really inconsistent. My take is similar to Kou's, on top of what I can see as omniscient reader. Like Kou, I believe Nene still loves Amane deep down which is why she can be nice to Amane occasionally. But what I can see from my part as a reader is also that Nene is seriously very jealous of Amane's cute and bright looks and demeanor.

So these two sides of Nene are in conflict, so some times she can be nice and some times she's a turbo bitch. It might seem like her characterization is inconsistent but it's not (if my take is correct).

last edited at Jun 26, 2019 3:17PM

It's not that Nene is inconsistent, it's that she is contradictory. Intentionally I assume, but still.
At best she has mood swings, at worst she is bipolar.

Nene is seriously very jealous of Amane's cute and bright looks and demeanor.

Again,it's contradictory with the flashback,assuming it was true and not Amane trying to remember it differently.

I believe Nene still loves Amane deep down

That's pretty much given right now no ? The more you reread, the more you see that Nene still love Amane deep down but for some reasons can't say it.