Everything Zhang Guo does looks incredibly suspicious even though it's mostly just normal stuff? The art is amazing, the setting's pretty fun, and I like the interactions so far, so I'm definitely hooked.

i wonder if she kept the teaching plan to avoid Dai Yi getting her next task right away and more work pilling up

Wow you were right

Ah I love this story and the characters so much. I know it's a bit of a slow grind so far between them but it's still cute.

Why is this woman acting so sus just explain your keikaku (note, keikaku means plan)

Okay so we see Zhang Guo in a wedding dress alone, looking down (dejetedly?) as a cold snowy wind blows past… did the engagement fall through? Was it fake?

Was she trying to bully our protag or legit helping? Why is she paying so much attention to her?

Zhang Guo, still mysterious, but not shady, in this chapter. Was a really cool chapter!

We still know almost nothing about Zhang Guo but at least we got some of her pov this time

Okay. Cool. They've been thinking about each other this entire time. Let's get a move on! Slowburns are so slow!

Ahh, lonely, jaded Zhang Guo fascinated by the innocent, cheerful Dai Yi... This dynamic is too good, I hope we keep getting Zhang Guo's perspective. What a heartthrob.

What is happening like? Why is everything so suspicious in this

Ms. Zhang always searches for Dai Yi no matter the time or place. She even changed her schedule just to spend time with her and have her help with the veil. It’s clear she has a thing for her but at this point I think she’s not even consciously aware of it.

Also, it’s interesting that this marriage is a betrothal (if the title is true) but her parents have nothing to do with her or her life. Most of the time betrothals are set up by the parent’s. Perhaps this marriage benefits the mysterious fiancé more? Maybe Ms. Zhang is doing it for him?

Ms. Zhang always searches for Dai Yi no matter the time or place. She even changed her schedule just to spend time with her and have her help with the veil. It’s clear she has a thing for her but at this point I think she’s not even consciously aware of it.

Also, it’s interesting that this marriage is a betrothal (if the title is true) but her parents have nothing to do with her or her life. Most of the time betrothals are set up by the parent’s. Perhaps this marriage benefits the mysterious fiancé more? Maybe Ms. Zhang is doing it for him?

A double beard situation?

Oh man we're finally gonna figure out wtf is the dude's deal!!

I loved this little Dai Yi moment. I'm going to recommend it for use in situations when there's a yuri manga like Brides of Iberis -- full of boyfriends, fiancés and husbands.

This kinda feels like if Kakeochi Girl was a romcom, or at least had a dumbass protagonist

Ms. Zhang always searches for Dai Yi no matter the time or place. She even changed her schedule just to spend time with her and have her help with the veil. It’s clear she has a thing for her but at this point I think she’s not even consciously aware of it.

Also, it’s interesting that this marriage is a betrothal (if the title is true) but her parents have nothing to do with her or her life. Most of the time betrothals are set up by the parent’s. Perhaps this marriage benefits the mysterious fiancé more? Maybe Ms. Zhang is doing it for him?

A double beard situation?

Oooh that would be interesting. I hadn’t thought about it from that point of view. I can’t wait to see what’s really going on behind this betrothal.

last edited at Mar 27, 2022 4:25PM

Also, it’s interesting that this marriage is a betrothal (if the title is true) but her parents have nothing to do with her or her life. Most of the time betrothals are set up by the parent’s.

The original Chinese is 婚约 hūn​yuē, which can also mean "engagement", so the distinction between betrothal/engagement here is just a translation choice. I wouldn't read too much into it on the basis of the parents setting up a betrothal vs a personal engagement.

Lol, for sure. You definitely see longstrip artists using 3D assets wayyy more than manga artists do.

Interesting. Why would long strip artists be more prone to that?

That is...a good question haha. If you look at manhwa, they're in almost all of em, especially the rofan ones. Some creative teams even have a dedicated role for blender users, I believe? I think some combination of the tight one-week update schedule and just the precedent of using 3D assets always being there in longstrip. Whereas if you tried to introduce 3D assets in manga, I think people would riot lol.

busting the door open on a months old convo — yeah the simplest answer is time restraints. Most webtoons operate on a weekly update schedule and the expectation is fully colored. If i was a webtoon artist and i had to storyboard, ink, and color a chapter every week, while drawing perspectively accurate BGs, i would immediately seek out a less physically intensive career like. idk. coal mining. many artists use blender or 3d models as a workflow shortcut to help them meet the content creation schedule the market demands, or to save time to prioritize other aspects of the creative process, or to leave time for wellness, which i totally respect. also, CSP, which is commonly used in Asia as opposed to photoshop, makes incorporating 3D models soooooo easy. See: https://mobile.twitter.com/prima_0804/status/1483754455292334086, https://twitter.com/shio_mid/status/1502192603495747586

there are manga artists who use 3D! inio asano had a whole ep on manben showing how he uses unreal engine, of all things, to model his bgs or other assets in 3d. depends on the individual artist, but some rely pretty heavily on photo reference too, over actually modeling. another example: https://www.otaquest.com/the-elusive-samurai-3d-models-yusei-matsui/. if readers haven’t noticed, thats a testament to how well it’s integrated into their work, or else how little the average reader thinks about it lol. i suppose i see less reoccurring reused assets in manga compared to webtoon tho.

does lead to some funny situations, ie:
https://twitter.com/conradluvr69/status/986747588765474816
https://www.reddit.com/r/OtomeIsekai/wiki/castle-nim

okay to make up for my info-dump, a topically relevant comment: i feel like zhang guo has literally never thought of liking girls as an option before or has never been exposed to lesbians LOL. it sounds like she noticed dai yi is weirdly preoccupied with her and heard her say “I wanna know if she bats for my team” but has no idea it’s a gay euphemism so she keeps manufacturing ways for their paths to cross in hopes that dai yi might eventually spill what her deal is.

dai yi refuses.

okay to make up for my info-dump, a topically relevant comment: i feel like zhang guo has literally never thought of liking girls as an option before or has never been exposed to lesbians LOL. it sounds like she noticed dai yi is weirdly preoccupied with her and heard her say “I wanna know if she bats for my team” but has no idea it’s a gay euphemism so she keeps manufacturing ways for their paths to cross in hopes that dai yi might eventually spill what her deal is.

dai yi refuses.

oooh, that's a really interesting theory. It would be cool if it pans out!

This chapter kinda HURTS.

Damn that dark expression. What is this intrigue?!

NOOOOOO CURSE THE DAMN CLIFHANGER!!!

just finished the first chapter and I've gotta say, I love Dai's eyes lol. They have these small details that tell us how she's feeling and that's really cute.
Also this art style is super familiar...

Edit: currently on ch3, isn't Zhang Guo's the real stalker here?
I also figured out why the art style is familiar, it's the same illustrator as this one: https://mangadex.org/title/316f816a-5de2-4eff-ad04-4c308574b13e/half

Edit: ch5: Dai is so childish lol, her parents are a bit overprotective but they seem, nice? I thought they chased her out of the house for coming out though? Also once again why is Zhang Guo's always seem like she's up to no good?

ch7: JiaoJiao snapping her finger at Dai is now my favorite things lol, I really love their interactions. So Zhang Guo did remember Dai huh?

ch8: I was starting to doubt the whole "betrothal" and then this chapter happened sign.

anw the bonus chapter is so cute lol. So JiaoJiao started reading because of her student huh? That smell like a ship right there.

last edited at Apr 6, 2022 1:43PM

There was a lot of weird stuff going on in this chapter.

The relationship between Zhang and Wu feels like neither of them really want it, and Zhang dragging Dai out to try and get her to put on a wedding dress was odd.

Definitely get the feeling something is up...arranged marriage maybe? While Zhang is still kind of girl crushing on Dai a little bit.

last edited at Apr 24, 2022 11:43AM